Space time block coding using phase shift keying

Abstract

This thesis deals with space-time block coding (STBC), one of the remarkable modulation schemes proposed for multiple antenna wireless systems providing full diversity gains. STBC is a revolutionary development for exploiting the multiple-inputmultiple- output (MIMO) channel by using antenna array processing technology, which is currently stimulating considerable interest across the wireless industry. It is now adapted for use in the third generation wireless network by WCDMA and CDMA 2000 standardization bodies. The objective of this project is to evaluate the performance of the STBC deployed in wireless transmission. A communication network model for STBC is developed using Phase Shift Keying (PSK) modulation. Linear Block Codes, namely Hamming code has been used in the design criteria to provide error detection mechanism during data transmission. Based on the scheme proposed by Alamouti [4], our approach network model uses two transmit antennas and one receive antenna with a multipath Rayleigh fading introduced at the communication channel. The performance evaluation and analysis of the proposed network model using STBC has been carried out using MATLAB v6 simulation package. The performance of STBC is investigated by comparing it with Maximum-Ratio Receive Combining (MRRC) technique. Simulation results show that the use of STBC can provide diversity and have a very simple encoding and decoding algorithm. Using two transmit antennas and one receive antenna in this project provides the same diversity order as using basic MRRC technique with one transmit antenna and two receive antennas. It has been shown that the performance of the BER for STBC has improved by nearly thirty three percent compared to MRRC. From the result obtained, we can conclude that the STBC will become an important technique in the design of future wireless system