Analysis of equal-gain diversity receiver in correlated fading channels

Performance evaluation of equal-gain combining (EGC) diversity receivers are known to be a much more difficult task in comparison with other diversity combining techniques such as the selection diversity or the maximal-ratio combining method. The difficulty of the above mathematical problem is compounded when the diversity branches are correlated. This paper presents a novel mathematical framework for analyzing a dual-branch EGC receiver performance over nonidentical Rayleigh and Nakagami-m fading channels when the diversity branches are correlated. It is also shown that the average bit error rate (ABER) formula for coherent BPSK and BFSK schemes reduces to the familiar expressions in the literature for the limiting case of independent diversity paths by setting the correlation coefficient to zero. Selected numerical plots that illustrate the effect of branch correction on the ABER performance are also provided.