Performance of the Golden Code in the Presence of Polarization Diversity

The performance of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system depends strongly on the scattering environment and antenna spacing. The use of dual-polarized antennas is a promising alternative both in terms of diversity and effective use of space. In this paper we investigate the performance of the Golden code with polarization diversity; where the two spatially separated antennas are replaced by a single dual polarised antenna. We analyse the performance of the Golden code in terms of an angle between the channels corresponding to the two receivers, which allows us to predict performance without necessarily needing to resort to simulations. Analysis and simulation results show that with the introduction of polarization diversity the performance of the Golden code can be made consistently good across both rich scattering and line of sight (LOS) conditions.