Algebraic Space-Time Code implementation in MB-OFDM UWB communications

Algebraic Space-Time Codes (ASTC) for MIMO systems are based on quaternion algebras. Thanks to their algebraic construction, the ASTC codes, called the golden codes, are full-rank, full-rate and have the non-vanishing determinant property. Proposed for MIMO flat fading channels, these codes can increase the spectral efficiency and enhance the coding gain. ASTC codes maintain their proprieties for a frequency-selective channel. The purpose of this work is to investigate the suitability and analyze the performance of the ASTC codes under Ultra-Wideband (UWB) channels as an example of a frequency and temporal-selective channels, and for a Multi-Band Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) system. The Alamouti code, which has recently been proposed in the literature for MB-OFDM UWB systems, can improve the system capacity, error performance and wireless communication range. It will be shown that ASTC code can provide significantly better error performance, compared to the conventional MB-OFDM UWB system as well as to the Alamouti MB-OFDM system, at the same data rate.