Burst-Error Analysis of Dual-Hop Fading Channels Based on the Second-Order Channel Statistics

The burst-error (BE) rate of dual-hop fading channels under a fixed fade threshold is estimated based on the level crossing rate (LCR) and average fade duration (AFD). The LCR and AFD of the equivalent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are first derived for dual-hop Nakagami-m and Weibull fading channels with a fixed-gain amplify-and-forward (AF) relay, where closed-form lower and upper bounds are derived for the LCR and AFD of the Nakagami-m fading channels. Numerical results from theoretical evaluations and Monte Carlo simulations are illustrated to validate the analysis and to compare the performance of the two fading channels.