Analytical Characterization of the Single Frequency Network Gain Using Effective SNR Metrics

The design of broadcasting networks operating in a single frequency way is challenging due to the difficulty of predicting the performance in a frequency selective channel, caused by natural multipath and echoes coming from different transmitters. In this paper we resort to the use of frame error rate prediction metrics (also known as effective SNR metrics) to characterize the performance gain (or loss) under different multipath and SNR regimes in a simplified scenario with two transmitters. The analysis shows clearly that receivers with a dominant line of sight reception and high SNR are more sensitive to the presence of echoes, while those users in low SNR or strong multipath conditions are easily enforced by the insertion of a second transmitter.