Diversity performance of DS-CDMA communication system

on Nakagami fading with arbitrary parameters

Okechukwu C. Ugweje
*
, James E. Grover
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3904, USA
Received 28 June 1999; accepted 21 June 2000
Abstract
This paper is concerned with the analysis of direct sequence-code division multiple access system op-
erating over Nakagami fading channel having independent but arbitrary fading with unequal mean powers
in the diversity branches. Performance is measured by the bit error rate and the outage probability under a
generalized binary detection scheme for various multipath fading conditions. New analytical expressions
are derived as a function of the number of branches, fading parameters, unequal mean signal power and the
number of users. Analyses include both coherent and noncoherent binary detection schemes. The result
indicates that the eect of arbitrary fading is not negligible. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re-
served.
Keywords: Direct sequence CDMA; Bit error rate; Diversity combining; Cellular system; Spread spectrum commu-
nications; Multipath; Nakagami fading
1. Introduction
The performance and application of direct sequence-code division multiple access (DS-CDMA)
has been the subject of much research lately because of the various advantages it oers when
employed in the cellular communication environment. The benets include the ability to operate
asynchronously in multiple access channels while tolerating the interference generated by other
users. As the number of users and the demand for wireless services keep increasing, higher sys-
tem performance and reliability are needed. In such interference limited environment, one of the
ways to enhance system performance is to use diversity combining of the multipath signals at the
Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
www.elsevier.com/locate/compeleceng
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +330-972-7168; fax: +330-972-6487.
E-mail address: ougweje@uakron.edu (O.C. Ugweje).
0045-7906/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0045- 7906( 00) 00041- 0
receiver. The advantages of using diversity have long been recognized as an eective means of
combating the detrimental eects of fading and interference. Among the diversity techniques
available, spatial diversity is one of the most attractive means of combating fading and inter-
ference impairments in wireless mobile communication systems.
At the receiver, several signal combining techniques are available. The most widely used
techniques are the maximal ratio combining (MRC), equal gain combining (EGC) and selection
diversity (SD). In MRC, the output of the diversity combiner is the weighted sum of the branch
signals making the output optimum. The input signals are cophased and proportionally weighted
to either the signal level, signal power or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) [1,2]. In EGC, the weights
are normalized to unity. This implies that the individual strength of a branch signal is not taken
into consideration. It is usually employed by noncoherent systems whenever it is dicult to obtain
accurate channel estimates [3]. With EGC, one need not deal with the often-complicated ampli-
tude weighting functions required by the MRC. In SD, the combiner selects the input having the
largest or most desirable signal. The selection process is based on some quality measurement,
which can be signal level, power level, or the SNR. Traditionally, the diversity branch providing
the largest SNR is selected for data recovery. The interest in SD is due to its simplicity of im-
plementation in practical applications.
Among all linear diversity techniques, the MRC provides the maximum possible improvement
that a diversity system can attain in fading channels [2,4]. While MRC is considered optimal, it
must continuously estimate the gain of each path. This may not always be possible or convenient
to provide the complicated adaptive weighting capability required for true maximal ratio com-
bining. Signicant signal processing is needed for implementation, and as the number of users
increases, the level of signal processing also increases. The complexity of implementation some-
times does not justify the achievable diversity gain. On the contrary, SD is usually employed for
its simplicity in implementation.
In Refs. [5,6], the analysis of SD was presented for the Rayleigh fading channel and in Refs. [7
10], the channel was modeled like that of Nakagami, while the Ricean channel model was pre-
sented in Ref. [11], all for narrowband RF communication systems. Analysis of wideband CDMA
is presented in Ref. [12] for the Rayleigh fading channel and in Ref. [13] for the Nakagami fading
channel. In most instances, system performance was presented in terms of either the probability of
error or the outage probability or both. To reduce the analytical diculty, the authors assumed
equal mean and identical fading statistics in the diversity branches.
For an N-branch diversity system, it is commonly assumed that antenna spacing is large enough
so that the branch signals are uncorrelated. Hence, each of the antennas in the diversity array will
provide an independent signal to the diversity combiner, assuming that the statistics of the noise
and interference are the same for all the diversity branches. Hence, improvement is achieved by
the uncorrelated nature of the received signal.
There are, however, problems with these assumptions. These assumptions may not always be
true in practical applications. When dierent reectors contribute signal energy to the receiver, the
received mean power may not be the same in the diversity branches. In practical systems,
the received signal is strongly aected by the motion of radio waves and the shadowing eects of
the surroundings. The reectivity, position and number of reectors will aect the received signal
mean power. Hence, the analysis of selection diversity under the condition of arbitrary fading and
unequal mean signal power is necessary. In fact, under more realistic assumptions, the amplitude
26 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
of the partial waves has a dierent distribution and is possibly partially correlated. The corre-
lation aspect is being investigated further in line with the analysis presented in Ref. [14] for the
selection diversity, in which the eect of correlation was modeled in terms of the Laguerre
polynomials.
In this paper, we investigate the performance of a selection diversity system using direct se-
quence CDMA system over a Nakagami fading channel. Our objective is to evaluate the bit error
rate (BER) and outage probability performance of a binary CDMA system operating over a
Nakagami fading channel having arbitrary fading and unequal mean power at the receiver. It is
assumed that the statistics of the interferer and noise are the same for all users. New analytical
expressions are derived for the performance of the system as a function of the number of diversity
branches, arbitrary fading parameters, unequal mean received signal power and the number of
active users. The derivations include both exact and approximate analytical expressions for sys-
tems employing binary signaling schemes such as coherent phase shift keying (CPSK), dierential
phase shift keying (DPSK), coherent frequency shift keying (CFSK), and noncoherent frequency
shift keying (NCFSK).
We begin this analysis by describing the system and signal models in Section 2. In Section 3, the
issue of system performance is presented. This includes the derivation of the output distribution
functions, the BER performance and the outage probability performance for signals having ar-
bitrary fading statistics and unequal mean power at the receiver. Performance calculations are
presented for both coherent and noncoherent or dierentially coherent binary detection schemes.
Numerical results are given in Section 4.
2. Communication system model
2.1. Transmitter model
The data sequence to be transmitted is denoted by b
k
and is assumed to be an independent
and identically distributed innite data sequence with equal probability, such that Prb
k
= 0 =
Prb
k
= 1 = 1=2. The waveform of the data sequence is given by
b
k
(t) =

