Joint Minimum Selection GSC and Down-Link Power Control

Abstract— We propose and analyze in this paper a new adaptive power controlled minimum selection generalized selection combining (MS-GSC) diversity scheme termed joint combining and power control (JCPC). The key idea is to meet the required quality of service while using the minimum possible transmit and processing power. Four power control variants accounting for practical implementation constraints including discrete power levels and transmitter gain saturation are proposed and studied. Selected numerical examples show that ideal continuous power control lowers the average bit error rate of MS-GSC for poor channel conditions and makes it always meet the specified target quality of service at the expense of an increase in the transmitter gain. For good channel conditions, JCPC reduces considerably the transmitted power relative to the nominal power. Additional numerical examples, show that the power control variants that take into account practical implementation constraints conserve the main features of the ideal continuous power algorithm.