Performance of maximal ratio combiners over correlated Nakagami-m fading channels with arbitrary fading parameters

Abstract

In this letter, performance metrics of maximal \nratio combiners (MRC) over correlated Nakagami-m fading are \ncalculated with both arbitrary fading parameters and average \npowers. We derive the moment generating function (MGF) of \nthe sum of correlated gamma variables with arbitrary fading \nparameters. Using the MGF-based approach, we obtain the \nvariance of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the output of \nthe combiner, the outage probability, the average symbol error \nrate for coherent multichannel reception, and the diversity gain. \nThe results for an exponentially decaying model of the fading \nparameter are presented and discussed.