Symbol error rate evaluation of satellite mobile communication channels

Next generation communication will provide ubiquitous seamless services to mobile users. Satellites will play an important role in such global access. In satellite mobile communications, TWT (traveling wave tube) amplifiers are used to increase power efficiency. Unfortunately, power-efficient amplifiers cause nonlinear distortions to the transmitted signal. These distortions make the received symbols no longer on the original regular lattice but on a warped one. This paper studies the theoretical error probability of nonlinear fading channels (Rayleigh, Rice, and Loo fading models). By using Craig´s method, we derive new expressions for the exact error probability of nonlinear fading channels. Monte Carlo simulations show good agreement with our theoretical analysis. Thanks to such analysis, this is the first time we can compare the performance of fading channel with and without nonlinearity theoretically; and see the degradation due to nonlinear amplifier in satellite systems. We also show the performance improvement by maximum ratio combining (MRC) diversity for nonlinear fading channel. What´s more, we can compare different constellations performance in nonlinear fading channel by using this theoretical method, and choose the best one for satellite communication.