Space-Time and Space-Frequency Coded

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

Transmitter Diversity Techniques

King F. Lee
 Introduction
• Frequency-selective fading is a dominant
impairment in mobile communications.
– Fading reduces receive signal-to-noise ratio
and degrades the bit-error-rate (BER).
– Frequency selectivity of the channel, i.e., delay
spread, induces inter-symbol interference (ISI).
• To combat frequency-selective fading, diversity
techniques must be resilient to ISI.
• Transmitter diversity techniques are attractive,
especially for portable receivers where current
drain and physical size are important constraints.
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 Background
• Space-time block coding has emerged as an
efficient means of achieving near optimal
transmitter diversity gain [Alamouti 98,Tarokh 99].
• Existing implementations are sensitive to delay
spreads and, therefore, are limited to flat fading
environments, such as indoor wireless networks.
• Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) with a sufficiently long cyclic prefix can
convert frequency-selective fading channels into
multiple flat fading subchannels.
Combine space-time block code and OFDM

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 Space-Time Block Code - I
Example
• Assume two transmit antennas and one
receive antenna.
• The space-time block code transmission
matrix is
 x1 x2 
G2 =  * *
− x x
 2 1

• For each pair of symbols transmit

x
Antenna #1: 1 − x2
*
Antenna #2: x2 x1*

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 Space-Time Block Code - II
• The received signals are y1 = α1 x1 + α 2 x2 + η1
.
y2 = −α1 x2 + α 2 x1 + η2
* *

• Calculate the decision variables as

xˆ1 = α y + α y = α1 + α 2
*
1 1
*
2 2 ( 2 2
) x +α η +α η .
1
∗
1 1
*
2 2

=( α ) x −α η +α η
2 2
xˆ2 = α y − α y
*
2 1
*
1 2 1 + α2 2
*
1 2
∗
2 1

• Similar to that of a two-branch maximal ratio

combining receiver diversity system!
• Unfortunately, the technique is sensitive to
delays.

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 OFDM - I
• Conventional orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM) system.

Tx

Serial to IDFT & h (n)

X(m) X(n) Cyclic
Parallel
Prefix Rx

Parallel Equalizer Prefix

X(m) Y(n) Removal
to Serial & Detector
& DFT

Channel
Estimator

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 OFDM - II
• Serial to parallel converter collects K serial data
symbols X(m) into a data block or vector X(n).
• X(n) is modulated by an IDFT into OFDM symbol
vector x(n).
• A length G cyclic prefix is added to x(n) and
transmitted through a frequency-selective
channel h(n) of order L.
• At the receiver, the cyclic prefix is removed from
the received signal and the remaining signal is
demodulated by an DFT into Y(n).

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 OFDM - III
• Assuming the channel response remains constant
and G ≥ L, the demodulated signal is given by
( n ) = X ( n ) Z( n ) +
YΛ ( n) , where
Λ ( n) is diagonal,
or, equivalently, as
Y ( n, k ) = α ( n, k ) X ( n, k ) + Z ( n, k ) , 0 ≤ k ≤ K − 1.
• Besides the noise component, the demodulated
symbol Y(n,k) is just the product of the complex gain
and the corresponding data symbol X(n,k).
• OFDM with a cyclic prefix transforms a frequency-
selective fading channel into K decoupled and
perfectly flat fading subchannels!
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 Space-Time Block-Coded OFDM - I
• Space-time coding on two adjacent blocks of
data symbols, i.e., X(n) and X(n+1).

