Abstract: In the selection of combining distributed antenna systems, exact expressions for the average level crossing rate (LCR) and average fade duration (AFD) of the output signal envelope are derived. The diversity branches are assumed to be independent but non-identical composite fading channels. The results are valid for arbitrary diversity order and the amount of fading, and are obtained for Rayleigh-lognormal, Riceanlognormal and Nakagami-lognormal composite fadings. Numerical results validate the derived expressions.

Key words: distributed antenna access system, composite fading channel, selection diversity, average level crossing rate, average fade duration