Error Control Coded Space-Time Block Coding for Frequency-Selective Fading Channels

To achieve high data rate and spectral efficiency requirement, diversity techniques are designed to compensate fading channel impairments. Transmitter diversity scheme are preferred as they effectively increase data rates for all the receivers in their coverage area. Since transmitter diversity techniques such as beamformers at the transmitter require feedback from the receiver, Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) is considered to be a powerful transmitter diversity technique as this scheme does not require any feedback from the receiver. The STBC scheme introduced by Alamouti is suitable only for flat fading channels. Therefore a transmitter diversity scheme called Time-Reversal Space-Time Block Coding (TR-STBC) for frequency-selective fading channels is studied. Finally, error coding techniques are applied to the system which enhances the Bit Error Rate (BER) performance of TR-STBC scheme.