A new family of optimized orthogonal Space-Times codes for PPM-based MIMO systems with imperfect channel estimates

In this contribution, we develop a single Multiple-Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver for Orthogonal PPM (OPPM) data transmitted over (baseband) faded MIMO channels with a priori unknown path-gains. The signaling-scheme we adopt allows to equip the Maximum-Likelihood receiver with reliable estimates of the (possibly time-varying) MIMO channel, without reducing the conveyed information throughput. Hence, after evaluating the performance of the proposed transceiver via a suitable version of the Union-Chernoff Bound, we introduce a novel family of unitary orthogonal Space-Times Block Codes (e.g., the Space-Time OPPM codes), that are able to attain both maximum diversity and coding gains. Afterwards, we present closed-form formulas for evaluating the SNR loss induced by mistiming effects possibly impairing the received signals. Lastly, we report several numerical results supporting both the medium/long coverage ranges attained by the proposed transceiver in outdoor applications and its performance robustness against correlated channel fading, mistiming effects and degradation induced by dense-multipath fading. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.