Further results on differential space-time modulations

Some novel results on the space-time differential modulation schemes described by B.M. Hochwald and W. Sweldens (see ibid., vol.48, p.2041-52, 2000) and V. Tarokh and H. Jafarkhani (IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun., vol.18, p.1169-74, 2000), are derived under the assumption of a quasi-static multiple-antenna channel. First, the optimality (in the maximum-likelihood sense) of the oneshot detection algorithms of Hochwald and Sweldens and of Tarokh and Jafarkhani is proved. Then, the expression of the pairwise error probability for these detectors is derived, and, as a particular case, the bit-error rate is computed for the binary phase-shift keyed scheme of Tarokh and Jafarkhani. Finally, a per-survivor processing (PSP) detection algorithm for this class of modulations is illustrated. Numerical results evidence both the superiority of the PSP strategy over the one-shot space-time differential detectors and the accuracy of the above-mentioned bit-error rate formula.