Equal-gain and maximal-ratio combining over nonidentical Weibull fading channels

We study the performance of L-branch equal-gain combining (EGC) and maximal-ratio combining (MRC) receivers operating over nonidentical Weibull-fading channels. Closed-form expressions are derived for the moments of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the output of the combiner and significant performance criteria, for both independent and correlative fading, such as average output SNR, amount of fading and spectral efficiency at the low power regime, are studied. We also evaluate the outage and the average symbol error probability (ASEP) for several coherent and noncoherent modulation schemes, using a closed-form expression for the moment-generating function (mgf) of the output SNR for MRC receivers and the Pade/spl acute/ approximation to the mgf for EGC receivers. The ASEP of dual-branch EGC and MRC receivers is also obtained in correlative fading. The proposed mathematical analysis is complimented by various numerical results, which point out the effects of fading severity and correlation on the overall system performance. Computer simulations are also performed to verify the validity and the accuracy of the proposed theoretical approach.     

Performance of cooperative diversity using Equal Gain Combining (EGC) over Nakagami-m fading channels

Cooperative diversity is a promising technology for future wireless networks. In this paper, we derive exact closed-form expressions for the average bit error rate (BER) and outage probability (Pout) for differential equal gain combining (EGC) in cooperative diversity networks. The considered network uses amplify-and-forward relaying over independent non-identical Nakagami-m fading channels. The performance metrics (BER and Pout) are derived using the moment generating function (MGF) method. Furthermore, we found (in terms of MGF) the SNR moments, the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and amount of fading. Numerical results show that the differential EGC can bene?t from the path-loss reduction and outperform the traditional multiple-input single output (MISO) system. Also, numerical results show that the performance of the differential EGC is comparable to the maximum ratio combining (MRC) performance.     

Diversity reception over generalized-K (KG) fading channels

A detailed performance analysis for the most important diversity receivers operating over a composite fading channel modeled by the generalized-K (Kg) distribution is presented. The Kg distribution has been recently considered as a generic and versatile distribution for the accurate modeling of a great variety of short term fading in conjunction with long term fading (shadowing) channel conditions. For this relatively new composite fading model, expressions for important statistical metrics of maximal ratio combining (MRC), equal gain combining (EGC), selection combining (SC) and switch and stay combining (SSC) diversity receivers are derived. Using these expressions and by considering independent but not necessarily identical distributed fading channel conditions, performance criteria, such as average output signal-to-noise ratio, amount of fading and outage probability are obtained in closed form. Moreover, following the moments generating function (MGF) based approach for MRC and SSC receivers, and the Pade approximants method for SC and EGC receivers, the average bit error probability is studied. The proposed mathematical analysis is complemented by various performance evaluation results which demonstrate the accuracy of the theoretical approach.     

The bivariate generalized-Κ (ΚG) distribution and its application to diversity receivers

The correlated bivariate generalized-K (K_G) distribution, with not necessarily identical shaping and scaling parameters, is introduced and studied. This composite distribution is convenient for modeling multipath/shadowing correlated fading environments when the correlations between the signal envelopes and their powers are different. Generic infinite series expressions are derived for the probability density function (PDF), the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and the joint moments. Assuming identical shaping parameters, simpler expressions for the PDF, CDF and the characteristic function (CF) are provided, while the joint moments are derived in closed form. Furthermore, the PDFs of the product and ratio of two correlated K_G random variables are obtained. Capitalizing on these theoretical expressions for the statistical characteristics of the correlated K_G distribution, the performance analysis of various diversity reception techniques, such as maximal ratio combining (MRC), equal gain combining (EGC) and selection diversity (SD), over bivariate K_G fading channels is presented. For the SD, the outage probability is studied, while for the MRC and EGC the average bit error probability is obtained. The proposed analysis is accompanied by numerical results, clearly demonstrating the usefulness of the theoretical approach as well as the appropriateness of the K_G distribution to model multipath/shadowing fading channels.     

Outage Probability of MRC With Arbitrary Power Cochannel Interferers in Nakagami Fading

We propose a new approach to outage probability analysis of predetection maximal ratio combining (MRC) diversity reception in Nakagami-m fading channels. We generalize prior work in that we consider L independent cochannel interferers with arbitrary powers and fading parameters as well as the effects of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Our approach results in a general expression for outage probability under very broad assumptions. Moreover, our approach leads to a closed-form expression for outage probability in most cases of interest. We also provide numerical results that demonstrate the performance improvement obtained through MRC diversity combining in the presence of cochannel interferers.     

