Error Probability for L-branch Coherent BPSK Equal Gain

Combiners over Generalized Rayleigh Fading Channels

Vidhyacharan Bhaskar
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008
Abstract In this paper, a closed-form expression for the
probability of error in a coherent BPSK system over
Generalized Rayleigh fading channels is derived. An L-
branch equal gain combining diversity scheme is used.
Theoretical results for the probability of error are plotted
for various values of the number of degrees of freedom (n)
and diversity order (L). A simulation is performed and the
simulated results are found to match very well with the
theoretical results.
Keywords Diversity Probability of error
Generalized Rayleigh fading Characteristic function
Equal gain combining
1 Introduction
Diversity techniques are based on the notion that errors
occur in reception when the channel attenuation is large,
i.e., when the channel is in deep fade [1]. Diversity methods
require that a number of transmission paths are available, all
carrying the same message but having independent fading
statistics [2]. By supplying several replicas of the same
information signal transmitted over independently fading
channels, the probability that all signal components will
fade simultaneously is considerably reduced.
Equal gain combining (EGC) results when the gains
provided in all transmission paths is set equal to one.
Moreover, EGC has been accepted as an attractive diversity
tool due to its improved error performance and simplicity
of its implementation [3]. In [4], a closed-form solution for
the error probability is formulated in the framework of
statistical decision theory. The probability of error is
directly evaluated from the characteristic function (CF) of
the two or three branch equal gain combiner output. The
work in [4] is extended in [5] for L-branch coherent equal-
gain combining (EGC) in correlated fading channels,
where L [3. A new representation for equally correlated
Rayleigh channel gains is developed, and this enables the
performance analysis of EGC in correlated fading.
Digham et al. present closed form expressions for the
average probability of packet error (PPE) in [6] for no
diversity, maximal ratio combining (MRC), selection
combining (SC), and switch & stay combining (SSC)
diversity schemes. The average PPE is then used to obtain
a modied expression for the throughput for network
protocols.
In [7], the error probability performance of maximal
ratio combining (MRC), equal gain combining (EGC), and
selection combining (SC) diversity schemes with coherent
BPSK signaling on Rayleigh fading channels with Gauss-
ian channel estimation errors is studied. The exact
probability of error with weighting errors for MRC, EGC,
and SC diversity schemes is shown to be very similar to the
case of perfect channel estimation, but with the average
SNR per diversity branch. Bjerke et al. [8], consider the
performance of various receive antenna diversity schemes
for use in combination with transmit diversity on the
downlink of wideband code division multiple access third
generation systems. Both open and closed loop versions of
maximal ratio combining and selection combining schemes
are studied.
In [9], a generalized selection combining scheme based
on a threshold criterion rather than a xed-size subset of
V. Bhaskar (&)
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,
SRM University, Kattankulathur, Kancheepuram Dt.,
Tamilnadu, India
e-mail: meetvidhyacharan@yahoo.com
1 3
Int J Wireless Inf Networks
DOI 10.1007/s10776-008-0070-0
the best channels is analyzed. In this scheme, only those
diversity branches whose energy levels are above a speci-
ed threshold are combined. Closed-form analytical
solutions for the BER performance of this scheme over
Nakagami fading channels are derived. Do and Wu [10]
evaluate the combined effect of antenna diversity and
spread spectrum (SS) diversity for a direct sequence code
division multiple access system using differential binary
phase shift keying (DBPSK). Both MRC and switched
diversity (SD) techniques are considered and the BER
performance for four hybrid diversity schemes are
compared.
Annavajjala et al. [11] consider the error probability
performance of MRC, EGC, SC and generalized selection
combining (GSC) diversity schemes with coherent BPSK
signaling on Rayleigh fading channels with Gaussian
channel estimation errors. The exact probability for MRC,
EGC, SC, and GSC diversity schemes with weighting
errors is the same as that for the case with perfect channel
estimation with average SNR per diversity branch when the
in-phase correlation coefcient between the actual and the
estimated channel gains is non-negative.
In [12], a compound fading model incorporating short-
term fading and shadowing is used to analyze the per-
formance of wireless systems employing microscopic
diversity to mitigate the effects of at fading. This model
can account for the presence of different levels of fading
and shadowing and provide an analytical solution for the
probability density function of the signal-to-noise ratio.
Goldfeld and Wulich consider a diversity reception sys-
tem with majority decoding and optimal adaptive power
loading applied to a Rayleigh fading channel in [13]. It
is shown that the proposed system has a lower average
bit error rate (BER) than optimal diversity reception
(ODR) with uniform power reception for the same
redundancy.
In [14], a binary direct-sequence spread-spectrum mul-
tiple-access system with random sequences in at Rayleigh
fading is considered. A new explicit closed-form expres-
sion is obtained for the characteristic function of the
multiple-access interference signals, and it is shown that
the overall error rate can be expressed by a single integral
whose integrand is non-negative and exponentially
decaying.
Ma and Lim [15] consider the bit error probability
(BEP) of binary and quaternary differential phase shift
keying (2/4 DPSK) and non-coherent frequency shift
keying (NCFSK) with post-detection diversity combining
in arbitrary Rician fading channels. The most signicant
contribution in [15] lies in the derivation of a closed-form
cumulative distribution function (CDF) for the relevant
decision statistic expressed in a non-central Gaussian
quadratic form.
In [16], the average signal-to-noise ratio of a generalized
selection combining scheme, in which m diversity branches
(m B L, where L is the total number of diversity branches
available) with the largest instantaneous SNRs are selected
and coherently combined, is derived and a closed form
solution is found.
In [17], a exible approach for the evaluation of error
probability in L-branch BPSK equal gain combiners in
Rayleigh fading channels has been presented and analyzed.
The number of degrees of freedom, or the number of
multipaths in the channel in [17] is two. This work is an
extension of [17] in the sense that the number of degrees of
freedom is an integer greater than two.
Section 2 provides a description of the system and
channel models. Section 3 derives an expression for error
probability for an L-branch equal gain combining diversity
case over Rayleigh fading channels with number of degrees
of freedom (n) greater than two, and also plots the bit error
probability for various values of n. Finally, Sect. 4 presents
the conclusions.
2 System Description and Channel Model
The decision variable c for a coherent BPSK system can be
formulated as [1]
c =

