An Improved Approximation for the Gaussian Q-Function

Author

Karagiannidis, George K. ; Lioumpas, Athanasios S.

Author_Institution

Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki

Volume

11

Issue

8

fYear

2007

fDate

8/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

644

Lastpage

646

Abstract

We present a novel, simple and tight approximation for the Gaussian Q-function and its integer powers. Compared to other known closed-form approximations, an accuracy improvement is achieved over the whole range of positive arguments. The results can be efficiently applied in the evaluation of the symbol error probability (SEP) of digital modulations in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and the average SEP (ASEP) over fading channels. As an example we evaluate in closed-form the ASEP of differentially encoded QPSK in Nakagami-m fading.

Keywords

AWGN channels; Nakagami channels; approximation theory; error statistics; quadrature phase shift keying; AWGN; Gaussian Q-function; Nakagami-m fading; additive white Gaussian noise; closed-form approximations; communication theory; differentially encoded QPSK; digital modulations; fading channels; integer powers; symbol error probability; AWGN; Additive white noise; Digital modulation; Error probability; Fading; Gaussian distribution; Gaussian noise; Helium; Quadrature phase shift keying; Upper bound;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1089-7798

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LCOMM.2007.070470

Filename

4289989