Performance Analysis of Space Modulation Techniques over alpha - mu Fading Channels with Imperfect Channel Estimation

This paper analyzes the performance of space modulation techniques over generalized fading channels with imperfect channel estimation. In particular, a unified approach for calculating the pairwise error probability (PEP) of spatial modulation (SM) and space shift keying (SSK) modulation techniques for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems is presented. A new, simple, and exact closed-form expression for the PEP over generalized α-μ fading channels under imperfect channel state information (CSI) is derived. The PEP expression considers the joint distributions of the envelope and the phase of the fading channel. Furthermore, the derived PEP and the union bound technique are used to obtain a closed-form expression for the average bit error rate (BER). The influence of the fading parameters α and μ and the channel estimation error on the system performance is analyzed and discussed through representative numerical examples. The correctness of our derivations is validated by means of MonteCarlo simulations.