Pragmatic Space-Time Trellis Codes: GTF-Based Design for Block Fading Channels

The pragmatic approach for the construction of space-time codes over block fading channels leads to low complexity encoders/decoders, making them suitable for various applications including cooperative communications. We propose a design methodology for pragmatic space-time codes, which is based on an extension of the concept of generalized transfer function. Our search algorithm provides code generators for arbitrary number of states, antennas, and fading rates. Numerical results show that the performance of the pragmatic space-time codes obtained by our design methodology is generally better than that of previously known space-time trellis codes in block fading channels.