Interference mitigation proposals exploiting antenna diversity using space time block codes for Bluetooth enabled devices

Previous research work has focused on residential coverage and achievable data rates using the Bluetooth personal area network (PAN) standard. To meet the bit rate needs of future consumer electronic devices, M-PSK modulation schemes were proposed as likely candidates for high data rate Bluetooth extension. Frequency hopping statistics obtained for both the 79-hop and 23-hop systems in Bluetooth for data medium (DM) and data high (DH) packets in asynchronous mode show a clear need for mitigating interference. This can be achieved by employing synchronous transmissions in order to obtain reliable throughputs, particularly for time-bounded devices. This paper investigates the advantages of exploiting antenna diversity using space time block codes (STBC) with maximum likelihood decoding for high data rate Bluetooth enabled devices in synchronous and asynchronous transmissions. Results are presented for Bluetooth systems employing no antenna diversity and systems employing two transmit and two receive antennas using STBC. Results show that the reliability of both time-bounded and non-time bounded Bluetooth enabled devices can be enhanced by exploiting STBC coupled with suitable interference cancellation techniques.