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General BER analysis over Nakagami-m fading channels

Conference Paper · April 2013

DOI: 10.1109/WMNC.2013.6549037

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General BER Analysis over Nakagami-m Fading Channels

Ehab Salahat and Ibrahim Abualhaol
Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Emails: 20027@kustar.ac.ae, ibrahimee@ieee.org

Abstract—Based on the approximated expression of the
Q-function by Chiani, Dardari, and Simon, a simple and
accurate generalized closed-form expression for the bit error
rate (BER) over Nakagami-m fading channel is derived. The
expression is given as a product of the well-known gamma
functions and a finite sum of functions of the Nakagami-m
fading parameter.
The remaining part of the paper will be presented as
follows: the mathematical derivation of the BER expression is

parameter. The derived expression is applicable for any real

function and a finite sum of functions of the Nakagami-m fading
≥ 0.5, and for any coherent modulation scheme of any order.
Numerical results are used to validate the derived expressions
using different combinations of modulation orders and
Nakagami-m fading parameters.
I. INTRODUCTION
Bit Error Rate (BER) analysis of wireless communication
systems over fading channels is an important performance
 
presented in section II. Section III presents the numerical
results of the exact (numerically integrated) expression and
compares it with the derived expression for different fading
parameters m and different modulation orders. Finally, the
paper findings are summarized in section IV.
II. MATHEMATICAL DERIVATIONS
The Nakagami-m PDF is a central chi-square distribution
given by [1]
  =


 
metric to measure the quality of transmission (i.e., quality of

 
exp − 
 (1)
service) over fading channels. A crucial finding that many
researchers are trying to achieve is having a closed form
expression that can evaluate the BER performance as where m is the Nakagami-m fading parameter which ranges

ratio (SNR) per symbol is defined by  =    / and the

function of the wireless channel statistics and the system from 0.5 to ∞. If the instantaneous signal-to-noise power

average SNR per symbol is defined by ̅ = Ω / , then the

parameters (e.g., modulation order). Such closed-form

probability density function of  can be obtained by changing

expressions will enable designing, implementing and testing

the variable in the expression for the fading pdf   of ,

of wireless systems in an optimum way [1].

The BER analysis over Nakagami-m fading channels using

  =
requires evaluation of integral that involves the well-known !" #$ /%&
$ %/
(2)
Q-function. The Q-function itself is an integral that cannot be
reduced to closed-form, but instead is tabulated. In the
literature, there are many researchers who tried to find an by some simplifications
approximated expression for the Q-function see [2]-[5]. These
  = exp − 
approximations differ in its accuracy and complexity. In order


−1

(
Γ

 (

to carry out analytical formulation of many cases involving (3)
digital transmission over Nakagami-m Fading channel,
researchers need to use a simple yet accurate expression for The BER due to fading channel can be analyzed by
such cases, and generalize the analysis to involve all kind of averaging the BER of the AWGN channel using probability
modulations (i.e., coherent and non-coherent). The authors in density function (pdf) of the fading envelope. Hence, the
[2] have performed the analysis over Nakagami-m fading resulted expression of this averaging process involves usually
channels but their derived expressions lacks simplicity. The the Q-function as part of the expression [3]. Consider the
authors in [6] derived an expression for Binary Phase Shift expression of the Symbol Error Rate of different modulation
Keying (BPSK) but it lacks generality as well as simplicity. schemes, in the AWGN channel to be give as

*+ = , -√/
In this paper, we present a simple and very accurate
generalized closed-form expression for the Symbol Error Rate (4)
(and hence BER) performance over Nakagami-m fading
channels. This expression is based on the Q-function where Q(·) is the Q-function defined by
approximation in [7]. The accuracy of the derived expression
4
Qx = 18 exp −  du
is very high and it can be used for any value of fading index 7 2
√3 
m and for any digital modulation scheme of any modulation (5)

and , and / are constants that depends on the modulation

order. The derived expression has no limitations in terms of
the range of average signal-to-noise ratio. Noteworthy, the
expression is given as a product of the well-known gamma scheme (see Table I).

