A closed-form BER expression for BPSK using MRC in correlated CCI and Rayleigh fading

An exact closed-form expression for the average bit error rate (BER) of coherent BPSK using maximal ratio combining (MRC) with correlated branches in the presence of cochannel interference (CCI) and noise is derived. This expression is valid for an arbitrary correlation structure under the assumption that the branch gains of the desired user signal and interfering signals experience correlated Rayleigh fading with the same correlation eigenvector matrix. Index Terms--Bit error rate (BER), cochannel interference (CCI), diversity, fading channels, maximal ratio combining (MRC).