Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72

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Computers and Electrical Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compeleceng

Error probability analysis of an MC-DS-CDMA system under

Weibull fading with a moment-generating function
Joy Iong-Zong Chen *, Chieh Wen Liou, Chieh Chung Yu
Department of Communication Engineering, Dayeh University, 168 University Rd., Dacun, Chunghua 51505, Taiwan, ROC

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The performance, with error probability analysis, of an MC-DS-CDMA (multi-carrier direct-
Received 7 September 2007 sequence coded-division multiple-access) system adopting a Weibull fading channel is
Received in revised form 6 April 2009 proposed and evaluated. On the basis of the multivariate MGF (moment-generating func-
Accepted 18 May 2009
tion) of Weibull statistics and an alternative expression of the Q-function, an approximate
Available online 4 July 2009
BER (bit-error rate) expression is derived for an MC-DS-CDMA system combined with MRC
(maximal ratio-combining) diversity. The Weibull fading model is applied to analyze the
Keywords:
BER performance of an MC-DS-CDMA system by considering multi-users with both
MC-DS-CDMA system
MRC (maximal ratio-combining)
multi-carriers and the phenomena of PBI (partial-band interference) cases. Regardless of
PBI (partial-band interference) the channel model assumed or the user number considered, it is noteworthy that the PBI
Weibull fading is definitely the most important factor dominating the performance of an MC-DS-CDMA
MGF (moment-generating function) system, according to the results obtained in this study. The reliability of the proposed
schemes can be explicitly verified in accordance with the previously reported results. Thus,
we assert that the aim of the performance analysis of an MC-DS-CDMA system operating
under Weibull fading has been completely achieved.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The most important issue in the design and investigation of broadband wireless communication systems in the future
consists of support to a wide range of services and high data bit rates. A variety of multiple-access radio techniques can
be employed to accomplish these purposes. Both in 2G (second generation) and 3G (third generation) wireless mobile sys-
tems, the CDMA (coded-division multiple-access) system based on spread-spectrum signaling has become a significantly
attractive multiple-access technique, especially the advanced techniques of OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplex-
ing) schemes. Since the orthogonality exists between subcarriers, it is the principal feature enabling a CDMA system to com-
bat the channel-fading phenomenon and to avoid narrowband interference in multiple-access schemes. However, the
capabilities of 3G systems will eventually become insufficient to cope with the increasing demands for fixed broadband net-
work services. On the basis of motivation, the 4G (fourth generation) wireless systems, called MC-CDMA (multi-carrier
CDMA), generated by OFDM signaling are now being explored [1]. One of the most important types of MC-CDMA systems
is the MC-DS-CDMA (multi-carrier direct-sequence CDMA), in which data sequences multiplied by a spreading sequencer
modulate disjointed multiple carriers. The receiver provides a correlator for each carrier, which at each output is combined
with MRC (maximal ratio-combining) diversity. Generally, multi-carrier DS systems can be categorized into two types: (1) a
combination of OFDM and CDMA, and (2) a parallel transmission scheme of narrowband DS waveforms in the frequency
domain [2–4]. Both aforementioned modulation methods have been analyzed by combining them with many varieties of

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jchen@mail.dyu.edu.tw (J.I-Z. Chen).

0045-7906/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compeleceng.2009.05.002
62 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72

