Performance analysis of space-time block codes over keyhole MIMO channels

In multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading environments, degenerate channel phenomena, so-called keyholes or pinholes, may exist under realistic assumptions that the spatial fading is uncorrelated at the transmitter and the receiver but the channel has a rank-deficient transfer matrix. In this paper, we analyze the average symbol error rate (SER) of a space-time block coded MIMO link in the presence of the keyhole. We also study an effective diversity order, which quantifies the influence of the keyhole on the diversity gain offered by space-time block codes.