n=
b
kn
(t)P
T
b
(t nT
b
); (1)
where P
T
b
() is a unit rectangular pulse of duration T
b
with data rate of 1=T
b
. The data sequence
b
kn
is modulated by the CDMA code sequence c
kn
. The waveform at the output of the encoder
is given by
c
k
(t) =

n=
c
kn
(t)P
T
c
(t nT
c
); (2)
where P
T
c
() = 1 for t [0; T
c
) and zero elsewhere. In Eq. (1), b
kn
is one bit duration of the data
sequence and in Eq. (2), c
kn
is one chip duration of the spreading code sequence, which is periodic
for all k and n: Each component of b
kn
and c
kn
take values in the range 1 randomly,
O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542 27
with duration T
b
and T
c
; respectively. The processing gain is denoted by G
p
= T
b
=T
c
. The system
employs binary modulation and detection schemes. The wideband transmitted signal of the kth
user can be expressed as
s
k
(t) = Re

2P
k
_
b
k
(t)c
k
(t)e
2pf
c
t/
c
( )
_ _
; (3)
where P
k
is the transmitted signal power, /
c
is the carrier phase uniformly distributed in the in-
terval [0; 2p), and f
c
is the carrier frequency assumed to be much larger than the chip rate 1=T
c
.
2.2. Channel model
The complex lowpass impulse response of the channel for the kth user which models the
multipath fading can be expressed as
h
k
(t; s) =