configurations. It is known that the two major sources of interference in wireless communication systems result from ISI
(inter-symbol interference) and the fading occurring in the propagating channel.
During the past several years, many signaling schemes developed by multi-carrier techniques have been proposed and
analyzed under the assumption of different fading channel models. Kondo and Milstein [4] evaluated the system perfor-
mance of an MC-DS-CDMA system with MRC under a Rayleigh fading channel. Yee et al. [5], in order to obtain the average
BER (bit-error rate) performance for an MC-DS-CDMA system, applied three methods for computing the approximate pdf
(probability density function) of the sum of i.i.d. (independently identical distribution) Rayleigh random variables. The re-
sults obtained by Ziemer and Nadgauda [6] were applied to analyze the effects of the correlations among subcarriers for
an MC-DS-CDMA system, in which only an AWGN with a single-user was assumed. Shi and Latva-aho [7] analyzed the per-
formance of an MC-CDMA system for the effects of both correlated envelopes and phases. Kim et al. [8] evaluated the per-
formance of an MC-CDMA system operating in the presence of a Rayleigh correlated fading channel; whereas, Xu and
Milstein [9] analyzed an MC-DS-CDMA operating under the same condition. Subsequently, Yang and Hanzo [10] evaluated
a generalized MC-DS-CDMA system operating with Nakagami-m channel. The following year, the same researchers extended
their investigation to consider two additional types of chip waveforms, known as time-domain half-sine and raised-cosine
chip, in addition to rectangular chip waveforms [11]. A further performance analysis of a generalized MC-DS-CDMA system
with Nakagami-m fading channels was completed by Sener et al. [12]. Moreover, Kang and Yao [13] analyzed the perfor-
mance of an MC-CDMA system with independent and correlated subcarriers operating with Nakagami-m fading channels.
Shi and Latva-aho [14] adopted MGF (moment-generating function) methods to calculate the BER of an MC-CDMA system
running with Nakagami-m fading. Finally Chen calculated the performance of an MC-CDMA system with MRC diversity
working in correlated Nakagami-m fading environments [15]. Most of the aforementioned publications reported results of
the performance of a CDMA system having multi-carrier schemes operating with Nakagami-m fading model.
It is noteworthy to consider that the Weibull distribution is a versatile alternative for evaluating the performance of a
wireless radio system. More than 50 years ago, Weibull first proposed his distribution for estimating the lifetime of machin-
ery, a scheme now widely used in several scientific fields [16]. The Weibull distribution has been applied mostly to modeling
the dispersion of received signal levels caused by various kinds of obstacles, such as in weather forecasting and the operation
of radar systems. In the present study, it is assumed that a fading channel schematized by the Weibull distribution can be
regarded as an approximation to a generalized Nakagami-m distribution of the same order; moreover, the Weibull distribu-
tion can exhibit a good fit for experimental fading channels in both indoor and outdoor environments. Furthermore, accord-
ing to results from experimental measurements which have demonstrated that the characteristic scheme of a Nakagami-m
distribution is more versatile than that of a Rayleigh and Rice distribution in urban areas, the Nakagami-m can include spe-
cial cases such as one-sided Gaussian and Rayleigh distributions [17]. Thus, issues of wireless communications in Weibull
fading environments have attracted the interest of several researchers. For example, Alouini and Simon [18] evaluated
the performance of the linear diversity of GSC (generalized selection combination) in an independent Weibull fading chan-
nel. Sagias and colleagues [19,20] conducted a performance analysis of switched and SC (selection combining) diversity by
evaluating the average SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) with two parameters, namely AoF (amount of fading) and switching rate,
respectively. Chen [21], one of the present researchers, derived a closed-form formula of the LCR (level crossing rate) and
AFD (average fade duration) for dual-branch SC diversity in correlated Weibull fading environments. Moreover, Nadarajah
and Kotz [22] offered proof for a new and simplified expression for the Weibull MGF statistic. Finally, Sagias and George
[23] claimed that the results might not be accurate if the assumption regarding the input-diversity channel is unsupported
by a consideration of sufficient separation between the antennas; therefore, multivariate Weibull distribution can be well
characterized as a propagation model in a performance analysis of reception via multiple access techniques.
In consideration of the previous research, the aim of this study is to extend the concept of adopting the Weibull distri-
bution as a fading channel model for deriving BER data when evaluating the performance of an MC-DS-CDMA system. For
comparison, multi-user cases both with and without PBI (partial-band interference) conditions are analyzed. The adopted
schemes of fading environments with Weibull distribution for evaluating the performance an MC-DS-CDMA system appear
to constitute a newly proposed idea. Moreover, MGF methods with multivariate Weibull distribution are employed to cal-
culate the pdf of an MC-DS-CDMA system to avoid the difficulty of searching for the statistics formulas for the decision vari-
ables at the MRC output. The remainder of this report is organized as follows: The system models of MC-DS-CDMAs over
fading channels are described in Section 2. Analytical expressions of the average BER performance of an MC-DS-CDMA in
Weibull fading channels in different kinds of configurations are derived in Section 3. The results and a discussion are pre-
sented in Section 4 and a brief conclusion stated in Section 5.

2. System models

2.1. Transmitter model

The transmitter block diagram proposed in [4] and reproduced in Fig. 1 was adopted as a model for this research. This
diagram depicts an MC-DS-CDMA system in which a unique spreading sequence is assumed to serve for each user. The active
user employs an M subcarrier, which should be equal to the number designating the branch number of the propagation
channels, wherein a BPSK (binary-phase shift-keying) modulation scheme is considered. The overall bandwidth of an
 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72 63

X
2 cos (ω1t + θ 1( k ) )
Ec (Energy / Chip)
s (k ) (t )
d n(
k)
X
X ∑
Impulse
Modulator h (t )
2 cos (ω 2 t + θ 2( k ) )

c n( )
k Chip wave
shaping filter

X
2 cos (ω M t + θ M( k ) )

Fig. 1. Transmitter block diagram of an MC-DS-C DMA system for kth user [4].

