Exact bit-error rate analysis for the combined system of beamforming and Alamouti's space-time block code

The simplest Alamouti's space-time block code can be coupled with more than two transmit antennas via the beamforming technique to enhance the performance gain without code rate reduction. Beamforming is performed at the transmitter, dependent on the channel state information (CSI) which is obtained by using feedback through a feedback link or estimated using reciprocity in duplexing schemes. In this letter, we derived the exact bit-error rate for the combined system with two transmit and one receive antennas in slow Rayleigh flat fading channels. It is assumed that the receiver has the perfect CSI. The expression can be easily extended to more than two transmit antennas.