Opportunistic relay selection in multicast relay networks using compressive sensing

Relay selection is a simple technique that achieves spatial diversity in cooperative relay networks. However, for relay selection algorithms to make a selection decision, channel state information (CSI) from all cooperating relays is usually required at a central node. This requirement poses two important challenges. Firstly, CSI acquisition generates a great deal of feedback overhead (air-time) that could result in significant transmission delays. Secondly, the fed back channel information is usually corrupted by additive noise. This could lead to transmission outages if the central node selects the set of cooperating relays based on inaccurate feedback information. In this paper, we introduce a limited feedback relay selection algorithm for a multicast relay network. The proposed algorithm exploits the theory of compressive sensing to first obtain the identity of the 'strong' relays with limited feedback. Following that, the CSI of the selected relays is estimated using linear minimum mean square error estimation. To minimize the effect of noise on the fed back CSI, we introduce a back-off strategy that optimally backs-off on the noisy estimated CSI. For a fixed group size, we provide closed form expressions for the scaling law of the maximum equivalent SNR for both Decode and Forward (DF) and Amplify and Forward (AF) cases. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm drastically reduces the feedback air-time and achieves a rate close to that obtained by selection algorithms with dedicated error-free feedback channels.