Transmission and reception concepts for WLAN IEEE 802.11b

State-of-the-art wireless local area network (WLAN) IEEE 802.11b terminals employ complementary code keying (CCK) as modulation format. In this paper, receiver concepts tailored for CCK transmission over frequency-selective fading channels are presented in a unified and systematic framework. First, optimum maximum-likelihood (ML) detection for CCK signaling is considered. Second, for complexity reduction, minimum mean-squared error block decision-feedback equalization (MMSE-DFE) is investigated and reduced-state sequence estimation (RSSE) is considered on the basis of an Ungerbock-like set partitioning of the multidimensional CCK code word set. In order to improve the reliability of CCK transmission over fading channels, time-reversal space-time block codes (TR-STBCs) combined with receive diversity are applied. Simulation results of the considered suboptimum receivers are compared with a performance approximation for optimum detection. Our results demonstrate the excellent performance of the advocated equalization schemes and the significant gains that can be achieved with TR-STBCs and receive diversity in typical WLAN environments.