Experimental evaluation of combined postdetection diversity and concatenated channel coding

The combined effects of postdetection diversity reception and concatenated channel coding are experimentally evaluated for [Pi]/4-shift QDPSK signal transmission over a Rayleigh fading channel. Two-branch postdetection diversity reception using maximal ratio combining (MRC) and selection combining (SC) are considered. The concatenated channel coding uses the Read-Solomon (15, k) code of GF([2.sup.4]) as the outer code and the BCH (7, 4) code as the inner code (k = 9, 11, 13). Measured bit error rate (BER) performance results are presented under cochannel interference (CCI) and multipath channel delay spread, as well as additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN).