Analysis and Simulation of MRC Diversity Reception in Correlated Composite Nakagami-Lognormal Fading Channels

The physical meaning of the composite Nakagami-lognormal fading model is not well understood by many researchers using the model. The signal power transfer and transform at the interface between the global lognormal shadowing sub-channels and the local Nakagami multipath sub-channels in the presence of correlation between these diversity sub-channels is rather complex. This is the main reason why a thorough analysis or a simulation model is absent to date for the case of correlated composite Nakagami-lognormal diversity channels. This paper presents a novel technique for the estimation of the probability density function (PDF) of the signal-to-noise (SNR) at the output of a maximum ratio combining (MRC) receiver operating in correlated composite diversity fading channels. The PDF is estimated using the recently proposed two-point lossless moment generating function (MGF) matching technique and a closed-form expression for the bit-error rate (BER) for QPSK signal is consequently presented using the Gauss-Hermite polynomial approximation. The paper also presents the complex Monte-Carlo simulation model for the MRC reception and BER counting in correlated composite Nakagami-lognormal fading channels. Keywords– Nakagami-lognormal, maximum ratio combining (MRC), two point matching, moment generating function (MGF).