The GSM radio link performance with space diversity and slow frequency hopping

Slow frequency hopping (SFH) is a special type of frequency diversity which has anti-multipath properties. The European standard for cellular communications, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), incorporates SFH. Successive call bursts are sent over different frequencies, thus mitigating the effects of fading. The GSM radio link performance is investigated using space diversity only and SFH only. A number of different space diversity techniques, including switching and combining methods, are considered. Results show that space diversity improves the performance, irrespective of the mobile speed.