L1
n=0
b
kn
d t ( s
kn
)e
ju
kn
; (4)
where L is the number of the multipath components, while b
kn
, s
kn
, and u
kn
are, respectively, the
random envelopes, propagation delays and phases, of the nth resolvable multipath for the kth
fading channel. Suppose R
c
denotes the chip bit rate and D denote the multipath delay spread,
then the maximum number of resolvable paths is M = DR
c
1 [13]. For example, in IS-95, R
c
=
1:228 MHz, and for a typical delay spread of 10 ls, the maximum resolvable path could be as
much as 13. Since fading is assumed to be slow and nonselective, the amplitude and phase uc-
tuations remain approximately constant over one symbol period. Hence, shadowing and Doppler
eect may be considered negligible. The envelope, b
kn
, is characterized by Nakagami distribution
with probability density function (p.d.f.) [15]
p
b
(b
kn
) =
2k
m
kn
kn
C(m
kn
)
b
2m
kn
1
kn
e
k
kn
b
2
kn
; b
kn
P0; n = 1; 2; . . . ; L; (5)
where C() denotes the gamma function,
k
kn
=
m
kn
X
kn
;
X
kn
= E[b
2
kn
[;
m
kn
=
X
2
kn
E b
2
kn
X
kn
_ _
2
_ _
P
1
2
:
The parameter m
kn
characterizes the severity of fading of the kth user's channel for the nth
multipath. The Nakagami distribution has been used to model both indoor and outdoor prop-
agations [16,17], and for urban radio multipath [18]. The worst case fading condition corresponds
to the one-sided Gaussian distribution with m = 1=2; while m = corresponds to the nonfading
28 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
condition. The Nakagami distribution becomes a Rayleigh distribution when m = 1. Nakagami
distribution can approximate the Ricean and lognormal distribution when m > 1 [17]. For the
Ricean fading model,
m =
1
1
k
1k
_ _
2
;
where k is the ratio of the average direct power to the average diuse power, commonly known as
the Rice factor. It is shown in [19] that a linear relationship between m and k exists for kP2:
The parameter X
kn
is the average received mean power which models the eect of path loss as a
function of the initial path strength. The mean power X
kn
is assumed to be related to the initial
power by X
0
e
l
kn
, l
kn
> 0, where X
0
is the initial path strength. It is a function of the path am-
plitude b
kn
. The functional form of X
kn
accounts for the average path loss [20]. The parameter l
kn
reects the rate at which this decay occurs and the shape of X
kn
is referred to as the multipath
intensity prole. For computational purposes, an exponential delay prole similar to the model in
Ref. [20] is assumed.
2.3. Receiver model
A RAKE receiver structure is used to recover the transmitted signal at the receiver. Diversity
techniques using RAKE receivers have been shown to combat both multipath fading and co-
channel interference, thereby increasing system performance [12,21]. Each antenna element con-
sist of a RAKE receiver with M taps to receive L propagation paths from each of the active K
users. The number of multipath L, and the number of taps M, are related by L PM. It is as-
sumed that the signal power received via the last (L M) multipath are not resolvable or is
negligible. Hence, the combiner combines M resolvable signals out of L received multipath sig-
nals.
For the output of the channel y(t), the received signal for the kth user in the nth multipath is
given by
r(t) = Re y
k
(t)h
k
(t; s n
0
(t)
=

K1
k=0

L1
n=0

2P
k
_
b
kn
b
k
(t s
kn
) c
k
(t s
kn
) cos x
c
t ( h
kn
) n
0
(t); (6)
where n
0
(t) is the thermal noise with power spectral density N
0
(W/Hz). In addition to the de-
sired signal S
d
, the received signal consists of three sources of interference: interference from
K 1 other users U
ou
, multipath access interference U
mi
, and thermal noise U
tn
. After de-
spreading, the output of the receiver for the referenced user k = 0 in the nth multipath can be
written as
z
0n
=
_
T
b
0
r(t) c
0
(t) cos x
c
t ( ) dt = S
d
U
mi
U
ou
U
tn
; (7)
where
O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542 29
S
d
=

P
0
2
_
b
0
T
b
b
0n
;
U
mi
=

P
1
2
_

L
n=1;n,=j
b
kn
W
kn
cos h
kn
;
U
ou
=

K1
k=1

L1
n=0

P
k
2
_
b
kn
W
kn
cos h
kn
;
U
tn
=
_
T
b
0
n
0
(t) c
0
(t) cos(x
c
t) dt
with
W
kn
,
_
T
b
0
c
0
(t)c
k
(t s
kn
) b
k
(t s
kn
) dt:
By considering the noise and interference terms to be zero-mean Gaussian [22], the instanta-
neous SNR can be expressed as
c
0n
=

P
0
2
_
b
0
T
b
b
0n
_ _
2
var U
mi
U
ou
U
tn

: (8)
The denominator of Eq. (8) is the noise variance. Using the analysis in Refs. [23,24], it can be
shown that the instantaneous SNR of the reference user in the nth multipath can be written as
c
0n
=
b
2
0n
1
3G
p

