PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SELECTION COMBINING OVER CASCADED RAYLEIGH

FADING CHANNEL

ANUP DEY
Electronics and Communication Engineering Department ,
Kalyani Govt. Engg. College,
Kalyani , Nadia,West Bengal-741235,India.

Cascaded Rayleigh distribution is recently gaining popularity to model mobile-to-mobile wireless channel as it provides
better fits for the experimental data . In this paper, we have derived novel closed-form expressions of the selection
combiner output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) probability density function(pdf) and cumulative distribution function(cdf)
to analyze the performance of the selection combiner(SC) over cascaded Rayleigh fading channel .Based on the pdf
expression obtained, the Outage probability and average bit error rate(ABER) or symbol error rate(SER) of the combiner
are also derived . Numerical results and simulations are also presented to analyze the improvement achieved by
diversity .

1. Introduction In this papers we first derive the expression for

Diversity reception is a powerful technique for
improving the performance of digital communication
systems in a wireless fading channel. Selection
combing (SC) is the simplest, but effective, diversity
technique among the several others used in practice.
Extensive results are reported [8,9,10] and the
references therein, on the study of the performance of
a selection combiner in various fading channels such
as Rayleigh, Ricean, Nakagami-m etc..
Most of the literature devoted for analyzing the
performance of diversity systems assumed Rayleigh or
ricean fading as their channel models which are
applicable for a channel where either transmitter or
receiver is stationary. But applications such as mobile
ad-hoc networks and dedicated short-range
communication systems for intelligent highway,
where both transmitter and receiver are in motion,
these channel models are not suitable. Recent
studies[1,2,3] reveal that fading channel model like
cascaded Rayleigh (some times called as doubly
Rayleigh ) fading channel models, are better suited for
these mobile-to-mobile communication channels.
Despite of its importance, the communication system
performance over cascaded Rayleigh fading channel is
not extensively studied. Among the few papers
dealing with cascaded Rayleigh channel , an exact
expression is presented in [4] for the SER of
coherently detected M-PSK signals for maximum ratio
combining(MRC) over cascaded Rayleigh fading
channel. But the performance evaluations of other
combining techniques such as selection combining
(SC) and equal gain combining(EGC) over cascaded
Rayleigh channel remain as open problems . Other
cascaded Rayleigh related papers include [5,14] .
output SNR pdf and cdf for SC and presented closed-
form expression for the outage probability and single
infinite-range integral expressions for average bit error
rate(ABER) to evaluated the performance of N-branch
SC.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In
section II, we derive the expression for the output
SNR pdf and cdf .In III, we have provided the
expression for the outage probability and average bit
error rate(ABER)for analyzing the performance in
different digital modulation schemes. In IV, we have
provided various numerical and simulation results.
Finally we gave our conclusions in section V.
2. Output SNR pdf and cdf of the Selection
Combiner
The cascaded Rayleigh distribution is the distribution
of the envelope of the product of two independent
complex Gaussian random variables with mean zero
2
and variance σ .Mathematically, the density
function of Z is the Cascaded Rayleigh density given
by,
z 2
pz ( z) = K (z / σ ) (1)
4 0
σ
where K 0 is the modified Bessel function of second
kind of order zero.
Alternatively, it may be represented as [5]
pz ( z) = 4zK0 (2z) (2)
2
when E[z]=2 σ =1,is assumed.
In SC, the branch with the largest instantaneous SNR and the corresponding probability density function
is selected as the output of the combiner and is given (pdf), f (γ ) , is
by[11], Γsc
γ sc = max(γ1, γ 2 ,..., γ N ) (3) f (γ ) = d F (γ ) =
Γsc d γ Γsc
where N is the number of diversity branches. We
assume the channel is frequency non-selective and 2N
K0 (2 γ / γ av ) ×
slowly varying such that it is constant over the 2
γ av (7)
transmitted symbols interval. The instantaneous SNR
N −1
E
of the kth branch is , γ = s [α 2 ] , k=1,2,…,N
1 − 2 γ / γ av K (2 γ / γ av )
k N k  1 
0 Equations (6) and (7) are the novel selection
where Es is the energy of the transmitted signals and combiner output SNR pdf and cdf in terms of the
modified Bessel functions .The above equations can
N 0 is the one-sided noise power spectral density per be used for performance evaluations of SC.
branch. Noting that α k is cascaded Rayleigh
3. Performance Analysis
consequently α k is
2
distributed, the product of two
exponentially distributed random variables. If we Using the above results for pdf and cdf of output SNR
we can derive the several performance measures like
further assume that ( SNR ) k is the same for all outage probability, average bit error rate(ABER) or
diversity branches (say γ av ), then the random average symbol error rate(ASER) .

