Channel Equalization for STBC-Encoded Cooperative Transmissions with Asynchronous Transmitters

STBC-encoded cooperative transmissions can potentially enhance the efficiency of distributed wireless networks. In this paper, we study their performance when the cooperative transmitters are not synchronized so that flat-fading channels become dispersive. Two channel equalization methods are proposed: the complex but optimal Viterbi equalizer and a more efficient linear-prediction-based equalizer. The latter is a blind equalizer with much improved robustness thanks to a special property of the distributed channels. The performance of the two methods are analyzed and simulated, which shows the usefulness of STBC-encoded cooperative transmissions in asynchronous environment