MRC Dual-Diversity System over Correlated and Non-Identical Ricean Fading Channels

Motivated by the importance of the Ricean statistical model in describing communication channels, in this paper we study the performance of a dual-branch receive diversity system operating in Ricean fading. Maximal ratio combining (MRC) of two correlated and non-identical Ricean fading channels is considered. A novel mathematical approach for the performance evaluation of the analyzed system is presented. The probability density and cumulative distribution functions of the total received signal-to-noise ratio at the MRC output are derived in a form of rapidly converging infinite sum. Based on the derived expressions, we further proceed with the calculation of the outage probability and the average bit error rate performance of the diversity system under study. The obtained analytical results are verified through an appropriate simulation model.