978-1-4673-5616-9/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE

 TABLE I: VALUES OF , 9:; / FOR DIFFERNET SCHEMES G

-C ≈ ∙
2 =

^ / 2>MKLM $NLK  √I

Modulation
(10)
SER
Scheme
BFSK = -#$& 1 1
= -#$2&
with a = 0.339, b = 5.510, and we call it OPBCS
BPSK 1 2 approximation. Also [7] gives the approximation as
≈ 2-#$&
QPSK,4-
2 1
G G
QAM
  Q
-C ≈ +
2` − 1 6 2` − 1 6 = =
≈ - ab  d 2 R
` ` −1 ` ` − 1
(11)
M-PAM
ì ì
M-PSK ≈ 2- e\2 sin   j 2 2 sin   where the accuracy can be improved by adding more

4#√` − 1& 3
exponentials, and will refer to it as CDS. Finally, [3] provides
4#√` − 1& 3
≈ - ab d
`−1 `−1
Rectangular the approximation as a polynomial rather than being in
M-QAM √` √` exponential form, and is given by
3 3
≈ 4 - ab d
U
Non-
>2
TU V  X>!
-C ≈ 1 − ∑X Y ∑X!Y   C !  −
 ∙
Rectangular
`−1
4
`−1 U X  X
M-QAM !X> ! 2 

Z [C\ −  −
]
X X
2 
(12)
Hence, the symbol error rate (and hence the BER) can be
obtained by averaging (4) using (3)

<= = 1 ,-√/ ;

7
where U(·) is the step function, and the accuracy of this
expression can be increased by increasing n, and will refer to
it as Poly n.

= , %
  1 -√/ >2 exp −  ;
7
%
(6) Fig. 1 compares the absolute relative error probability for
different approximations of the Q-function, namely CDS,
By doing variable transformations, PBCS, OPBCS, GKAL, and the polynomial approximations
with n = 8 and n = 12

A
<= = , %
1 @  >2 -@ exp − % ?  ;@
7
?
  
 1 -@@  >2 exp− B@   ;@
7
0
10
= (7) PBCS
OPBCS

where  = , %
?
  and B = %?.

Relative Absolute Error ε(α )

-1
10 CDS
GKAL
Poly-8
-2 Poly-12
10
The main objective now is evaluating the integration given in
(7) and find closed-form expression. The integration involves
the Q-function which is difficult to integrate. In the literature, -3
10
there are many approximations of the Q-function with
different degrees of accuracy and complexity. In [4, eq. (7)],
the approximation of the Q-function is given as -4
10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
FG G

α
E2>= √ H= 
-C ≈
Fig. 1: Absolute relative error for different approximations of the Q-function,
PBCS, OPBCS, CDS, GKAL, and the Polynomial approximation for n=8
√IJK
(8) and n=12.

where the accuracy of the expression can be adjusted by

modifying A and B, but the optimum values of A and B are A
= 1.98 and B = 1.135, respectively, and we will refer to this
approximation by GKAL. The second approximation is given
in [5, eq. (9)] as
G
A comparison between the Q(x) curves generated by the
approximations mentioned earlier is shown in Fig. 2. It is
obvious from Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 that the curve of the CDS
approximation given in (11) provides an acceptable degree of

-C ≈
=
accuracy and a tractable simplicity and make it very desirable
√I $2LK 
(9) candidate to evaluate the integration in (7). Moreover, it can
be extended to include more exponential terms and hence
and we will refer to it by PBCS approximation, and the provide even higher accuracy.
optimal approximation in [5, eq. (13)] is given by
 choosing the appropriate values of , and / from Table I.
0
10 fading channel for any modulation scheme by simply
-2
10 Testing the expression derived in (14) is conducted using
three different scenarios. First, we choose a modulation
-4
10 Q(x) scheme from Table I (Binary Phase Shift Keying) and test the
PBCS
Q(α )

OPBCS
performance over different values of Nakagami-m fading
-6
10
CDS parameters, specifically m=1, 2, 3 and 4. Numerical results
GKAL for equation (7) which represent exact BER curve were
-8
10 Poly8 compared with the approximated BER curve that has been
Poly12
evaluated using the expression in (14). The results are shown
-10
10
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
in Fig. 3. It can be seen that the approximated expression is

different values of m as well as different values of ̅ .

