Design of an OFDM Cooperative Space-Time Diversity System

In this paper, we propose a wireless system that realizes theoretical benefits of space-time cooperation. Specifically, we design a space-time cooperative system based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), which we refer to as a cooperative (CO)-OFDM system. Our design includes a two-phase space-time cooperation protocol, as well as a transmitter and receiver architecture that facilitates cooperation. Furthermore, we devise a frame structure, on which we build practical timing and frequency synchronization algorithms and a channel estimation algorithm. In particular, the proposed frequency synchronization algorithm utilizes the underlying structure of the cooperation protocol, and the proposed channel estimation algorithm is based on a pairwise orthogonal construction of two sequences. We validate the performance of the proposed synchronization and channel estimation algorithms through simulations. We then present simulation results that demonstrate the overall performance advantage of the CO-OFDM system over an OFDM system without cooperation, not only under idealistic assumptions but also under realistic situations where the proposed algorithms are employed.