Performance of a space-time block coded code division multiple access system over Nakagami-m fading channels

Abstract

By introducing an orthogonal space-time coding scheme, multiuser code division multiple access (CDMA) systems with different space time codes are given, and corresponding system performance is investigated over a Nakagami-m fading channel. A low-complexity multiuser receiver scheme is developed for space-time block coded CDMA (STBC-CDMA) systems. The scheme can make full use of the complex orthogonality of space-time block coding to simplify the high decoding complexity of the existing scheme. Compared to the existing scheme with exponential decoding complexity, it has linear decoding complexity. Based on the performance analysis and mathematical calculation, the average bit error rate (BER) of the system is derived in detail for integer m and non-integer m, respectively. As a result, a tight closed-form BER expression is obtained for STBC-CDMA with an orthogonal spreading code, and an approximate closed-form BER expression is attained for STBC-CDMA with a quasi-orthogonal spreading code. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve almost the same performance as the existing scheme with low complexity. Moreover, the simulation results for average BER are consistent with the theoretical analysis.