Systematic space-time trellis code construction for correlated Rayleigh-fading channels

The potential for capacity increase in multiple-antenna wireless communication systems has drawn considerable attention to space-time codes. However, most of the existing space-time code construction methods have assumed ideal channel models: either quasi-static fading or fast fading. In this work, we propose a systematic space-time trellis code construction method for correlated fading channels. We derive the performance criteria that take into account both spatial and temporal channel correlation, assuming that the space-time correlation matrix is of full rank. Moreover, we introduce a new design criterion and analyze the properties of the space-time trellis codes satisfying the proposed criterion. Using the design criterion, we develop a code construction procedure that jointly considers diversity advantage and coding advantage for an arbitrary number of transmit antennas and any memoryless modulation. The flexibility of the proposed code construction method is demonstrated by designing space-time trellis codes for two, three, and four transmit antennas with quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK), 8PSK (phase-shift keying), and 4ASK (amplitude-shift keying) modulations. The simulation results demonstrate that not only can our method generate new codes for an arbitrary number of antennas, but in some special cases, where previously proposed codes exist, our codes also perform very well.