Ergodic H-S/MRC Mutual Information

Abstract

This paper studies the ergodic mutual information of hybrid selection/maximal-ratio combining (H-S/MRC) diversity system under BPSK/QPSK modulations. We consider a simple single-input multiple-output (SIMO) channel, where a subset of branches are selected and combined using maximal-ratio combining (MRC) to maximize the instantaneous Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) at the receiver. For independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh flat fading, a general recursive expression is developed to estimate the ergodic input-output mutual information of the whole system. Besides analytical derivations, simulations are provided to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the derived results.