L
k=1
x
k

L
k=1
w
k
; (1)
where x
k
is the output signal amplitude at the kth branch
and w
k
represents the complex Gaussian noise at the kth
branch with zero mean and variance N
k
.
For slow fading channels, it is assumed that x
k
remains
constant within a symbol period, but changes from symbol
to symbol following a Generalized Rayleigh distribution
with probability density function (PDF) given by
p
Rayl
x
k
(r) =
r
n1
2
(n2)
2
r
n
C(n=2)
exp
r
2
c
k
_ _
; r _0; (2)
where n is the number of degrees of freedom, c
k
= 2r
2
k
is
the average received SNR at the kth branch, and r
2
k
is the
variance of the kth zero-mean Gaussian random variable.
Let U
c
(s); U
Rayl
x
k
(s); and U
w
k
(s) be the characteristic
function (CHF) of the parameters, c, x
k
, and w
k
respec-
tively. Then from (1), and due to the independence between
the desired signals and noise in each branch, U
c
(s) can be
written as [17]
U
c
(s) =

L
k=1
U
Rayl
x
k
(s)

L
k=1
U
w
k
(s): (3)
From the denition of the CHFs, and using (2), we
have
Int J Wireless Inf Networks
1 3
U
c
(s) =

L
k=1
U
w
k
(s)

L
k=1
_

0
exp jsr
k
( )p
Rayl
x
k
(r
k
)dr
k
= exp
d
2
s
2
2
_ _
1
2
(n2)
2
C(n=2)
_ _
L

0
. . .
_

0
exp js

L
k=1
r
k
_ _
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n1
exp

L
k=1
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
dr
1
. . .dr
L
;
(4)
where d
2
=

L
k=1
N
k
is the variance of the Gaussian random
variable, W =

L
k=1
w
k
.
3 Error Probability for Generalized Rayleigh Fading
Channel
3.1 Error Probability Derivation
The evaluation of error probability (ERP) for coherent
BPSK detection is dened as [1, 18]
P
e
= Prob(c\0) =
_
0

p
c
(s)ds =
1
2p
_
0

U
c
(s)
exp jss ( )dsds =
1
2p2
L(n2)
2
C(n=2) ( )
L

0
. . .
_

0
_
0

exp
s
2
d
2
2
_ _
exp js s

L
k=1
(r
k
)
_ _ _ _
dsds
exp

L
k=1
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n1
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n
dr
1
. . .dr
L
:
(5)
By denition,
_

exp
s
2
d
2
2
_ _
exp js s

L
k=1
(r
k
)
_ _ _ _
ds = 2pp
NORM(0;d
2
)
s

L
k=1
(r
k
)
_ _
: So,
P
e
= C
_

0
. . .
_

0
_
0

p
NORM(0;d
2
)
s

L
k=1
(r
k
)
_ _
ds
_
_
_
_
exp

L
k=1
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n1
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n
dr
1
. . .dr
L
r = C
_

