Fast simulation of diversity Nakagami fading channels using finite-state Markov models

We designed a multi-channel Nakagami fading simulator by modeling the received combined signal-to-noise ratio as a finite-state Markov chain, following a previously proposed approach. Our model generates directly the error process at the output of a diversity receiver and can emulate selection, maximal-ratio, and equal-gain combining. As the order of diversity increases, the savings in computational complexity improve linearly with respect to a traditional waveform simulator. The level crossing rates of the simulated envelope are shown to be very close to their theoretical values. The simulator's performance is also evaluated in terms of the accuracy of the obtained bit error rates, for both uncoded and coded systems. The simulator speeds up the performance evaluation of high-rate communication links where a high number of samples is needed.