Noncoherent space-time block coded modulation

Unitary space-time modulation is well tailored for flat fading channels where the noncoherent receiver is used. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme of unitary space-time modulation, called noncoherent space-time block coded modulation, by using the set partitioning of signal sets and multilevel coding. Signal sets for two and four transmitter antennas are proposed, and the factor which dominates the error performance is derived as well. Unitary space-time modulations of the proposed scheme are designed by selecting appropriate component codes. The advantage of the proposed scheme can be demonstrated by the distance analysis and computer simulations.