A novel receiver diversity combining technique for internet-based 4G wireless communication

Abstract

Antenna diversity has been shown to improve mean signal strength and reduce signal level fluctuations in the fading channel. Combinational techniques such as Maximum Ratio Combination (MRC) or Equal Gain Combination (EGC) use the multiple signal branches that exist in the wireless channel advantageously by improving the antenna diversity and performance. MRC provides better performance than EGC, but the disadvantage of this technique, although optimal, is the complexity in its implementation since it requires SNR estimation algorithms. We introduce a novel combination technique termed Root-Mean-Square Gain Combination (RMSGC). We investigate the structure of this scheme using BPSK and its performance is quantified in terms of bit error rate (BER) and a novel metric termed signal-to-scattering noise ratio or SNR peakedness. We found that RMSGC is "near optimal" in the sense that it produced results superior to EGC and very close to MRC but with much less complexity at the receiver and without the need for channel amplitudes estimation. The results of this research are promising and can find applications in internet-based 4G wireless communication comprising small pico- and femto-cells.