This thesis develops a mathematical framework for analyzing the average bit error rate performance of five different selection diversity combining schemes over slow, frequency non-selective Rayleigh, Nakagami-m and Ricean fading channels. Aside from the classical selection diversity, generalized selection combining and the "maximum output" selection methods, two new selection rules based on choosing the branch providing the largest magnitude of log-likelihood ratio for binary phase shift keying signals (with and without phase compensation in the selection process) are also investigated. The proposed analytical framework is sufficiently general to study the effects of dissimilar fading parameter and unequal mean received signal strengths across the independent diversity paths. The effect of branch correlation on the performance of a dual-diversity system is also studied. The accuracies of our analytical expressions have been validated by extensive Monte-Carlo simulation runs. The proposed selection schemes based on the log-likelihood ratio are attractive in the design of low-complexity rake receivers for wideband CDMA and ultra wideband communication systems. / Master of Science