Another Look at Multibranch Switched Diversity Systems

Abstract — We propose an alternative simpler implementation of generalized switch and stay combining (GSSC) receiver, which utilizes only one switching circuit and includes the classic dual SSC as a special case. Its performance is evaluated over Nakagami-m fading channels leading in closed-form expressions for the average symbol error probability. Moreover, for the case of non identical branches, the optimum threshold is accurately approximated in closed-form, avoiding the use of complicated numerical methods. Index Terms — Diversity techniques, fading channels, switch and stay combining (SSC)