A unified performance analysis of wireless communications over η-λ-μ generalized fading channels

In this paper, we present a unified performance analysis of wireless communication over fading channels in terms of the Average Symbol Error Rates (ASER), Average Channel Capacity (ACC) and Moment Generating Function (MGF). We derive a simple and accurate exact and approximate closed-form expression for ASER, encapsulating all types of coherent digital modulations schemes, and exact expressions for the ACC and MGF, for the new fading distribution that has not been studied before, the η-λ-μ generalized fading, which accurately characterizes, thanks to the remarkable flexibility of the named parameters, the non-homogeneous nature of the propagation medium, including the λ-μ, the η-μ, the Hoyt, the Rice, the Nakagami-m, the Rayleigh, the Gamma, the Exponential, and the One-sided Gaussian fading distributions as special cases. The derived expressions are analytically-traceable and convenient to handle both numerically and analytically. Monte Carlo simulations and existing solutions for the special cases of this fading have been used to validate the derived expressions, where an excellent match is achieved.