Abstract
In this paper, we evaluate the performance of spatial diversity techniques in the scope of vehicular communications, using a IEEE 802.11p multi-antenna flexible and modular implementation. The analysis is based on the well-known Selection Combining (SC) and Equal Gain Combining (EGC) algorithms. The results obtained indicate that employing these techniques improves the system's resilience against the fast fading multipath effect that characterizes dynamic wireless channels. The measurements performed reveal that up to 32% more frames can be decoded when compared to a single antenna system within a Non Line of Sight (NLOS) scenario. We also examine the influence of the modulation type used on the performance of the diversity combining scheme.