Multiple antennas can be used for increasing the amount of diversity or the number of degrees of freedom in wireless communication systems. In this paper, we propose the point of view that both types of gains can be simultaneously obtained for a given multiple antenna channel, but there is a fundamental tradeo# between how much of each any coding scheme can get. For the richly scattered Rayleigh fading channel, we give a simple characterization of the optimal tradeo# curve and use it to evaluate the performance of existing multiple antenna schemes.

Abstract—We develop and analyze space–time coded cooperative diversity protocols for combating multipath fading across multiple protocol layers in a wireless network. The protocols exploit spatial diversity available among a collection of distributed terminals that relay messages for one another in such a manner that the destination terminal can average the fading, even though it is unknown a priori which terminals will be involved. In particular, a source initiates transmission to its destination, and many relays potentially receive the transmission. Those terminals that can fully decode the transmission utilize a space-time code to cooperatively relay to the destination. We demonstrate that these protocols achieve full spatial diversity in the number of cooperating terminals, not just the number of decoding relays, and can be used effectively for higher spectral efficiencies than repetition-based schemes. We discuss issues related to space–time code design for these protocols, emphasizing codes that readily allow for appealing distributed versions. Index Terms—Diversity techniques, fading channels, outage probability, relay channel, user cooperation, wireless networks. I.

Transmit beamforming and receive combining are simple methods for exploiting the significant diversity that is available in multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems. Unfortunately, optimal performance requires either complete channel knowledge or knowledge of the optimal beamforming vector which are not always realizable in practice. In this correspondence, a quantized maximum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) beamforming technique is proposed where the receiver only sends the label of the best beamforming vector in a predetermined codebook to the transmitter. By using the distribution of the optimal beamforming vector in independent identically distributed Rayleigh fading matrix channels, the codebook design problem is solved and related to the problem of Grassmannian line packing. The proposed design criterion is flexible enough to allow for side constraints on the codebook vectors. Bounds on the codebook size are derived to guarantee full diversity order. Results on the density of Grassmannian line packings are derived and used to develop bounds on the codebook size given a capacity or SNR loss. Monte Carlo simulations are presented that compare the probability of error for different quantization strategies.

Maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding algorithms for Gaussian multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) linear channels are considered. Linearity over the field of real numbers facilitates the design of ML decoders using number-theoretic tools for searching the closest lattice point. These decoders are collectively referred to as sphere decoders in the literature. In this paper, a fresh look at this class of decoding algorithms is taken. In particular, two novel algorithms are developed. The first algorithm is inspired by the Pohst enumeration strategy and is shown to offer a significant reduction in complexity compared to the Viterbo--Boutros sphere decoder. The connection between the proposed algorithm and the stack sequential decoding algorithm is then established. This connection is utilized to construct the second algorithm which can also be viewed as an application of the Schnorr--Euchner strategy to ML decoding. Aided with a detailed study of preprocessing algorithms, a variant of the second algorithm is developed and shown to offer significant reductions in the computational complexity compared to all previously proposed sphere decoders with a near-ML detection performance. This claim is supported by intuitive arguments and simulation results in many relevant scenarios.

We present some general techniques for constructing full-rank, minimal-delay, rate at least one space-time block codes (STBCs) over a variety of signal sets for arbitrary number of transmit antennas using commutative division algebras (field extensions) as well as using noncommutative division algebras of the rational field embedded in matrix rings. The first half of the paper deals with constructions using field extensions of . Working with cyclotomic field extensions, we construct several families of STBCs over a wide range of signal sets that are of full rank, minimal delay, and rate at least one appropriate for any number of transmit antennas. We study the coding gain and capacity of these codes. Using transcendental extensions we construct arbitrary rate codes that are full rank for arbitrary number of antennas. We also present a method of constructing STBCs using noncyclotomic field extensions. In the later half of the paper, we discuss two ways of embedding noncommutative division algebras into matrices: left regular representation, and representation over maximal cyclic subfields. The 4 4 real orthogonal design is obtained by the left regular representation of quaternions. Alamouti's code is just a special case of the construction using representation over maximal cyclic subfields and we observe certain algebraic uniqueness characteristics of it. Also, we discuss a general principle for constructing cyclic division algebras using the th root of a transcendental element and study the capacity of the STBCs obtained from this construction. Another family of cyclic division algebras discovered by Brauer is discussed and several examples of STBCs derived from each of these constructions are presented.

