Postdetection switched combining - A simple diversity scheme with improved BER performance

Abstract

This paper develops, analyzes, and optimizes a simpler form of dual-branch switch-and-stay combining (SSC), namely, one that relies on the output signal plus noise rather than the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to trigger the switching between the diversity branches. Analysis supported by numerical results show that the newly proposed postdetection SSC scheme outperforms predetection SSC and this performance gain increases as the channel conditions improve in terms of average SNR and/or severity of fading. In brief, when simplicity of implementation is of primary concern, as is the case, for example, in mobile units, the proposed scheme offers an attractive low-complexity solution to mitigate the deleterious effects of multipath fading.