Mobile receive diversity technology improves 3G systems capacity

This work explores mobile receive diversity (MRD) technology for cdma2000 (3G) systems that operate in the 1900 MHz frequency band. MRD technology uses more than one antenna in mobile terminals to improve the service, capacity and coverage of the underlying systems. This paper focuses on the field testing conducted by Sprint Corporation to evaluate the MRD technology via prototype handsets and commercial base stations. Although the prototype handsets had their limitations, the testing revealed voice and data capacity gains in excess of 3 dB in the forward link (base station to mobile).