On the Performance of the Layered-Division-Multiplexing using Maximal-Ratio Combining

This article proposes the diversity gain enhancement in layered division multiplexing (LDM) systems by applying maximal-ratio combining (MRC) technique. LDM systems is adopted as a baseline technology of the ATSC 3.0 systems which the two transmission layers are simultaneously transmitted over two different types of fading channels for fixed and mobile services. Hence, the performance analysis of each layer need to be evaluated on different type of fading channel. Starting with the moment generating function (MGF) of the MRC output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), we propose the new method to derive closed-form expressions for average symbol-error rate (SER) of the proposed systems over Rayleigh and Nakagami- m fading channels in the presence of error propagation (EP) that is generated from the first layer detection. Analytical results show that the specific value of injection level at the transmitter need to be precisely defined to obtain the best mutual benefit for both LDM layers, and the proposed technique has significant performance advantage over conventional LDM systems. Simulation results demonstrate the tightness of the author’s analysis.