L
l=1;l,=n
E[b
2
0l
[
1
3G
p

K1
k=1

L1
l=0
P
k
P
0
E[b
2
kl
[
N
0
2E
b
; (9)
where E
b
= P
0
T
b
is the energy per bit of the desired user.
3. System performance analysis
3.1. Output distribution
In a CDMA system, performance depends not only on the diversity receiver structure but also
on the radio channel characteristics and the number of users in the system. To determine the error
probability, we begin with the computation of the output distribution using the fading statistics of
the channel. Generally, for a system with N diversity branches, the MRC gives the optimal
performance. However, when the channel is seriously dispersive, an MRC receiver that captures
the entire multipath signal energy will be very complicated. For that reason, we consider the
simpler design of selection diversity. For notational convenience, we will suppress the subscript of
the desired user such that the maximum output SNR can be written as
c = max c
1
; c
2
; . . . ; c
N
; (10)
30 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
where c
i
, i = 1; . . . ; N denote the instantaneous SNR at the output of the nth branch diversity
having the pdf
p
c
n
(c
n
) =
k
m
n
n
C(m
n
)
c
m
n
1
n
e
k
n
c
n
; c
n
P0; n = 1; 2; . . . ; N:
The distribution of the maximum output SNR c; is given by
p
c
(c) =
d
dc
F
c
(c)
_
=

N1
n=0
k
m
n
n
C(m
n
)
c
m
n
1
e
k
n
c

N1
k=0; k,=n
1
C(m
k
)
G m
k
; k
k
c ( )
_ _
; (11)
where F
X
(x) is the cummulative distribution function of the variable x and G(a; x) is the incom-
plete gamma function of the second kind [25].
3.2. Bit error rate performance
In this section, system performance is presented by the average error probability. For binary
detection, the conditional error probability P
e
(c); can be written as [26, Eq. (13)]
P
e
(c) =
1
2C d ( )
C d; ac ( ); (12)
where C(d; ac) =
_

ac
e
t
t
d1
dt is the incomplete gamma function of the rst kind [25, 6.5.3]. The
parameter d denotes the type of detection scheme employed and c is the predetection SNR.
Observe that four binary detection schemes such as CPSK, DPSK, CFSK, and NCFSK, can be
derived from Eq. (12) depending on the values of d and a: For noncoherent detection d = 1; while
for coherent detection d = 1=2. From Eq. (12), the BER for optimum detection of binary signals
can be written in a more familiar form as
P
e
(c) =
1
2
exp ( ac); a =
1
2
; NFSK;
1; DPSK;
_
(13a)
P
e
(c) =
1
2
erf c

ac
_
( ); a =
1
2
; CFSK;
1; CPSK:
_
(13b)
Using Eq. (12), we derive a generalized expression for the average BER P
e
; of binary detection
schemes by averaging the conditional bit error probability P
e
(c) over the output pdf using the
expression
P
e
=
_

0
P
e
(c) p
c
(c)dc; (14)
where p
c
(c) is given in Eq. (11). If identical fading with integer Nakagami m-values is considered,
by substituting Eqs. (11) and (12) into Eq. (14), the generalized expression for the average
probability of error can be written as
P
e
=
k
m
N
2C(d)C(m)
_

0
c
m1
e
kc
C(d; ac)
1
C(m)
G m; kc ( )
_ _
N1
dc: (15)
O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542 31
Using the identity [25]
G m; kc ( ) = C(m) 1
_
e
kc

m1
k=0
1
k!
kc ( )
k
_
; (16)
the average probability of error can be expressed as
P
e
=
k
m
N
2C(d)C(m)

N1
n=0

n(m1)
k=0
( 1)
n
D
kn
k
k
N 1
n
_ __

0
C(d; ac)c
mk1
e
n1 ( )kc
dc; (17)
where the coecients D
kn
is given by [27]
D
kn
=

k
i=k(m1)
1
(ki)!
D
i(L1)
; 0 6i 6(L 1)(m 1);
0; elsewhere
_
(18)
with D
00
= D
0n
= 1, D
k1
= 1=k!, and D
kn
= n.
After evaluating the integral in Eq. (17) using [28, 6.455,1], the average BER now becomes
P
e
=
a
d
N
2C(d)C(m)

