Virtual Space-Time Coding for Cooperative Communication and Downlink Receiver Hardware Implementation

Multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna systems have been widely studied. They play a key role in the next generation communication systems due to their ability to provide extremely high capacity and high data rate. However, the cost of using a large number of antennas should be considered when MIMO is put into practice. In order to reduce the cost of devices, one possibility is to use cooperative communication. This article presents a new method for cooperative communication. Hardware implementation for the corresponding downlink receiver is also introduced.