Radio communication system

摘要

A radio communication system comprises a communication channel for the transmission of data packets (302) from a primary station having a plurality of antennas to a secondary station having at least one antenna. The channel comprises a plurality of paths, and the primary station transmits a plurality of packets substantially simultaneously. Each of the plurality of packets is transmitted via a different subset of the plurality of paths, for example by arranging for each packet to be transmitted via a different antenna or antenna beam. The secondary station receives the plurality of data packets, determines whether each packet is received correctly and signals this determination (typically as an acknowledgement (304) or a negative acknowledgement (306)) to the primary station for each of the plurality of packets. The signalling may be by any convenient means, for example transmitting each acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement via a different subset of available uplink paths.