  Wireless systems that carry delay-sensitive information (such as speech
and/or video signals) typically transmit with fixed data rates, but may
occasionally suffer from transmission outages caused by the random nature of
the fading channels. If the transmitter has instantaneous channel state
information (CSI) available, it can compensate for a significant portion of
these outages by utilizing power allocation. In a conventional dual-hop
bidirectional amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying system, the relay already has
instantaneous CSI of both links available, as this is required for relay gain
adjustment. We therefore develop an optimal power allocation strategy for the
relay, which adjusts its instantaneous output power to the minimum level
required to avoid outages, but only if the required output power is below some
cutoff level; otherwise, the relay is silent in order to conserve power and
prolong its lifetime. The proposed scheme is proven to minimize the system
outage probability, subject to an average power constraint at the relay and
fixed output powers at the end nodes.
