Approximation of envelope statistics with Nakagami distribution for output of noncoherent diversity combiners

A simple relationship for estimating the fading parameter m of the Nakagami distribution is obtained for the output of L-branch noncoherent diversity combiners when the branch signals of unequal mean powers are independently Rayleigh faded. Comparisons between the exact distributions and the Nakagami distribution with approximated ms for L=2 and L=3 show good agreement over wide ranges of relative mean powers between the branch signals