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 (P_out) 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 P_out) 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 benefit 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.