Performance evaluation of DVB-RCT return path in fading channels with added diversity

The radio spectrum is a finite resource and it is important that all users exploit it efficiently. Consequently, modulation schemes used for the wireless environment should utilize the RF channel bandwidth, and the transmitted power, as efficiently as possible. Across Europe, the digital video broadcasting (DVB) group has proposed a technique for a high data-rate return path known as DVB-return channel through terrestrial (DVB-RCT) specifically for consumer device convergence (full Internet connectivity through a television set). The introduction of adaptive M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) into the DVB-RCT standards as opposed to static modulation (as used in the DVB-terrestrial (DVB-T) standard) has enhanced the performance of bidirectional communication. In this paper, the impact of using diversity techniques in such systems is investigated. In specific, the gain, obtained from utilizing this combination of adaptive MQAM and diversity techniques in the system, is also shown.