Enabling Code Diversity for Mobile Radio Channels using Long-Range Fading Prediction

Code diversity integrates space-time coding with beamforming by using a small number of feedback bits to select from a family of space-time codes. Different codes lead to different induced channels at the receiver, where Channel State Information (CSI) is used to instruct the transmitter how to choose the code. Feedback can be combined with sub-optimal low complexity decoding of the component codes to match Maximum-Likelihood (ML) decoding performance of any individual code in the family. It can also be combined with ML decoding of the component codes to improve performance beyond ML decoding performance of any individual code. Prior analysis of code diversity did not take into account the effect of the mobile speed and the delay in the feedback channel. This paper demonstrates the practicality of code diversity in space-time coded systems by showing that performance gains based on instantaneous feedback are largely preserved when long-range prediction of time-varying correlated fading channels is employed to compensate for the effect of the feedback delay. To maintain prediction accuracy for realistic SNR, noise reduction that employs oversampled pilots is used prior to fading prediction. We also propose a robust low pilot rate method that utilizes interleaving to improve the spectral efficiency. Simulations are presented for two channel models: the conventional Jakes model and a realistic physical channel model where the parameters associated with the reflectors vary in time and the arrival rays have different strengths and asymmetric arrival angles.