BER performance of BPSK receivers over two-wave with diffuse power fading channels

This letter presents the bit error rate (BER) performance analysis for an uncoded binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) system in two-wave with diffused power (TWDP) fading channels. Simulation results of receiver performance, with or without maximal-ratio combining (MRC), are also presented. These performance studies quantitatively reveal that TWDP fading can produce a link worse than Rayleigh fading when the two direct waves are equal in strength and have a combined power of ≥ 6 dB higher than the diffused power. These results point to using TWDP fading rather than Rayleigh fading as a worst case scenario in designing communication systems, especially in situations where TWDP fading is likely, such as when directional antennas or arrays and when wideband signals are used.