It is well known that communication using multiple antennas provides high data rate and reliability. Coding across space and time is necessary to fully exploit the gains offered by multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems. One such popular method of coding for MIMO systems is space-time block coding. In applications where the terminals do not have enough physical space to mount multiple antennas, relaying or cooperation between multiple single antenna terminals can help achieve spatial diversity in such scenarios as well. Relaying techniques can also help improve the range and reliability of communication. Recently it has been shown that certain space-time block codes (STBCs) can be employed in a distributed fashion in single antenna relay networks to extract the same benefits as in point to point MIMO systems. Such STBCs are called distributed STBCs. However an important practical issue with STBCs and DSTBCs is its associated high maximum likelihood (ML) decoding complexity. The central theme of this thesis is to systematically construct STBCs and DSTBCs applicable for various scenarios such that are amenable for low decoding complexity. The first part of this thesis provides constructions of high rate STBCs from crossed product algebras that are minimum mean squared error (MMSE) optimal, i.e., achieves the least symbol error rate under MMSE reception. Moreover several previous constructions of MMSE optimal STBCs are found to be special cases of the constructions in this thesis. It is well known that STBCs from orthogonal designs offer single symbol ML decoding along with full diversity but the rate of orthogonal designs fall exponentially with the number of transmit antennas. Thus it is evident that there exists a tradeoff between rate and ML decoding complexity of full diversity STBCs. In the second part of the thesis, a definition of rate of a STBC is proposed and the problem of optimal tradeoff between rate and ML decoding complexity is posed. An algebraic framework based on extended Clifford algebras is introduced to study the optimal tradeoff for a class of multi-symbol ML decodable STBCs called ‘Clifford unitary weight (CUW) STBCs’ which include orthogonal designs as a special case. Code constructions optimally meeting this tradeoff are also obtained using extended Clifford algebras. All CUW-STBCs achieve full diversity as well. The third part of this thesis focusses on constructing DSTBCs with low ML decoding complexity for two hop, amplify and forward based relay networks under various scenarios. The symbol synchronous, coherent case is first considered and conditions for a DSTBC to be multi-group ML decodable are first obtained. Then three new classes of four-group ML decodable full diversity DSTBCs are systematically constructed for arbitrary number of relays. Next the symbol synchronous non-coherent case is considered and full diversity, four group decodable distributed differential STBCs (DDSTBCs) are constructed for power of two number of relays. These DDSTBCs have the best error performance compared to all previous works along with low ML decoding complexity. For the symbol asynchronous, coherent case, a transmission scheme based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is proposed to mitigate the effects of timing errors at the relay nodes and sufficient conditions for a DSTBC to be applicable in this new transmission scheme are given. Many of the existing DSTBCs including the ones in this thesis are found to satisfy these sufficient conditions. As a further extension, differential encoding is combined with the proposed transmission scheme to arrive at a new transmission scheme that can achieve full diversity in symbol asynchronous, non-coherent relay networks with no knowledge of the timing errors at the relay nodes. The DDSTBCs in this thesis are proposed for application in the proposed transmission scheme for symbol asynchronous, non-coherent relay networks. As a parallel to the non-coherent schemes based on differential encoding, we also propose non-coherent schemes for symbol synchronous and symbol asynchronous relay networks that are based on training. This training based transmission scheme leverages existing coherent DSTBCs for non-coherent communication in relay networks. Simulations show that this training scheme when used along with the coherent DSTBCs in this thesis outperform the best known DDSTBCs in the literature. Finally, in the last part of the thesis, connections between multi-group ML decodable unitary weight (UW) STBCs and groups with real elements are established for the first time. Using this connection, we translate the necessary and sufficient conditions for multi-group ML decoding of UW-STBCs entirely in group theoretic terms. We discuss various examples of multi-group decodable UW-STBCs together with their associated groups and list the real elements involved. These examples include orthogonal designs, quasi-orthogonal designs among many others.

The technique of cooperative communications is finding its way in the next generations of many wireless communication applications. Due to the distributed nature of cooperative networks, acquiring fading channels information for coherent detection is more challenging than in the traditional point-to-point communications. To bypass the requirement of channel information, differential modulation together with non-coherent detection can be deployed. This thesis is concerned with various issues related to differential modulation and non-coherent detection in cooperative networks. Specifically, the thesis examines the behavior and robustness of non-coherent detection in mobile environments (i.e., time-varying channels). The amount of channel variation is related to the normalized Doppler shift which is a function of user’s mobility. The Doppler shift is used to distinguish between slow time-varying (slow-fading) and rapid time-varying (fast-fading) channels. The performance of several important relay topologies, including single-branch and multi-branch dual-hop relaying with/without a direct link that employ amplify-and-forward relaying and two-symbol non-coherent detection, is analyzed. For this purpose, a time-series model is developed for characterizing the time-varying nature of the cascaded channel encountered in amplify-and-forward relaying. Also, for single-branch and multi-branch dual-hop relaying without a direct link, multiple-symbol differential detection is developed. First, for a single-branch dual-hop relaying without a direct link, the performance of two-symbol differential detection in time-varying Rayleigh fading channels is evaluated. It is seen that the performance degrades in rapid time-varying channels. Then, a multiple-symbol differential detection is developed and analyzed to improve the system performance in fast-fading channels. Next, a multi-branch dual-hop relaying with a direct link is considered. The performance of this relay topology using a linear combining method and two-symbol differential detection is examined in time-varying Rayleigh fading channels. New combining weights are proposed and shown to improve the system performance in fast-fading channels. The performance of the simpler selection combining at the destination is also investigated in general time-varying channels. It is illustrated that the selection combining method performs very close to that of the linear combining method. Finally, differential distributed space-time coding is studied for a multi-branch dual-hop relaying network without a direct link. The performance of this network using two-symbol differential detection in terms of diversity over time-varying channels is evaluated. It is seen that the achieved diversity is severely affected by the channel variation. Moreover, a multiple-symbol differential detection is designed to improve the performance of the differential distributed space-time coding in fast-fading channels.

