An Overview of the ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer Specification

"(c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.")This paper provides an overview of the physical layer specification of Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0, the next-generation digital terrestrial broadcasting standard. ATSC 3.0 does not have any backwards-compatibility constraint with existing ATSC standards, and it uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based waveforms along with powerful low-density parity check (LDPC) forward error correction codes similar to existing state-of-the-art. However, it introduces many new technological features such as 2-D non-uniform constellations, improved and ultra-robust LDPC codes, power-based layered division multiplexing to efficiently provide mobile and fixed services in the same radio frequency (RF) channel, as well as a novel frequency pre-distortion multiple-input single-output antenna scheme. ATSC 3.0 also allows bonding of two RF channels to increase the service peak data rate and to exploit inter-RF channel frequency diversity, and to employ dual-polarized multiple-input multiple-output antenna system. Furthermore, ATSC 3.0 provides great flexibility in terms of configuration parameters (e.g., 12 coding rates, 6 modulation orders, 16 pilot patterns, 12 guard intervals, and 2 time interleavers), and also a very flexible data multiplexing scheme using time, frequency, and power dimensions. As a consequence, ATSC 3.0 not only improves the spectral efficiency and robustness well beyond the first generation ATSC broadcast television standard, but also it is positioned to become the reference terrestrial broadcasting technology worldwide due to its unprecedented performance and flexibility. Another key aspect of ATSC 3.0 is its extensible signaling, which will allow including new technologies in the future without disrupting ATSC 3.0 services. This paper provides an overview of the physical layer technologies of ATSC 3.0, covering the ATSC A/321 standard that describes the so-called bootstrap, which is the universal entry point to an ATSC 3.0 signal, and the ATSC A/322 standard that describes the physical layer downlink signals after the bootstrap. A summary comparison between ATSC 3.0 and DVB-T2 is also provided.Fay, L.; Michael, L.; Gómez Barquero, D.; Ammar, N.; Caldwell, MW. (2016). An Overview of the ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer Specification. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 62(1):159-171. doi:10.1109/TBC.2015.2505417S15917162

Multiuser MIMO-OFDM for Next-Generation Wireless Systems

This overview portrays the 40-year evolution of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) research. The amelioration of powerful multicarrier OFDM arrangements with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems has numerous benefits, which are detailed in this treatise. We continue by highlighting the limitations of conventional detection and channel estimation techniques designed for multiuser MIMO OFDM systems in the so-called rank-deficient scenarios, where the number of users supported or the number of transmit antennas employed exceeds the number of receiver antennas. This is often encountered in practice, unless we limit the number of users granted access in the base station’s or radio port’s coverage area. Following a historical perspective on the associated design problems and their state-of-the-art solutions, the second half of this treatise details a range of classic multiuser detectors (MUDs) designed for MIMO-OFDM systems and characterizes their achievable performance. A further section aims for identifying novel cutting-edge genetic algorithm (GA)-aided detector solutions, which have found numerous applications in wireless communications in recent years. In an effort to stimulate the cross pollination of ideas across the machine learning, optimization, signal processing, and wireless communications research communities, we will review the broadly applicable principles of various GA-assisted optimization techniques, which were recently proposed also for employment inmultiuser MIMO OFDM. In order to stimulate new research, we demonstrate that the family of GA-aided MUDs is capable of achieving a near-optimum performance at the cost of a significantly lower computational complexity than that imposed by their optimum maximum-likelihood (ML) MUD aided counterparts. The paper is concluded by outlining a range of future research options that may find their way into next-generation wireless systems

