On the algebraic structure of the Silver code: A 2 × 2 perfect space-time block code

Recently, a family of full-rate, full-diversity space-time block codes (STBCs) for 2 times 2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels was proposed in the works of Tirkkonen et al., using a combination of Clifford algebra and Alamouti structures, namely twisted space-time transmit diversity code. This family was recently rediscovered by Paredes et al., and they pointed out that such STBCs enable reduced-complexity maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding. Independently, the same STBCs were found in the work of Samuel and Fitz (2007) and named multi-strata space-time codes. In this paper we show how this code can be constructed algebraically from a particular cyclic division algebra (CDA). This formulation enables to prove that the code has the non-vanishing determinant (NVD) property and hence achieves the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) optimality. The fact that the normalized minimum determinant is 1/radic(7) places this code in the second position with respect to the golden code, which exhibits a minimum determinant of 1/radic(5), and motivates the name silver code.