Forward-Link BER Analysis of Asynchronous Cellular DS-CDMA over Nakagami-Faded Channels Using Combined PDF Approach

A closed-form conditional probability density function (pdf) of the Nakagami-faded-interference-to-signal power ratio, given the exact location of the tagged mobile, is derived for integer values of Nakagami fade parameter m. The conditional pdf, whose coefficients can be computed efficiently in a recursive manner, significantly reduces the computational complexity of forward-link bit error rate (BER) evaluation of a direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) cellular system over a fading channel. BER curves reveal that the performance improvement of increasing m is not significant for m [is greater than] 4. Performance results for noninteger values of m can be estimated using the linear interpolation technique. With the derived BER expressions, a more realistic cellular model that takes into account the effects of nonidentical m and path-loss exponent is proposed and analyzed. By substituting appropriate values of m, the BER performance for a class of fading distributions such as Rayleigh and Ricean fading can he evaluated or approximated. In particular, Nakagami approximation may be treated as a tight lower bound to the corresponding mathematically involved Ricean case. Index Terms--Combined PDF approach, DS-CDMA, Nakagami fading channels, performance analysis.