Type-based detection in macro-diversity reception for mobile radio signals

Type-based receivers assume no a priori channel model, and were previously shown to be effective in direct-sequence spread spectrum communications. In this paper, we investigate the macro-diversity combining of multiple type-based receivers in single-mobile-user reception (BPSK). We present a method for the exact calculation of the bit error rate of type-based receivers in this scenario. Maximal ratio combining of type-based receivers gives near optimal performance in Gaussian noise and better performance than combining matched filter outputs in Laplacian noise. The performance gain achieved by diversity reception is significant regardless of noise statistics, especially in the presence of frequency non-selective Rayleigh fading