GSM data service performance improvement through the use of slow frequency hopping

It is envisaged that over the next few years there will be a significant increase in the use of cellular based data services. However it is also envisaged that the majority of these cellular data users will be stationary or slow moving throughout the duration of their data connection. This lack of movement will cause very little variation within the radio channel and will therefore reduce the effect of any interleaving and FEC applied. Therefore to improve the situation some added form of diversity may be used. This paper investigates the benefit of slow frequency hopping (SFH) to the performance of two existing GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) data channels and two previously proposed GSM data channels, in slow speed, noise limited conditions. The performance has been assessed using a comprehensive radio link simulator developed at Leeds.