Tx1
IDFT & h1(n)
*
- X(n+1) X(n) Cyclic
Prefix Rx
Serial to Tx2
X(m)
Parallel
IDFT & h2(n)
*
X(n) X(n+1) Cyclic
Prefix

Parallel Prefix
Combiner
X(m)
to Serial
Y(n) Y(n+1) Removal
& Detector
& DFT

Channel
Estimator

Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Signal and Image Processing

 Space-Time Block-Coded OFDM - II
• Combine space-time block code with OFDM to
achieve spatial diversity gain over frequency-
selective fading channels.
• In effect, apply space-time coding on blocks of
data symbols instead of individual symbols.
• Space-time encoder takes two data vectors X(n)
and X(n+1) and transmits
Antenna #1: X(n) -X*(n+1)
Antenna #2: X(n+1) X*(n)

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 Space-Time Block-Coded OFDM - III
• Denote X(n) as Xe and X(n+1) as Xo, and Y(n) as
Ye and Y(n+1) as Yo. Assuming Λ 1 and Λ 2
remain constant, the demodulated vectors are
YΛe =X 1 Λe + X 2 oZ+ e
.
o =X− 1 Λo X+ 2 Ze + o
* *
YΛ
• Calculate ˆ =Y * Λ+Y
XΛ *
e 1 e 2 o
,
ˆ =Y * Λ−Y
XΛ *
o 2 e 1 o

which yields
ˆ =
XΛ
e ( 1
2
Λ + X2
2
) Λ Z+
e
∗
1 +
Λe Z 2
∗
o
.
ˆ =( 2 2
) Λ Z+ ∗ ∗
XΛ
o 1Λ + X2 o 2 Λe Z− 1 o

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 STBC-OFDM Simulation Results
f =10Hz; K=256 f =20 and 100Hz; K=256
D D
0 0
10 10

-2 -2
10 10
Average Bit Error Rate

Average Bit Error Rate

-4 -4
10 10

-6 -6
10 10 Single OFDM Transmitter; f =20Hz
D
Single OFDM Transmitter; f =100Hz
D
Single OFDM transmitter (simulated) Two OFDM Transmitters; f =20Hz
STBC-OFDM transmitter diversity (simulated) D
Two OFDM Transmitters; f =100Hz
Two-branch transmitter diversity (ideal) D
-8 -8
10 10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Average Received SNR (dB) Average Received SNR (dB)

• STBC-OFDM achieves near optimal diversity

gain in slow fading.
• Still outperforms non-diversity OFDM system at
fD=100Hz.
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Space-Frequency Block-Coded OFDM - I
• Coding on adjacent DFT frequency bins of
each block of X(n).

Tx1
IDFT & h1(n)
X1(n) Cyclic
Space-Freq Prefix Rx
Serial to Tx2
X(m)
Parallel Encoder
IDFT & h2(n)
X2(n) Cyclic
Prefix

Parallel Prefix
X(m) Space-Freq Y(n) Removal
to Serial Decoder & DFT

Channel
Estimator

Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Signal and Image Processing

Space-Frequency Block-Coded OFDM - II
• Space-frequency encoder codes each data
vector X(n),
X ( n ) =  X ( n,0 ) X ( n,1) L X ( n, K − 2 ) X ( n, K − 1)  ,
T

into two vectors X1(n) and X2(n) as

X1 ( n ) =  X ( n,0 ) − X ( n,1) L X ( n, K − 2 ) − X ( n, K − 1) 
∗ ∗ T

,
X 2 ( n ) =  X ( n,1) X ∗ ( n,0 ) L X ( n, K − 1) X ∗ ( n, K − 2 ) 
T

or in terms of the even and odd polyphase

vectors as X1,e ( n ) = Xe ( n ) , X1,o ( n ) = − Xo ∗ ( n )
.
X 2,e ( n ) = X o ( n ) X 2,o ( n ) = Xe ( n )
∗
,
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Space-Frequency Block-Coded OFDM - III
• The demodulated vector is
( n ) = X1 ( n )
YΛ 1Λ( n ) + X2 ( n ) 2Z( n ) + ( n) ,
or, equivalently, as
e ( n) = X
YΛ 1, e ( n ) Λ( n ) + X2,e ( n )
1, e Z( n ) +
2, e e( n)
.
o ( n) = X
YΛ 1, o ( n ) Λ( n ) + X2,o ( n )
1, o Z( n ) +
2, o o ( n)