N1
n=0

n(m1)
k=0
( 1)
n
N 1
n
_ _
D
kn
C(m k d)k
mk
(m k) a (n 1)k [ [
mkd

2
F
1
1; m
_
k d; m k 1;
(n 1)k
a (n 1)k
_
; (19)
where
2
F
1
( ) is the Gaussian hypergeometric function [25, (15.1.1)]. For the Rayleigh channel
(m = 1), and the expression in Eq. (19) reduces to
P
e
=
1
2

N1
n=0
(1)
n
N 1
n
_ _
d(aXR)
d
N
aXR n 1 ( )
d1
2
F
1
1; d
_
1; 2;
n 1
aXR n 1
_
: (20)
Substituting d = 1 in Eq. (20) will result in the probability of error for noncoherent detection
given by
P
e
=
N
2

N1
n=0
(1)
n
N 1
n
_ _
1
aXR n 1 ( )
: (21)
By partial fraction expansion, it can be shown that Eq. (21) may be written in the more familiar
form as
P
e
=
1
2

N1
n=0
n
aX n
_ _
; (22)
which is the same as the result for a selection diversity system operating in a Rayleigh faded
environment given in Ref. [5].
In general, the fading parameters need not be integers or identically distributed. For any real
value of the fading parameter the incomplete gamma function G m; kc ( ) may be written as [25]
G(m; kc) =
1
m
kc ( )
m
e
kc
1
F
1
1; m ( 1; kc); (23)
32 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
where
1
F
1
(a; d; x) denotes the conuent hypergeometric function [25]. To obtain the average
probability of error for arbitrary fading and unequal mean power at the receiver, we substitute
Eqs. (11) and (23) into Eq. (14) such that
P
e
=

N1
n=0
1
2C(d)

N1
i=0
k
m
i
i
C(m
i
)
_ _
_ _
_

0
c
m1
C(d; ac)e
qc

N1
k=0; k,=n
1
F
1
1; m
k
( [ 1; k
k
c)[dc; (24)
where m =

N1
i=0
m
i
; and q =

N1
i=0
k
i
: The incomplete gamma function in Eq. (24) can be written
as [25]
C(d; ac) = C(d) G(d; ac) = C(d)
(ac)
d
d
e
ac
1
F
1
1; d ( 1; ac): (25)
Substituting Eq. (25) into Eq. (24), one obtains
P
e
=

N1
n=0

N1
i=0
k
m
i
i
C(m
i
)
_ _
_ _
1
2
_

0
c
m1
e
qc

N1
k=0; k,=n
1
F
1
1; m
k
( [
_

_
1; k
k
c)[dc

a
d
2dC(d)
_

0
c
md1
e
(aq)c
1
F
1
1; d ( 1; ac)

N1
k=0;
k,=n
1
F
1
1; m
k
( [ 1; k
k
c)[dc
_

_
: (26)
Each integral in Eq. (26) is a function of the product of the conuent hypergeometric function and
can be evaluating using [29, p. 193], such that
P
e
=
C m ( )
2q
2

N1
i=0
k
m
i
i
C(m
i
)
_ _
_ _

N1
n=0
F
(N1)
A
m; 1
N1
; m
n
N1
;
1
q
t
n
N1
_ _
_

a
d
m ( )
d
2d a q ( )
md

N1
n=0
F
(N)
A
m
_
d; 1
N
; d 1; m
n
N
;
a
a q ( )
2
t
n
N
__
(27)
with
1
N
= 1; 1; . . . ; 1
N-times
; m
n
N
=

N1
k=0; k,=n
m
k
1; t
n
N
=

N1
k=0; k,=n
k
k
;
m ( )
d
=
C m d ( )
C m ( )
= m m ( 1) m ( 2) m ( d 1); m ( )
0
= 1;
F
N
A
a; d; c; x ( ) = F
A
a; d
1
; . . . ; d
N
; c
1
; c
2
; . . . ; c
N
; x
1
; x
2
; . . . ; x
N
( )
=

i
1
=0
. . .

i
N
=0
a ( )
i
1
i
N
d
1
( )
i
1
d
n
( )
i
n
x
i
1
1
x
i
n
N
c
1
( )
i
1
c
N
( )
i
N
i
1
! i
N
!
; [ x
1
x
N
[< 1;
where F
A
() is the Lauricella type multiple hypergeometric function [29]. This function has many
applications in communications and physics and can be computed as indicated in [29, p. 294].
When d = 1, (noncoherent detection), it can be shown that the expression for the average
probability of error may be written as
O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542 33
P
e
=
C(m)
2(a q)
m

