Bit error rate improvement using ESPRIT based beamforming and RAKE receiver

The phenomenon of multipath propagation has contributed significantly towards deterioration of quality of signal received in a wireless communication system. Several techniques for multipath mitigation are in use in the current wireless communication technology standards. With the steady rise in the number of wireless devices active in the environment, the concept of beamforming has also gained popularity. In this paper, we propose a smart antenna receiver architecture based on CDMA technology comprising both Rake Receiver (for multipath mitigation) and beamforming on the basis of DOA estimation by ESPRIT algorithm. The purpose is to combine time-space diversity and spatial diversity to achieve better signal reception. The simulation results for the proposed system are presented. The results significantly substantiate our claim of achieving better bit error rate using the proposed receiver.