A Systematic Set Partitioning for Unitary Space-Time Signal Sets

Proper partitioning of a unitary space-time (UST) signal set is essential for the optimal design of trellis coded unitary space-time modulation (TC-USTM). The unique properties of these UST signals have necessitated a different partitioning methodology from that of the conventional two dimensional constellations. In this letter, we propose a systematic set partitioning through a novel subset-pairing strategy, for an arbitrary UST signal set. This approach leads to a geometrically congruent partitioning, i.e., subsets of the same size (order) have identical intra-distance profiles. Based on this partitioning, the resulting TC-USTM can achieve a minimum bit error probability.