Space-Time Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation for OFDM Systems

Space-time coding techniques significantly improve transmission efficiency in radio channels by using multiple transmit and/or receive antennas and coordination of the signaling over these antennas. Bit-interleaved coded modulation gives good diversity gains with higher order modulation schemes using well-known binary convolutional codes on a single transmit and receive antenna link. By using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), wideband transmission can be achieved over frequency-selective fading radio channels without adaptive equalizers. In this correspondence, we combine these three ideas into a family of flexible space-time coding methods. The pairwise error probability is analyzed based on the correlated fading assumption. Near-optimum iterative decoders are evaluated by means of simulations for slowly varying wireless channels. Theoretical evaluation of the achievable degree of diversity is also presented. Significant performance gains over the wireless local area network (LAN) 802.11a standard system are reported.