A generalized solution for diversity combining techniques in fading channels

Abstract

This paper develops an exact and general formulation in order to investigate the performance of equal gain, selection/equal gain, and selection/maximal ratio combining techniques. The performance is examined in terms of both the reliability and mean signal-to-noise ratio at the combiner output. Although the solution presented here considers the Nakagami fading environment, the formulation is general and can be easily applied to any other fading channel.