On the performance evaluation of TH and DS UWB MIMO systems

In this paper, we analyze the performance of ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems employing various modulation and multiple access schemes, including time hopping (TH) M-ary pulse position modulation (MPPM), TH binary phase shift keying (BPSK), and direct sequence (DS) BPSK. We quantify the performance merits of UWB space-time (ST) systems regardless of the specific coding scheme. For each modulation scheme, we introduce a framework that enables us to compare UWB MIMO systems with conventional UWB single-antenna systems in terms of diversity and coding gain. Moreover, we adopt the real orthogonal design (ROD) as the engine code for UWB ST codes. We find the closed form expressions of the average pairwise error probability (PEP) bound for all of the schemes under the hypothesis of Nakagami flat fading channels. The extension to frequency-selective fading case is also briefly addressed. Finally, simulation results are presented to support the theoretical analysis.