Performance Analysis of Cooperative Multi-Hop CRNs over Nakagami-m Fading Channels

In this paper, we consider a cluster-based multi-hop cognitive radio network (CRN) with multiple decode-and-forward relays in each cluster. In each hop, a relay with best (signal-to-noise-ratio) SNR is selected except in the last two hops. A relay that maximizes the equivalent SNR of the last two hops, is selected from the last relay cluster. The performance of the considered CRN is studied over Nakagami-m fading channels by considering the peak-interference constraint imposed by the primary receiver. The exact closed-form expressions of overall outage probability and symbol error probability are derived. Monte Carlo simulations are presented to verify the correctness of the derived analytical expressions. It is demonstrated that the performance of the considered system improves with increase in the Nakagami-m parameter of the relaying channels whereas it deteriorates with increase in the Nakagami-m parameter of the interference channels.