A unified approach for calculating error rates of linearly modulated signals over generalized fading channels

We present a unified analytical framework to determine the exact average sy mbol-error rate (SER) of linearly modulated signals over generalized fading channels. The results are applicable to systems employing coherent demodul ation with maximal-ratio combining multichannel reception. The analyses ass ume independent fading paths, which are not necessarily identically distrib uted, In all cases. the proposed approach Leads to an expression of the ave rage SER involving a single finite-range integral, which can be easily comp uted numerically. In addition, as special cases, SER expressions for single -channel reception are obtained. These expressions reduce to well-known sol utions, give alternative (often simpler) expressions for previous results, or provide new formulas that are either closed-form expressions or simple t o compute numerically.