• Calculate ˆ ( n ) = Y* ( n ) Λ( n ) + Y ( n )
XΛ
e 1, e e ( n) 2, o
∗
o
.
ˆ ( n ) = Y* ( n ) Λ( n ) − Y ( n )
o ( n)
∗
XΛ
o 2, e e 1, o

• Assuming Λ ( n ) ≈ Λ ( n ) and Λ ( n ) ≈ Λ ( n ) ,
1, e 1, o 2, e 2, o

yields ˆ =
XΛ
e ( 2
1, eΛ + X
2, e
2
)Λ e +Z ∗
1, e Λ e +Z 2, o
∗
o
.
ˆ =
XΛ o( 2
1, oΛ + X
2, o
2
) Λ +Z
o
∗
2, e Λ e −Z 1, o
∗
o

Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Signal and Image Processing

 SFBC-OFDM Simulation Results - I
f =10Hz; K=512 f =100Hz; K=512
D D
0 0
10 10

-2 -2
10 10
Average Bit Error Rate

Average Bit Error Rate

-4 -4
10 10

-6 -6
10 10
Single OFDM transmitter (simulated) Single OFDM trans mitter (simulated)
STBC-OFDM transmitter diversity (simulated) STBC-OFDM transmitter diversity (simulated)
SFBC-OFDM transmitter diversity (simulated) SFBC-OFDM transmitter diversity (simulated)
Two-branch transmitter diversity (ideal) Two-branch transm itter diversity (ideal)
-8 -8
10 10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Average Received SNR (dB) Average Received SNR (dB)

• SFBC-OFDM achieves similar diversity gain

as STBC-OFDM in slow fading.
• SFBC-OFDM performs better in fast fading.

Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Signal and Image Processing

 SFBC-OFDM Simulation Results - II
f =10Hz; K=64
D
0
0.35 10
TU
BU
0.3
Mean Subcarrier Gain Variation

-2
10
0.25

Average Bit Error Rate

0.2
-4
10
0.15

0.1 -6
10

0.05 Single OFDM trans mitter (simulated)

SFBC-OFDM transmitter diversity (simulated)
Two-branch transm itter diversity (ideal)
-8
0 10
10
2 3
10 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Block Size (K) Average Received SNR (dB)

• STBC-OFDM is more sensitive to channel gain

variation over time.
• SFBC-OFDM is more sensitive to channel gain
variation over frequency.

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 Future Work
• The cyclic prefix for OFDM can require up to 15~20%
bandwidth overhead. It is desirable to develop techniques
that eliminate or reduce the cyclic prefix.
• Channel estimation techniques for space-time and space-
frequency coded OFDM systems.
• Consider combining space-time codes with other
transforms to achieve other desirable characteristics such
as better performance in fast fading environments.
• Investigate optimum combination of error-correction code
with STBC-OFDM and SFBC-OFDM systems.
• Study the co-channel interference performance of STBC
and SFBC-OFDM systems.

Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Signal and Image Processing

 References
• S. M. Alamouti, “A simple transmitter diversity scheme for wireless
communications,” IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun., vol. 16, no. 8, pp.
1451-1458, Oct. 1998.
• V. Tarokh, H. Jafarkhani, and A. R. Calderbank, “Space-time block
coding for wireless communications: performance results,” IEEE J.
Select. Areas Commun., vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 451-460, March 1999.
• K. F. Lee and D. B. Williams, “A space-time coded transmitter
diversity technique for frequency selective fading channels,” in Proc.
IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop,
Cambridge, MA, March 2000, pp. 149-152.
• K. F. Lee and D. B. Williams, “A Space-Frequency Transmitter
Diversity Technique for OFDM Systems,” in Proc. IEEE GLOBECOM,
San Francisco, CA, November 2000, pp. 1473-1477.
• K. F. Lee and D. B. Williams, “A Multirate Pilot-Symbol-Assisted
Channel Estimator for OFDM Transmitter Diversity Systems,” in Proc.
IEEE ICASSP, Salt Lake City, UT, May 2001.

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