Closed-form expressions for the outage and ergodic Shannon capacity of MIMO MRC systems

Transmit-beamforming (TB) over multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channels steers the transmit power in the receiver's direction, so as to maximize the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) after maximal ratio combining (MRC) at the receiver. This letter proposes a simple algorithm that allows evaluating an exact and tractable expression for the probability density function of the SNR at the output of the TB receiver, subject to Rayleigh fading. The latter enables the derivation of closed-form expressions for the outage and ergodic capacity of MIMO MRC systems under Rayleigh fading, thereby avoiding the need for time-consuming numerical integrations or Monte Carlo simulations.     

SER and outage of threshold-based hybrid selection/maximal-ratio combining over generalized fading channels

The average symbol-error rate and outage probability of threshold-based hybrid selection/maximal-ratio combining (T-HS/MRC) in generalized fading environments are analyzed. A T-HS/MRC combiner chooses the combined branches according to a predetermined normalized threshold and the strength of the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of each branch. Therefore, the number of combined branches is a random variable, rather than a fixed number, as in conventional hybrid selection/maximal-ratio combining (H-S/MRC). Using the moment generating function method, a unified analysis of T-HS/MRC over various slow and frequency-nonselective fading channels is presented. Both independent, identically distributed and independent, nonidentically distributed diversity branches are considered. The derivation allows different M-ary linear modulation schemes. The theory is illustrated using coherent M-ary phase-shift keying in Nakagami-m fading as an example. It is shown that previous published results are incorrect.     

Sensitivity to timing errors in EGC and MRC techniques

The effect of imperfect timing is analyzed in equal gain combining (EGC) and maximal ratio combining (MRC) techniques over Rayleigh and Nakagami-m fading channels with binary phase-shift keying modulation. In the case of EGC, the bit-error probability is derived, while in the case of MRC, error rate bounds are presented. Theoretical results are justified by computer simulation. Numerical results demonstrate that both EGC and MRC are fairly sensitive to timing errors, and comparatively, MRC is more sensitive.     

Multicellular Alamouti scheme performance in Rayleigh and shadow fading

In this paper, we study the performance of two downlink multicellular systems: a multiple inputs single output (MISO) system using the Alamouti code and a multiple inputs multiple outputs (MIMO) system using the Alamouti code at the transmitter side and a maximum ratio combining (MRC) as a receiver, in terms of outage probability. The channel model includes path-loss, shadowing, and fast fading, and the system is considered interference-limited. Two cases are distinguished: constant shadowing and log-normally distributed shadowing. In the first case, closed form expressions of the outage probability are proposed. For a log-normally distributed shadowing, we derive easily computable expressions of the outage probability. The proposed expressions allow for fast and simple performance evaluation for the two multicellular wireless systems: MISO Alamouti and MIMO Alamouti with MRC receiver. We use a fluid model approach to provide simpler outage probability expressions depending only on the distance between the considered user and its serving base station.     

Outage probability of multi-hop MIMO relaying with transmit antenna selection and ideal relay gain over rayleigh fading channels

We present a study on the outage probability of multi-hop wireless communication systems with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) link based on the transmit antenna selection and the maximal-ratio combining (MRC) at the receiver. A nonregenerative system (NS) is investigated with an ideal amplifying gain. MIMO channels are assumed in uncorrelated Rayleigh fading.We derive a moment generating function (MGF) of the reciprocal of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and obtain a closed-form approximation on the outage probability through the numerical inversion of a Laplace transform. Numerical results show that the presented outage is exactly matched with the outage probability when assuming the ideal relay gain. For more practical gains, the result is shown to be a lowerbound that gets tight at high average SNR as well as for a small number of hops and/or of antennas. We also compare the outage probabilities of nonregenerative MIMO relaying with a regenerative counterpart for multiple hops.     

