Performance analysis of OSTBC-MIMO systems employing M-QAM transmission over independent but not necessarily identical generalized-K fading channels

Abstract

The performance of Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes (OSTBC) for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems employing M-QAM transmission is investigated over independent but not necessarily identically distributed (i.n.i.d.) generalized-K fading channels with arbitrary real-valued k and m. Before this, the i.n.i.d. generalized-K fading channel has never been considered for the OSTBC-MIMO systems. Especially, the effects of the shaping parameter k on the OSTBC-MIMO system performance are unknown. Specifically, we investigate mainly the significance of the shaping parameter k on the OSTBC-MIMO system performance in terms of the average Symbol Error Probability (SEP) and Shannon capacity. By establishing the system model, the Probability Density Function (PDF) of the equivalent Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is derived. Then, the closed-form expressions of such performance metrics are obtained successively. Finally, Numerical results prove that the derived expressions are validated via a set of Monte-Carlo simulations and the implications of the shaping parameter k on the overall performance are highlighted.