N1
n=0
F
(N1)
A
m; 1
n
N1
; m
n
N1
;
t
n
N1
a q ( )
_ _
: (28)
For some systems having a small delay spread, a two branch diversity (N = 2) may be sucient.
In this case, the Lauricella function F
A
() reduces to
2
F
1
(), such that Eq. (27) can be written as
P
e
=
k
m
1
1
k
m
2
2
C m
1
m
2
( )
2C m
1
( )C m
2
( ) a k
1
k
2
( )
m
1
m
2

2
n=1
1
m
n
2
F
1
m
1
_
m
2
; 1; m
n
1;
k
n
a k
1
k
2
_
: (29)
For orthogonal FSK (a = 1=2); the expression in Eq. (29) agrees with the result given in Ref.
[30, Eq. (15)]. The expression in Eq. (28) may be expanded for arbitrary order of diversity from
which the BER for either DPSK or NCFSK can be computed depending on the value of a.
The expressions in Eq. (27) are computationally dicult when N > 2 because the Lauricella
function gets very complicated for values of N > 2. For this reason, a simpler expression for the
average probability of error which can easily be computed for any value of N is necessary. Using
Eq. (11), the average probability of error can be written as
P
e
=

N
n=1
k
m
n
n
2C(d)C(m
n
)
_

0
c
m
n
1
e
k
n
c
C(d; ac)

N
k=1; k,=n
1
C(m
k
)
G m
k
; k
k
c ( )
_ _
dc: (30)
The evaluation of Eq. (30) can be accomplished via the relationship [25, p. 923]
_

0
g(c)dc

K
n
n=1
w
n
e
r
n
g(r
n
); (31)
where w
n
and r
n
are, respectively, the weight factors and the roots of the Laguerre polynomials,
while K
n
is the number of eigenvalues of the roots. Hence, the probability of error for any real
value of the fading parameter m and for unequal mean power can be written as
P
e

N
n=1

K
n
k=1

N
k=1; k,=n
G m
k
; k
n
r
k
( )
C(m
k
)
_ _
k
m
n
n
w
k
r
m
n
1
k
2C(d)C(m
n
)
C(d; ar
k
) exp ( (k
n
1)r
k
): (32)
The function in Eq. (32) can be computed for any value of N using a desired computer program
or by means of a simulation. The margin of error introduced by the approximation is not sig-
nicant.
3.3. Outage probability performance
Another important performance criteria used in wireless communications is the outage prob-
ability. Outage may occur when the criterion of system performance falls below a set threshold.
Due to the variable nature of the channel caused by the Doppler eect, multipath fading, inter-
ference and noise, the instantaneous signal power is not always large enough for satisfactory
reception of the desired signal. Thus, the receiver may experience momentary outages even when
the mean signal strength is adequate. In practical applications, the received signal is required to
meet a minimum signal power level or a minimum error probability for satisfactory reception. For
34 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
example, when the error rate for voice trac exceeds 10
3
, the quality of service is not satisfactory
[13].
In this section, we consider the eect of a minimum SNR threshold on the outage probability
for both identical and arbitrary fading. We consider outage probability as the probability of
failing to achieve a minimum SNR threshold large enough to give satisfactory signal reception. If
g is the minimum required SNR threshold, then outage probability is dened by
P
out
= Pr c ( < g) =
_
g
0
p
c
(c)dc
=

N1
n=0
k
m
n
n
C(m
n
)
_
g
0
c
m
n
1
e
k
n
c

N1
k=0; k,=n
1
C(m
k
)
G m
k
; k
k
c ( )
_ _
dc: (33)
The threshold SNR g; depends on the modulation scheme as well as the desired system per-
formance. Considering identical fading and integer values of the Nakagami m-parameter, we
substitute Eq. (16) into Eq. (33) such that
P
out
=
k
m
N
C(m)
_
g
0
c
m1
e
kc
1
_
e
kc

m1
k=0
1
k!
kc ( )
k
_
N1
dc: (34)
After evaluating Eq. (34), the expression for the outage probability can be written as
P
out
=
N
C(m)