0
. . .
_

0
F
NORM(0;d
2
)

L
k=1
r
k
_ _
exp

L
k=1
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n1
r
1
r
2
. . .r
L
( )
n
dr
1
. . .dr
L
;
(6)
where C =
1
2
L(n2)
2 C n=2 ( ) [ [
L
; and F
NORM 0;d
2
( )
(x) =
_
0

p
NORM(0;d
2
)
s x ( )dx is the well known CDF with zero mean and vari-
ance d
2
.
From [1], we have F
X
(x) =
1
2

1
2
erf
xm
X

2
_
r
X
_ _
; where m
X
is
the mean of the random variable X, and r
2
X
is the variance
of X. Letting m
X
= 0 and r
2
X
= d
2
; we have F
X
(x)
=
1
2

1
2
erf
x
d

2
_
_ _
= 1 Q
x
d
_ _
since erf(x) = 1 2Q(x

2
_
)
[1]. So, F
NORM(0;d
2
)

L
k=1
r
k
_ _
= Q
1
d

L
k=1
r
k
_ _
: Thus,
P
e
= C
_

0
. . .
_

0
Q
1
d

L
k=1
r
k
_ _

L
k=1
r
n1
k
r
n
k
exp
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
dr
1
. . .dr
L
:
(7)
Now, U(x) = erf(x) = 1 2Q(x

2
_
): So, Q(x) =
1
2
1 U
x

2
_
_ _ _ _
. Substituting Q(x) in terms of U(x) in (7),
we have
P
e
= P
e1
P
e2
=
C
2
_

0
. . .
_

L
k=1
r
n1
k
r
n
k
exp
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
dr
1
. . .dr
L

C
2
_

0
. . .
_

0
U
1
d

2
_

L
k=1
r
k
_ _

L
k=1
r
n1
k
r
n
k
exp
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
dr
1
. . .dr
L
: (8)
Making change of variables in the integrals of (8), where
r
/
i
=
r
i

c
i
_ and dr
/
i
=
dr
i

c
i
_ \i = 1; 2; . . .; L; and c
i
= 2r
2
i
; we
have P
e1
=
1
2
; and
P
e2
= K
_

0
r
/
1
_ _
n1
e
r
/
1
( )
2
dr
/
1
. . .
_

0
r
/
L
_ _
n1
U

1
d

2
_

L
k=1

c
k
_
r
/
k
_ _
e
r
/
L
( )
2
dr
/
L
;
(9)
where K =
C c
1
c
2
...c
L
( )
n=2
r
1
r
2
...r
L
( )
n . The last integral in (9) can be
rewritten as
_

0
r
/
L
_ _
n1
U b cr
/
L
_ _
e
r
/
L
( )
2
dr
/
L
; where b =

L1
k=1

c
k
_
r
/
k
d

2
_
; and c =
1
d

c
L
2
_
.
Int J Wireless Inf Networks
1 3
From [19], we have U b cr
/
L
_ _
= U(b)
2

p
_
e
b
2
cr
/
L
1 cr
/
L

1
3
c
2
r
/
L
_ _
2
2b
2
1 ( )
_ _
; where |e| \1.2 *
10
-10
. So,
_

0
r
/
L
_ _
n1
U b cr
/
L
_ _
e
r
/
L
( )
2
dr
/
L
=
1
2
U b ( )C n=2 ( )
ce
b
2

p
_ C
n 1
2
_ _

2ce
b
2

p
_ C
n 1
2
_ _

bc
2
e
b
2

p
_ C
n 2
2
_ _

c
3
2b
2
1 ( )e
b
2
3

p
_ C
n 3
2
_ _
: (10)
The derivation of the probability of error, P
e
, for equal
gain combiners over Generalized Rayleigh fading channels
becomes very cumbersome for L C3 because the number of
terms which need to be summed in the integrand of (9)
increases as the diversity level increases. In this paper, the
derivation of P
e
is restricted to L = 2 only. Now, U(x) =
2

p
_

k=0
1 ( )
k
x
2k1
k! 2k1 ( )
[19].
Using this expression for U(x) in (10), and substituting
back in (9) and simplifying, we have
P
e2
=
KC n=2 ( )

