Enhancing the performance of UWB-based wpans using cooperative PNC relaying

In this letter, a cooperative Piconet Coordinator (PNC) relay scheme is proposed based on a MB-OFDM system. For time domain diversity, the MB-OFDM UWB system transmits the same symbol twice in different time slots over different bands. Devices (DEVs) that are close to the PNC use it as a relay in the second transmission time. Additionally, a symbol transmission schedule is proposed to provide a sufficient time interval for cooperation. During the first transmission of the symbol, the PNC listens in on the signal from the Source Device (SDEV) to the Destination Device (DDEV) and decodes and re-encodes it with the same data rate. The PNC then transmits the signal in the second transmission as well as the SDEV. Our simulation results demonstrate the proposed cooperative PNC relay scheme can significantly improve the bit error rate (BER) performance, which translates into a power savings capability.