Variable rate space-time trellis codes

Emerging wireless applications have created a strong motivation to increase the throughput of wireless communication systems. Space-time coding has become a promising method to achieve high data rates. We propose a space-time trellis code construction method that can provide variable protection against the adverse effects of the radio channel. The method is based on the multiple trellis coded modulation construction: the variable data protection is realized by changing the number of output symbols per state transition. The simulation results show the achievable tradeoffs between spectral efficiency, diversity and decoding complexity.