Advanced Layered Divsion Multiplexing Technologies for Next-Gen Broadcast

Tesis por compendioDesde comienzos del siglo XXI, los sistemas de radiodifusión terrestre han sido culpados de un uso ineficiente del espectro asignado. Para aumentar la eficiencia espectral, los organismos de estandarización de TV digital comenzaron a desarrollar la evolución técnica de los sistemas de TDT de primera generación. Entre otros, uno de los objetivos principales de los sistemas de TDT de próxima generación (DVB-T2 y ATSC 3.0) es proporcionar simultáneamente servicios de TV a dispositivos móviles y fijos. El principal inconveniente de esta entrega simultánea son los diferentes requisitos de cada condición de recepción. Para abordar estas limitaciones, se han considerado diferentes técnicas de multiplexación. Mientras que DVB-T2 acomete la entrega simultánea de los dos servicios mediante TDM, ATSC 3.0 adoptó la Multiplexación por División en Capas (LDM). LDM puede superar a TDM y a FDM al aprovechar la relación de Protección de Error Desigual (UEP), ya que ambos servicios, llamados capas, utilizan todos los recursos de frecuencia y tiempo con diferentes niveles de potencia. En el lado del receptor, se distinguen dos implementaciones, de acuerdo con la capa a decodificar. Los receptores móviles solo están destinados a obtener la capa superior, conocida como Core Layer (CL). Para no aumentar su complejidad en comparación con los receptores de capa única, la capa inferior, conocida como Enhanced Layer (EL), es tratada como un ruido adicional en la decodificación. Los receptores fijos aumentan su complejidad, ya que deben realizar un proceso de Cancelación de Interferencia (SIC) sobre la CL para obtener la EL. Para limitar la complejidad adicional de los receptores fijos, las capas de LDM en ATSC 3.0 están configuradas con diferentes capacidades de corrección, pero comparten el resto de bloques de la capa física, incluido el TIL, el PP, el tamaño de FFT, y el GI. Esta disertación investiga tecnologías avanzadas para optimizar el rendimiento de LDM. Primero se propone una optimización del proceso de demapeo para las dos capas de LDM. El algoritmo propuesto logra un aumento de capacidad, al tener en cuenta la forma de la EL en el proceso de demapeo de la CL. Sin embargo, el número de distancias Euclidianas a computar puede aumentar significativamente, conduciendo no solo a receptores fijos más complejos, sino también a receptores móviles más complejos. A continuación, se determina la configuración de piloto ATSC 3.0 más adecuada para LDM. Teniendo en cuenta que las dos capas comparten el mismo PP, surge una contrapartida entre la densidad de pilotos (CL) y la redundancia sobre los datos (EL). A partir de los resultados de rendimiento, se recomienda el uso de un PP no muy denso, ya que ya han sido diseñados para hacer frente a ecos largos y altas velocidades. La amplitud piloto óptima depende del estimador de canal en los receptores (ej., se recomienda la amplitud mínima para una implementación Wiener, mientras que la máxima para una implementación FFT). También se investiga la potencial transmisión conjunta de LDM con tres tecnologías avanzadas adoptadas en ATSC 3.0: las tecnologías de agregación MultiRF, los esquemas de MISO distribuido y los de MIMO colocalizado. Se estudian los potenciales casos de uso, los aspectos de implementación del transmisor y el receptor, y las ganancias de rendimiento de las configuraciones conjuntas para las dos capas de LDM. Las restricciones adicionales de combinar LDM con las tecnologías avanzadas se consideran admisibles, ya que las mayores demandas ya están contempladas en ATSC 3.0 (ej., una segunda cadena de recepción). Se obtienen ganancias significativas en condiciones de recepción peatonal gracias a la diversidad en frecuencia proporcionada por las tecnologías MultiRF. La conjunción de LDM con esquemas de MISO proporciona ganancias de rendimiento significativas en redes SFN para la capa fija con el esquema de Alamouti.Since the beginning of the 21st century, terrestrial broadcasting systems have been blamed of an inefficient use of the allocated spectrum. To increase the spectral efficiency, digital television Standards Developing Organizations settled to develop the technical evolution of the first-generation DTT systems. Among others, a primary goal of next-generation DTT systems (DVB-T2 and ATSC 3.0) is to simultaneously provide TV services to mobile and fixed devices. The major drawback of this simultaneous delivery is the different requirement of each reception condition. To address these constraints different multiplexing techniques have been considered. While DVB-T2 fulfilled the simultaneous delivery of the two services by TDM, ATSC 3.0 adopted the LDM technology. LDM can outperform TDM and FDM by taking advantage of the UEP ratio, as both services, namely layers, utilize all the frequency and time resources with different power levels. At receiver side, two implementations are distinguished, according to the intended layer. Mobile receivers are only intended to obtain the upper layer, known as CL. In order not to increase their complexity compared to single layer receivers, the lower layer, known as EL is treated as an additional noise on the CL decoding. Fixed receivers, increase their complexity, as they should performed a SIC process on the CL for getting the EL. To limit the additional complexity of fixed receivers, the LDM layers in ATSC 3.0 are configured with different error correction capabilities, but share the rest of physical layer parameters, including the TIL, the PP, the FFT size, and the GI. This dissertation investigates advanced technologies to optimize the LDM performance. A demapping optimization for the two LDM layers is first proposed. A capacity increase is achieved by the proposed algorithm, which takes into account