NEW RESULTS ON DIFFERENTIAL AND NON–COHERENT TRANSMISSION: MSDD FOR CORRELATED MIMO FADING CHANNELS AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR GENERALIZED K–FADING by CINDY

In this thesis, we revisit differential and non–coherent transmission techniques over fading channels. In particular, we consider receiver design for differential space–time modulation (DSTM) over correlated multiple–input multiple– output (MIMO) fading channels and the performance analysis of differential phase shift keying (DPSK) and non–coherent frequency shift keying (FSK) in generalized K–fading. For DSTM over spatially correlated MIMO channels, we derive a multiple– symbol differential detection (MSDD) and a novel MSDD–based decision– feedback differential detection (MS–DFDD) receiver. We show that MS– DFDD outperforms previously proposed decision–feedback differential detection (DFDD) schemes that are based on scalar and vector prediction. In addition, we prove that at high signal–to–noise ratio (SNR) vector prediction decision–feedback differential detection (VP–DFDD) is equivalent to scalar prediction decision–feedback differential detection (SP–DFDD) and thus fails to properly exploit the spatial fading correlations. Furthermore, we derive closed–form expressions for the bit error probability (BEP) of two non–coherent transmission schemes over L diversity branches being subject to generalized K–fading. Specifically, focus is on binary DPSK (DBPSK) and binary non–coherent FSK modulation with equal–gain combining (EGC) at the receiver. We also discuss the extension of our results to M–ary modulation schemes. Considering both independent and correlated fading across the L branches, we derive expressions for the asymptotic diversity order, which reveal an interesting interplay between the two parameters,