Systematic design of space-time codes employing multiple trellis coded modulation

The design of space-time (ST) codes employing multiple trellis coded modulation (MTCM) is considered. This structure is shown to be necessary for achieving maximum transmit diversity gain when using trellis codes with parallel paths. Systematic code search procedures with low complexity are described based on the properties of ST-MTCM codes. It is illustrated that, if the trellis branches are properly labeled, the overall coding gain can be made larger than that achieved by conventional ST codes with the same transmission rate and the same number of states.