Performance analysis of space-time trellis codes with transmit antenna selection in Rayleigh fading channels

In this paper we investigate the error performance of a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) scheme combining transmit antenna selection (TAS) and space-time trellis codes (STTCs), which is referred to as the TAS/STTC scheme. In this scheme, two transmit antennas, which maximize the total received signal power, are selected to transmit the full-rank baseline STTCs designed for two transmit antennas. An upper bound on the pairwise error probability (PEP) of this scheme is derived in quasi-static flat Rayleigh fading channels. It is shown that, as long as the baseline STTC has a full rank, a full diversity order can be achieved, as if all the transmit antennas were used. This scheme has a fixed low decoding complexity as for the baseline STTC and a full diversity order can be achieved with a small memory order. Therefore, the TAS/STTC scheme provides a Dew approach to the design of MIMO system achieving a high diversity order based on the existing STTCs designed for a small number of transmit antennas.