p
_

k=0
1 ( )
k
k! 2k 1 ( )
l 1 ( )
2k1
2
C 2k n 1 ( )
_ _

cK
2

p
_ C
n 1
2
_ _
1
l
_ _
n=2
C n=2 ( )
cK

p
_ C
n 1
2
_ _
1
l
_ _
n=2
C n=2 ( )
Kc
2
2d

c
1
2p
_
C
n 2
2
_ _
1
l
_ _ n1
2
( )
C
n 1
2
_ _

Kc
3
3

p
_ C
n 3
2
_ _
1
l
_ _ n2
2
( )
C
n 2
2
_ _

Kc
3
6

p
_ C
n 3
2
_ _
1
l
_ _
n=2
C n=2 ( );
(11)
where l = 1
c
1
2d
2
.
Now, c
i
= 2r
2
i
is the average SNR at the ith branch
\i = 1; 2; . . .;L. Thus, K =
2
L1
C n=2 ( ) ( )
L
: Substituting P
e1
=
1
2
;
and (11) in (8), the probability of error for equal gain
combiners over Generalized Rayleigh fading channels is
P
e
=
1
2
P
e2
; where P
e2
is shown in (11), K =
2
L1
C n=2 ( ) [ [
L
; l =
1
c
1
2d
2
; c =
1
d

c
L
2
_
; and L = 2.
3.2 Numerical Results
Figure 1 shows the theoretical error probability for
2-branch coherent BPSK equal gain combiners over
Rayleigh fading channels with varying degrees of freedom.
In this case, the SNR at each branch is measured having a
reference point of average SNR in the rst branch. The
error probability decreases as the number of degrees of
freedom (n) increases for 2-branch EGC diversity. This
happens because an increase in the value of n indicates that
the effect of fading on the signal is lower. In other words,
the severity of fading is higher for a lower value of n. A
simulation is performed with 15000 bits for the n = 8 case
with L = 2. It is clear from Fig. 1 that the simulated results
match very well with the theoretical results.
4 Conclusions
A comprehensive closed form expression for the evaluation
of error performance in 2-branch EGC diversity over
Generalized Rayleigh fading channels is presented. A
simulation is also performed and the simulated results
agree very well with the theoretical results. The error
performance curves are useful to the system designers to
make decisions on crucial system parameters by taking into
account the quality of service (QoS) demands.
Appendix
It is interesting to see that Eq. 6 of this paper converges to
Eq. 11 of [17] when n = 2. Here is the proof:
For n = 2, (6) can be written as
P
e
= 2
L
_

0
. . .
_

0
F
NORM(0;d
2
)

L
k=1
r
k
_ _

L
k=1
r
k
c
k
:
exp

L
k=1
r
2
k
c
k
_ _
dr
1
dr
2
. . .dr
L
;
(12)
where c
k
= 2r
2
k
Making change of variables in the integrals
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
10
8
10
7
10
6
10
5
10
4
10
3
10
2
10
1
10
0
L = 2
Average SNR in dB
P
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

o
f

E
r
r
o
r
Generalized Rayleigh fading channels
n = 4
n = 6
n = 8
Simulated results for n = 8
Fig. 1 Probability of Error for Generalized Rayleigh fading channels
with varying degrees of freedom for 2-branch EGC diversity
Int J Wireless Inf Networks
1 3
of (12), where r
/
k
=
r
k

c
k
_ and dr
/
k
=
dr
k

c
k
_ \k = 1; 2; . . .; L, we
have
P
e
= 2
L
_

0
. . .
_

0
F
NORM(0;d
2
)

L
k=1
r
/
k

c
k
_
_ _

L
k=1
r
/
k
: exp

L
k=1
r
/
k
2
_ _
dr
/
1
dr
/
2
. . .dr
/
L
:
(13)
Now, (13) reduces to Eq. 11 of [17] when
the average received SNR at the kth branch, c
k
in this
paper is related to the ratio of the average bit energy to
average noise density in the kth branch, q
k
of [17] by
c
k
=
q
k
L
; and
the variance, d
2
, of the Gaussian random variable, W in
this paper is equal to
1
2
.
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Author Biography
Vidhyacharan Bhaskar received the
B.Sc. degree in Mathematics from
D.G. Vaishnav College, Chennai,
India in 1992, M.E. degree in Elec-
trical & Communication Engineering
from the Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore in1997, and the M.S.E. and
Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineer-
ing fromthe University of Alabama in
Huntsville in 2000 and 2002, respec-
tively. During 20022003, he was a
post-doc fellow with the Communi-
cations research group at the University of Toronto. From September
2003 to December 2006, he was an Associate Professor in the Depart-
ement Genie des syste`mes dinformation et de Telecommunication at
the Universite de Technologie de Troyes, France. Since January 2007,
he is a Professor and Dean of the School of Electronics and Commu-
nications Engineering at S.R.M. University, Kattankulathur, Chennai,
India. His research interests include wireless communications, signal
processing, error control coding and queuing theory.
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