Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Systems for Spinning Vehicles

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) digital communication system, when the transmitter is located on a spinning vehicle. In particular, a 2x2 MIMO system is used, with Alamouti coding at the transmitter. Both Rayleigh and Rayleigh plus line-of-sight, or Rician, models combined with a deterministic model to simulate the channel. The spinning of the transmitting vehicle, relative to the stationary receive antennas, modulates the signal, and complicates the decoding and channel parameter estimation processes. The simulated system bit error rate is the primary performance metric used. The Alamouti channel code is shown to perform better than the maximal ratio receiver combining (MRRC) and single receiver (2x1) system in some circumstances and performs similarly to the MRRC in the broadside case.