Impact of double-Rayleigh fading on system performance

Double-Rayleigh amplitude distribution, induced by double scattering in the radio channel, occurs in a variety of propagation scenarios, including propagation via diffracting wedges. It is unknown, however, how double scattering affects communication link performance. In this paper, an expression for symbol error probability for some common communication schemes over double-Rayleigh fading wireless channels is derived. It is shown that double scattering results in severe degradation in symbol error probability. Interestingly, our analysis suggests that for the double-Rayleigh channel there exists no meaningful diversity order for the SNR values of practical interest.