World Journal of Science and Technology 2011, 1(8): 125-131 ISSN: 2231 2587 www.worldjournalofscience.

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SPACE TIME BLOCK CODING FOR MIMO SYSTEMS USING ALAMOUTI METHOD WITH DIGITAL MODULATION TECHNIQUES
Shreedhar A Joshi #1, T S Rukmini #2 and Mahesh H M #3
1

Department of E & C, SDMCET Dharwad, India

Department of Telecommunication, R V College of Engineering, & Fellow IEEE Member, Bangalore-69, India 3 Department of applied Electronics, Bangalore University, Bangalore, India Corresponding author e-mail: Shreedhar.j@rediffmail.com

Abstract
Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems with multiple antenna elements at both Transmitter and Receiver ends are an efficient solution for future wireless communications systems. They provide high data rates by exploiting the spatial domain under the constraints of limited bandwidth and transmit power. Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) is a MIMO transmit strategy which exploits transmit diversity and high reliability. The proposed work presents a comprehensive performance analysis of orthogonal space-time block codes (OSTBCs) with transmit antenna selection under uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channel employing Alamoutis code. The transmitted symbols belong to BPSK, QPSK and Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) with partial CSI. The numerical evaluation of the BER for, BPSK, QPSK and exact average symbol error rate (SER) for QAM is done. Keywords: Equivalent Virtual Channel Matrix (EVCM). Space-Time Block Coding (STBC), Orthogonal SpaceTime Block Codes (OSTBCs) and Non-Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes (NOSTBCs), Channel State Information (CSI), Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), Maximum Likelihood (ML)

Introduction
MIMO technology means multiple antennas at both ends of a communication system, i.e., at the transmit and receive side. This idea in a wireless communication link opens a new dimension in reliable communication and also improves the system performance substantially. The idea behind MIMO is that the transmit antennas at one end and the receive antennas at the other end are connected and combined in such a way that, the bit error rate (BER), or the data rate for each user is improved. The core idea in MIMO transmission is space-time signal processing in which signal processing with time in spatial dimension by using multiple, spatially distributed antennas at both link ends. Because of this enormous capacity increase, such systems gained a lot of interest in mobile communication

research [1],[2]. One essential problem of the wireless channel is fading, which occurs as the signal follows multiple paths between the transmit and the receive antennas. Fading can be mitigated by diversity, which means that, the information is transmitted not only once but several times, hoping that at least one of the replicas will not undergo severe fading. A diversity technique makes use of an important property of wireless MIMO channels. The different signal paths can be often modeled as a number of separate, independent fading channels. These channels can be distinct in frequency domain or in time domain. Several transmission schemes have been proposed that utilize the MIMO channel in different ways, for e.g., spatial multiplexing, space-time coding or beam forming. Space-time coding (STC), introduced first by Tarokh at el. [3], is a promising method where the number of the transmitted code symbols per time slot

World Journal of Science and Technology | www.worldjournalofscience.com | 2011 | 1(8): 125-131

are equal to the number of transmit antennas. These code symbols are generated by the STBCs can be divided into two main classes, namely, OSTBCs and Non-NOSTBCs. The OSTBCs achieve full diversity with low decoding complexity, but at the price of some loss in data rate. Full data rate is achievable in connection with full diversity only.

MIMO System (And Channel) Model

Let us consider point-to-point MIMO systems with n t transmit and nr receive antennas as in Figure.1. Let h i,j be a complex number corresponding to the channel gain between transmit antenna i and receive antenna j respectively. If at a certain time instant the complex signals {s1, s2, s n t} are transmitted via n t transmit antennas, then nr the received antenna j can be expressed as:

s is the nt 1 transmit symbol vector and n is the nr 1 additive noise vector. Note that the system model implicitly assumes a flat fading MIMO channel, i.e., channel coefficients are constant during the transmission of several symbols. Flat fading, or frequency non-selective fading, applies by definition to systems where the bandwidth of the transmitted signal is much smaller than the coherence bandwidth of the channel. All the frequency components of the transmitted signal undergo the same attenuation and phase shift propagation through the channel. We assume that the transmit symbols are uncorrelated, that means E {s sH} = PS IS (4)

Where Ps denotes the mean signal power of the used in different modulation formats at each transmit antenna. This implies that only modulation formats with the same mean power on all transmit antennas are considered.

