Analysis method of MIMO MRC systems under nakagami m fading environment

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis method of i.i.d. (independent and identically distributed) MIMO (multiple input multiple output) channels under Nakagami m fading environment based on statistical distributions of the largest eigenvalue which is useful for the analysis of MRC (maximal ratio combining) communication systems. Given distribution formulae are introduced utilizing the conversion of MIMO channels into equivalent SIMO models with the same number of diversity branches and total power equal to the per-branch largest eigenvalue mean. The derived density function has a simple monomial form which is suitable for calculations of various performance indices of MIMO systems. Through computer simulations, the effectiveness of the proposed approximated formulae is demonstrated. Impact of antenna number and Nakagami factor representing the depth of fading on the approximation precision is also investigated. In addition, exact eigenvalue distribution of MIMO Nakagami m pinhole channel is described from the theoretical viewpoint.