Optimum Combiner for Spatially Correlated Nakagami-<i>m</i> Fading Channels

This paper proposes a novel optimum combiner that raises the time-averaged signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for maximal-ratio combining (MRC) reception over spatially correlated Nakagami-m fading channels. By exploiting the principal component analysis (PCA) with eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) of the covariance matrix analytically evaluated offline, a complete set of orthonormal basis functions can be obtained. A decorrelation process analyzes and then projects the received signal into the space spanned by the basis functions. In accordance with the theorem of irrelevance, a principal component selection combining (PCSC) method is proposed to remove components in a few dimensions in which SINRs are considered low to raise the resulting time-averaged SINR on the subsequent MRC reception. The proposed technique also avoids noise enhancement occurring with MRC reception in the scenario where noises on different branches are correlated. The SINR distribution, level-crossing rate (LCR) and average fade duration (AFD) are derived. Based on a novel scattering model interpretation, a simulator consisting of spatially correlated Nakagami-m fading channels is developed according to the analytically evaluated covariance matrix. Computer simulations show that the proposed optimum combiner not only decreases interference and noise from the irrelevant subspace to achieve higher time-averaged SINR and lower AFD but also significantly reduces the complexity required for subsequent signal processing.