Micro- and macrodiversity NCFSK (DPSK) on shadowed Nakagami-fadingchannels

The improvements achievable using diversity with matched filter NCFSK (and DPSK) receivers operating on log-normal shadowed Nakagami-fading channels are analyzed. Three microdiversity techniques, equal gain combining (EGC), maximal ratio combining (MRC) and selection combining (SC) are compared. The system performances are assessed by considering two measures of coverage; one well suited for mobile users and one well suited for portable users. The detrimental effects of multipath fading in cellular mobile radio systems can be mitigated by using a number of microdiversity paths at the receiver. The effects of shadowing can be mitigated by using a number K of macrodiversity radio ports to serve each cell. The improvements gained by using microdiversity to combat multipath fading and macrodiversity to combat shadowing are investigated. The effects of the fading severity, the number of microdiversity branches at each port L and the number of macrodiversity ports K on the system performance are investigated in detail. The results, in most cases, are obtained by carrying out a single numerical integration (for any order of diversity). The results show that although MRC gives the best performance, EGC and SC perform nearly as well for dual (L=2) diversity. For larger L, i.e., L⩾4, the relative performance of SC deteriorates substantially whereas the performance of EGC remains close to that of MRC. Also, our results show that as the fading gets less severe, the performance of EGC gets closer to that of MRC, while the performance of SC worsens compared to that of MRC     

Performance comparison of MRC and EGC on a MC-CDMA system with synchronization errors over fading channels

This work derives the average bit error rate (BER) of the uplink and downlink multicarrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) systems using maximum ratio combining (MRC) and equal gain combining (EGC) with synchronization errors over fading channels. The derived equation can simultaneously incorporate the parameters of the fading channel and all of the synchronization errors, including frequency offset, carrier phase jitter, and timing jitter. Numerical results indicate that those two combining schemes on the uplink and downlink MC-CDMA systems are degraded by all of the normalized synchronization errors over 10⁻². The comparison outcomes between MRC and EGC reveal that the MRC generally outperforms EGC in the uplink MC-CDMA system. However, EGC achieves better performance when the number of users is small, the normalized synchronization errors are low and the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is high. In the downlink system, EGC mainly outperforms MRC when the SNR and the number of users are gradually increased and the normalized synchronization errors are low. Therefore, the selection of MRC or EGC depends on the SNR, the synchronization errors and the number of users in uplink and downlink MC-CDMA systems.     

Bounds on the Distribution of a Sum of Correlated Lognormal Random Variables and Their Application

The cumulative distribution function (cdf) of a sum of correlated or even independent lognormal random variables (RVs), which is of wide interest in wireless communications, remains unsolved despite long standing efforts. Several cdf approximations are thus widely used. This letter derives bounds for the cdf of a sum of 2 or 3 arbitrarily correlated lognormal RVs and of a sum of any number of equally-correlated lognormal RVs. The bounds are single-fold integrals of readily computable functions and extend previously known bounds for independent lognormal summands. An improved set of bounds are also derived which are expressed as 2-fold integrals. For correlated lognormal fading channels, new expressions are derived for the moments of the output SNR and amount of fading for maximal ratio combining (MRC), selection combining (SC) and equal gain combining (EGC) and outage probability expressions for SC.     

Performance analysis of TAS/MRC-based scheme in time-varying Rayleigh fading channels

This paper investigates a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) scheme combining Transmit Antenna Selection and receive Maximal-Ratio Combining (TAS/MRC) in time-varying Rayleigh fading channels. We first present new closed-form expressions for optimal received Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), which is expressed in polynomial form. These are used to analyze ergodic capacity, outage probability and Bit Error Rate (BER) of TAS/MRC systems. Numerical results are presented to validate the theoretical analysis.     

On the Effect of Imperfect Cophasing in MRC and EGC Receivers Over Correlated Weibull Fading

This paper presents a comparative analysis of dual-branch maximal-ratio combining (MRC) and equal-gain combining (EGC) receivers with coherent modulations over correlated Weibull fading channels. The numerical and simulations results show the influence of imperfect cophasing, branch unbalancing and correlation on the error performance. It is interestingly shown that EGC has lower irreducible error floor than MRC in the presence of incoherent combining, while the higher value of the correlation coefficient results to lower irreducible error floor. Furthermore, the unbalance parameter has practically no influence on the irreducible error floor.     