MC-DS-CDMA system with all subcarriers is given by BW M ¼ ð1 þ lÞ=MT c , where 0 < l 6 1 is the roll-off factor, M the num-
ber of subcarriers, and T c the chip duration. From the aforementioned terms, the total bandwidth of the kth user of the sys-
tem can be computed as BW T ¼ ð1 þ lÞ=T c . The transmitted signal of the kth user in the system shown in Fig. 1 can be
written as [4]
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi X
1 X
M h ðkÞ
i
ðkÞ
sðkÞ ðtÞ ¼ 2Ec cðkÞ ðkÞ
n db hðt  nMT c  s Þ Re ejð2pfi tþhi Þ ð1Þ
n¼1 i¼1
ðkÞ ðkÞ
where Ec is the chip energy, cn the pseudo-random spreading sequence, dbn=Nc 2 fþ1; 1g the data bit of the kth user, where
N indicates the length of the PN (pseudo noise) sequence, h(t) the impulse response of the chip wave-shaping filter, sðkÞ an
ðkÞ
arbitrary time delay uniformly distributed over ½0; NMTc , Re½ the real part, hi and fi0 s; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; M random carrier phases
assumed to be uniformly distributed over ð0; 2p and the carrier frequencies, respectively.

2.2. Receiver model

The receiver block diagram of an MC-DS-CDMA system, combined with a BPF (band-pass filter) and an LPF (low-pass filter)
filter, for the referenced (first) user is illustrated in Fig. 2. The received equivalent low-pass signal, rl ðtÞ, can be obtained as
ðkÞ
rl ðtÞ ¼ sl ðtÞ  ci ðsÞ þ zðtÞ þ zJ ðtÞ
" #
X K pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi X
1
X
M h i
ðkÞ ðkÞ  ðkÞ
jhi ðkÞ ðkÞ
¼ 2Ec db cn h t  nMT c  s ðkÞ
e  ai ejbi dðsÞ þ zðtÞ þ zJ ðtÞ
k¼1 n¼1 i¼1
K pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi X
X 1
  XM  ðkÞ ðkÞ 
ðkÞ
¼ 2Ec db cðkÞ
n h t  nMT c  s
ðkÞ
 aðkÞ
i e
j hi þbi
þ zðtÞ þ zJ ðtÞ ð2Þ
k¼1 n¼1 i¼1

t = n ' MTc
H ∗ (ω − ω 1 ) ζ i(1) ( t ) N −1 χ1
+H ∗
(ω + ω 1 ) X LPF X ∑
n '= 0
g1
(Low-pass filter)
2 cos (ω1t + ψ 1(1) ) cn( ' )
1
t = n ' MTc
r (t ) H ∗ (ω − ω 2 ) ζ 2(1) ( t ) N −1 χ2
χ
X LPF X ∑ g2
+ H (ω + ω 2 )
∗
n '= 0
∑
2 cos (ω 2 t + ψ 2(1) ) (1)
cn '

t = n ' MTc
ζ M(1) ( t ) χM
H ∗ (ω − ω M ) N −1

+H ∗
(ω + ω M ) X LPF X ∑
n '=0
gM

2 cos (ω M t + ψ M(1) )
cn( ' )
1

Fig. 2. Receiver block diagram of referenced (first) user.

64 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72

where the subscript l denotes the low-pass, the symbol  the convolution operator, dðsÞ the impulse function, zðtÞ the equiv-
alent low-pass AWGN, and zJ ðtÞ the PBI after the low-pass filter. The complex low-pass equivalent impulse response of the

