Modeling and simulation of a smart antenna for space-time coded systems with Simulink

The two major expectations of future 3G mobile wireless systems are increased system capacities and support for higher multiple bit-rate data services. The fundamental hurdles to increased link capacity and speeds for 3G wideband Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) techniques are multiple access interference and multipath fading effects.; Recently introduced Space-Time Coding (STC) schemes have proven to be extremely effective at improving link reliability over wireless multipath fading channels by introducing temporal and spatial correlation into signals transmitted from different antennas. Similarly, Smart Antenna (SA) techniques have been equally promising in mitigating co-channel interference by exploiting spatial diversity. The next logical step is the combined use of these techniques to further exploit diversity in an attempt to deliver even greater system capacities and enhanced performance. This combined approach is however not without its challenges.; This thesis implements a practical combined CDMA-STC-SA solution in MATLAB Simulink and evaluates the performance and capacity gains achieved over a flat fading channel. Results showed that the combined CDMA-STC-SA approach produced substantial overall performance gains over techniques employing CDMA-SA or CDA-STC only.