SEP performance of triangular QAM with MRC spatial diversity over fading channels

This paper presents the mathematical model for symbol error probability of triangular quadrature amplitude modulation in a single-input multi-output environment. The symbol error probability performance is evaluated over fading channels namely Rayleigh, Nakagami-m, Nakagami-n, and Nakagami-q. The maximal-ratio combining technique is considered as spatial diversity algorithm and unified moment-generating-function-based approach is applied to derive the results. The multiple channels considered are independent but not necessarily identically distributed. The results presented are valid for slow and frequency non-selective fading channels only. The symbol error probability expressions obtained contain single integrals with finite limits and integrand composed of elementary functions which help us evaluate our analytical expressions numerically. We also compare these expressions with the error performances obtained through computer simulation, which show excellent agreement. In addition, an example has been simulated to validate our derived mathematical expressions.