Equal-gain combining diversity reception of M-ary cpsk signals in nakagami fading

An expression for the average symbol error rate of M-ary coherent phase-shift-keyed (CPSK) signals for equal-gain combining (EGC) diversity reception in slow Nakagami fading channels is derived using the characteristic function method. The new expression is presented in the form of a one-fold integral. This expression adapts readily for numerical computation of error rates with no restriction on the number of channels or the value of the fading severity index. Numerical results for the error rates are presented for 2- and 4-channel diversity reception of binary, quaternary and octonary CPSK signals.