Error analysis of generalized selection combining over relay channel

Cooperative communication is a recently popular concept which allows single-antenna devices to benefit from spatial diversity. The performance analysis of cooperative communication using generalized selection combining (GSC) over independent not necessarily identically distributed Nakagami-m fading channels is presented and compared with that of the conventional maximal ratio combining (MRC) and selection combining (SC) schemes. With the aid of Padé approximants theory, new closed-form expression is derived for the moment-generating function (MGF) of the GSC output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). MGF is an important tool for researching the system performance. In this paper, the average bit-error probability is accurately approximated using the well-known MGF approach. Numerical results show that the proposed mathematical analysis is accurate and that for the more severe fading cases, the GSC receivers are closer to the optimum MRC receivers.