Performance of MRC Diversity Systems for the Detection of Signals with Nakagami Fading

Bit error rate (BER) is analyzed theoretically for diversity reception in Nakagami fading environment using an <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">M</tex> -branch maximal ratio combiner (MRC). Coherent and incoherent reception of frequency shift keying (FSK) are considered, using the multiple branch diversity system for both identical and different diversity branch fading parameters. The effect of correlation is also considered for the dual diversity case. The results are extended to include coherent phase shift keying (CPSK) and differential phase shift keying (DPSK).