Error Performance of Convolutionally Concatenated Space-Time Block Codes

Space-time block codes present a way of introducing transmit diversity into communication systems with comparable complexity and performance as maximal ratio receive combining. In this paper general analytic expression for the error performance of space-time block coded systems is derived. This result is utilized to obtain bounds for the error performance of convolutionally concatenated space-time block codes with hard and soft decision decoding. The improvement in the diversity order by the introduction of convolutional codes is discussed. Simulation results are presented and compared with analytical results