A general method for calculating error probabilities over fading channels

Signal fading is a ubiquitous problem in mobile and wireless communications. In digital systems, fading results in bit errors, and evaluating the average error rate under fairly general fading models and multichannel reception is often required. Predominantly to date, most researchers perform the averaging using the probability density function method or the moment generating function (MGF) method. This paper presents a third method, called the characteristic function (CHF) method, for calculating the average error rates and outage performance of a broad class of coherent, differentially coherent, and noncoherent communication systems, with or without diversity reception, in a myriad of fading environments. Unlike the MGF technique, the proposed CHF method (based on Parseval's theorem) enables us to unify the average error-rate analysis of different modulation formats and all commonly used predetection diversity techniques (i.e., maximal-ratio combining, equal-gain combining, selection diversity, and switched diversity) within a single common framework. The CHF method also lends itself to the averaging of the conditional error probability involving the complementary incomplete Gamma function and the confluent hypergeometric function over fading amplitudes, which heretofore resisted to a simple form. As an aside, we show some previous results as special cases of our unified framework.