A Novel Hybrid Diversity Receiver with Conditional Combining

When selection or switch diversity is used at the receiver, use of differential detection is problematic as it requires two consecutive symbols from the same branch for correct operation. Therefore, unless special provisions are taken, the receiver would fail when switching to a different branch. We describe the operation of a novel conditional diversity receiver which overcomes this problem and outperforms the classical selection combining receiver while using the same number of receive chains. Results indicate that the performance of our receiver is bounded by the classical selection combining and the hybrid double selection / equal gain combining receivers. Furthermore, our receiver is shown to provide a clear advantage over the dual equal gain combining receiver due to its higher diversity order.