Performance Analysis and Optimization of Millimeter Wave Networks with Dual-Hop Relaying

In this paper, we use dual-hop relaying to overcome the signal blockage problem that occurs for millimeter waves (mmWaves) due to obstacles located in the propagation environment. Using device-to-device communication, a device in the neighborhood of the transmitter and the receiver can play the role of a relay by amplifying the signal from the source device and forwarding it to the destination device. We consider that both the relay and the destination devices are subject to interference. We study the performance of this mmWave network and derive an exact and asymptotic expressions for the bit error probability (BEP). The exact BEP expression is validated by Monte Carlo simulations. The asymptotic BEP allows determining the diversity order and the coding gain of the communication system. Additionally, we investigate the power allocation optimization subject to a power constraint and derive an analytical expression for the optimal power. Numerical results illustrate the gain achieved in terms of BEP thanks to optimal power allocation.