Compatible improvement of the GSM/GPRS system by means of delay diversity

On basis of the GSM/GPRS system, we investigate the application of the delay diversity scheme. The delay diversity scheme is a simple special case of a space-time trellis code (STTC). Delay diversity may be offered by network operators even in existing systems, since the standard is not affected at all. The performance improvements obtainable by means of this technique are demonstrated both on basis of analytical and simulation results. A lower bound on the bit error probability is derived and an optimization of the intrinsic delay parameter is considered.