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Yes / In this paper, a simplified approach for implementing QO-STBC is presented. It is based on the Hadamard matrix, in which the scheme exploits the Hadamard property to attain full diversity. Hadamard matrix has the characteristic that diagonalizes a quasi-cyclic matrix and decoding matrix that are diagonal matrix permit linear decoding. Using quasi-cyclic matrices in designing QO-STBC systems require that the codes should be rotated to reasonably separate one code from another such that error floor in the design can be minimized. It will be shown that, orthogonalizing the secondary codes and then imposing the Hadamard criteria that the scheme can be well diagonalized. The results of this simplified approach demonstrate full diversity and better performance than the interference-free QO-STBC. Results show about 4 dB gain with respect to the traditional QO-STBC scheme and performs alike with the earlier Hadamard based QO-STBC designed with rotation. These results achieve the consequent mathematical proposition of the Hadamard matrix and its property also shown in this study.

Yes / To achieve multiple input multiple output (MIMO) in wireless communication, the orthogonal space-time block coding (OSTBC) is evaluated next. At first, the OSTBC design is extended to include Hadamard matrix, referred to in this work, as traditional Hadamard OSTBC. Next, the Hadamard matrix is imposed on the conventional OSTBC, which is referred to, in this work as, Alamouti-Hadamard STBC. Both the traditional Hadamard OSTBC and the conventional STBC are compared with the Alamouti-Hadamard STBC. It will be shown that imposing the Hadamard conditions over the conventional OSTBC, the performance of the OSTBC 2-transmit antenna scheme can be significantly improved in terms of BER performance. All propositions are well supported with analytical derivations.

Yes / The quasi-orthogonal space time block coding (QO-STBC) over orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is investigated. Traditionally, QO-STBC does not achieve full diversity since the detection matrix of QO-STBC scheme is not a diagonal matrix. In STBC, the decoding matrix is a diagonal matrix which enables linear decoding whereas the decoding matrix in traditional QO-STBC does not enable linear decoding. In this paper it is shown that there are some interfering terms in terms of non-diagonal elements that result from the decoding process which limit the linear decoding. As a result, interference from the application of the QO-STBC decoding matrix depletes the performance of the scheme such that full diversity is not attained. A method of eliminating this interference in QO-STBC is investigated by nulling the interfering terms towards full diversity for an OFDM system. It was found that the interference reduction technique permits circa 2dB BER performance gain in QO-STBC. The theoretical and simulation results are presented, for both traditional QO-STBC and interference-free QO-STBC applying OFDM

Recent research has shown that multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems provide high spectral efficiencies and error performance gains. However, the use of multiple antennas in mobile terminals may not be very practical. Certainly there is limited space and other implementation issues which make this a challenging problem. Therefore, to harness the diversity gains afforded by MIMO transmitter diversity techniques, while maintaining a minimal number of antennas on each handset, cooperative diversity techniques have been proposed. In addition, attention has also been given to combining wireless relaying systems with MIMO techniques to improve capacity, coverage, and obtain better diversity at the expense of increased node complexity. This thesis considers the design and analysis of cooperative diversity systems and MIMO amplify-and-forward relaying systems. In particular, we investigate adaptive time- and frequency-domain equalization techniques for cooperative diversity systems using space-time block codes (STBC). For MIMO relaying systems, we analyze the ergodic capacity of various systems and compare different amplify-and-forward methods in terms of system capacity performance. We propose a new block time-domain adaptive equalization structure for time reversal-space time block coding (TR-STBC) systems, which eliminates the separate decoder and also the need for explicit channel state information (CSI) estimation at the receiver. Our simulation results show that the time-domain adaptive block equalizer performs better than the frequency-domain counterpart but at the cost of increased complexity. Then, we extend this time-domain adaptive equalization scheme to distributed TR-STBC systems. We also develop a frequency-domain counterpart for the distributed systems. Our simulation results show that the adaptive algorithms work well for Protocols I and III proposed by Nabar et al. The time-domain adaptive algorithms perform better than the frequency-domain algorithms, and overall the Protocol I receivers outperform the Protocol III receivers. We also show that, if only the Protocol III receiver is used, it can be susceptible to noise amplification due to a weaker source-to-relay link compared to the relay-to-destination link. This problem can be mitigated by using the Protocol I receivers with some extra complexity but much superior diversity performance. We also present an ergodic capacity analysis of an amplify-and-forward (AF) MIMO two-hop system including the direct link and validate the analysis with simulations. We show that having the direct link improves the capacity due to diversity and quantify this improvement. We also present an ergodic capacity analysis of an AF MIMO two-hop, two relay system. Our results verify the capacity gain of relaying systems with two relays due to the extra diversity compared to a single relaying system. However, the results also show that when one of the source-to-relay links has a markedly higher SNR compared to the other, a single relay system has better capacity than a two relay system. Finally, we compare three types of relay amplification methods: a) average amplification, b) instantaneous channel amplification, and c) instantaneous power amplification. The instantaneous power amplification method has a higher mean capacity but with a higher variance. Also, it requires additional information at the destination and would create enormous overheads compared to the other methods. We also find that the instantaneous channel amplification method has almost no advantage in terms of the mean capacity but its capacity is less variable than the average amplification method. On the other hand, the average amplification method is simpler to implement as it does not require channel estimation at the relaying terminal.

The presence of dispersive fading and inter-carrier interference (ICI) constitute the major impediment to reliable communications in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Recently iterative (``Turbo'') processing techniques, which have been successfully applied to many detection/decoding problems, have received considerable attention. In this thesis, we first aim on the design of iterative receiver for single antenna OFDM system with frequency offset and dispersive fading. Further work is then extended to space-time block coded (STBC) OFDM system. At last, the technique is applied to STBC-OFDM system through a newly built channel model, which is based on a physical description of the propagation environment. The performance of such systems are verified by computer simulations. The simulation results show that the iterative techniques work well in OFDM systems.

