Combining Space-Time Block Codes and Multiplexing in Correlated MIMO Channels: An Antenna Assignment Strategy

Multiplexing and space-time coding are competing ways of extracting capacity out of MIMO wireless systems. We address the problem of finding an optimal combination of these approaches over a MIMO array when a priori knowledge about correlation is available at the transmitter. Our approach is in the form of an optimal spatial assignment of antennas, over which to multiplex space-time coded symbol blocks, in the highly practical case when correlation is not uniform across all antenna pairs