Asymptotical performance of M-ary and binary signals over multipath/multichannel Rayleigh and Rician fading

This paper presents a general framework for computing the asymptotic error probability (i.e., at high average SNRs) of M-ary and binary signaling schemes over Rician and Rayleigh fading diversity channels. A general theorem (Theorem 1) relates the asymptotic error rate of multipath and multichannel receivers (over AWGN, ISI free channels) to the multidimensional integral of the conditional error probability. Two other theorems are presented for the particular cases where the conditional error probability is a function of the sum of received SNRs (Theorem 2) or received amplitudes (Theorem 3). Theorems 2 and 3 are related for linear coherent systems, and closed form expressions are obtained for equal gain combining systems. Detection structures for typical diversity schemes (coherent/noncoherent maximal ratio and equal gain combining, and quadratic noncoherent combining) are considered. We analyze the asymptotic error rates of some M-ary signaling schemes (MPSK/MPAM with Kth order diversity and orthogonal signals with K=1 and with coherent and noncoherent detection). Binary signaling is also considered in our study