the underlying layer shape in the demapping process. Nevertheless, the number of Euclidean distances to be computed can be significantly increased, contributing to not only more complex fixed receivers, but also more complex mobile receivers. Next, the most suitable ATSC 3.0 pilot configuration for LDM is determined. Considering the two layers share the same PP a trade-off between pilot density (CL) and data overhead (EL) arises. From the performance results, it is recommended the use of a not very dense PP, as they have been already designed to cope with long echoes and high speeds. The optimum pilot amplitude depends on the channel estimator at receivers (e.g. the minimum amplitude is recommended for a Wiener implementation, while the maximum for a FFT implementation). The potential combination of LDM with three advanced technologies that have been adopted in ATSC 3.0 is also investigated: MultiRF technologies, distributed MISO schemes, and co-located MIMO schemes. The potential use cases, the transmitter and receiver implementations, and the performance gains of the joint configurations are studied for the two LDM layers. The additional constraints of combining LDM with the advanced technologies is considered admissible, as the greatest demands (e.g. a second receiving chain) are already contemplated in ATSC 3.0. Significant gains are found for the mobile layer at pedestrian reception conditions thanks to the frequency diversity provided by MultiRF technologies. The conjunction of LDM with distributed MISO schemes provides significant performance gains on SFNs for the fixed layer with Alamouti scheme. Last, considering the complexity in the mobile receivers and the CL performance, the recommended joint configuration is MISO in the CL and MIMO in the EL.Des de començaments del segle XXI, els sistemes de radiodifusió terrestre han sigut culpats d'un ús ineficient de l'espectre assignat. Per a augmentar l'eficiència espectral, els organismes d'estandardització de TV digital van començar a desenvolupar l'evolució tècnica dels sistemes de TDT de primera generació. Entre altres, un dels objectius principals dels sistemes de TDT de pròxima generació (DVB-T2 i el ATSC 3.0) és proporcionar simultàniament serveis de TV a dispositius mòbils i fixos. El principal inconvenient d'aquest lliurament simultani són els diferents requisits de cada condició de recepció. Per a abordar aquestes limitacions, s'han considerat diferents tècniques de multiplexació. Mentre que DVB-T2 escomet el lliurament simultani dels dos serveis mitjançant TDM, ATSC 3.0 va adoptar la Multiplexació per Divisió en Capes (LDM). LDM pot superar a TDM i a FDM en aprofitar la relació de Protecció d'Error Desigual (UEP), ja que tots dos serveis, cridats capes, utilitzen tots els recursos de freqüència i temps amb diferents nivells de potència. En el costat del receptor, es distingeixen dues implementacions, d'acord amb la capa a decodificar. Els receptors mòbils solament estan destinats a obtenir la capa superior, coneguda com Core Layer (CL). Per a no augmentar la seua complexitat en comparació amb els receptors de capa única, la capa inferior, coneguda com Enhanced Layer (EL), és tractada com un soroll addicional en la decodificació. Els receptors fixos augmenten la seua complexitat, ja que han de realitzar un procés de Cancel·lació d'Interferència (SIC) sobre la CL per a obtenir l'EL. Per a limitar la complexitat addicional dels receptors fixos, les capes de LDM en ATSC 3.0 estan configurades amb diferents capacitats de correcció, però comparteixen la resta de blocs de la capa física, inclòs el TIL, el PP, la grandària de FFT i el GI. Aquesta dissertació investiga tecnologies avançades per a optimitzar el rendiment de LDM. Primer es proposa una optimització del procés de demapeo per a les dues capes de LDM. L'algoritme proposat aconsegueix un augment de capacitat, en tenir en compte la forma de l'EL en el procés de demapeo de la CL. No obstant açò, el nombre de distàncies Euclidianes a computar pot augmentar significativament, conduint NO sols a receptors fixos més complexos, sinó també a receptors mòbils més complexos. A continuació, es determina la configuració de pilot ATSC 3.0 més adequada per a LDM. Tenint en compte que les dues capes comparteixen el mateix PP, es produeix una contrapartida entre la densitat de pilots (CL) i la redundància sobre les dades (EL). A partir dels resultats de rendiment, es recomana l'ús d'un PP no gaire dens, ja que ja han sigut dissenyats per a fer front a ecos llargs i altes velocitats. L'amplitud pilot òptima depèn de l'estimador de canal en els receptors (ex., es recomana l'amplitud mínima per a una implementació Wiener, mentre que la màxima per a una implementació FFT). També s'investiga la potencial transmissió conjunta de LDM amb tres tecnologies avançades adoptades en ATSC 3.0: les tecnologies d'agregació de MultiRF, els esquemes de MISO distribuït i els de MIMO colocalitzat. S'estudien els potencials casos d'ús, els principals aspectes d'implementació del transmissor i el receptor, i els guanys de rendiment de les configuracions conjuntes per a les dues capes de LDM. Les restriccions addicionals de combinar LDM amb les tecnologies avançades es consideren admissibles, ja que les majors demandes ja estan contemplades en ATSC 3.0 (ex., una segona cadena de recepció). S'obtenen guanys significatius per a la capa mòbil en condicions de recepció per als vianants gràcies a la diversitat en freqüència proporcionada per les tecnologies MultiRF. La conjunció de LDM amb esquemes MISO distribuïts proporciona guanys de rendiment significatius en xarxes SFN per a la capa fixa amb l'esquema d'Alamouti.Garro Crevillén, E. (2018). Advanced Layered Divsion Multiplexing Technologies for Next-Gen Broadcast [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/105559TESISCompendi

