Branch-hopped wavelet packet division multiplexing

Wavelet packet division multiplexing (WPDM) is a high-capacity, flexible and robust orthogonal multiplexing technique in which wavelet packet basis functions are chosen as the coding waveforms. By analogy with frequency-hopped communication schemes, incorporation of time variation into the WPDM scheme offers the potential for further performance improvements, especially in frequency-selective fading channels. We consider a 'branch-hopped' WPDM scheme which employs an efficient modular switched transmultiplexer structure to induce the time variation. We determine classes of 'slow' and 'fast' hopping schemes analogous to their frequency-hopped counterparts, and evaluate several switching strategies for the transmultiplexer. For a given switching strategy we then design the filters within the transmultiplexer modules to provide further robustness to frequency-selective fading channels.