Performance analysis of output-threshold generalized selection combining (OT-GSC) over Rayleigh fading channels

Abstract

Generalized selection combining (GSC), also known as hybrid selection/maximum ratio combining, is one of the most widely investigated low-complexity diversity techniques. Recently, output-threshold GSC (OT-GSC) was proposed as a power-saving variant of traditional GSC scheme. In this paper, we present an exact performance analysis of OT-GSC over Rayleigh fading channels. In particular, we obtain the cumulative distribution function (CDF), probability density function (PDF) and moment generation function (MGF) of the combined SNR with OT-GSC. Then, we apply these results to study the outage probability and average error rate performance of OT-GSC. These analysis allows for a thorough comparison of OT-GSC with other variants of GSC, such as minimum selection GSC