Canonical error rate analysis for maximal ratio diversity in correlated fading

Simple closed-form bit error rate expressions for both coherent and noncoherent modulation schemes using maximal ratio (MR) combining with arbitrarily correlated Nakagami (1960) fading channels or arbitrarily correlated Ricean fading channels have been derived. The expressions for M-ary noncoherent frequency shift keying (MNCFSK) and for differential phase shift keying (DPSK) are exact. The expressions for coherent binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and coherent binary frequency shift keying (CBFSK) are very nearly exact for a large useful range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values (i.e. SNR=0 to 60 dB). The usefulness of these results lies in their ease of application; they can be used with any correlation matrix and the functions are very easy to evaluate. The general method introduced here may be applied to very easily derive closed-form expressions for other modulation schemes