Serial relaying communications over generalized-gamma fading channels

In this paper, a study on the end-to-end performance of multi-hop non-regenerative relaying networks over independent generalized-gamma (GG) fading channels is presented. Using an upper bound for the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), novel closed-form expressions for the probability density function, the moments, and the moments-generating function of the end-to-end SNR are presented. Based on these derived formulas, lower bounds for the outage and the average bit error probability (ABEP) are derived in closed form. Special attention is given to the lowand high-SNR regions having practical interest as well as to the Nakagami fading scenario. Moreover, the performance of the considered system when employing adaptive square-quadrature amplitude modulation is further analyzed in terms of the average spectral efficiency, the bit error outage, and the ABEP. Computer simulation results verify the tightness and the accuracy of the proposed bounds. Copyright c © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.