Exact error probability for space-time block-coded MIMO systems over Rayleigh fading channels

Existing analysis on the error performance of space-time block codes has focused on deriving error-rate upper bounds for a general system or exact error probabilities for some special cases. The authors introduce a general method to calculate the exact error probability for orthogonal space-time block codes in multiple-input multiple-output systems which employ coherent and differentially coherent phase shift keying (PSK) modulation over flat Rayleigh fading channels. These results enable one to evaluate the performance of space-time block-coded systems with different coding rates and an arbitrary number of transmit and receive antennas.