On MIMO space-time coded systems: unleashing the spatial domain

MEMO wireless technology has raise over the last few years as one engineering breakthrough that has produced a keen interest in both academic and industry researchers in communications. The promises of information theoretic MIMO analysis for the channel capacity were the main trigger for this enthusiasm and also ignited the study of related areas such as MIMO channel modeling, Space-Time signal processing, Space-Time coding, etc. The goal of MIMO technology is to improve the quality (BER) or data rate of the communication system by means of the deployment of multiple spatial ports and adequate signal processing techniques at both ends of the system. Space-Time coding stands as a signaling technique that takes advantage of the MIMO structure of the communication system and is aimed to improve the robustness of the communication link. In this paper we will provide an overview of the field of MIMO wireless communications with special emphasis on orthogonal space-time block coding.