Space-time code design for three-transmit-antenna systems

Fully diverse constellations, i.e., a set of unitary matrices whose pairwise differences are nonsingular, are useful in multi-antenna communications especially in multi-antenna differential modulation, since they have good pairwise error properties. Recently, group theoretic ideals, especially fixed-point-free (fpf) groups, have been used to design fully diverse constellations of unitary matrices. Here we give a systematic method to design space-time codes which are appropriate for three-transmit-antenna differential modulation. The structure of the code is motivated by the Lie group SU(3). The code has a fast decoding algorithm using sphere decode. The diversity product of the code can be easily calculated and simulated performance shows that the code is better than the group-based codes especially at high rates and is as good as the elaborately-designed nongroup code

Three-transmit-antenna space-time codes based on SU(3)

Fully diverse constellations, i.e., a set of unitary matrices whose pairwise differences are nonsingular, are useful in multiantenna communications especially in multiantenna differential modulation, since they have good pairwise error properties. Recently, group theoretic ideas, especially fixed-point-free (fpf) groups, have been used to design fully diverse constellations of unitary matrices. Here, we give systematic design methods of space-time codes which are appropriate for three-transmit-antenna differential modulation. The structures of the codes are motivated by the special unitary Lie group SU(3). One of the codes, which is called the AB code, has a fast maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding algorithm using complex sphere decoding. Diversity products of the codes can be easily calculated, and simulated performance shows that they are better than group-based codes, especially at high rates and as good as the elaborately designed nongroup code

High-rate codes that are linear in space and time

Multiple-antenna systems that operate at high rates require simple yet effective space-time transmission schemes to handle the large traffic volume in real time. At rates of tens of bits per second per hertz, Vertical Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST), where every antenna transmits its own independent substream of data, has been shown to have good performance and simple encoding and decoding. Yet V-BLAST suffers from its inability to work with fewer receive antennas than transmit antennas-this deficiency is especially important for modern cellular systems, where a base station typically has more antennas than the mobile handsets. Furthermore, because V-BLAST transmits independent data streams on its antennas there is no built-in spatial coding to guard against deep fades from any given transmit antenna. On the other hand, there are many previously proposed space-time codes that have good fading resistance and simple decoding, but these codes generally have poor performance at high data rates or with many antennas. We propose a high-rate coding scheme that can handle any configuration of transmit and receive antennas and that subsumes both V-BLAST and many proposed space-time block codes as special cases. The scheme transmits substreams of data in linear combinations over space and time. The codes are designed to optimize the mutual information between the transmitted and received signals. Because of their linear structure, the codes retain the decoding simplicity of V-BLAST, and because of their information-theoretic optimality, they possess many coding advantages. We give examples of the codes and show that their performance is generally superior to earlier proposed methods over a wide range of rates and signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs)

Code diversity in multiple antenna wireless communication

The standard approach to the design of individual space-time codes is based on optimizing diversity and coding gains. This geometric approach leads to remarkable examples, such as perfect space-time block codes, for which the complexity of Maximum Likelihood (ML) decoding is considerable. Code diversity is an alternative and complementary approach where a small number of feedback bits are used to select from a family of space-time codes. Different codes lead to different induced channels at the receiver, where Channel State Information (CSI) is used to instruct the transmitter how to choose the code. This method of feedback provides gains associated with beamforming while minimizing the number of feedback bits. It complements the standard approach to code design by taking advantage of different (possibly equivalent) realizations of a particular code design. Feedback can be combined with sub-optimal low complexity decoding of the component codes to match ML decoding performance of any individual code in the family. It can also be combined with ML decoding of the component codes to improve performance beyond ML decoding performance of any individual code. One method of implementing code diversity is the use of feedback to adapt the phase of a transmitted signal as shown for 4 by 4 Quasi-Orthogonal Space-Time Block Code (QOSTBC) and multi-user detection using the Alamouti code. Code diversity implemented by selecting from equivalent variants is used to improve ML decoding performance of the Golden code. This paper introduces a family of full rate circulant codes which can be linearly decoded by fourier decomposition of circulant matrices within the code diversity framework. A 3 by 3 circulant code is shown to outperform the Alamouti code at the same transmission rate.Comment: 9 page

On the design of a wireless multi-antenna monitoring system

In this paper we investigate the design of a wireless monitoring system. This system consists of several wireless monitoring units, each transmitting data collected from sensors. This data is received and processed at a central control unit. The typical operating environment poses several challenges. The channel’s delay spread is substantial and the distance between receiver and transmitter is in the order of 400 meters. In order to guarantee reliable communication, we combine multi-antenna techniques (spacetime block coding) with strong coding (LDPC codes). The cost and complexity of the monitoring units is kept low, and most of the processing is performed on the central control unit. We present a system design for the monitoring units and show simulation results

Indoor off-body wireless communication: static beamforming versus space-time coding

The performance of beamforming versus space-time coding using a body-worn textile antenna array is experimentally evaluated for an indoor environment, where a walking rescue worker transmits data in the 2.45 GHz ISM band, relying on a vertical textile four-antenna array integrated into his garment. The two transmission scenarios considered are static beamforming at low-elevation angles and space-time code based transmit diversity. Signals are received by a base station equipped with a horizontal array of four dipole antennas providing spatial receive diversity through maximum-ratio combining. Signal-to-noise ratios, bit error rate characteristics, and signal correlation properties are assessed for both off-body transmission scenarios. Without receiver diversity, the performance of space-time coding is generally better. In case of fourth-order receiver diversity, beamforming is superior in line-of-sight conditions. For non-line-of-sight propagation, the space-time codes perform better as soon as bit error rates are low enough for a reliable data link