The Quality of Service (QoS) in land mobile satellite (LMS) communications drops drastically in the presence of shadowing and multipath fading. This paper studies two promising multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) schemes, along with specific transmission techniques, aimed at overcoming this problem. First, specific proposals for a dual-satellite distributed MIMO scheme are studied based upon delay-tolerant and spectral-efficient schemes. As a second alternative, a hybrid satellite–terrestrial scheme is studied with specific proposals for MIMO processing. In order to carry out a performance assessment the paper addresses related MIMO satellite propagation channel modeling issues which lead to a new mathematical model to accommodate the multi-satellite transmission. In both cases, we quantify and conclude the MIMO gains in terms of bit error rate (BER) and spectral efficiency for urban and suburban environments. The transmitted air-interfaces in both proposed MIMO schemes are DVB-SH standard compatible. The analytical results have been validated by means of Monte Carlo simulations.

Peer Reviewed