In this paper, we study the performance of convolutional coding using an error-and-erasure correction Viterbi decoder for π/4-shift QDPSK mobile radio transmission. The receiver uses received signal envelope as channel state information to erase unreliable symbols instead of making explicit decision before decoding. The performance study is carried out over frequency-selective fading channel with additive white Gaussian noise, co-channel interference and propagation delay spread. The results show that decoding with symbol erasure can significantly improve the system transmission performance compared to decoding without symbol erasure.

High-speed digital land mobile communications suffer from frequency-selective fading due to a long delay difference. Several techniques have been proposed to overcome the multipath propagation problem. Among them, an adaptive array antenna is suitable for very high-speed transmission because it can suppress the multipath signal of a long delay difference significantly. This paper describes the LMS adaptive array antenna for frequency-selective fading reduction and a new diversity technique. First, we propose a method to generate a reference signal in the LMS adaptive array. At the beginning of communication, we use training codes for the reference signal, which are known at a receiver. After the training period, we use detected codes for the reference signal. We can generate the reference signal modulating a carrier at the receiver by those codes. The carrier is oscillated independently of the incident signal. Then, the carrier frequency of the reference signal is in general different from that of the incident signal. However, the LMS adaptive array works in such a way that the carrier frequency of the array output coincides with that of the reference signal. Namely, the frequency difference does not affect the performance of the LMS adaptive array. Computer simulations show the proper behavior of the LMS adaptive array with the above reference signal generator. Moreover, we present a new multipath diversity technique using the LMS adaptive array. The LMS adaptive array reduces the frequency-selective fading by suppressing the multipath components. This means that the transmitted power is not used sufficiently. We propose a multiple beam antenna with the LMS adaptive array. Each antenna pattern receives one of the multipath components, and we combine them adjusting the timing. Then, we realize the multipath diversity. In addition to the multipath fading reduction, we can improve a signal-to-noise ratio by the diversity technique.