Performance Analysis of Conventional Diversity Combining Schemes in Rayleigh Fading Channel

Diversity is a powerful technique to combat the wireless fading impairment. In this paper, types of diversity along with different diversity combining techniques -Selection Diversity, Equal Gain Combining and Maximal Ratio combining are being proposed. An analytical expression for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and bit-error-rate at the output of a three-branch maximal ratio combining, equal gain combining and selection diversity system is given. The three branches are assumed to be Rayleigh fading, correlated with the BPSK modulation. Measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio and bit-error-rate after selection, equal gain combining and maximal ratio combining were made in Rayleigh fading channels and compared with the analytical results.