Robustness criteria for transmit spatial diversity systems in frequency selective channels

In this paper it is considered a system combining a multiple antenna transmitter and a single antenna Maximum Likelihood receiver. The design objective consists in the maximization of the SNR taking into account robustness and scalability issues. Scalability is desired, so that the transmitter can be easily redesigned if a new antenna is added or dropped. On the other hand, robustness refers to the ability of the system to work under imperfections, such as errors in the presumed channel estimate, and quantization of the transmit filters and signal samples due to the use of a finite-bit DSP. In this work, some parameters are presented that measure the robustness capabilities of this kind of architectures. Based on these criteria, the designers could easily evaluate how their system can perform under realistic assumptions and deployments.