α highly accurate and matches the numerical results for
Fig.2: Q(x) curves generated by the different approximations
0
10
Using the CDS approximation given in (11), the expression in m=1, Exact
(7) tends to be: m=1, Approx

n n
-2 m=2, Exact
  Q
<= ≈  1 m 2 + o @  >2 exp− B@   ;@
7 =  =
10
m=2, Approx

R
m=3, Exact
m=3, Approx

BER
-4

 
10

= 2 1 @ e ;@ + 1 @ e ;@ (13)
 7  >2 > pL.rA   7  >2 > pLQA
m=4, Exact

R 
m=4, Approx
-6 AWGN
10

Evaluating the integrals yield:

<= = + =u + v
-8

s   s   s s  
10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
t
t
t
t

(14) γ

where w2 , w , y2 and y are constants given by

Fig. 3 : BPSK over Nakagami-m fading channel, evalauted for m=1
(Rayleigh), 2, 3 and 4 and comapared with numerical results

w2 = 2 = , z %
?
  w = = ,  %
?
 
  The second testing scenario is mainly by using the expression
R
y2 = + y = +{
2 
for the same modulation scheme, (we choose Rectangular M-
%? %?
QAM), but with different modulation orders over a fixed
value of m (m=1, i.e., Rayleigh Fading Channel). 4-QAM,
and Γ
 is the well-known gamma function given by
16-QAM and 64-QAM were used and the results are shown
in Fig. 4. The accuracy of the derived expression in (14)
Γ| = | − 1! = 1 @ }>2 ~ >A ;@.
7 compared to the numerical results in (7) is found to be very
(15) high.

The derived approximate expression has considered only two 0

10
exponential terms, but to achieve higher accuracy, we can add 4-QAM, Exact
more exponentials terms [7], by doing so, the resulting 4-QAM, Approx
expression in (14) can be generalized to be 64-QAM, Exact
-2 64-QAM, Approx

<= = = ∑€
  s
10
256-QAM, Exact

 Y2 t

(16) 256-QAM, Approx

BER

-4
Up to our current knowledge, the derived expression in (16) is 10
the simplest approximated expression introduced and it has
not been derived before in the literature. In the next section,
the accuracy evaluation over different combinations of fading -6
parameters and modulation orders are introduced. 10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
γ
Fig.4: 4-QAM, 16-QAM and 64-QAM over Nakagami-m Channel with
III. SIMULATION RESULTS m=1 (Rayleigh)

The probability of the error expression derived in (16) can As final investigation, (14) will be verified by observing its
be used now to evaluate the performance in terms of BER performance in a scenario where the BER curves of 4-QAM
over Rayleigh fading channel (m=1) as well as Nakagami-m (i.e., QPSK) and 32-QAM will be evaluated by numerically
 integrating (7) and comparing the curves with those REFERENCES
generated by (14) for two values of fading parameter m, [1] M. K. Simon and M.-S. Alouini, Digital Communication over Fading
specifically m=1 and m=2.1.The results are shown in Fig. 5. Channels, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 2005.
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expression in (14) provides an accurate match with the to the Gaussian Q-Function and its Applications in Performance
Analysis in Nakagami-m Fading", IEEE Commun Lett, 2011, pp.479-
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[3] Y. Chen and N. C.Beaulieu, “A simple polynomial approximation to
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Fig. 5: Comparison between 4-QAM (QPSK) and 32-QAM bit BER 2003.
performance over Nakagami-m channel, m=0.9, 0.5 and 2.1

IV. CONCLUSION
Using CDS approximation of the Q-function, a simple
and highly accurate generalized closed-form expression for
the BER is dereived over Nakagami-m fading channels.
Numerical results were used to verify the derived expression
for differnet scenarios where the BER curves coincide with
the exact results with high degree of accuracy. The accuracy
and the simplicity of the derived expression make it
appropriate canadidate to be used by researchers in different
areas to evalaute the performance of wireless systems over
Nakagami-m fading channels.

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