Theoretical reliability of MMSE linear diversity combining in Rayleigh-fading additive interference channels

We derive an exact closed-form solution for the reliability of an ideal M-branch MMSE (minimum mean-squared error) diversity combiner operating in a Rayleigh-fading channel with N interferers, each having some specified average power. The reliability is defined as the probability, taken over fading of the desired and interfering signals, that the combiner's output signal-to-interference ratio (SINR) is greater than some specified threshold. This kind of metric is important in evaluating the potential capacity improvements of using diversity combining and adaptive array processing in interference-limited wireless systems. Our result is remarkably simple, fast, straightforward to compute, and numerically stable. We show a set of special cases, which relate to standard results and reveal valuable insights into how this type of array processing operates in interference-limited environments. We also present a set of numerical examples, which show that our calculated reliabilities agree with estimates from Monte Carlo simulation.