Spatial division multiplexing of space-time block codes

In this paper we propose to derive benefit from multiple antennas to achieve high data rates using a spatial division multiplexing (SDM) based scheme combined with space-time block coding (STBC). This scheme allows to transmit simultaneously N/P different streams from N antennas, each stream being encoded using a STBC designed for P outputs. Spatial division multiplexing of space-time block codes provides a reduced data rate compared to the classical SDM technique. However the performance gain provided by space-time block coding allows to transmit higher order constellations and then to design multiple antenna systems with same spectral efficiency and better performance. Performance of this scheme is assessed by simulations in the indoor 5 GHz OFDM-based WLAN environment (IEEE 802.11a, HIPERLAN/2).