Coherent versus differential multiple-input multiple-output systems

In recent years, Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) techniques have attracted substantial attention due to their capability of providing spatial diversity and/or multiplexing gains. Inspired by the concept of Spatial Modulation (SM), the novel concept of Space-Time-Shift-Keying (STSK) was recently proposed, which is considered to have the following advantages: 1) STSK constitutes a generalized shift keying architecture, which is capable of striking the required trade-off between the required spatial and time diversity as well as multiplexing gain and includes SM and Space Shift Keying (SSK) as its special cases. 2) Its high degree of design-freedom, the above-mentioned flexible diversity versus multiplexing gain trade-off can be achieved by optimizing both the number and size of the dispersion matrices, as well as the number of transmit and receive antennas. 3) Similar to the SM/SSK schemes, the Inter-Antenna-Interference (IAI) may be eliminated and consequently, the adoption of single-antenna-based Maximum Likelihood (ML) detection becomes realistic in STSK schemes.In this report, our investigation can be classified into two major categories, Coherent STSK (CSTSK) and Differential STSK (DSTSK) schemes. For CSTSK, since Channel State Information (CSI) is required for data detection, Channel Estimation (CE) techniques become necessary. To be more explicit, we first briefly review the conventional Training Based CE (TBCE) and Semi-Blind CE (SBCE) schemes for the CSTSK MIMO schemes. In addition, we develop a Blockof-Bits Selection Based CE (BBSBCE) algorithm for CSTSK schemes for increasing the overall system’s throughput, while improving the accuracy of the CE. Additionally, it has been widely recognised that MIMO schemes are capable of achieving a diversity and/or multiplexing gain by employing multiple Antenna Elements (AEs) at the transmitter and/or the receiver. However, it should also noted that since MIMO systems utilize multiple RF chains, their power consumption and hardware costs become substantial. Against this background, we introduce the concept of (Antenna Selection) AS and propose a simple yet efficient AS algorithm, namely the Norm-Based Joint Transmit and Receive AS (NBJTRAS) for assisting MIMO systems.For DSTSK, since no CSI is required for differential detection schemes, it also draws our attention. However, in the absence of CE, the Conventional Differential Detection (CDD) schemes usually suffer from a 3 dB performance degradation and may exhibit an error-flow when Doppler frequency is excessive. In order to mitigate this problem, we investigate Multiple-Symbol Differential Sphere Detection (MSDSD) scheme and adopt it in our DSTSK scheme to improve the system performance, while reducing the detection complexity. Furthermore, based on our MSDSD detected DSTSK scheme, we propose a DSTSK aided Multi-User Successive Relaying aided Cooperative System (MUSRC), which is capable of supporting various number of users flexibly, while covering the conventional 50% throughput loss due to the half-duplex transmit and receive constraint of practical transceivers