Quick simulation: a review of importance sampling techniques in communications systems
IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
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We are interested in estimating the bit error rate (BER) for signal transmission in digital communication systems. Since BERs tend to be extremely small, it is difficult to obtain precise estimators based on the use of crude Monte Carlo simulation techniques. In this paper, we review, expand upon, and evaluate a number of importance sampling variance reduction techniques for estimating the BER. We find that mixtures of certain "tailed" distributions with a uniform distribution produce estimators that are at least competitive with those in the literature. Our comparisons are based on analytical calculations and lay the groundwork for the evaluation of more general mixture distributions.