Exact Error Analysis of MPAM Signaling for a Cooperative Diversity System with Correlated Links Using Paired Error Approach

In this letter, we consider an uncoded cooperative diversity system consisting of a source (S), a decode and forward (DF) relay (R), and a destination (D). We assume slow, flat, and correlated Nakagami-m fading environment and employ selection combining (SC) at D. Furthermore, we derive the exact end-to-end symbol error probability (SEP) of this system with M-ary pulse-amplitude modulation (MPAM) signaling using paired error approach. It is found from the numerical results that the SR-RD correlated-channel system performs better than the SD-RD correlated, SD-SR-RD correlated, and uncorrelated-channel systems.