ðkÞ ðkÞ ðkÞ ðkÞ ðkÞ
ith channel is fci ¼ ni  dðtÞ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; Mg and ni ¼ ai exp jei , where ai and ei represent the attenuation factor and
phase shift of the ith channel of the kth user, respectively. The complex equivalent impulse response of the channel is ex-
P
pressed as cðtÞ ¼ Ll¼1 al dðt  lT c Þ, the path number being equivalent to the subcarrier number, i.e., L ¼ M. Hence, the received
signal at the receiver is given as [4]
( )
X
K pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi X
1
ðkÞ
X
M
ðkÞ ðkÞ
rðtÞ ¼ 2Ec dh cðkÞ
n hðt  nMT c  s ðkÞ
Þ  ai cosð2 p fi t þ w i Þ þ N w ðtÞ þ NJ ðtÞ ð3Þ
k¼1 n¼1 i¼1
ðkÞ ðkÞ ðkÞ
where K denotes the user number, wi ¼ hi þ ei , N w ðtÞ the AWGN with a double-sided PSD (power spectral density) of
g0 =2, and NJ ðtÞ the partial band of Gaussian interference with a PSD of SnJ ðf Þ, written as
(
gJ WJ WJ
; fJ  6 jf j 6 fJ þ
SnJ ðf Þ ¼ 2 2 2 ð4Þ
0; otherwise
where fJ and W J represent the bandwidth of the interference and the center frequency, respectively. Moreover, the interfer-
ence (jamming)-to-signal ratio, JSR, is defined as the ratio of the interference power value to the signal power, which can be
written as
gJ W J gJ N
JSR ¼ ¼ ð1 þ lÞ ð5Þ
Eb =T Eb M
ð1Þ
The output signals after LPF, fi ðtÞ, i ¼ 1; . . . ; M, of the chip-matched filter in the branch for the referenced user is given by
 i pffiffiffi  o
ð1Þ ð1Þ
fi ðtÞ ¼ Lp rðtÞI1 fH ðx  xi Þ þ H ðx þ xi Þg  2 cos xi t þ h0i

X
K X
1 pffiffiffiffiffi  ðkÞ  n o
ðkÞ 0ð1Þ
I1 jHðxÞj2 ejxðnMT c þsk Þ
ðkÞ 0
¼ Ec db cðkÞn ai cos hi  hi
k¼1 n¼1
 i pffiffiffi  o
ð1Þ
þ Lp nðtÞI1 fH ðx  xi Þ þ H ðx þ xi Þg  2 cos xi t þ h0i
 i pffiffiffi  o
ð1Þ
þ Lp nJ ðtÞI1 fH ðx  xi Þ þ H ðx þ xi Þg  2 cos xi t þ h0i
ð1Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ
¼ Dfi ðtÞ þ MAIfi ðtÞ þ JSRfi ðtÞ þ Nfi ðtÞ ð6Þ
1  
where Lpfg expresses the function of LPF, I fg the inverse Fourier transform, and fH ðx  xi Þ þ H ðx þ xi Þg the fre-
quency response of the BPF (band-pass filter) in the receiver of the MC-DS-CDMA system. The first term of (6) indicates
the desired signal of the referenced user, which can be written as
pffiffiffiffiffi X
1
Dfi ðtÞ ¼ Ec ai dn cn xðt  nMT c Þ ð7Þ
n¼1
ð1Þ
where ai , i ¼ 1; . . . ; M denotes the fading envelopes characterized as i.i.d. Weibull RVs (random variables). The second term
in (6) is the interference from the other users, designated MAI (multiple-access interference), which can be calculated as (the
superscript of the user being omitted henceforth)
( )
X
K pffiffiffiffiffi X
1
MAIfi ðtÞ ¼ Ec ni dn  cn  xðt  nMT c  sÞ ð8Þ
k¼2 n¼1

where ni  ai cos /i is the envelope of the MAI component, which is allowed to approximate the Gaussian random variable
under the assumption of a large user number K [5]. The third term in (6) is the JSR formulated in (5), which can be repre-
sented as
npffiffiffi o
JSRfi ðtÞ ¼ Lp 2n0i;j ðtÞ cosð2pfi t þ wi Þ ð9Þ

The last term of (6) represents the output signal caused by the passing of the AWGN through the LPF, which can be ex-
pressed as
hpffiffiffi i
Nfi ðtÞ ¼ Lp 2n0i;w ðtÞ cosð2pfi t þ wi Þ ð10Þ

where the terms n0i;j ðtÞ in (9) and n0i;w ðtÞ in (10) result from passing N J ðtÞ and N w ðtÞ into (3), respectively, through the ith band-
pass filter. The performance of the system can be evaluated by calculating the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) at the output of the
receiver for the referenced user. Thus, all statistical characteristics of the signal at the output of the ith correlator are deter-
mined and expressed as
 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72 65

vi ¼ Dvi þ MAIvi þ JSRvi þ Nvi ð11Þ

where the representation of each term in the previous equation is adopted, as well as all identical results evaluated and illus-
trated in [4].

