BER performance of dual predetection EGC in correlative Nakagami-m fading

In this letter, an approach to the evaluation of the error performance in dual predetection equal-gain combining (EGC) systems over correlated Nakagami-m fading channels is presented. Deriving an infinite series representation for the characteristic function of the sum of two correlated Nakagami-m variables, a closed-form formula is extracted for binary phase-shift keying and coherent binary frequency-shift keying, while several other modulation schemes are studied, capitalizing on a Parsevals's theorem-based approach, previously published. Numerical results and simulations are also presented to illustrate the proposed mathematical analysis and to point out the effect of the input signal-to-noise ratio unbalancing, the fading severity, and the fading correlation on the system's error performance.