Analyzing GPS signals to investigate path diversity effects of non‐geostationary orbit satellite communication systems

Abstract

AbstractThe concept behind path diversity is that a user who can access several satellites simultaneously will be able to communicate more effectively than a user who could only access one. The success of this method depends on the environment, the satellite constellation, and diversity combining technology. This paper explores the path diversity effects of non‐geostationary orbit (NGO) satellite personal communication services, for different degrees of user mobility, under various scenarios, using the constellation of the global positioning system (GPS). Measurements are taken near downtown Taipei. Three types of mobilities (fixed‐point, pedestrian, and vehicular) are examined, and the switch diversity and maximum ratio combining method are applied to determine the path diversity gain and calculate bit error probability. The error probability performance of applying diversity schemes in coherent binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and non‐coherent differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulations over Rician fading channels are also analysed and evaluated by using the characteristic function method. The results show that fading can be significantly reduced and diversity greatly increased. A significant diversity gain and improvement in bit error rate (BER) can be expected in all cases by simply applying switch diversity scheme. Besides, for the maximum ratio combining method, the results imply that summing two satellite signals suffices to increase diversity and improve the bit error rate performance. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.