A quasi-orthogonal space-time block code

It has been shown that a complex orthogonal design that provides full diversity and full transmission rate for a space–time block code is not possible for more than two antennas. Previous attempts have been concentrated in generalizing orthogonal designs which provide space–time block codes with full diversity and a high transmission rate. In this work, we design rate one codes which are quasi-orthogonal and provide partial diversity. The decoder of the proposed codes works with pairs of transmitted symbols instead of single symbols.