Bit Error Performance of PLNC based SSK Modulated Bidirectional Relay Network in Rayleigh Fading Channel

Bidirectional relay communication has attracted the research community due to its high bandwidth efficiency. Space Shift Keying (SSK) modulation is a promising Multiple-Input– Multiple-Output (MIMO) technique in which only a single antenna is activated for transmission at any time instant and the index of this active antenna is used to convey information. In this paper, Physical Layer Network Coding (PLNC) based bidirectional relay network using SSK modulation is proposed in Rayleigh fading environment. A bidirectional Decode and Forward (DF) relay network consists of two source nodes and a relay node and it operates in a half duplex mode. Specifically, the transceiver at source nodes and relay node sends the data by employing SSK modulation and detects the signal based on the Maximum Likelihood (ML) detection criterion. The error performance of PLNC protocol in bidirectional DF relay networks for SSK is analyzed in fading environment. The Pair-wise Error Probability (PEP) is derived at the relay node and source nodes in closed form. The end-to-end PEP is also derived in closed form. The analytical results are verified using simulations. Index Terms Bidirectional DF relay network, Physical Layer Network Coding, Pair-wise Error Probability and Space Shift Keying