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AntennadiversityWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Antennadiversity
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Antennadiversity,alsoknownasspacediversityorspatial
diversity,isanyoneofseveralwirelessdiversityschemesthatuses
twoormoreantennastoimprovethequalityandreliabilityofa
wirelesslink.Often,especiallyinurbanandindoorenvironments,
thereisnoclearlineofsight(LOS)betweentransmitterand
receiver.Insteadthesignalisreflectedalongmultiplepathsbefore
finallybeingreceived.Eachofthesebouncescanintroducephase
shifts,timedelays,attenuations,anddistortionsthatcan
destructivelyinterferewithoneanotherattheapertureofthe
receivingantenna.
Antennadiversityisespeciallyeffectiveatmitigatingthese
multipathsituations.Thisisbecausemultipleantennasoffera
receiverseveralobservationsofthesamesignal.Eachantennawill
experienceadifferentinterferenceenvironment.Thus,ifone
antennaisexperiencingadeepfade,itislikelythatanotherhasa
sufficientsignal.Collectivelysuchasystemcanprovidearobust
link.Whilethisisprimarilyseeninreceivingsystems(diversity
reception),theanaloghasalsoprovenvaluablefortransmitting
systems(transmitdiversity)aswell.

Telephoneexchangewithlater
antennasmountedhigherforantifade

Inherentlyanantennadiversityschemerequiresadditionalhardware
andintegrationversusasingleantennasystembutduetothecommonalityofthesignalpathsafairamount
ofcircuitrycanbeshared.Alsowiththemultiplesignalsthereisagreaterprocessingdemandplacedonthe
receiver,whichcanleadtotighterdesignrequirements.Typically,however,signalreliabilityisparamount
andusingmultipleantennasisaneffectivewaytodecreasethenumberofdropoutsandlostconnections.

Contents
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AntennaTechniques
ProcessingTechniques
Applications
AntennadiversityforMIMO
Seealso
References

AntennaTechniques
Antennadiversitycanberealizedinseveralways.Dependingontheenvironmentandtheexpected
interference,designerscanemployoneormoreofthesemethodstoimprovesignalquality.Infactmultiple
methodsarefrequentlyusedtofurtherincreasereliability.
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Spatialdiversityemploysmultipleantennas,usuallywiththesamecharacteristics,thatare
physicallyseparatedfromoneanother.Dependingupontheexpectedincidenceoftheincoming
signal,sometimesaspaceontheorderofawavelengthissufficient.Othertimesmuchlarger
distancesareneeded.Cellularizationorsectorization,forexample,isaspatialdiversityschemethat
canhaveantennasorbasestationsmilesapart.Thisisespeciallybeneficialforthemobile
communicationindustrysinceitallowsmultipleuserstosharealimitedcommunicationspectrum
andavoidcochannelinterference.
Patterndiversityconsistsoftwoormorecolocatedantennaswithdifferentradiationpatterns.This
typeofdiversitymakesuseofdirectiveantennasthatareusuallyphysicallyseparatedbysome(often
short)distance.Collectivelytheyarecapableofdiscriminatingalargeportionofanglespaceandcan
provideahighergainversusasingleomnidirectionalradiator.
Polarizationdiversitycombinespairsofantennaswithorthogonalpolarizations(i.e.
horizontal/vertical,slant45,Lefthand/RighthandCPetc.).Reflectedsignalscanundergo
polarizationchangesdependingonthemediumthroughwhichtheyaretravelling.Apolarisation
differenceof90willresultinanattenuationfactorofupto34dBinsignalstrength.Bypairingtwo
complementarypolarizations,thisschemecanimmunizeasystemfrompolarizationmismatchesthat
wouldotherwisecausesignalfade.Additionally,suchdiversityhasprovenvaluableatradioand
mobilecommunicationbasestationssinceitislesssusceptibletothenearrandomorientationsof
transmittingantennas.
Transmit/Receivediversityusestwoseparate,collocatedantennasfortransmitandreceive
functions.Suchaconfigurationeliminatestheneedforaduplexerandcanprotectsensitivereceiver
componentsfromthehighpowerusedintransmit.
Adaptivearrayscanbeasingleantennawithactiveelementsoranarrayofsimilarantennaswith
abilitytochangetheircombinedradiationpatternasdifferentconditionspersist.Activeelectronically
scannedarrays(AESAs)manipulatephaseshiftersandattenuatorsatthefaceofeachradiatingsiteto
provideanearinstantaneousscanabilityaswellaspatternandpolarizationcontrol.Thisisespecially
beneficialforradarapplicationssinceitaffordsasingleantennatheabilitytoswitchamongseveral
differentmodessuchassearching,tracking,mappingandjammingcountermeasures.

