Decode-and-forward relaying with full-duplex wireless information and power transfer

In this study, the authors consider a decode-and-forward (DF) relaying protocol with full-duplex wireless information and power transfer, and investigate its outage performance. In this protocol, a cooperative relay can transmit the information to the destination and harvest the energy from the source simultaneously. Thus, part of the energy used by the relay can be recycled through the self-loop channel that exists in the relay's full-duplex operation. An approximated expression for the outage probability is derived under the scenario where the self-loop channel is fading, and then the authors derive an exact closed-form expression for the outage probability under a scenario where the self-loop channel is non-fading. Moreover, to optimise the outage performance, a power allocation scheme is also provided. The authors analyse the effect of self-loop channel on the outage performance, and show that, benefiting from the full-duplex operation and self-energy recycling, the considered protocol is superior to the existing power splitting-based and time switching-based DF relaying protocols, in terms of outage performance. Simulations are provided to validate the authors' results.