Error performance of general order selection in correlated Nakagami fading channels

A procedure for determining the probability distribution of the rth order statistic, G(r:L), r = 1, 2,..., L, among a set of L correlated Nakagami diversity branch gains G(1), G(2),..., G(L) has been described in David and Nagaraja (2003) and Elkashlan et al. (2008). The results are used to evaluate the bit error rate (BER) of general order selection (GOS), a diversity method in which the rth order branch is selected for transmission, over correlated Nakagami fading branches. GOS can be used to improve system throughput and provide various levels of services, both of which are highly desirable in high-speed communication systems. Numerical and simulation results are presented and used to illustrate the effects of fading correlation on the BER associated with the rth order gain branch.