Analyses of the Incomplete Low-Bit-Rate Hybrid PLC-Wireless Single-Relay Channel

This paper discusses the ergodic achievable data rate of the so-called incomplete hybrid power line-wireless single-relay channel (HSRC) model. Here, the term incomplete refers to the HSRC model, which jointly and in parallel uses power line and wireless single-relay channel (SRC) models, for low-bitrate data transmission, without a data communication link or a node communication interface. In order to analyze the behavior of such kind of defective HSRC model under the relative location of the relay node in relation to the source and destination nodes, optimal power allocation is taken into account under a sum power constraint with an amplify-and-forward relaying protocol and maximal ratio combining applied at the relay node. Analytical and numerical results show that the incomplete HSRC model, which is a defective version of the HSRC model, can remarkably outperform power line and wireless SRCs for all considered positions of the relay node and the chosen cooperative protocols.