The research reported in this thesis is concerned with robust precoder and transceiver optimization in multiuser multi-antenna wireless communication systems in the presence of imperfect channel state information(CSI). Precoding at the transmit side, which utilizes the CSI, can improve the system performance and simplify the receiver design. Transmit precoding is essential for inter-user interference cancellation in multiuser downlink where users do not cooperate. Linear and non-linear precoding have been widely investigated as low-complexity alternatives to dirty paper coding-based transmission scheme for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output(MU-MIMO)downlink. Similarly, in relay-assisted networks, precoding at the relay nodes have been shown to improve performance. The precoder and joint precoder/receive filter (transceiver) designs usually assume perfect knowledge of the CSI. In practical systems, however, the CSI will be imperfect due to estimation errors, feedback errors and feedback delays. Such imperfections in CSI will lead to deterioration of performance of the precoders/transceivers designed assuming perfect CSI. In such situations, designs which are robust to CSI errors are crucial to realize the potential of multiuser multi-antenna systems in practice. This thesis focuses on the robust designs of precoders and transceivers for MU-MIMO downlink, and for non-regenerative relay networks in the presence of errors in the CSI. We consider a norm-bounded error(NBE) model, and a stochastic error(SE) model for the CSI errors. These models are suitable for commonly encountered errors, and they allow mathematically and computationally tractable formulations for the robust designs. We adopt a statistically robust design in the case of stochastic error, and a minimax or worst-case robust design in the case of norm-bounded error. We have considered the robust precoder and transceiver designs under different performance criteria based on transmit power and quality-of-service(QoS) constraints. The work reported in this thesis can be grouped into three parts, namely,i ) robust linear pre-coder and transceiver designs for multiuser downlink, ii)robust non-linear precoder and transceiver designs for multiuser downlink, and iii)robust precoder designs for non-regenerative relay networks. Linear precoding: In this part, first, a robust precoder for multiuser multiple-input single-output(MU-MISO)downlink that minimizes the total base station(BS)transmit power with constraints on signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio(SINR) at the user terminals is considered. We show that this problem can be reformulated as a second order cone program(SOCP) with the same order of computational complexity as that of the non-robust precoder design. Next, a robust design of linear transceiver for MU-MIMO downlink is developed. This design is based on the minimization of sum mean square error(SMSE) with a constraint on the total BS transmit power, and assumes that the error in the CSI at the transmitter(CSIT) follows the stochastic error model. For this design, an iterative algorithm based on the associated Karush-Kuhn-Tucker(KKT) conditions is proposed. Our numerical results demonstrate the robust performance of the propose designs. Non-linear precoding: In this part, we consider robust designs of Tomlinson-Harashima precoders(THP) for MU-MISO and MU-MIMO downlinks with different performance criteria and CSI error models. For MU-MISO systems with imperfect CSIT, we investigate the problem of designing robust THPs under MSE and total BS transmit power constraints. The first design is based on the minimization of total BS transmit power under constraints on the MSE at the individual user receivers. We present an iterative procedure to solve this problem, where each iteration involves the solution of a pair of convex optimization problems. The second design is based on the minimization of a stochastic function of the SMSE under a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We solve this problem efficiently by the method of alternating optimization. For MU-MIMO downlink, we propose robust THP transceiver designs that jointly optimize the TH precoder and receiver filters. We consider these transceiver designs under stochastic and norm-bounded error models for CSIT. For the SE model, we propose a minimum SMSE transceiver design. For the NBE model, we propose three robust designs, namely, minimum SMSE design, MSE-constrained design, and MSE-balancing design. Our proposed solutions to these robust design problems are based on iteratively solving a pair of sub-problems, one of which can be solved analytically, and the other can be formulated as a convex optimization problem that can be solved efficiently. Robust precoder designs for non-regenerative relay networks: In this part, we consider robust designs for two scenarios in the case of relay-assisted networks. First, we consider a non-regenerative relay network with a source-destination node pair assisted by multiple relay nodes, where each node is equipped with a single antenna. The set of the cooperating relay nodes can be considered as a distributed antenna array. For this scenario, we present a robust distributed beam former design that minimizes the total relay transmit power with a constraint on the SNR at the destination node. We show that this robust design problem can be reformulated as a semi-definite program (SDP)that can be solved efficiently. Next, we consider a non-regenerative relay network, where a set of source-destination node pairs are assisted by a MIMO-relay node, which is equipped with multiple transmit and multiple receive antennas. For this case, we consider robust designs in the presence of stochastic and norm-bounded CSI errors. We show that these problems can be reformulated as convex optimization problems. In the case of norm-bounded error, we use an approximate expression for the MSE in order to obtain a tractable solution.