Modulation methods and structures for wireless communication systems and transceivers

Abstract

Wireless communication methods and structures are provided that enhance communication robustness while reducing cost. They communicate downstream data with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission processes and upstream data with single carrier transmission processes. This combination of transmission processes is configured with various signal modulations (e.g., quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), m-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) and n-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) to provide lower cost upstream communication from customer services equipments (CPEs) and more robust downstream communication from headends than has been achieved in conventional communication systems. Signal diversity is enhanced by receiving communication signals with multiple antennas that are spatially separated and have different polarizations to thereby enhance frequency diversity. Signal diversity is further enhanced by combining the received signals in ways that maximize the ratio of desired to undesired signals.

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