Space-Time Coding

Robert W. Heath Jr.

Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG)

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The University of Texas, Austin
rheath@ece.utexas.edu
www.ece.utexas.edu/~rheath
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Outline
Space-time block codes
- Introduction
- Example codes

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Objectives
Describe the Alamouti code and explain why it is so
attractive

Compute the rank and determinant of a given space-

time code

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Reading for Lecture

Chapter 5 (5.4 - 5.7) in
Introduction to Space-Time Wireless Communications

The following papers:

S. Alamouti, 'A Simple Transmit Diversity Technique for Wireless
Communications,' IEEE Journal on Select Areas in Communications, Vol. 16, No.
8, Oct., 1998

V. Tarokh, H. Jafarkhani, A. Calderbank, 'Space-Time Block Codes from

Orthgonal Designs,' IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, Vol. 45, No. 5, pp.1456-
1467, July, 1999

H. Jafarkhani, 'A Quasi-orthogonal Space-Time Block Code,' IEEE Trans. on

Communications, Vol. 49, pp. 1-4, Jan., 2001

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Review
What is the pairwise error probability?

How does the pairwise error probability assist in

design of space-time codes?

How does the pairwise error probability assist in

design of space-time codes?

What is the ultimate measure of performance of a

space-time code?

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Space-Time Block Codes
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Space-Time Block Coding

Space-time block codes are a type of space-time code
Most famous example is the Alamouti code
Other examples
- Generalized orthogonal designs (Jafarkhani, Tarokh, etc)
- Quasi-orthogonal space-time codes (Jafarkhani, etc)
- Full-rate space-time codes (Xia, Kumar, Giannakis, etc)
Many extensions to CDMA, OFDM, etc.
Questions to ask about a space-time block code
- Does it allow simple encoding?
- Does it maintain full diversity?
- Does it have a low complexity receiver?
- Does it work for all transmit constellations?

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Alamouti Code
The most famous code of all is the Alamouti code

s1, -s2*
s1, s2 s2, s1*

Consider how it works with one receive antenna in the

absence of noise to simplify the discussion

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Alamouti Code (cont.)

Write in matrix form

Rewrite (note the conjugate)

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Alamouti (cont.)
Effectively we have created the equivalent system

Where H is unitary!!
This means that applying the matched filter

scalar!! white noise

Looks like MRC with a factor of 2 penalty!

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Alamouti (cont.)
Effective SNR with Alamouti 2 TX antennas

Effective SNR with MRC with 2 RX antennas

Main difference is factor of 2 - leading to a 3dB array

gain loss

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Alamouti (cont.)
Alamouti has an error covariance matrix

- It is always full-rank because at least one term is nonnegative

Worst error covariance is (note the array gain term)

- With multiple receive antennas Alamouti has a diveristy gain of

2Mr

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Alamouti (cont.)

From Alamouti98

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Alamouti (concluded)
Alamouti code has the following attractive properties
- Simple encoding based on linear combinations of symbols
- Low complexity decoding (only matched filter and independent
detection are required)
- Error covariance matrix is always full rank
- Works for any complex constellation
- Provides a diversity gain of 2Mr
Alamouti is used in WCDMA and IEEE 802.16
Do other codes like the Alamouti code exist?
- Yes but only a few special cases
- The Alamouti code is extremely special

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Generalized Orthogonal Designs
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Genereralized Orthogonal Designs

Tarokh, Jafarkhani, and Calderbank 1999 tried to
answer the question: What space-time codes satisfy:
- Simple encoding based on linear combinations of symbols
- Low complexity decoupled ML decoding like w/ Alamouti code
- Error covariance matrix is always full rank
Codes that solve this problem are known as
generalized orthogonal designs or amicable space-
time codes or orthogonal space-time block codes
(OSTBC)
To understand the results we need the definition of
rate for a space-time block code:
- Rate = # symbols / # symbol periods
- The Alamouti code is a rate-1 code
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Genereralized Orthogonal Designs (cont.)

Result #1: There are no other rate-1 complex OSTBCs
(meaning complex symbols) other than the Alamouti
code

Result #2: There are rate-1 real OSTBCs only for Mt =

2, 4, or 8. There are < rate 1 codes for (possibly) any
choice of # of antennas. Comes from Hurwitz-Radon.

Result #3: Some rate < 1 OSTBCs exist

- Many related to different algebraic constructions

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OSTBC Examples
OSTBC for Mt=3, 3 symbols, and 4 symbol periods

Code rate is R=3/4

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OSTBC Example
OSTBC for Mt=4, 3 symbols, and 4 symbol periods

Code rate is R=3/4

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Capacity of OSTBCs
Result #4: The capacity of OSTBCs may be written as

Note - there is no MIMO capacity gain!

OSTBCs do not offer full rate in MIMO channels

What is the full-rate in a MIMO channel?

- If M = min(Mt, Mr) then full rate is R = M

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Quasi-Orthogonal Space-Time Block
Codes
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Quasi-Orthogonal Space-Time Codes

Sacrifice full diversity but retain full-rate
- This means the error covariance matrix is not full rank
Several designs proposed in the literature
[Jafarkhani], [Tirkkonen et. al.] [Papadias & Foschini]
Jafarkhanis code for Mt = 4 antennas

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QOSTBC (cont.)
Can show that with Jafarkhanis code (similar
properties hold for other codes)
- Can decouple detection partially but not completely
- Can detect s1 and s3 together and s2 and s4 together
- Requires more complex joint decoder

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Full Rate Space-Time Block Codes
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Full-Rate Space-Time Codes

Lot of interest in finding space-time codes with full--
rate and non-vanishing determinant (also called
perfect space-time codes) that achieve both the full
MIMO capacity and have good diversity
Examples include Linear Dispersion Codes
[HassibiHochwald][HeathPaulraj]
A special 2x2 perfect STBC is the Golden Code
[BelfioreRekayaViterbo05]
More recently [EliasSethuramanKumar05] have found
perfect space-time codes for all numbers of transmit
and receive antennas
- Requires complicated nonlinear decoding

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Concluding Remarks
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State-of-the-art in Space-Time Coding

Substantial amount of work in the past 8 years
Recent hot topic was finding full-rate STBCs
Other work
- Nonlinear STBCs
- STBCs + CDMA
- Super Quasi-Orthogonal STBCs
- Combinations of STBCs and trellis coding
Potential research
- Still not many good STCs for MIMO-OFDM
- Full-rate codes with low complexity

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Summary
Discussed several different space-time codes

Orthogonal space-time codes

- Full diversity, simple decoding, simple encoding, rate at most 1

Other space-time codes offer

- Rate 1 but less diversity (QOSTBC)
- Greater than Rate 1 but complex decoding

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