Layered Division Multiplexing With Multi-Radio-Frequency Channel Technologies

"(c) 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.")The advanced television system committee (ATSC) is to release the next-generation U.S. digital terrestrial television standard, known as ATSC 3.0. Layered division multiplexing (LDM) is one of the new physical layer technologies included in the standard, which enables the efficient provision of mobile and fixed services by superposing two independent signals with different power levels. ATSC 3.0 has also adopted a novel transmission technique known as channel bonding (CB), which splits the data of a service into two sub-streams that are modulated and transmitted over two radio-frequency (RF) channels. This paper investigates the potential use cases, implementation aspects, and performance advantages, for combining LDM with CB and also with the multi-RF channel technology time frequency slicing (TFS) introduced in digital video broadcasting - terrestrial second generation (DVB-T2) (as an informative annex) and digital video broadcasting - next generation handheld (DVB-NGH) which allows distributing the data of a service across two or more RF channels by means of time slicing and frequency hopping.Parts of this paper have been published in the Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Broadband Multimedia Systems and Broadcasting, Ghent, Belgium, in 2015. This work was supported by the ICT Research and Development Program of MSIP/IITP. [R0101-15-294, Development of Service and Transmission Technology for Convergent Realistic Broadcast.]Garro Crevillén, E.; Gimenez Gandia, JJ.; Park, SI.; Gómez Barquero, D. (2016). Layered Division Multiplexing With Multi-Radio-Frequency Channel Technologies. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 62(2):365-374. doi:10.1109/TBC.2015.2492474S36537462

