An asynchronous two-way relay system with full delay diversity in time-varying multipath environments

Abstract

We consider design of asynchronous OFDM-based diamond two-way-relay (DTWR) systems in time-varying frequency-selective (doubly-selective) fading channels such as underwater acoustic (UWA) channels. In a DTWR channel, two users exchange their messages with the help of two relays. Most of the existing work on asynchronous DTWR systems assume only small relative propagation delays between the received signals at each node. However, in practical systems, significant delays may take place. Our proposed system is able to tolerate the delay even if it exceeds the length of the OFDM block which is almost inevitable in UWA channels. We provide analytical and numerical results to verify the advantages of the proposed scheme in mitigating large delays in different fading conditions.