Simulation studies of broadband wireless systems employing code combining techniques

ATM is establishing itself as a universal standard and applications of constant length packet based communications are foreseen in the wireless environment as well. Antenna diversity techniques operating on a packet basis combined with coding are suggested as a means to improve the reliability of wireless connections and allow the extension of ATM-related protocols to the wireless domain. The comparative performance of a number of packet based diversity techniques employing punctured convolutional coding and block interleaving is evaluated. Results were obtained for post-Viterbi-decoding selection diversity and code-diversity combining for AWGN and Rayleigh fading radio channel models. Code combining using a type-II protocol on a Rayleigh fading channel was also examined. The results indicate the amount of interleaving required in a bursty channel for a code combining approach to surpass a post-detection selection diversity technique at various code rates.