This invention concerns distributed turbo coding and relaying protocols in wireless relay networks. In particular, the invention concerns a method for relaying signals at a relay node, a method for processing signals at a destination node, a relay system and software to perform the methods. The wireless relay networks comprise a source node, a destination node and one or more relay nodes. At a relay node, the invention comprises the steps of receiving a signal from a first node; decoding the received signal; and if the received signal is decoded incorrectly, employing an Amplify-And-Forward (AAF) relaying protocol comprising the steps of amplifying the received signal and then transmitting the amplified signal to a second node; but otherwise, employing a Decode-And-Forward (DAF) relaying protocol comprising the steps of re-encoding the decoded signal and then transmitting the coded signal to the second node. At a destination node, data transmitted by the source node is recovered by combining all signals received from the source and relay nodes and then decoding the combined signal.