We present a unified approach to designing space-time (ST) block codes using linear constellation precoding (LCP). Our designs are based either on parameterizations of unitary matrices, or on algebraic number-theoretic constructions. With an arbitrary number of transmit- and receive-antennas, ST-LCP achieves rate 1 symbol/s/Hz and enjoys diversity gain as high as over (possibly correlated) quasi-static and fast fading channels. As figures of merit, we use diversity and coding gains, as well as mutual information of the underlying multiple-input-multiple-output system. We show that over quadrature-amplitude modulation and pulse-amplitude modulation, our LCP achieves the upper bound on the coding gain of all linear precoders for certain values of and comes close to this upper bound for other values of , in both correlated and independent fading channels. Compared with existing ST block codes adhering to an orthogonal design (ST-OD), ST-LCP offers not only better performance, but also higher mutual information for...

We apply the idea of space-time coding devised for multiple-antenna systems to the prob-lem of communications over a wireless relay network with Rayleigh fading channels. We use a two-stage protocol, where in one stage the transmitter sends information and in the other, the relays encode their received signals into a “distributed ” linear dispersion (LD) code, and then transmit the coded signals to the receive node. We show that for high SNR the pairwise error probability (PEP) behaves as � log P P � min{T,R}, with T the coherence interval, that is, the num-ber of symbol periods during which the channel keeps constant, R the number of relay nodes, and P the total transmit power. Thus, apart from the log P factor and assuming T ≥ R, the system has the same diversity as a multiple-antenna system with R transmit antennas, which is the same as assuming that the R relays can fully cooperate and have full knowledge of the transmitted signal. We further show that for a network with a large number of relays and a fixed total transmit power across the entire network, the optimal power allocation is for the trans-mitter to expend half the power and for the relays to collectively expend the other half. We also show that at low and high SNR, the coding gain is the same as that of a multiple-antenna

One method for communicating with multiple antennas is to encode the transmitted data differentially using unitary matrices at the transmitter, and to decode differentially without knowing the channel coefficients at the receiver. Since channel knowledge is not required at the receiver, differential schemes are ideal for use on wireless links where channel tracking is undesirable or infeasible, either because of rapid changes in the channel characteristics or because of limited system resources. Although this basic principle is well understood, it is not known how to generate good-performing constellations of unitary matrices, for any number of transmit and receive antennas and for any rate. This is especially true at high rates where the constellations must be rapidly encoded and decoded. We propose a class of Cayley codes that works with any number of antennas, and has efficient encoding and decoding at any rate. The codes are named for their use of the Cayley transform, which maps the highly nonlinear Stiefel manifold of unitary matrices to the linear space of skew-Hermitian matrices. This transformation leads to a simple linear constellation structure in the Cayley transform domain and to an information-theoretic design criterion based on emulating a Cauchy random matrix. Moreover, the resulting Cayley codes allow polynomial-time near-maximum-likelihood decoding based on either successive nulling/cancelling or sphere decoding. Simulations show that the Cayley codes allow efficient and effective high-rate data transmission in multi-antenna communication systems without knowing the channel.

In this paper, we consider a quasi-orthogonal (QO) space-time block code (STBC) with minimum decoding complexity (MDC-QO-STBC). We formulate its algebraic structure and propose a systematic method for its construction. We show that a maximum-likelihood (ML) decoder for this MDC-QOSTBC, for any number of transmit antennas, only requires the joint detection of two real symbols. Assuming the use of a square or rectangular quadratic-amplitude modulation (QAM) or multiple phase-shift keying (MPSK) modulation for this MDC-QOSTBC, we also obtain the optimum constellation rotation angle, in order to achieve full diversity and optimum coding gain. We show that the maximum achievable code rate of these MDCQO -STBC is 1 for three and four antennas and 3/4 for five to eight antennas. We also show that the proposed MDC-QOSTBC has several desirable properties, such as a more even power distribution among antennas and better scalability in adjusting the number of transmit antennas, compared with the coordinate interleaved orthogonal design (CIOD) and asymmetric CIOD (ACIOD) codes. For the case of an odd number of transmit antennas, MDC-QO-STBC also has better decoding performance than CIOD.

Abstract—The problem of finding the least-squares solution to a system of linear equations where the unknown vector is comprised of integers, but the matrix coefficient and given vector are comprised of real numbers, arises in many applications: communications, cryptography, GPS, to name a few. The problem is equivalent to finding the closest lattice point to a given point and is known to be NP-hard. In communications applications, however, the given vector is not arbitrary but rather is an unknown lattice point that has been perturbed by an additive noise vector whose statistical properties are known. Therefore, in this paper, rather than dwell on the worst-case complexity of the integer least-squares problem, we study its expected complexity, averaged over the noise and over the lattice. For the “sphere decoding” algorithm of Fincke and Pohst, we find a closed-form expression for the expected complexity, both for the infinite and finite lattice.