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Virginia Tech

Impact of Channel Estimation Errors on Space Time Trellis Codes

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Space Time Trellis Coding (STTC) is a unique technique that combines the use of multiple transmit antennas with channel coding. This scheme provides capacity benefits in fading channels, and helps in improving the data rate and reliability of wireless communication. STTC schemes have been primarily designed assuming perfect channel estimates to be available at the receiver. However, in practical wireless systems, this is never the case. The noisy wireless channel precludes an exact characterization of channel coefficients. Even near-perfect channel estimates can necessitate huge overhead in terms of processing or spectral efficiency. This practical concern motivates the study of the impact of channel estimation errors on the design and performance of STTC. The design criteria for STTC are validated in the absence of perfect channel estimates at the receiver. Analytical results are presented that model the performance of STTC systems in the presence of channel estimation errors. Training based channel estimation schemes are the most popular choice for STTC systems. The amount of training however, increases with the number of transmit antennas used, the number of multi-path components in the channel and a decrease in the channel coherence time. This dependence is shown to decrease the performance gain obtained when increasing the number of transmit antennas in STTC systems, especially in channels with a large Doppler spread (low channel coherence time). In frequency selective channels, the training overhead associated with increasing the number of antennas can be so large that no benefit is shown to be obtained by using STTC. The amount of performance degradation due to channel estimation errors is shown to be influenced by system parameters such as the specific STTC code employed and the number of transmit and receive antennas in the system in addition to the magnitude of the estimation error. Hence inappropriate choice of system parameters is shown to significantly alter the performance pattern of STTC. The viability of STTC in practical wireless systems is thus addressed and it is shown that that channel estimation could offset benefits derived from this scheme.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2003

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Menon, Rekha
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Buehrer, R. Michael
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Bostian, Charles W.
  • Reed, Jeffrey H.

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-12302003-150126
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/36490

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Menon, Rekha. Impact of Channel Estimation Errors on Space Time Trellis Codes. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/36490