MMSEC-RAKE receivers with resolution reduction of the diversity branches: analysis, simulation, and applications

In channels where the delay spread is smaller than the chip interval (e.g., an IS-95 system operating in indoor environments), spread-spectrum signals do not give rise to path diversity. In this situation, maximal-ratio combiner (MRC) RAKE receivers with resolution reduction (RR) of the diversity receiver branches may be used by the mobile stations to provide diversity gain, significantly improving system performance. A new resolution reduction technique based on the use of a minimum mean-square-error diversity combiner (MMSEC) is proposed in this work. We show that, under very general assumptions, this new method of RR is optimal. A detailed study of the performance of a dual-branch MMSEC-RAKE receiver with RR in a typical indoor office environment is presented. In order to allow a simple practical implementation, a suboptimal structure of the MMSEC is also proposed. Numerical results show that this new receiver scheme provides a 1.2-dB improvement over the previously proposed RR technique based on MRC, and a 4.9-dB improvement over conventional MRC-RAKE receiver without RR, at a frame-error rate of 0.01 for the downlink of the IS-95 system in a typical indoor office environment