Diversity for star 16QAM on fading channels

Star 16QAM is a modulation method that transmits 4 bits per symbol and has the advantage that it may be differentially encoded and detected. It is very robust to fast multiplicative Rayleigh fading and is suitable for mobile telephone systems and personal communication networks. We study maximum likelihood differential detection for bit decisions using L diversity branches as well as much simpler post detection combining techniques. The bit error probability is simulated for both diversity detectors on a multiplicative Rayleigh fading channel with additive white Gaussian noise. Both detectors are found to perform almost identically. Large performance gains are obtained with diversity