Optimum multiple antenna quantization for reception of fading signals in noise

A multiple antenna diversity scheme is investigated for digital wireless communications. Antenna observations are immediately quantized and sent to a fusion center to decide which symbol was transmitted. The optimum reception scheme is described for the case where frequency shift keying is employed and where slow Rayleigh fading and Gaussian additive noise are present. Two cases are studied. In the first case an accurate estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio is available at each receiver. In the second case estimates are not available. Results indicate that two or three bit quantizations may be most appropriate.