The Second Order Statistics of Maximal Ratio Combining with Unbalanced Branches

Abstract

In this letter, exact closed form expressions for the level crossing rate and the autocorrelation function are derived for maximum-ratio-combining with independent but unbalanced diversity branches. The novel expressions are given for Rayleigh propagation and an arbitrary number of diversity branches. The derived identities can be applied to isotropic as well as to nonisotropic scattering environment. The analytical results are validated by simulation.