Space-frequency block code for MIMO-OFDM communication systems with reconfigurable antennas

We propose a space-frequency (SF) block coding scheme for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system using antennas with reconfigurable radiation patterns. In this system, each element of the antenna array at the transmitter side is assumed to be reconfigurable so that it can independently change the physical characteristics of its radiation pattern. The proposed block code is full rate and benefits from spatial, frequency, and reconfigurable radiation pattern state diversity over frequency-selective fading channels. We provide simulation results to demonstrate the performance of the proposed block coding technique and make comparisons with that of the previous SF coding schemes in MIMO-OFDM systems. The results indicate that the proposed code achieves higher diversity and coding gain compared to other available SF codes.