Comparative study of space-diversity techniques for MLSE receivers in mobile radio

Several space-diversity techniques combined with maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) are considered for time-division multiple-access (TDMA) digital mobile radio. Under the assumption that diversity paths fade independently, the Nth order diversity maximum-likelihood (ML) receiver is analyzed. Two categories of diversity receivers with MLSE are taken into account: the receivers performing diversity on the signal samples and those applying diversity inherently in the sequential algorithm. The simulation study was performed for standard global system for mobile communication (GSM) channel models. The results confirm the fact that even second-order diversity is a very powerful means improving the TDMA system performance.