Error rates for hybrid SC/MRC systems on Nakagami-m channels

The efficacy of an hybrid M/L-SC/MRC receiver structure (also known as generalized selection combining) in a variety of fading environments is analyzed by deriving considerably simpler expressions for the statistics (i.e., moment generating function (MGF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF)) of the combiner output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on Nakagami-m channels with arbitrary parameters. Different from previous studies, these results hold for arbitrary orders of M and L. As well as for any real values of fading severity index m⩾0.5. A simple procedure for deriving an exact closed-form expression for the MGF of SNR when the fading index assumes a positive integer m value is also outlined. These MGFs are then used to derive the average symbol error probability (ASEP) for a broad class of binary and M-ary modulations employing coherent SC/MRC receiver. Analytical expressions for computing the outage rate of error probability and the average combined output SNR are also derived. Finally, computationally efficient but approximate solutions for the MGF of SNR are presented