variable Γ k pertaining to individual branches will 3.1 Outage Probability(OP)

have probability density functions given by The outage probability of a diversity combiner is defined
as the probability of the instantaneous output SNR γ
2
pΓ (γk ) = K0(2 γk / γav) , γk ≥ 0, k=1,2,…,N (4) is bellow some prescribed threshold( γ th ).Hence, using
2
k γ av
output cdf (6) we readily obtain the outage probability for
Now the cumulative distribution function of the kth
N-branch SC in a cascaded Rayleigh channel as follows:
branch can be derived using [ 7,eq. 8.432.6]
Pop = Pr(0 ≤ γ ≤ γ th ) = F (γ ) (8)
Pr( γ k ≤ γ >0) = Γsc th
∞ 3.2 Average Bit Error Rate (ABER)
F (γ k ) = ∫ pΓ (γ k ) d γ k Average BER or average symbol error rate (ASER) is
Γk 0 k
calculated by integrating the conditional error
∞ 2 probability (CEP) P (e | γ ) ,over the pdf of output
= ∫ K (2 γ k / γ av )d γ k e
0 γ 2av 0 SNR of SC γ sc .Mathematically,
and as shown in Appendix this equation leads to ∞
P e = ∫ P (e | γ ) f (γ )d γ (9)
F (γ k ) = 1 − 2 γ k / γ av K1 (2 γ k / γ av ) (5) 0 e Γsc
Γk
where K1 is the modified Bessel function of order one. Alternatively it can be represented as [8, eq. (32)]
Therefore assuming N diversity branches to be
statistically independent, the cumulative distribution ∞ d
Pe = ∫ [− P (e | γ )]F (γ )dγ (10)
function (cdf) of the selection combiner output (the 0 dγ e Γsc
random variable Γ sc ) is straightforward to express Next we shall consider BER or SER for two class of
F (γ ) = Pr( γ k ≤ γ >0 for k=1,2,…,N ) modulation scheme in cascaded Rayleigh with SC.
Γsc 3.2.1 P (e | γ ) = aQ ( bγ ) :The CEP for Binary
N e
= Π Pr(γ k ≤ γ ) phase-shift keying(BPSK),coherent binary frequency -
k =1 shift keying can be expressed in the form[12]
N
= 1− 2 γ / γ avK1(2 γ / γ av ) (6) P ( e | γ ) = aQ ( bγ ) (11)
  e
where Q ( x ) is the area under the standardized 1 1 1
Pe = − exp( ) Ei ( − )
Gaussian pdf and ( a, b ) = (1, 2) for BPSK 2 2 2
and γ av γ av γ av
(18)
( a, b ) = (1,1) for coherent BFSK. Substituting (6) and 2
1∞ 2 γ 2 γ 
(11) into (10) we obtain the expression for BER or + ∫ exp( − γ )  K1 ( ) dγ
SER as follows: 2 0  γ av γ av 
−bγ
a b ∞e N
Pe = ∫ 1− 2 γ / γavK (2 γ / γav) dγ (12) 4. Numerical Results
2 2π 0 γ  k 1 k 
In case of BPSK for N=1, (12) can be represented in Using the cdf of eq.(6) ,Figure.1 plots the outage
closed form (using [7, eq. 614.5] ) probability curves for the selection combiner over
cascaded Rayleigh fading channel with N as running
parameter. The horizontal axis represents the
1 1 1   1 1   instantaneous output SNR relative to O dB and the
Pe = 1− exp( ) K1( ) − K0( ) (13) vertical axis represents the outage
2  2γ 2av 2
2γ av 
2
 2γ av
2
2γ av 