2.3. Channel model with Weibull fading

A slowly varying Weibull fading channel is assumed and described in this subsection. All subcarriers are considered to
experience flat fading, which may occur by chance if no frequency domain interleaver is employed. For adopting a complex
envelope, e.g., ai ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; M is given as a function of the elements with Gaussian in-phase X i and quadrature Y i of a path
with components ai ¼ ðX i þ jY i Þ2=bi , where bi is the well known fading parameter of the Weibull fading model. The parameter
bi can assume the values 0 < bi < 1. In the special case where bi ¼ 1, the Weibull distribution becomes an exponential dis-
tribution; when bi ¼ 2, the Weibull distribution is specialized as a Rayleigh distribution. Let ai be the magnitude of ai , i.e.,
ai ¼ jai j, i ¼ 1; . . . ; M. Hence, for the Weibull fading model,
pffiffiffi2 ai can be expressed as a power transformation of a Rayleigh-dis-
tributed RV (random variable) Ri ¼ jX i þ jY i j as ai ¼ bi Ri , which has the pdf expressed as in [3],

bi abi
fai ðaÞ ¼ abi 1 exp  ð12Þ
Xi Xi
where Xi denotes the average energy. The block diagram of the multichannel reception for a multi-carrier system with a
propagation channel is shown in Fig. 3. The RV set ai ¼ ½a1 a2    aM  in (7), consisting of M components of Weibull RVs,
has the MGF given as [24]
1b
b  !
ð2pÞ 2  bðb1=2Þ S 1
M ai ðS; bÞ ¼  Gb;1
1;b U   ðb1Þ ð13Þ
U  Sb b  1; 1 þ 1b ; . . . ; 1 þ b

where U is a scaling constant, b the fading parameter of the Weibull distribution, and Ga;b
c;d ½ Meijer’s G-function [24]. The
accuracy of (13) has been certified in the special cases of b ¼ 1 for the exponential pdf and of b ¼ 2 for the Rayleigh pdf
[25,26]. A simplified expression of the MGF for Weibull statistics was recently described in [22]. However, the two expres-
sions can be verified as identical by some of the simple formulas shown in [24].

3. Statistical analysis of error probability


The conditional expectation E vi jai ; dn , derived in (11), is dependent on the channel attenuation factor ai , characterized
by Weibull fading and which can be written as

   pffiffiffiffiffi X
N1 X
1 pffiffiffiffiffi
E vi jai ; dn ¼ E vi jai ; fdn g ¼ Ec ai dn cn cn0  x½ðn0  nÞMT c  ¼ N Ec ai : ð14Þ
n0 ¼0 n¼1

If x½ðn0  nÞNT c  ¼ 0 for n0 – n, the conditional variance of vi can be represented as

 n  o  n o 
Var vi jai  r2i ¼ Var MAIvi þ JSRvi þ Nvi jai ¼ Var MAIvi jai þ Var JSRvi jai þ Var N vi jai ð15Þ

BPF @ ω1
(Band-pass filter)

α1( k ) e j β
(k )
1

s (t )
BPF @ ω 2 X r (t )
∑ +
α 2( k ) e j β
(k )
2

n (t )
BPF @ ω M X
α M( k ) e jβ
(k )
M

Fig. 3. Channel block diagram of an MC-DS-CDMA system for kth user.

66 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72

where the results of each term shown in (15) were calculated and given in [4]. All signals at the output of the correlator are
combined with the MRC scheme, the result of which can be expressed as
X
M
v¼ Gi vi ð16Þ
i¼1

where Gi designates the channel estimation of the ith branch. To maximize the SNR, Gi is defined as the ratio of the desired
signal amplitude to the variance of the noise and interference components in the output, which can be written as

E vi jai
Gi ¼  : ð17Þ
Var vi jai
By combining (16) with (17), the SNR, ðS=NÞ, the output of MRC diversity, can be obtained as


S E2 vi jai
¼   N2 Ec c ð18Þ
N Var vi jai
where the instantaneous SNR at the MRC diversity output is given as
X
M
ðai Þ2 X
M
c¼  qi ð19Þ
i¼1
r2i i¼1

Generally, it is difficult to directly obtain the pdf of random variable c in (19) by using multi-variable transformation. It is
known that if the component ai , i ¼ 1; . . . ; M, in the RV set of ai is an example of a Weibull distribution with parameter b,
then p is also an example with parameter b=c [18]. However, the MGF of c can be obtained by applying the RV set shown
Q
in the previous equation; i.e., the MGF of c can be determined as Mc ðS; bÞ ¼ M i¼1 M ai ðS;bÞ . Then, by a suitable change in the
variable, the most common solution for approaching the BER in the system is to utilize the conditional pdf. For a BPSK sig-
naling scheme, an evaluation of the performance of an average BER for an MC-DS-CDMA system with different schemes can
be approximately achieved by
!
zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl}|fflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{ Z 1 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

