Performance of Space-Time Coded Systems with Transmit Antenna Selection

We deal with transmit antenna selection for space-time coded (STC) systems over multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channels. Using pairwise error probability analysis and simulation results, we show that transmit antenna selection based on received power levels does not reduce the achievable diversity order for full rank STCs. Initially, we prove the results for Rayleigh flat fading channels, and then we state our expectations for the case of frequency selective (FS) fading. In addition to the study of full rank codes, we also consider rank deficient space-time codes, and determine achievable diversity orders with transmit antenna selection.