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.