Theoratical Analysis of Alamouti Code.

Historically, the Alamouti code is the first STBC that provides full diversity at full data rate for two transmit antennas [4]. The information bits are first modulated using a digital modulation scheme, then the encoder takes the block of two modulated symbols s1 and s2 in each encoding operation and hands it to the transmit antennas according to the code matrix S= (5)

Fig 1. MIMO model with nt transmit antennas and nr receive antennas.

nt yi = hi,j S j + n i j=1 ( 1)

Where n i is a noise term. Combining all receive signals in a vector y, then (1) can be easily expressed in matrix form y = Hs + n. (2)

Where y is the nr 1 receive symbol vector, H is the nr nt MIMO channel transfer matrix given by H= (3)

The first row represents the first transmission period and the second row represents the second transmission period. During the first transmission, the symbols s1 and s2 are transmitted simultaneously from antenna one and antenna two respectively. In the second transmission period, the symbol -s*2 is transmitted from antenna one and the symbol s * 1 from transmit antenna two. It is clear that the encoding is performed in both time (two transmission intervals) and space domain (across two transmit antennas). The two rows and columns of S are orthogonal to each other and the code matrix (5) is orthogonal:

World Journal of Science and Technology | www.worldjournalofscience.com | 2011 | 1(8): 125-131

ssH = = = ( I2 (6)

Where the modified receive vector y = [r1, r2 has been introduced. Hv will be termed the equivalent virtual MIMO channel matrix (EVCM) of the Alamouti STBC scheme. It is given by ]T HV = (12)

Where I2 is a (2 X 2) identity matrix. This property enables the receiver to detect s1 and s2 by a simple linear signal processing operation. Let the receiver side has only one receive antenna. The channel at time t may be modeled by a complex multiplicative distortion h1(t) for transmit antenna one and h2(t) for transmit antenna two. Assuming that the fading is constant across two consecutive transmit periods of duration T, expresses as h1 (t) = h1 (t + T) = h1 = |h1|e j1 h2 (t) = h2 (t + T) = h1 = |h2| e j2, (7)

For MIMO channel matrix, the rows and columns of the virtual channel matrix are orthogonal: HvH Hv = Hv HvH = (h12 +h2 2) I2 = h 2I 2 Where I2 is the (2 X 2) identity matrix. Linear Signal Combining and Maximum Likelihood (ML) Decoding of the Alamouti Code If the channel coefficients h1 and h2 can be perfectly estimated at the receiver, the decoder can use them as CSI. Assuming that all the signals in the modulation constellation are equiprobable, a maximum likelihood (ML) detector decides for that pair of signals (s1, s2) from the signal modulation constellation that minimizes the decision metric as d2 (r1, h1 s1 + h2 s 2 ) + d2 (r2 h1 s *2 + h2 s *1) (13)

Where |hi| and i, where i = 1, 2,. are the amplitude gain and phase shift for the path from any transmit antenna i to any receive antenna. The received signals at the time t and t + T can then be expressed as r1 = s1 h1 + s2 h2 + n2 r2 = -s* 2 h1 + s* 1 h2 + n2 (8)

= |r1 h1 s1 h2 s2|2 + |r2 + h1 s *2 h2 s *1| 2

(14)

Where r1 and r2 are the received signals at time t and t + T respectively. n1 and n2 are complex random variables representing receiver noise and interference. This can be written in matrix form as: r = Sh + n (9)

Using a linear receiver, the signal combiner at the receiver combines the received signals r1 and r2 as follows = h1 * r1 + h2 r *2 = ( |h1|2 + |h2| 2) s1 + h1* n1 + h2 n*2 = h2 * r1 h1 r *2 = ( |h1|2 + |h2| 2) s1 + h2* n1 + h2 n*2. (15) Hence s1 and s2 are two decisions statistics constructed by combining the received signals with coefficients derived from the CSI. These noisy signals are sent to ML detectors and thus the ML decoding rule can be separated into two independent decoding rules for s1 and s2 namely [5] for detecting s1, and (16) for detecting s2.

