Performance of ‘modified switch and examine’ diversity combiner over generalized gamma fading channels

Performance of a modified switch and examine combining (M-SEC) diversity receiver [1] with arbitrary number of branches is analyzed over independent generalized gamma fading channels. Expressions for the average output signal-to-noise ratio and amount of fading of the combiner output signal are obtained. The average bit error rate for non-coherent modulation schemes and the average Shannon channel capacity of multi-branch M-SEC receiver are derived in terms of Meijer's G-function. The obtained mathematical analysis is accompanied with numerical results to demonstrate the effects of fading and the number of diversity branches on the performance of the receiver. We have compared the performance of M-SEC with that of dual- and multi-branch switched diversity system. The results for a Rayleigh channel is obtained from the derived expressions and is presented as a special case of the generalized gamma fading model. Numerical results are verified through computer simulation results.