Performance bounds for diversity receptions over a new fading model with arbitrary branch correlation

The performance of a new (Beaulieu-Xie) fading model is analyzed using bounds. This recently proposed fading model can be used to describe both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight components of a fading channel having different diversity orders. We consider the outage probability and error rate performance of maximal ratio combining, equal-gain combining, and selection combining over arbitrarily correlated Beaulieu-Xie fading channels. Closed-form expressions for upper and lower bounds to the outage probability and error rate are obtained, and it is shown that these bounds are asymptotically tight in the high signal-to-noise ratio regime. The analytical results are verified via Monte Carlo simulations. It is shown that the Beaulieu-Xie fading model can be more useful than the Ricean and Nakagami-m fading models in characterizing environments with both line-of-sight and multiple reflected specular components.Applied Science, Faculty ofEngineering, School of (Okanagan)ReviewedFacult