Space-time error correcting codes

A new space-time block code family for two transmitters, called the space-time error correcting codes (STECCs), is presented. As it is built from any linear forward error correcting code (FEC), a STECC is able to correct errors while achieving high spectral efficiencies. The key principle is the FEC linearity which is exploited to transmit linear combinations of FEC codewords to create a space-time redundancy. The proposed code exhibits interesting performance on an ISI-free block fading channel. This result is all the more true as the number of FEC codewords considered in the combination is high.