ProcessingTechniques
Alloftheabovetechniquesrequiresomesortofpostprocessingtorecoverthedesiredmessage.Among
thesetechniquesare:
SwitchingInaswitchingreceiver,thesignalfromonlyoneantennaisfedtothereceiverforaslongas
thequalityofthatsignalremainsabovesomeprescribedthreshold.Ifandwhenthesignaldegrades,another
antennaisswitchedin.Switchingistheeasiestandleastpowerconsumingoftheantennadiversity
processingtechniquesbutperiodsoffadinganddesynchronizationmayoccurwhilethequalityofone
antennadegradesandanotherantennalinkisestablished.
SelectingAswithswitching,selectionprocessingpresentsonlyoneantennassignaltothereceiverat
anygiventime.Theantennachosen,however,isbasedonthebestsignaltonoiseratio(SNR)amongthe
receivedsignals.Thisrequiresthatapremeasurementtakeplaceandthatallantennashaveestablished
connections(atleastduringtheSNRmeasurement)leadingtoahigherpowerrequirement.Theactual
selectionprocesscantakeplaceinbetweenreceivedpacketsofinformation.Thisensuresthatasingle
antennaconnectionismaintainedasmuchaspossible.Switchingcanthentakeplaceonapacketbypacket
basisifnecessary.

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CombiningIncombining,allantennasmaintainestablishedconnectionsatalltimes.Thesignalsare
thencombinedandpresentedtothereceiver.Dependingonthesophisticationofthesystem,thesignalscan
beaddeddirectly(equalgaincombining)orweightedandaddedcoherently(maximalratiocombining).
Suchasystemprovidesthegreatestresistancetofadingbutsinceallthereceivepathsmustremain
energized,italsoconsumesthemostpower.
DynamicControlDynamicallycontrolledreceiversarecapableofchoosingfromtheaboveprocessing
schemesforwheneverthesituationarises.Whilemuchmorecomplex,theyoptimizethepowervs.
performancetradeoff.Transitionsbetweenmodesand/orantennaconnectionsaresignaledbyachangein
theperceivedqualityofthelink.Insituationsoflowfading,thereceivercanemploynodiversityanduse
thesignalpresentedbyasingleantenna.Asconditionsdegrade,thereceivercanthenassumethemore
highlyreliablebutpowerhungrymodesdescribedabove.

Applications
Awellknownpracticalapplicationofdiversityreceptionisinwirelessmicrophones,andinsimilar
electronicdevicessuchaswirelessguitarsystems.Awirelessmicrophonewithanondiversityreceiver(a
receiverhavingonlyoneantenna)ispronetorandomdropouts,fades,noise,orotherinterference,
especiallyifthetransmitter(thewirelessmicrophone)isinmotion.Awirelessmicrophoneorsoundsystem
usingdiversityreceptionwillswitchtotheotherantennawithinmicrosecondsifoneantennaexperiences
noise,providinganimprovedqualitysignalwithfewerdropoutsandnoise.Ideally,nodropoutsornoise
willoccurinthereceivedsignal.
AnothercommonusageisinWiFinetworkinggearandcordlesstelephonestocompensateformultipath
interference.Thebasestationwillswitchreceptiontooneoftwoantennasdependingonwhichiscurrently
receivingastrongersignal.Forbestresults,theantennasareusuallyplacedonewavelengthapart.For
microwavebands,wherethewavelengthsareunder100cm,thiscanoftenbedonewithtwoantennas
attachedtothesamehardware.Forlowerfrequenciesandlongerwavelengths,theantennasmustbeseveral
metersapart,makingitmuchlessreasonable.
Mobilephonetowersalsooftentakeadvantageofdiversityeachface(sector)ofatowerwilloftenhave
twoantennasoneistransmittingandreceiving,whiletheotherisareceiveonlyantenna.Tworeceiversare
usedtoperformdiversityreception.
Theuseofmultipleantennasatbothtransmitandreceiveresultsinamultipleinputmultipleoutput
(MIMO)system.Theuseofdiversitytechniquesatbothendsofthelinkistermedspacetimecoding.

AntennadiversityforMIMO
DiversityCodingisthespatialcodingtechniquesforaMIMOsysteminwirelesschannels.Wireless
channelsseverelysufferfromfadingphenomena,whichcausesunreliabilityindatadecoding.
Fundamentally,diversitycodingsendsmultiplecopiesthroughmultipletransmitantennas,soastoimprove
thereliabilityofthedatareception.Ifoneofthemfailstoreceive,theothersareusedfordatadecoding.
MIMOachievesspatialdiversityandspatialmultiplexing.

Seealso
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Diversityschemes
Spacetimecode
Rakereceiver
Multipleinputmultipleoutputcommunications(MIMO)
Distributedantennasystem
Macrodiversity
Diversitycombining
Transmitdiversity
Diversitygain
Cooperativediversity

References
J.MoonandY.Kim.AntennaDiversityStrengthens
WirelessLANs.CommunicationSystemsDesign,pages15
22,Jan2003
S.M.Lindenmeier,L.M.Reiter,D.E.BarieandJ.F.Hopf.
AntennaDiversityforImprovingtheBERinMobileDigital
RadioReceptionEspeciallyinAreaswithDenseFoliage.
Cellantennasonanelectricitypylon
InternationalITGConferenceonAntennas,ISBN978300
showingtwoantennaspersector
0216435,pages4548.Mar302007.
AdaptiveArraysandDiversityAntennaConfigurationsfor
HandheldWirelessCommunicationTerminalsbyCarlDietrich,Jr.Feb15,2000.
AdaptiveAntennaTutorial:SpectralEfficiencyandSpatialProcessingbyMarcGoldburg.FCC
OfficeofEngineeringandTechnology.Sept7,2001.
AMATLABbasedObjectOrientedApproachtoMultipathFadingChannelSimulationAwhite
paperbyC.D.Iskander.Feb2008.
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