N1
n=0

n(m1)
k=0
(1)
n
D
kn
N 1
n
_ _
1
n 1
_ _
mk
G m
_
k;
m(n 1)
XR
g
_
; (35)
where D
kn
is dened in Eq. (18).
In the case of arbitrary fading and unequal mean power, we substitute Eq. (23) into Eq. (33)
such that
P
out
=

N1
n=0
k
m
n
n
C(m
n
)
_
g
0
c
m
n
1
e
k
n
c

N1
k=0; k,=n
k
k
c ( )
m
k
C(m
k
)
e
k
k
c
1
F
1
1; m
k
(
_
1; k
k
c)
_
dc: (36)
Using the identity [25]
1
F
1
(a; d; x) = e
x
1
F
1
a; d; ( x);
the outage probability can be written as
P
out
=

N1
n=0

N1
i=0
k
m
i
i
C(m
i
)
_ _
_ _
_
g
0
c
m1
e
k
n
c

N1
k=0; k,=n
1
m
k
1
F
1
1; m
k
(
_
1; k
k
c)
_
dc; (37)
where m is dened in Eq. (24). By successive application of Refs. [28, 3.021,2;25, p. 921], the ex-
pression for outage probability can be written as
P
out

N1
n=0

K
p
j=1

N1
i=0
k
m
i
i
C(m
i
)
_ _
_ _
gu
j
x
m1
j
e
gk
n
x
j

N1
k=0; k,=n
1
m
k
1
F
1
1; m
k
_
_
1; k
k
x
j
g
_
_
; (38)
O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542 35
where u
j
and x
n
are the weight factors and the roots of the Gaussian moments, and K
p
denotes the
number of roots.
4. Numerical results
For the purpose of demonstrating the numerical results, we consider a propagation medium
identical to urban/suburban areas with the maximum number of users taken to be one to ve
percent of the processing gain, G
p
[31]. For an arbitrary value of G
p
= 511, K is taken to be 25 for
most of the plots, unless otherwise specied. The number of multipath L is selected to be 5 for the
purposes of illustration. Other values of L can be selected based on the delay spread measure-
ments. It is also assumed that the number of propagation paths L that arrive at the receiver is the
same for all users and that the receiver of each user can resolve N out of L multipath (N 6L). For
uniformity, numerical values of X
0
= 10 dB, SNR = 10 dB, and l = 0:2 have been adopted for all
the plots.
In Fig. 1, the performance for DPSK signal is plotted for dierent values of m, and for the
order of diversity N = 1; 3; 5, when identical fading is considered. The improvement in system
performance as the order of diversity increases or as the signal experiences less fading (increasing
values of m-parameter) can be observed from the plots. The fading parameter is varied from
m = 1 to m = 5. Observe that the added eect of the m parameter on system performance slightly
decreases for successive values of m, and for increasing order of diversity. As expected, at higher
E
b
=N
0
, improved system performance is achieved.
Fig. 1. BER versus E
b
=N
0
for DPSK as a function of the order of diversity N and fading parameters m with G
p
= 511,
K = 25, L = 5; X
0
= 10 dB, and l = 0:2.
36 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
In Fig. 2, the average BER performance for NCFSK and DPSK is compared, when N = 1 and
N = 4. As in Fig. 1, the added eect of the m-parameter decreases for successive values of m: The
results here are similar to the results obtained in Fig. 1 with respect to the order of diversity. The
improved performance of DPSK compared to NCFSK is evident from the plot.
The average BER performance as a function of the number of users K, for dierent order of
diversity N and severity of fading m is shown in Fig. 3, when E
b
=N
0
= 10 dB. It is observed that
higher number of users results in decreased system performance, since the level of interference is
higher. Fig. 3 is plotted for NCFSK showing the performance for values of N = 1; 3; 5 and for
values of m = 1 through m = 3:
Numerical results for the case of arbitrary fading and unequal mean powers are given in Figs. 4
and 5. In Fig. 4, the performance of CPSK is shown for both arbitrary and identical fading. For
the identical fading, we assume that the signal is Rayleigh fading (m = 1) and for arbitrary fading,
the values of the fading parameter is given as a vector m. The values m of length N, corresponding
to N resolved paths or N RAKE taps, are given on the plot. The corresponding value of the
received mean signal power is also given on the plot as a vector X; also of length N. The per-
formance plots are shown for diversity orders of N = 1 through N = 5: It is shown in Fig. 4 that
for low order of diversity, the performance dierence between identical and arbitrary fading is
substantial. However, as N increases, the dierence is not signicant especially for large values of
E
b
=N
0
. The average BER performance as a function of the number of multiple access users K, is
shown in Fig. 5 for dierent orders of diversity, and for DPSK. It is shown that system perfor-
mance decreases as the number of users increases. Improvement in system performance can be
