Performance of Alamouti scheme with transmit antenna selection

Abstract

We investigate the error performance of the Alamouti scheme with transmit antenna selection. The exact bit error rate (BER) is derived for binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) in flat Rayleigh fading channels. The analysis reveals that this scheme achieves a full diversity order at high SNRs, as if all the transmit antennas were used. Simulation results are provided to substantiate the analysis. It is shown that compared with conventional space-time block codes (STBCs), this scheme incurs much less SNR loss inherent to the transmit-diversity system. Therefore, the Alamouti scheme with transmit antenna selection provides a new general approach to the design of MIMO systems for high-data-rate downlink transmission with a high diversity order.