The use of the Prony algorithm in a predictive RAKE receiver has been proposed, and it has been found that these predictive RAKE receivers perform particularly well at high Doppler frequencies as compared with similar receivers using alpha-trackers. Predictive RAKE receivers using the Prony algorithm would therefore be particularly effective for mobile communications involving high vehicle velocities or low sampling frequencies. It has also been found that the number of data points correctly decoded before the first error burst is very sensitive to the amount of noise on the taps, so that performance may be enhanced further if a way can be found of quantifying the value of the SNR on the taps during the training period, enabling the intervals between training periods to be optimised for a given level of performance demanded.

The use of RAKE receivers in systems which are subject to rapidly fading multipath propagation requires an adaptive algorithm with a predictive element to avoid large errors due to phase lag. A novel use of Prony's (1795) method, as a predictive algorithm in RAKE receivers, is proposed, and its performance in terms of bit error rate evaluated using the COST 207 model of a typical urban environment. It has been found that a predictive RAKE receiver using the Prony algorithm performs particularly well at high Doppler frequencies as compared with a similar receiver using alpha-trackers to estimate the tap amplitudes and phases