Performance Analysis of MRC Diversity Reception Over Double Hoyt Fading Channels

In this paper, the performance of diversity systems operating in flat double Hoyt fading channels is studied. A novel exact expression, in the form of double finite-range integrals, is derived for the moment generating function (MGF) of the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Simplified expressions are extracted for various special cases of the underlying propagation model. By using a mixture gamma (MG) distribution in the form of triple finite sums, the probability density function (PDF) of the SNR under double Hoyt fading channels is first approximated. Capitalizing on this, an approximate closed-form expression is then derived for the corresponding MGF and its most important special cases. Furthermore, building on these results, exact and approximate solutions for the ergodic capacity (EC) and symbol error probability (SEP) of M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) modulation schemes are studied for maximum ratio combining (MRC) diversity receivers. Additionally, a new approximate closed-form expression for the corresponding asymptotic SEP at high SNR is derived. Numerical and complementary simulation results demonstrate the validity of the obtained theoretical results as well as the accuracy of the approximations. The present study is relevant to the performance evaluation of multi-antenna wireless communication systems operating under multipath fading channels that are worse than double Rayleigh fading channels.