Three space-time block-coding schemes for frequency-selective fading channels with application to EDGE

Abstract
Three space-time block-coding schemes with two transmit antennas for frequency-selective fading channels are described and compared. The three schemes implement the symbol-level Alamouti scheme (see Alamouti, S., IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, p.1451-8, 1998) developed for flat-fading channels at a block level either in the time or frequency domains. Receiver structures that aim at exploiting the spatial diversity offered by the two transmit antennas and the temporal diversity offered by the channel frequency selectivity are presented. The three schemes are applied to the EDGE TDMA system and their performance compared on a typical urban channel under both perfect and estimated channel conditions at the receiver.