Where h = [h1, h2]T is the complex channel vector and n is the noise vector at the receiver. Conjugating the signal r2 in (8) that is received in the second symbol period, the received signal may be written equivalently as

(10) Thus the equation (10) can be written in matrix form or in short notation: (11)

World Journal of Science and Technology | www.worldjournalofscience.com | 2011 | 1(8): 125-131

The Alamouti transmission scheme is a simple transmit diversity scheme which improves the signal quality at the receiver using a simple signal processing algorithm at the transmitter. The diversity order can be obtained by applying maximal ratio combining (MRC) with one antenna at the transmitter and two antennas at the receiver where the resulting signals at the receiver are: r 1 = h1 s 1 + n1 (17) r 2 = h2 s 2 + n2 and the combined signal is = h1* r1 + h2* r2 = (|h1|2 + | h2 |2) s1 + h1*n1 + h2* n2.

Start

Determine No of bits to be transmitted ,SNR in dB. Mapping these symbols to BPSK modulation. For generating the data , splitting the data into two vectors (first transmition, second transmition in time) for Alamouti method STBC

Transmit data through channel with SVD method by adding Noise receive the data, Plot SER Vs SNR for Alamouti method

Repeat some steps above but transmit Symbols without

(18)

Alamouti method and Plot SER Vs SNR

Stop

(19)

Working Methodology
Literature survey is carried out for Alamouti encoding and decoding methods and few digital modulation schemes like BPSK,QPSK and QAM are selected. Modeling and simulation for the proposed design is done with mat lab. Initially the procedure for the BPSK modulation technique is shown in Figure.2. Here symbols are mapped into BPSK and transmitted with alamouti technique. Figure.3. depicts the procedure for alamouti and No alamouti technique with the BPSK modulation.

Fig 3. Flow chart for alamouti/ No alamouti STBC technique with BPSK modulation
Figure.4. gives the procedure for the QPSK constellation generation with gray codes mapped into four symbols [00, 01, 10, and 11]. The MRC technique estimates the received symbols from the transmitted antenna selection assumed earlier.
Start

Determine number of transmit and receive antennas, SNR Generate QPSK symbols, Angle [pi/4, 3*pi/4, -3*pi/4 ,-pi/4] corresponds to Gray code vector [00 10 11 01], respectively.

Generate Gray code mapping pattern for QPSK symbols Mapping transmitted bits into QPSK symbols with 4 constellation points
Start

Form the channel matrix, with MRC generate Estimates and received symbols add Noise factor
Determine No of symbols and SNR Generate random binary sequence of +1s and -1s(BPSK) Group them into pair of two symbols

Generate plots with antenna Selections and BER Vs SNR

Code the mapped BPSK symbols to Alamouti Space Time code ,and send with antenna selection and Multiply the symbols with the channel and then add white Gaussian noise.

Stop
Equalize the received symbols Perform hard decision decoding and count the bit errors

Repeat for multiple values of and plot the simulation and theoretical results This is done for transmitting and Receiving antennas

Fig 4. Flow chart for QPSK STBC with alamouti technique

Similarly Figure.5. Depicts the working methodology for STBC technique with QAM employing alamouti technique. This procedure can be applied for any QAM orders such as 4, 16, and 64. In all the above cases, the channel is modeled with Raleigh flat fading

Stop

Fig 2. Flow chart for STBC technique with BPSK modulation

World Journal of Science and Technology | www.worldjournalofscience.com | 2011 | 1(8): 125-131

conditions. Decoding is hard decision based ML method.

Start

Set the parameters like Number of blocks of data to be transmitted The QAM modulation order 4,16,64 Set SNR in dB

Generating the data and splitting the data into two vectors (first transmition, second transmition in time) Mapping QAM Modulation of transmit data selecting antennas determining channel gain and the channel varinance is set to unity and a Ray Leigh flat fading channel in each path is assumed

scheme using MRC. However, the performance of Alamouti scheme is 3 dB worse due to the fact that the power radiated from each transmit antenna in the Alamouti scheme is half of that radiated from the single antenna and sent to two receive antennas and using MRC. In this way, the two schemes have the same total transmit power. The other digital modulation technique employed in this proposed work is QAM which compares the Symbol error rate (SER) performance of Alamouti space-time coding with 2 transmitting antennas and 1 receive antenna. The SER performance is done for different orders of QAM is shown from figures 9, 10 and 11 respectively. [6],[7]
Plot for Alamouti STBC (Rayleigh channel) theory (nTx=1,nRx=1) theory (nTx=2, nRx=1, Alamouti) sim (nTx=2, nRx=2, Alamouti)