多蜂窝上行链路通信系统性能分析

考虑存在来自其他蜂窝的不同功率同信道干扰的多用户上行链路,分析了多天线基站采用多用户调度和最大比合并接收时的系统性能。在期望信号和干扰信号分别经历Nakgami-m和Rayleigh衰落时,运用基于概率密度函数的性能分析法推导了系统中断概率的闭合表达式。仿真结论显示,系统中断概率的解析曲线与数值仿真结果一致,系统性能随着天线数和用户数的增大而提升,多天线和多用户分集增益明显,干扰功率有较大差异时系统中断概率性能有所下降。     

Asymptotic performance of hybrid-selection/maximal-ratio combining over fading channels

In this letter, we study the asymptotic performance of hybrid-selection/maximal-ratio combining (HS/MRC) and postdetection HS/equal-gain combining (HS/EGC) over generalized fading channels for large average signal-to-noise ratios (ASNRs). By evaluating the asymptotic moment generating function of the HS/MRC output SNR at high ASNR, we derive the diversity and coding gains for HS/MRC for a large class of modulation formats and versatile fading conditions, including different types of fading channels and nonidentical SNR statistics across diversity branches. Our analytical results reveal that the diversity gains of HS/MRC and HS/EGC are equivalent to that of MRC, and the difference in the coding gains for different modulation formats is manifested in terms of a modulation factor defined in this letter. Some new analytical results about effects of the number of combined branches for HS/MRC and noncoherent combining loss of HS/EGC are also provided.     

Level Crossing Rate and Average Fade Duration of EGC Systems With Cochannel Interference in Rayleigh Fading

Both the first-order signal statistics (e.g., the outage probability) and the second-order signal statistics [e.g., the average level crossing rate (LCR) and the average fade duration (AFD)] are important design criteria and performance measures for wireless communication systems, including the equal gain combining (EGC) systems in the presence of the cochannel interference (CCI). Although the analytical expressions for the outage probability of the coherent EGC systems are exposed to CCI and various fading channels are already known, the respective expressions for the average LCR and the AFD are not available in the literature. This paper presents such analytical expressions for the Rayleigh fading channel, which are obtained by utilizing a novel analytical approach that does not require the explicit expression for the joint probability density function (pdf) of the instantaneous output signal-to-interference ratio and its time derivative. Applying the characteristic function method and the Beaulieu series, we determined the average LCR and the AFD at the output of an interference-limited EGC system with an arbitrary diversity order and an arbitrary number of cochannel interferers in the form of an infinite integral and infinite series. For the dual diversity case, the respective expressions are derived in closed forms in terms of the gamma and beta functions.     

Effect of noise imbalance on dual-MRC over Rayleigh fading channels

The performance analysis of dual (two-branch) maximal ratio combining (MRC) under imperfect weight, named imperfect MRC, due to the noise imbalance is derived over independent but non-identical Rayleigh fading channels. Considering the system (or channel) conditions that the noise level of each branch is different, we present the accurate performance analysis of imperfect dual MRC in terms of average combined signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), outage probability and average symbol error rate for a large class of modulations in closed-form and compare them with the performance of the perfect MRC and the perfect selection combining (SC) over non-identical but independent Rayleigh fading channels based on the interesting statistical results on the combined SNR. From the performance results we provide the criterion in choosing the imperfect MRC, perfect MRC, or SC depending on the degree of the difference of the noise level between branches.     

Performance Analysis of Generic Amplify-and-Forward Cooperative Networks over Asymmetric Fading Channels

In this paper, we analyze the performance of multi-hop multi-branch amplify-and-forward (AF) networks over generalized fading channels. Using the moment generating function (MGF)-based approach, we develop general expressions for the outage probability and symbol-error rate (SER) performance of the system with maximal ratio combining (MRC) receiver. The MGF-based approach relies on numerical integration. To gain insights into system performance, we therefore investigate the asymptotic outage and SER performance of the system with MRC and selection combining (SC) receiver at the destination. In particular, we develop the asymptotic statistics of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of an AF multi-hop link. We further derive the cumulative density function of the sum of the individual end-to-end SNRs, received from different diversity paths for MRC receiver. We also study the power allocation problem in a multi-hop multi-branch system with MRC receiver. In generalized Gamma fading environments, we seek to find the power allocation strategy that maximizes the SNR at the destination subject to a total power constraint. By means of simulations, we validate our theoretical developments and verify the efficiency of our proposed power allocation in improving the received SNR compared to a generic cooperative system with no power allocation. We also conclude that our asymptotic expressions for the outage probability and SER match the simulations very well in medium-to-high-SNR regime.