Macro diversity combining techniques for multimedia broadcast/multicast services in UMTS networks

The transmission of multimedia broadcast and multicast services are expected to be transmitted to all users or groups of users within the cell range. UMTS 3GPP Release 6 standards envisage the support of these types of services over a common channel, thus not clogging up the air interface with multiple dedicated transmissions of the same data. The transmission of services over a single common channel reaching down the cell edge requires a large amount of power in order to satisfy the quality of service (QoS) requirements and the planned coverage. These power requirements can be reduced by the use of well known macro diversity combining techniques such as selective combining (SC) and maximum ratio combining (MRC) which allow a significant signal improvement at the receiver side and a more efficient usage of the available radio resources