Transmit antenna set in Alamouti method and half of the power will be sent Adding noise factor in STC and No STC Cases & Defining Channel and Decode
10
-1

Plot SER Vs SNR For QAM order 4,16,64

10
-2

Stop

Bit Error Rate

10

-3

Fig 5. Flow chart for QAM mapping for STBC with alamouti technique Result Analysis and Discussions
The performance of the Alamouti scheme using BPSK symbols with realizations obtained by simulations of slow Rayleigh fading channels is shown in Figure 6. It is assumed that the total transmit power from the two antennas used with the Alamouti scheme is the same as the transmit power sent from a single transmit antenna to two receive antennas and applying an MRC at the receiver. It is also assumed that the amplitudes with fading from each transmit antenna to each receive antenna are mutually uncorrelated and Rayleigh distributed such that the average signal powers at each receive antenna from each transmit antenna are the same. Further, it is assumed that the receiver has perfect knowledge of the channel. Figure.7. shows the SER performance with alamouti and without alamouti technique for BPSK. Figure.8. shows the performance of the Alamouti scheme using QPSK constellations. Here the BER performance of the Alamouti scheme is compared with a (1 1) system scheme (no diversity or STC) and with a (1 2) MRC scheme. The simulation results show that the Alamouti (21) scheme achieves the same diversity as the (12)

10

-4

10 Eb/No, dB

15

20

25

Fig 6. The BER performance of the BPSK Alamouti Scheme, nt = 2, nr = 1,2

Fig 7. The SER performance of the BPSK Alamouti Scheme, nt = 2, nr = 2 with or without alamouti coding

World Journal of Science and Technology | www.worldjournalofscience.com | 2011 | 1(8): 125-131

Fig 8. The BER performance of the QPSK Alamouti Scheme, nt = 2, nr = 1,2

Fig 11. The SER performance of the 64QAM Alamouti Scheme, nt = 2, nr = 1 Conclusions
This work is devoted to space-time coding for multiple- input/multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The concept of space-time coding is explained in a systematic way. The performance of space-time codes for wireless multiple-antenna systems with channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter has been also studied. Alamouti code is the only OSTBC that provides full diversity at full data rate (1 symbol/time slot) for two transmit antennas.

Fig 9. The SER performance of the 4 QAM Alamouti Scheme, nt = 2,nr = 1

Acknowledgement
This work is supported by R V Center for Cognitive Technology Bangalore and Department of Research in Electronics, Kuvempu University Shimoga, and Karnataka. The authors would like to thank the Management, Principal and Director, Staff of S.D.M College of Engineering and Technology, Dharwad, Karnataka, India, for encouraging us for this research work.

References
1. I.E.Telatar, Capacity of Multi-Antenna Gaussian Channels, AT&T Bell Labs.

Fig 10. The SER performance of the 16 QAM Alamouti Scheme, nt = 2,nr = 1

2. G. J. Foschini, M. J. Gans, (1998). On Limits of Wireless Communications in Fading Environments when Using Multiple Antennas, Wireless Personal Communications, vol. 6, pp. 311-335.

World Journal of Science and Technology | www.worldjournalofscience.com | 2011 | 1(8): 125-131

3. V. Tarokh, N. Seshadri, A. R. Calderbank, (1998). Space-Time Codes for High Data Rate Wireless Communication: Performance Criterion and Code Construction, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 744-765. 4. S. Alamouti, (1998). A Simple Transmitter Diversity Technique for Wireless Communications, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas of Communications, Special Issue on Signal Processing for Wireless Communications, vol.16, no.8, pp.1451-1458. 5. Lennert Jacobs and Marc Moeneclaey,. Exact BER Analysis for Alamoutis Code on

Arbitrary Fading Channels with Imperfect Channel Estimation ,Ghent University, 6. Liang Yang and Jiayin Qin, Performance of Alamouti Scheme with Transmit Antenna Selection for M-ray Signals 7. Sebastian Caban, Christian Mehlf uhrer, Arpad L. choltz, and Markus Rupp Indoor MIMO Transmissions with Alamouti Space -Time Block Codes Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Communications ,Gusshausstrasse 25/389, A-1040 Vienna, Austria.

World Journal of Science and Technology | www.worldjournalofscience.com | 2011 | 1(8): 125-131