This paper analyzes the performance of a cognitive underlay system over Nakagami-m fading channels, where maximal ratio combining (MRC) is employed at secondary destination and relay nodes. Under the condition of imperfect channel state information (CSI) of interfering channels, system performance metrics for the primary network and for the secondary network are formulated into exact and approximate expressions, which can be served as theoretical guidelines for system designs. To verify the performance analysis, several analytical and simulated results of the system performance are provided under various system and channel settings.
