Error performance over frequency-selective variable Nakagami fading channel with RAKE reception

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of variability in Nakagami-m parameter with distance over Frequency Selective Nakagami fading channel. The error performance of MPSK systems is studied and improvement techniques are employed using RAKE receiver. The variation of m parameter with distance is considered under micro- and macrocellular structures with different distributions of reflection co-efficients at 900 and 1800 MHz. The effect of frequency is also studied. It is observed that at shorter distances, operations at higher frequency gives better error rate performance but at larger macrocellelar distances, the received power and the path loss becomes independent of the frequency thereby providing insignificant improvement. A new parameter Am is introduced in order to study the behavior of the system as the link distance is increased.