A simple block coding arrangement is created with symbols transmitted over
a plurality of transmit channels, in connection with coding that comprises
only of simple arithmetic operations, such as negation and conjugation.
The diversity created by the transmitter utilizes space diversity and
either time or frequency diversity. Space diversity is effected by
redundantly transmitting over a plurality of antennas, time diversity is
effected by redundantly transmitting at different times, and frequency
diversity is effected by redundantly transmitting at different
frequencies. Illustratively, using two transmit antennas and a single
receive antenna, one of the disclosed embodiments provides the same
diversity gain as the maximal-ratio receiver combining (MRRC) scheme with
one transmit antenna and two receive antennas. The principles of this
invention are applicable to arrangements with more than two antennas, and
an illustrative embodiment is disclosed using the same space block code
with two transmit and two receive antennas.
