Performance analysis of steiner system design-based noncoherent M-ary orthogonal signals with diversity combining over nonidentically distributed and arbitrarily correlated fading channels

We analyze the performance of multiple carrier M-ary orthogonal signals (M-ary frequency shift keying signals) with postdetection equal-gain frequency diversity combining (EGC) over nonidentically distributed and/or arbitrarily correlated fading channels. The frequency diversity is satisfied using fast frequency hopping (FFH) technique, thereby achieving redundant reception of the same information-bearing signal. Multiple carrier M-ary frequency shift keying (MC-FSK) modulation in this paper can be classified as bandwidth and power efficient modulation, in which the multiple carrier assignment is achieved based on the Steiner system design; a case of the balanced incomplete block design (BIBD) from the combinatorial theory. Comparisons between the performance of FFH BIBD-based MC-FSK and that of the FFH conventional M-ary frequency shift keying (M-ary FSK) system are performed to verify the impact of the nonidentically distributed and arbitrarily correlated fading channels on the systems performance. In addition, the available channel bandwidth is efficiently utilized by optimizing the frequency hopping rate that provides the minimum average bit error probability (BEP), considering the effects of nonuniform power delay profile and fading parameters