A survey of digital television broadcast transmission techniques

This paper is a survey of the transmission techniques used in digital television (TV) standards worldwide. With the increase in the demand for High-Definition (HD) TV, video-on-demand and mobile TV services, there was a real need for more bandwidth-efficient, flawless and crisp video quality, which motivated the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting. In this paper we present a brief history of the development of TV and then we survey the transmission technology used in different digital terrestrial, satellite, cable and mobile TV standards in different parts of the world. First, we present the Digital Video Broadcasting standards developed in Europe for terrestrial (DVB-T/T2), for satellite (DVB-S/S2), for cable (DVB-C) and for hand-held transmission (DVB-H). We then describe the Advanced Television System Committee standards developed in the USA both for terrestrial (ATSC) and for hand-held transmission (ATSC-M/H). We continue by describing the Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting standards developed in Japan for Terrestrial (ISDB-T) and Satellite (ISDB-S) transmission and then present the International System for Digital Television (ISDTV), which was developed in Brazil by adopteding the ISDB-T physical layer architecture. Following the ISDTV, we describe the Digital Terrestrial television Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) standard developed in China. Finally, as a design example, we highlight the physical layer implementation of the DVB-T2 standar

Visible Light Communications towards 5G

5G networks have to offer extremely high capacity for novel streaming applications. One of the most promising approaches is to embed large numbers of co-operating small cells into the macro-cell coverage area. Alternatively, optical wireless based technologies can be adopted as an alternative physical layer offering higher data rates. Visible light communications (VLC) is an emerging technology for future high capacity communication links (it has been accepted to 5GPP) in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum (~370–780 nm) utilizing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) simultaneously provide data transmission and room illumination. A major challenge in VLC is the LED modulation bandwidths, which are limited to a few MHz. However, myriad gigabit speed transmission links have already been demonstrated. Non line-of-sight (NLOS) optical wireless is resistant to blocking by people and obstacles and is capable of adapting its’ throughput according to the current channel state information. Concurrently, organic polymer LEDs (PLEDs) have become the focus of enormous attention for solid-state lighting applications due to their advantages over conventional white LEDs such as ultra-low costs, low heating temperature, mechanical flexibility and large photoactive areas when produced with wet processing methods. This paper discusses development of such VLC links with a view to implementing ubiquitous broadcasting networks featuring advanced modulation formats such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or carrier-less amplitude and phase modulation (CAP) in conjunction with equalization techniques. Finally, this paper will also summarize the results of the European project ICT COST IC1101 OPTICWISE (Optical Wireless Communications - An Emerging Technology) dealing VLC and OLEDs towards 5G networks

Solutions for New Terrestrial Broadcasting Systems Offering Simultaneously Stationary and Mobile Services

