  The performance of $L$-branch scan-and-wait combining (SWC) reception systems
over arbitrarily correlated and not necessarily identically distributed
Nakagami-$m$ fading channels is analyzed and evaluated. Firstly, a fast
convergent infinite series representation for the SWC output signal-noise ratio
(SNR) is presented. This expression is used to obtain analytical expressions in
the form of infinite series for the average error probability performance of
various modulation schemes for integer values of $m$ as well as the average
number of paths estimation and average waiting time (AWT) of $L$-branch SWC
receivers for arbitrary values of $m$. The numerically obtained results have
shown that the performance expressions converge very fast to their exact
analytical values. It was found that the convergence speed depends on the
correlation and operating SNR values as well as the Nakagami $m$-parameter. In
addition to the analytical results, complementary computer simulated
performance evaluation results have been obtained by means of Monte Carlo error
counting techniques. The match between these two sets of results has verified
the accuracy of the proposed mathematical analysis. Furthermore, it is revealed
that, at the expense of a negligible AWT, the average error probability
performance of SWC receivers is always superior to that of switched-and-examine
combining receivers and in certain cases to that of maximal-ratio combining
receivers.
