Space-Time-Block-Coded Transmissions for Downlink MC-CDMA Transmissions Over Frequency-Selective Fading Channels

Mitigation of multipath fading effects and suppression of multiuser interference (MUI) constitute major challenges in the design of the third generation wireless mobile systems. Space-time (ST) coding offers a attractive solution to cope with mutipath fading, but most existing ST coding schemes assume flat fading channels that may not be realistic for wide-band communications. Especially multiuser ST block-coded transmissions through multipath fading channels present unique challenge in suppressing not only MUI but also intersymbol/chip interference. In this paper, we design ST multiuser transceivers for MC-CDMA quasi-synchronous systems, capable to reliably transmit over frequency-selective multipath downlink channels. The proposed system is able to provide transmit diversity and to guarantee symbol recovery in multiuser environments, regardless of unknown multipath. Unlike existing approaches, the mobile does not need to know the channel of other users. In addition to decoding simplicity, computer simulations show the performance merits of the proposed transceiver.