Accurate Performance Approximations for MRC over Log-Normal Fading Channels

• Published in: IEEE communications letters p. 1
• Main Authors: Mouchtak, Yassine, Bouanani, Faissal El
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2025
• Subjects: Accuracy; Average Symbol Error Probability; Channel capacity; Diversity reception; Diversity techniques; Fading channels; LN’s PDF transforms; Log-Normal Fading; Modulation; Probability density function; Receivers; Runtime; Signal to noise ratio; Symbols; Wireless communication
• ISSN: 1089-7798; 1558-2558
• DOI: 10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3609908

Average channel capacity (ACC) and average symbol error probability (ASEP) are key metrics for evaluating wireless communication reliability under fading. This paper derives simple, low-complexity approximations for ASEP and ACC for maximal-ratio combining (MRC) receivers subject to log-normal (LN) fading, using a second-order Taylor series expansion of LN probability density function transforms. An asymptotic expression for ACC in the high-SNR regime is also provided. Numerical results show close agreement with exact solutions, while runtime comparisons demonstrate significantly reduced computational complexity compared to existing methods, making the proposed framework suitable for ultra-low latency wireless systems.