Performance of maximal ratio combining digital on-channel repeater for terrestrial DMB/DAB

Maximal ratio combining (MRC) digital on-channel repeater (DOCR) has been developed for applications to terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) and digital audio broadcasting (DAB). This MRC-DOCR is equipped with multiple receive antennas and single transmit antenna. The performance of MRC-DOCR has been evaluated by laboratory and field trial. It is shown that MRC-DOCR can relay high quality signals owing to its receive antenna diversity as well as excellent performance of channel equalization and feedback interference cancellation. The developed MRC-DOCR will facilitate long haul multi-hop relaying by maintaining the signal quality of original main transmitter. This will also facilitate the design and implementation of distributed translator.