The presence of dispersive fading and inter-carrier interference (ICI) constitute the major impediment to reliable communications in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Recently iterative (``Turbo'') processing techniques, which have been successfully applied to many detection/decoding problems, have received considerable attention. In this thesis, we first aim on the design of iterative receiver for single antenna OFDM system with frequency offset and dispersive fading. Further work is then extended to space-time block coded (STBC) OFDM system. At last, the technique is applied to STBC-OFDM system through a newly built channel model, which is based on a physical description of the propagation environment. The performance of such systems are verified by computer simulations. The simulation results show that the iterative techniques work well in OFDM systems.

Masters Research - Masters of Engineering / Mobile telephony, wireless networks and wireless telemetry systems have gone from simple single-input single-output wireless architectures with low data transmission rates to complex systems employing multiple antennas and forward error correction algorithms capable of high data transmission rates over wireless channels. Claude Shannon provided the fundamental capacity limits for a communications system and it can be shown that the capacity for a single-input single-output systems is limited in it’s capability to provide for modern wireless applications. The introduction of multiple-input multiple-output systems employing multiple antenna elements and orthogonal coding structures proved beneficial and could provide the capacities required for modern wireless applications. This thesis begins with an introduction and overview of space-time coding and the codes of Tarokh, Jafarkhani and Alamouti. Further, this thesis provides an introduction and overview to the family of forward error correction codes known as low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. LDPC codes, when employed over Gaussian channels, provide near-Shannon limit performance and the question is posed as to their suitability for a wireless multiple-input multiple-output system employing multiple antennas and space-time coding. This question is answered by the use and demonstration of LDPC codes as outer codes to a MIMO system employing space-time block codes and a modified maximum-likelihood decoder. By modifying the space-time block-code decoder to provide a soft-information output, iterative decoders such as the sum-product algorithm can be employed to provide significant performance gains over a Rayleigh flat-fading channel. Further the use of design tools such as EXIT charts can then be used to design codes. The key to allowing the use of EXIT charts is the observation that a MIMO system employing orthogonal transmissions in a Rayleigh flat-fading channel is the equivalent to a SISO channel employing Nakagami-m fading coefficients. The seemingly complex MIMO system can now be analyzed in the form of a simpler SISO equivalent allowing the use of techniques such as EXIT charts to be employed in order to design codes with known and predictable performance haracteristics. This thesis demonstrates this technique and shows by example the performance gains that can be achieved for MIMO systems and opens some further questions for future research.

Masters Research - Masters of Engineering / Mobile telephony, wireless networks and wireless telemetry systems have gone from simple single-input single-output wireless architectures with low data transmission rates to complex systems employing multiple antennas and forward error correction algorithms capable of high data transmission rates over wireless channels. Claude Shannon provided the fundamental capacity limits for a communications system and it can be shown that the capacity for a single-input single-output systems is limited in it’s capability to provide for modern wireless applications. The introduction of multiple-input multiple-output systems employing multiple antenna elements and orthogonal coding structures proved beneficial and could provide the capacities required for modern wireless applications. This thesis begins with an introduction and overview of space-time coding and the codes of Tarokh, Jafarkhani and Alamouti. Further, this thesis provides an introduction and overview to the family of forward error correction codes known as low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. LDPC codes, when employed over Gaussian channels, provide near-Shannon limit performance and the question is posed as to their suitability for a wireless multiple-input multiple-output system employing multiple antennas and space-time coding. This question is answered by the use and demonstration of LDPC codes as outer codes to a MIMO system employing space-time block codes and a modified maximum-likelihood decoder. By modifying the space-time block-code decoder to provide a soft-information output, iterative decoders such as the sum-product algorithm can be employed to provide significant performance gains over a Rayleigh flat-fading channel. Further the use of design tools such as EXIT charts can then be used to design codes. The key to allowing the use of EXIT charts is the observation that a MIMO system employing orthogonal transmissions in a Rayleigh flat-fading channel is the equivalent to a SISO channel employing Nakagami-m fading coefficients. The seemingly complex MIMO system can now be analyzed in the form of a simpler SISO equivalent allowing the use of techniques such as EXIT charts to be employed in order to design codes with known and predictable performance haracteristics. This thesis demonstrates this technique and shows by example the performance gains that can be achieved for MIMO systems and opens some further questions for future research.

Yes / A quasi-orthogonal space time block coding (QO-STBC) scheme that exploits Hadamard matrix properties is studied and evaluated. At first, an analytical solution is derived as an extension of some earlier proposed QO-STBC scheme based on Hadamard matrices, called diagonalized Hadamard space-time block coding (DHSBTC). It explores the ability of Hadamard matrices that can translate into amplitude gains for a multi-antenna system, such as the QO-STBC system, to eliminate some off-diagonal (interference) terms that limit the system performance towards full diversity. This property is used in diagonalizing the decoding matrix of the QOSTBC system without such interfering elements. Results obtained quite agree with the analytical solution and also reflect the full diversity advantage of the proposed QO-STBC system design scheme. Secondly, the study is extended over an interference-free QO-STBC multi-antenna scheme, which does not include the interfering terms in the decoding matrix. Then, following the Hadamard matrix property advantages, the gain obtained (for example, in 4x1 QO-STBC scheme) in this study showed 4-times louder amplitude (gain) than the interference-free QOSTBC and much louder than earlier DHSTBC for which the new approach is compared with.