Fig. 2. BER versus E
b
=N
0
for DPSK and NCFSK as a function of the order of diversity N and fading parameters m
with G
p
= 511, K = 25 , L = 5, X
0
= 10 dB, and l = 0:2.
O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542 37
Fig. 3. BER versus the number of users K for NCFSK as a function of the order of diversity N, with G
p
= 511, L = 5,
X
0
= 10 dB, E
d
=N
0
= 10 dB, and l = 0:2.
Fig. 4. BER performance of CPSK as a function of the order of diversity N for arbitrary and identical fading with
G
p
= 511, K = 25, L = 5, and l = 0:2:
38 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
observed for increasing m-parameter and higher order diversity. Fig. 5 also shows the eect of
arbitrary fading and unequal received mean signal power for the values of m and X given.
Illustrations of the outage probability performance are given in Figs. 6 and 7. In Fig. 6, the
outage probability (35) versus g is plotted for DPSK as a function of the order of diversity N for
the given parameters when considering identical fading only. From the plot, we observe that to
achieve an outage probability of 10
4
, g has to be approximately 9:4, 2:6, 0:9, and 3:1 dB, for
N = 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. In Fig. 7, outage probability performance is shown for both
identical and arbitrary fading. For the identical plots in Fig. 7, the plotting parameters are the
same as in Fig. 6, except that m = 2. The values for the arbitrary fading are listed on the plot. It is
shown that as the diversity order increases, the probability of outage decreases, hence better
performance is achieved. It is also shown that as the order of diversity increases, the performance
of arbitrary fading approaches the performance of identical fading. In particular, when N = 5,
both outage probability performance coincide.
5. Conclusion
We have presented the performance analysis of selection diversity communication systems in
which the fading amplitude is Nakagami distributed with arbitrary fading parameters and un-
equal mean power in the diversity branches. System performance is presented in terms of the BER
and outage probability for both identical and arbitrary fading. The multipath propagation
channel is modeled with L paths and the receiver is a RAKE type receiver structure with N arms.
Fig. 5. BER versus K for DPSK as a function of N for both arbitrary and identical fading with G
p
= 511, K = 25,
L = 5, E
d
=N
0
= 10 dB, and l = 0:2:
O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542 39
Exact and approximate analytical expressions are derived. An expression that provides a con-
venient tool for numerical computation is given for the BER and outage probability. These an-
Fig. 7. Outage probability versus g as a function of the order of diversity N for arbitrary and identical fading with
G
p
= 511, K = 25, L = 5, E
b
=N
0
= 5 dB and l = 0:2:
Fig. 6. Outage probability versus g as a function of the order of diversity N with m = 1, X
0
= 10 dB, E
b
=N
0
= 5 dB,
K = 25, G
p
= 511, L = 5, and l = 0:2.
40 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542
alytical expressions are useful in predicting the performance of a mobile wireless communication
system for a severely dispersive Nakagami fading channel. The numerical results show that
performance improvement is gained with increasing order of diversity as well as increasing value
of the fading parameter m for both BER and outage probabilities. Results also indicate that
system performance is aected by arbitrary fading and unequal mean power compared to identical
fading. Comparisons of arbitrary and identical fading reveal that lower performance is achieved
when the diversity branches are not identically faded. As a consequence, to design systems with
high reliability, the eect of arbitrary fading on system performance may not be ignored.
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Okechukwu C. Ugweje received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Florida Atlantic University,
Florida, in 1997. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Akron, Akron OH. His research interests include wireless technologies, spread-
spectrum communications, diversity techniques, and asynchronous transfer mode.
James E. Grover received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Ohio University in 1981. He is
currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of
Akron, Akron OH. His research interests include hardware description languages and object-oriented lan-
guages.
42 O.C. Ugweje, J.E. Grover / Computers and Electrical Engineering 28 (2002) 2542