  probability(OP),expressed as a percentage. This plot
and for the case of dual diversity(N=2) ,expansion of shows clearly the improvement made in reception by
(12) leads to ABER of BPSK as the combiner.
For numerical example for ABER ,we consider BPSK
1 1 1  1 1  scheme and using eqs.(12) , (13) and (14) the
Pe = 1− 2 exp( 2 ) K1( 2 ) − K0( 2 )
2  γ av 2γ av  2γ av 2γ av  ABER(or SER) for N=1 and N=2 and N=3 are plotted
  in Figure.2. .ABER for DBPSK are plotted in
(14)
2 Figure.3.Since no close form integrals are available
2 ∞ 2 γ 2 γ  for the second part in the righ hand sides of eq.(14)
+ γ exp(−γ )  ) dγ
2 0∫
K1(
 γav γav 
πγ av and (18) we compute these numerically (simulation
points are marked in the plots).From Figs.2 and 3 , we
observe that in the low SNR per branch
For brevity ABER expressions for N=3 are not regime(SNR<<0 dB) the performance of dual
produced here .Equation (14) can easily be evaluated diversity ,triple diversity and no-diversity are
accurately with very small error tolerance by essentially same. But, as the SNR per branch increases
employing numerical methods like Gauss or adaptive the receiver performance significantly improves with
Lobatto quadrature for integration. the increase in number of diversity antenna (N).For
3.2.2 P (e | γ ) = a exp( −bγ ) : The CEP for non- −2
e example, from Fig.3 ABER of DBPSK is 8 × 10 for
coherent BFSK (NCBFSK) and differential −4 −5
PSK(DBPSK) N=1, 6 × 10 for N=2 and 1 × 10 for N=3 at an
can be expressed in the form[12] average output SNR per branch of 15dB.Similar
observation can be made from Fig.2 for the case of
P ( e | γ ) = a exp( − b γ ) (15)
e BPSK .
where ( a, b ) = (0.5, 0.5) for NCBFSK and
( a, b ) = (0.5,1) for DBPSK. Substituting (6) and (13) 5. Conclusion
into (10) we obtain the expression for BER or SER as In this work we have derived new closed form
follows: expressions for output SNR pdf and cdf for analyzing
∞ −bγ N the performance of SC in a cascaded Rayleigh fading
Pe = ab ∫ e 1− 2 γ / γ avK1(2 γ / γ av ) dγ (16)
0   environment. For analyzing the performance for a N-
branch SC the outage probability expressions are
In case of DBPSK for N=1,(14) can be represented in presented in closed form and infinite-range single
closed form integral expressions are provided for ABER.
Numerical examples and simulation are also given to
1 1 1
Pe = − exp( ) Ei (− ) (17) validate the derived expressions and for performance
2 2 2
2γ av γ av γ av evaluation .As example the ABER for BPSK and
DBPSK are evaluated numerically and the simulation
results are presented. It is found that ABER improves
where Ei is the exponential integral defined in [7,eq. with increase in N in the cascaded Rayleigh fading
8.211.1].For the case of dual diversity ( N=2) channel.
 0
10
Appendix N=1
Let X = R R where R , R are i.i.d and exponential 10
-1
N=2
1 2 1 2 N=3
random variables with pdf -2
10
1 r
f R (r ) = exp( − r ≥ 0;

A v erage B it E rror Rate

) -3
2 2 10
2σ 2σ
Therefore density of X, following[11] 10
-4

1 ∞1 w x
f X ( x) = exp( − −
-5

4 0∫ w
)dw 10
2 2
4σ 2σ 2σ w -6
10
1 2
=
4
K0 ( x /σ ) -7
2σ 10

Now cdf 10
-8

-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
∞ Average Branch SNR(dB)
FX ( x) = ∫ p X ( x)dx
0 Figure 2. ABER of BPSK in cascaded Rayleigh fading
channel with SC( N=1, N=2 and N=3).Simulation points are
marked by ‘+’ and ‘◊’ on the plot
1x ∞ 1 w x
= exp (− −
4 0∫ 0∫ w
)d w d x
2 2 0
4σ 2σ 2σ w 10

Now interchanging the order of integration and

N=1
subsequent algebric manipulation leads 10
-1

1 ∞ w x 2
FX ( x ) = exp( − − )dw − 2σ 
2  0∫ 2 2 -2
N=2
A verage B it E rror Rate

2σ   10
2σ 2σ w
and using [ 7,eq. 3.324.1] we obtain -3
10
FX (x) = 1 − x / σ 2 K1 ( x /σ 2)
where K1 is the modified Bessel function of second -4
10

kind of order one. Now substitution of 2 σ 2

= γ av
-5 N=3
10
in the above follows eq. (5).
-6
10
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Average Branch SNR(dB)

100 Figure 3.ABER of DBPSK in cascaded Rayleigh fading channel

N=1 with SC( N=1, N=2 and N=3).Simulation points are marked by ‘+’
90
and ‘◊’ on the plot.
2
80

70
3 References
Outage Probability

60

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