In this letter, we analyze the error performance of a code combining based cooperative diversity protocol. For coded transmission schemes, code-combining can obtain a near optimal low rate code by combining repeated codewords. An analytical method for evaluating the performances of such scheme is presented. We develop a closed form expression for pairwise error probability and tight upper bounds for bit error rate (BER) and frame error rate (FER) under Rayleigh fading environment. The analytical upper bounds are verified with simulation results.

This letter proposes a simple modification of LEACH protocol to exploit its multi-hop scenario for user cooperation. Instead of a single cluster-head we propose M cluster-heads in each cluster to obtain the diversity of order M. All cluster-heads gather data from all sensor nodes within the cluster using the same technique as LEACH. Cluster-heads transmit gathered data cooperatively towards the destination or higher order cluster-head. We propose a code combining based cooperative protocol. We also develop the upper bounds on frame error rate (FER) for our proposal. Simulation and analysis show that our proposal can significantly prolong the system lifetime.