221 p.[EN]Since the first broadcasted TV signal was transmitted in the early decades of the past century, the television broadcasting industry has experienced a series of dramatic changes. Most recently, following the evolution from analogue to digital systems, the digital dividend has become one of the main concerns of the broadcasting industry. In fact, there are many international spectrum authorities reclaiming part of the broadcasting spectrum to satisfy the growing demand of other services, such as broadband wireless services, arguing that the TV services are not very spectrum-efficient. Apart from that, it must be taken into account that, even if up to now the mobile broadcasting has not been considered a major requirement, this will probably change in the near future. In fact, it is expected that the global mobile data traffic will increase 11-fold between 2014 and 2018, and what is more, over two thirds of the data traffic will be video stream by the end of that period. Therefore, the capability to receive HD services anywhere with a mobile device is going to be a mandatory requirement for any new generation broadcasting system. The main objective of this work is to present several technical solutions that answer to these challenges. In particular, the main questions to be solved are the spectrum efficiency issue and the increasing user expectations of receiving high quality mobile services. In other words, the main objective is to provide technical solutions for an efficient and flexible usage of the terrestrial broadcasting spectrum for both stationary and mobile services. The first contributions of this scientific work are closely related to the study of the mobile broadcast reception. Firstly, a comprehensive mathematical analysis of the OFDM signal behaviour over time-varying channels is presented. In order to maximize the channel capacity in mobile environments, channel estimation and equalization are studied in depth. First, the most implemented equalization solutions in time-varying scenarios are analyzed, and then, based on these existing techniques, a new equalization algorithm is proposed for enhancing the receivers’ performance. An alternative solution for improving the efficiency under mobile channel conditions is treating the Inter Carrier Interference as another noise source. Specifically, after analyzing the ICI impact and the existing solutions for reducing the ICI penalty, a new approach based on the robustness of FEC codes is presented. This new approach employs one dimensional algorithms at the receiver and entrusts the ICI removing task to the robust forward error correction codes. Finally, another major contribution of this work is the presentation of the Layer Division Multiplexing (LDM) as a spectrum-efficient and flexible solution for offering stationary and mobile services simultaneously. The comprehensive theoretical study developed here verifies the improved spectrum efficiency, whereas the included practical validation confirms the feasibility of the system and presents it as a very promising multiplexing technique, which will surely be a strong candidate for the next generation broadcasting services.[ES]Desde el comienzo de la transmisión de las primeras señales de televisión a principios del siglo pasado, la radiodifusión digital ha evolucionado gracias a una serie de cambios relevantes. Recientemente, como consecuencia directa de la digitalización del servicio, el dividendo digital se ha convertido en uno de los caballos de batalla de la industria de la radiodifusión. De hecho, no son pocos los consorcios internacionales que abogan por asignar parte del espectro de radiodifusión a otros servicios como, por ejemplo, la telefonía móvil, argumentado la poca eficiencia espectral de la tecnología de radiodifusión actual. Asimismo, se debe tener en cuenta que a pesar de que los servicios móviles no se han considerado fundamentales en el pasado, esta tendencia probablemente variará en el futuro cercano. De hecho, se espera que el tráfico derivado de servicios móviles se multiplique por once entre los años 2014 y 2018; y lo que es más importante, se pronostica que dos tercios del tráfico móvil sea video streaming para finales de ese periodo. Por lo tanto, la posibilidad de ofrecer servicios de alta definición en dispositivos móviles es un requisito fundamental para los sistemas de radiodifusión de nueva generación. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es presentar soluciones técnicas que den respuesta a los retos planteados anteriormente. En particular, las principales cuestiones a resolver son la ineficiencia espectral y el incremento de usuarios que demandan mayor calidad en los contenidos para dispositivos móviles. En pocas palabras, el principal objetivo de este trabajo se basa en ofrecer una solución más eficiente y flexible para la transmisión simultánea de servicios fijos y móviles. La primera contribución relevante de este trabajo está relacionada con la recepción de la señal de televisión en movimiento. En primer lugar, se presenta un completo análisis matemático del comportamiento de la señal OFDM en canales variantes con el tiempo. A continuación, con la intención de maximizar la capacidad del canal, se estudian en profundidad los algoritmos de estimación y ecualización. Posteriormente, se analizan los algoritmos de ecualización más implementados, y por último, basándose en estas técnicas, se propone un nuevo algoritmo de ecualización para aumentar el rendimiento de los receptores en tales condiciones. Del mismo modo, se plantea un nuevo enfoque para mejorar la eficiencia de los servicios móviles basado en tratar la interferencia entre portadoras como una fuente de ruido. Concretamente, tras analizar el impacto del ICI en los receptores actuales, se sugiere delegar el trabajo de corrección de dichas distorsiones en códigos FEC muy robustos. Finalmente, la última contribución importante de este trabajo es la presentación de la tecnología LDM como una manera más eficiente y flexible para la transmisión simultánea de servicios fijos y móviles. El análisis teórico presentado confirma el incremento en la eficiencia espectral, mientras que el estudio práctico valida la posible implementación del sistema y presenta la tecnología LDM c

Near-Instantaneously Adaptive HSDPA-Style OFDM Versus MC-CDMA Transceivers for WIFI, WIMAX, and Next-Generation Cellular Systems

Burts-by-burst (BbB) adaptive high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) style multicarrier systems are reviewed, identifying their most critical design aspects. These systems exhibit numerous attractive features, rendering them eminently eligible for employment in next-generation wireless systems. It is argued that BbB-adaptive or symbol-by-symbol adaptive orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) modems counteract the near instantaneous channel quality variations and hence attain an increased throughput or robustness in comparison to their fixed-mode counterparts. Although they act quite differently, various diversity techniques, such as Rake receivers and space-time block coding (STBC) are also capable of mitigating the channel quality variations in their effort to reduce the bit error ratio (BER), provided that the individual antenna elements experience independent fading. By contrast, in the presence of correlated fading imposed by shadowing or time-variant multiuser interference, the benefits of space-time coding erode and it is unrealistic to expect that a fixed-mode space-time coded system remains capable of maintaining a near-constant BER