Performance Analysis of STBC-OFDM Systems in Temporally or Spatially Correlated Fading Channels

This paper analyzes the performance of space-time block coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. In our analysis, we abandon the usually made assumption of quasi-static channel conditions. Instead of this, we consider the more general and realistic case that the channel envelope changes during two consecutive transmission time slots. In addition, we take the spatial correlation between sub-channels into account. We first present a general formal expression for the bit error probability (BEP), from which we find analytical solutions for the BEP not only for temporally fading channels but also for spatially correlated channels. The knowledge of the obtained analytical solutions makes the determination of the BEP less time-consuming compared with system simulations. Moreover, they give a deep insight into the impact of the Doppler effect and the antenna spacing on the system performance.