Performance of Two Dual-Branch Postdetection Switch-and-Stay Combining Schemes in Correlated Rayleigh and Rician Fading

The performance of binary frequency-shift keying (BFSK) and M-ary frequency shift keying (MFSK) with dual-branch postdetection switch-and-stay combining (SSC) in correlated Rayleigh and Rician fading is studied. Two postdetection SSC receivers are considered and the performances of noncoherent BFSK and MFSK are analyzed. Closed-form expressions are derived for the average bit-error rate (BER) of BFSK and MFSK with postdetection SSC in correlated Rayleigh and Rician fading. Optimum switching thresholds that minimize the average BER are obtained. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations are presented to test the validity of the analytical results. The performance of dual-branch postdetection SSC is compared with the performance of dual-branch predetection SSC. The effects of correlation, fading parameter, average fading power imbalance, and switching threshold on the performances of postdetection SSC receivers are examined