Z N folds
1
EðnU Þ
Pcase
BER ¼ Q pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi f ðai Þ da1    daM ¼ Q N2 Ec ccase fc ðccase Þdccase ð20Þ
0 v arðnU Þ 0

where ai ¼ ½a1 a2    aM  is shown in (7), and f ðai Þ is the jpdf (joint pdf) of ai , i ¼ 1; . . . ; M. The term ccase depends on which
assigned scheme is adopted. Both a single-user and a multiple-user case are included for comprehensively discussing the
system performance. Hence, ccase must be replaced by the corresponding case names in the pertinent subscript. E.g., cmusc
represents the SNR in a multi-user case with a single-carrier; whereas, csumc indicates the SNR of single-user case, also with
a multi-carrier. Similarly, the pertinent representations are applied for the symbols of variance, rcases 0 , and average BER, P case
BER ,
respectively. The average BER of the assumed cases will be illustrated in the next subsection. The Q ðxÞ in (20) is the Gaussian
Q-function, being defined as [24]
Z 1
1 t2
QðxÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi e 2 dt ð21Þ
2p x

By changing the variables, the Q-function can be alternatively expressed as

Z p=2 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

1 x 2
QðxÞ ¼ exp  0:5 dh ð22Þ
p 0 sin h
When MRC diversity is considered to be the reception at the receiver, the received signal intensity can be expressed as
PM 2
c¼ l¼1 ðal Þ , the
R1
MGF of al being given in (13). Note that the MGF of a random variable, c, can be generally denoted as
M r ðsÞ ¼ E½e  ¼ 0 esr fr ðrÞdr. Thus, the average BER of an MC-DS-CDMA system under Weibull fading can be derived by
sr

substituting (13) and (22) into (20), obtainable as

Z pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Z Z p=2
Z
1
1 1
rcase c 1 p=2
Pcase
BER ¼ Q rcase
0 c case f ðccase Þdccase ¼ exp  0 2 case f ðccase Þdh dccase ¼ M ccase ðS; bÞdh ð23Þ
0 p 0 0 sin h p 0
2
where S ¼ rcase
0 = sin h, shown in (13), is deduced by the definition of the MGF. The BERs of MC-DS-CDMA systems in consid-
eration of different schemes, including user and subcarrier numbers, under a Weibull fading channel with MRC diversity is
examined as follows.

3.1. Multi-user multi-carrier scheme

In this subsection, a multi-user multi-carrier scheme is considered when assuming that C 1;n0 is an M-sequence of the ref-
erenced user. Both multi- and single-carrier systems exhibit similar performance when the autocorrelation function of the
P
MAI component RMAI ð‘MT c Þ ¼ N1n0 ¼‘ C 1;n0 C 1;n0 l ¼ 0, l – 0 is considered. Thus, this function, RMAI ð0Þ, can be obtained as [4]
 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72 67

Z 1
ðK  1ÞEc  l
RMAI ð0Þ ¼ SMAI ðf Þdf ¼ 1 ð24Þ
1 2 4
where SMAI ðf Þ is the PSD of the MAI component. Hence, the conditional SNR, fcmumc jai ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; Mg, of an MC-DS-CDMA sys-
tem configured as a multiple- user case with a multi-carrier at the output of the receiver can be determined from (17) and
(18), being obtained as
 1
X
M
ðai Þ2 K  1 l g0 1 XM
1 XM
cmumc ¼ N2 Ec   ¼ 1 þ ðai Þ2 ¼ rmumc
0 ðai Þ2 ð25Þ
i¼1
ðK1ÞNEc
2
1  l4 þ N2g0 2MN 4 2MNEc M i¼1 M i¼1

where N represents the chip number per symbol for the multi-carrier case, and g0 =2 is a double-sided PSD of the AWGN. By
substituting (25) into (23), the evaluation of the average BER formula, P mumc
BER , of an MC-DS-CDMA system exemplified by a
multi-user and multi-carrier case can determined as
Z 1 Z 1 Z p=2

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1 rmumc cmumc

Pmumc
BER ¼ Qð r0 cÞf ðaÞda0    dal ¼ exp  0 f ðcmumc Þdh dcmumc
0 p 0 0 2
sin h
Z p=2 Z p 1b
b  !
1 1 2 YM
ð2pÞ 2  bðb1=2Þ b;1 S  1
¼ M c ðS; bÞdh ¼  G1;b l ðb1Þ dh ð26Þ
b  1; 1 þ b ; . . . ; 1 þ b
1
p 0 p 0 i¼1 lSbi
2
where S ¼ r0mumc = sin h. Although the average bit SNR is defined as snr ¼ MNEc =g0 , the rmumc
0 in (25) can be replaced by
rmumc
0 ¼ fðK  1Þð1  l=4Þ=MNEc þ 1=snrg1 =M, where MNEc ¼ N 1 Ec1 ¼ Eb , Eb denotes the bit energy; N 1 and Ec1 , the length
and energy of the spreading code, respectively.
Nevertheless, the necessary consideration for determining the average BER in different schemes is to calculate the con-
ditional SNR. The same procedures for obtaining P mumc
BER in the previous steps can be adopted to compute the other cases,
which will be determined in the following section.

