A multi-cell space-time-coded transmission scheme for single frequency networks

Single frequency networks (SFN) in combination with a multi-carrier transmission scheme such as OFDM are often proposed as a means to provide continuous coverage of broadcast applications over a large area. While this combination does succeed in providing continuous coverage, it has certain limitations. Specifically, at points where signals from multiple base-stations are received, the overall signal-to-noise ratio can be poor because of relative phase differences. In this paper, we show how, through the use of orthogonal space-time codes, this limitation of SFNs can be overcome to improve their overall performance. This scheme could be viewed as an ldquoopen-looprdquo implementation of multi-cell cooperative transmission.