Abstract
Two methods for multipath combining are compared for RAKE reception of a CDMA cellular forward-link traffic channel. Combining based on estimation of the signal-to-interference ratio of the output of each tap of the RAKE receiver is shown to provide significant performance improvement in comparison with the more commonly considered combiner that is based on measurement of the signal strength. The performance of RAKE receivers using the two methods of combining is considered for several fading, multipath channels.