Multi-hop space shift keying with path selection

In this paper, we propose a multi-hop multi-branch multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) SSK scheme with path selection and investigate its error performance. In this scheme, the best path is selected among multiple branches and a multiple-antenna source (S) communicates with a multiple-antenna destination (D) via the relays of the selected path. Each relay is equipped with multiple transmit and receive antennas. It is assumed that there is no direct link between S and D. Moreover, S and all relays employ SSK modulation to transmit information bits and each relay in each path follows the decode-and-forward principle. A closed-form approximate symbol error rate (SER) expression for the proposed SSK system is derived. Furthermore, an asymptotic SER performance analysis is also performed. The analytical results are verified through Monte Carlo simulations. It is shown that the proposed multi-hop SSK system with path selection outperforms conventional multihop M-PSK system with path selection in terms of the SER performance for especially high data rates and sufficient number of receive antennas at the receiving nodes.