3.2. Multi-user multi-carrier with PBI scenario

The conditional SNR, fcmumcPBI jai ; i ¼ 0;    ; Mg, of a multi-carrier with PBI can be determined from (19) and expressed as
 1 X
K  1 l g0 gJ 1 M  2
fcmumcPBI jai ; i ¼ 0;    ; Mg ¼ 1 þ þ a1;i ð27Þ
2MN 4 2MNEc 2MNEc M i¼1

where gJ represents the PSD of the JSR defined in (5). The effect of the JSR can be obtained by using the definition
JSR ¼ interferencepower=signalpower [4], where the interference power is equal to gJ W J =2; the signal power, Eb =TEb =T, where

1
N=64,K=30
0.1
β=3
0.01
β=4
1E-3 β=5
1E-4
1E-5
M=4
1E-6
1E-7
BER

1E-8 M=6
1E-9
1E-10
1E-11
1E-12
M=8
1E-13
1E-14
1E-15
0 10 20 30 40 50
Eb/N0(dB)

Fig. 4. BER versus SNR with different subcarrier numbers, without PBI.
68 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72

Eb ¼ MNEc denotes the bit energy related to the chip energy; and T ¼ 1=MBW M , the bit interval, where BW M is the frequency
band of each subcarrier. Thus, the JSR becomes
gJ =2 gJ
JSR ¼ WJT ¼ BW M T ð28Þ
MNEc 2MNEc
By using the same steps as in (27), the system BER, P emumcPBI , can be calculated under this assumption.

1
L=M=4,K=30,β=3
NO PBI
0.1 N=8 PBI(2dB)

0.01
N=16
1E-3
BER

N=32
1E-4

1E-5

N=64
1E-6

1E-7
0 10 20 30 40 50
Eb/N0(dB)

Fig. 5. BER versus SNR with different spreading-chip numbers, without PBI.

1
0.1 L=M=4,N=64
0.01 β=3
1E-3 β=4
1E-4 β=5
1E-5
K=30
1E-6
1E-7
1E-8
BER

1E-9 K=20
1E-10
1E-11
1E-12 K=10
1E-13
1E-14
1E-15
1E-16
1E-17
0 10 20 30 40 50
Eb/N0(dB)

Fig. 6. BER versus SNR with different fading parameters, without PBI.
 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72 69

4. Results and discussion

Thus, the error probability analysis of an MC-DS-CDMA system under the assumption of a versatile Weibull fading model
suitable for characterizing both indoor or outdoor communication fading has been completed. The numerical evaluation is
discussed in this section, according to the system BER formulas for each scheme determined in the previous section, to verify
their accuracy and reasonability. However, a discussion of a single-user added to a single-carrier is excluded since it can be

1E-3

1E-4
M=4

1E-5

1E-6
M=8
1E-7

1E-8
BER

1E-9

1E-10

1E-11

1E-12
N=64,SNR=10dB
1E-13 β=2
1E-14 β=3
β=5
1E-15
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
K (user number)
Fig. 7. BER versus user number with different branch numbers, without PBI.

1
N=64,K=30,JSR=2dB
0.1 β=3
β=4
0.01 β=5

1E-3

1E-4
M=4
BER

1E-5

1E-6 M=6

1E-7

1E-8 M=8

1E-9

0 10 20 30 40 50
Eb/N0(dB)

Fig. 8. BER versus SNR with different subcarrier numbers, with PBI.
70 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72

recognized as a special case of a multi-user combined with a multi-carrier. The results plotted in Figs. 4–7 illustrate the rela-
tionships among BER performances in multi-user multi-carrier cases without the impact of PBI. First, the effects of the num-
ber of subcarriers are shown in Fig. 4, where their different values, M ¼ 4; 6; 8, are graphed. It can be readily seen that the
larger the subcarrier number, the better the system performance. The results of the BER versus the average bit SNR (Eb =N 0 Þ
for user number K ¼ 30, fading parameter b ¼ 3, branch number (equal to the subcarrier number), L ¼ 4 (M ¼ 4Þ, as well as
the different values of the spreading-chip number N ¼ 8; 16; 32, and 64, are plotted in Fig. 5. The system performance is nor-

1
L=M=4,N=64,JSR=2dB
0.1 β=3
β=4
0.01 β=5

1E-3

1E-4
BER

K=30
1E-5

K=20
1E-6

1E-7 K=10

1E-8

0 10 20 30 40 50
Eb/N0(dB)

Fig. 9. BER versus SNR with different user numbers, with PBI.

