Cooperative wireless communication uses relays to enhance the capacity and reliability of data transmission. Adaptive transmission is typically used in conventional non-cooperative communications to exploit the time-varying nature of the wireless channel. In this thesis, we combine these two techniques. We consider decode-and-forward (DF) and amplify-and-forward (AF) relays. The wireless environment is modeled by using the Nakagami-m distribution. The achievable channel capacity with rate adaptive transmission is analytically derived for DF and AF cooperative networks. The performance of a DF cooperative network is analyzed with a constant power rate adaptive scheme consisting of a discrete set of transmission modes. The effect of decoding errors on DF cooperative networks is also analyzed. To this end, a new heuristic approximation of the total received signal-to-noise ratio at the destination is developed. This approximation enables simple yet accurate performance analysis. / Communications

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