Performance of space-time coding with HIPERLAN/2 and IEEE 802.11a WLAN standards on real channels

We examine the performance of a space-time coded (STC) OFDM system. As an example, two emerging WLAN standards (IEEE 802.11a and ETSI HIPERLAN/2) are modified to accommodate the STC technique. Performance results using statistical multi-element channel models are compared with those using state-of-the-art indoor MIMO channel measurements. We conclude that the gap between the ideal setting and our measured channel is 4, 5 and 6 dB for 1, 2 and 3 receive antennas respectively. We observe also that STC with (2Tx, 3Rx) over the measured channels doubles the capacity as compared to the equivalent mode of HIPERLAN/2.