0.01

L=4
1E-3

1E-4

L=8
1E-5
BER

1E-6

1E-7
N=64
JSR=2dB,SNR=10dB
1E-8 β=3
β=4
β=5
1E-9
0 5 10 15 20 25
K (user number)
Fig. 10. BER versus user capacity with different branch numbers, with PBI.
 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72 71

0.1
L=M=4,K=30,β=3
JSR=6dB
0.01 JSR=4dB
JSR=2dB
JSR=0dB

1E-3
BER

1E-4

1E-5

1E-6
0 10 20 30 40 50
Eb/N0(dB)

Fig. 11. BER versus SNR with different JSR values.

mally degraded by the factors of much smaller spreading-chip numbers. Fig. 5 also illustrates a system performance com-
parison with and without JSR. It is reasonable to assume that the system BER definitely becomes inferior when a JSR exists.
By adopting the fixed subcarrier number N ¼ 64 and the same parameters as in Fig. 4, the plots of bit SNR versus BER curves
are graphed in Fig. 6. It is noteworthy that much more MAI due to gradually increasing user numbers will cause a decline in
the performance of the system. The same rates are plotted in both Figs. 5 and 6, wherein the curves of the BER versus the
branch (subcarrier) number are graphed. In Fig. 7, the SNR is set at 10 dB for consideration of the user capacity versus
BER with different subcarrier numbers. These results obviously indicate that the smaller the multi-carrier number, the lower
the user capacity. The influence of PBI with JSR ¼ 2 dB, the variations in performance with subcarrier numbers and with user
numbers are plotted in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively. In both figures, the curves of the average BER versus SNR vary with dif-
ferent values of the fading parameters, b ¼ 3; 4; 5, the impact of the subcarrier numbers (Fig. 8) and the user numbers (Fig. 9)
being graphed. It is clear that the system performance closely depends on these three parameters when the PBI factor is con-
sidered. Moreover, the results plotted in Fig. 10 represent the average BER versus user capacity with the same parameters as
those applied in Fig. 7, except for the PBI value. It is noteworthy that the user capacity decreases after an increase in the fad-
ing parameter. The results from a comparison of the BER and the SNR, with the values JSR ¼ 0; 2; 4 and 6 dB, are plotted in
Fig. 11.
After comparing the results from the foregoing analysis with those reported in [4,27], in which MC-DS-CDMA systems
with Rayleigh and Nakagami-m fading models, respectively, were evaluated, some important assertions may be expressed
as follows: Fading channel schemes with Weibull distribution have exhibited the capability of specialization to Rayleigh dis-
tribution with a fading parameter equal to two and can be regarded as approximating the results from Nakagami-m distri-
bution. Nevertheless, the main factors affecting the system performance results from our research with Weibull fading
channels are in accordance with those of the principal known parameters in previous studies [4,5], e.g., the number of both
subcarriers and branch numbers, the number of users, the fading parameters, and the JSRs.

5. Conclusion

In this study, an error probability analysis of an MC-DS-CDMA system based on a Weibull fading scheme has been con-
ducted. The MGF of the Weibull distribution was adopted to calculate the pdf of the SNR at the output of an MRC receiver in
cases of both multi-users in multi-carriers and multi-carriers with PBI.Meanwhile, an alternative expression of a comple-
mentary error function was applied to determine the average BER in an MC-DS-CDMA system. It was clearly observed that
the fading parameters of the Weibull distribution actually dominate the performance of an MC-DS-CDMA system. The results
obtained in this analysis are explicitly in accordance with the findings of previous research. By independently comparing the
system BER with different parameters, such as branch numbers, number of subcarriers, and the influence of JSR, it can be
claimed that the aim of the analysis has been completely achieved.
72 J. I-Z. Chen et al. / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 61–72

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express appreciation to Dr. C. Rutledge, Associate Professor of English, Dayeh University, for her edi-
torial assistance. We also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief for their constructive comments
and suggestions, which have helped us improve the quality of the report.

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