Performances of EGC and MRC diversity for UWB PAPM systems in IEEE channel models

Accurate approximations to the bit error rates of equal gain combining and maximal ratio combining diversity are obtained for pulse-amplitude-and-position-modulation operating in IEEE ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) channel models. Numerical results are presented to show the accuracy of the approximations for the IEEE CM1 and CM3 UWB channel models. Results for pulse amplitude modulation and pulse position modulation are obtained as special cases of the more general results. Precise estimates of the loss of equal gain combining relative to maximal ratio combining are obtained for both line-of-sight CM1 and non-line-of-sight CM3 channels. Noteworthy, while the performance loss of equal gain combining with respect to maximal ratio combining is less than 0.4 dB for the non-line-of-sight channel, it can be as much as 2 dB for the line-of-sight channel.