Diversity combining for cooperative satellite terminals in a moving convoy of vehicles

In this paper we analyze the impact of cooperative satellite terminals on the link availability for a land mobile satellite (LMS) scenario. By using multiple terminals the overall probability to encounter severe fading conditions is reduced. In particular, the potential of maximal ratio combining (MRC) and selection combining (SC) is compared for different numbers of cooperative terminals and for various spatial terminal separations. The results, presented in terms of link availability, are based on the analysis of LMS channel measurements. These were conducted in different environments using a single measurement vehicle. Thus, in order to virtually increase the number of terminals, we rely on a convoy scenario using spatially shifted versions of the data. Analyzing up to four cooperative terminals with various terminal distances, a significant gain in link availability is already found for small separations.