Performance analysis of dual-branch selection combining technique over the generalized Alpha-Mu fading channels

Abstract

Inspired by the low-difficulty of implementing a dual-branch selection combining (SC) technique, this research paper presents approximate closed form expressions for the bit error rate (BER) of M-ary phase shift keying (M-PSK) considering the SC technique. In particular, the BER expression is derived over independent and identically distributed (i.i.d) alpha - mu fading channels and is based on the use of Meijer’s G-function. The presented mathematical formulas can be modified to study the performance of different types of fading channels including Weibull, exponential, Nakagami-m, Gamma, and Rayleigh channels. This can be achieved by updating the parameters of the propagation medium nonlinearity (alpha) and the number of multipath clusters (mu). In addition, the paper provides numerical results that demonstrate a close match in the performance of the derived expressions and the simulation findings in terms of BER. Specifically, a very close to a total BER match is achieved using a range of signal to noise ratio (SNR) levels for various selections of the alpha and mu parameters. The obtained closed form BER expression of M-PSK considering the dual-branch SC technique is novel, new, and has never been published in the literature before.