Performance of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation for Indoor Radio Communications.
01 January 1987
The growing demand for voice and data service has resulted in unprecedented interest in local area networks in general and indoor radio communications in particular. A radio-based local area network for voice and data is extremely attractive. It offers the potential of maintaining network connectivity even when moving terminals must be serviced. This paper assesses the performance achievable with conventional technology, such as M-level Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (M-QAM), as a baseline against which more elaborate systems could be compared. Indoor radio propagation is subject to substantial attenuation and severe multipath. Signal attenuation limits the maximum distance that a link may cover while multipath propagation limits the maximum signaling rate. Fortunately, a statistical model for indoor multipath radio, based on measured propagation data, is now available, facilitating the evaluation of indoor radio systems under realistic conditions.