comm.OSTBCCombiner

Combine inputs using orthogonal space-time block code

Description

The OSTBCCombiner object combines the input signal (from all of the receive antennas) and the channel estimate signal to extract the soft information of the symbols encoded by an OSTBC. The input channel estimate does not need to be constant and can vary at each call to the step method. The combining algorithm uses only the estimate for the first symbol period per codeword block. A symbol demodulator or decoder would follow the Combiner object in a MIMO communications system.

To combine input signals and extract the soft information of the symbols encoded by an OSTBC:

Define and set up your OSTBC combiner object. See Construction.
Call step to Combine inputs using an orthogonal space-time block code according to the properties of comm.OSTBCCombiner. The behavior of step is specific to each object in the toolbox.

Note

Starting in R2016b, instead of using the step method to perform the operation defined by the System object™, you can call the object with arguments, as if it were a function. For example, y = step(obj,x) and y = obj(x) perform equivalent operations.

Construction

H = comm.OSTBCCombiner creates an orthogonal space-time block code (OSTBC) combiner System object, H. This object combines the input signal (from all of the receive antennas) with the channel estimate signal to extract the soft information of the symbols encoded by an OSTBC.

H = comm.OSTBCCombiner(Name,Value) creates an OSTBC Combiner object, H, with each specified property set to the specified value. You can specify additional name-value pair arguments in any order as (Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN).

H = comm.OSTBCCombiner(N,M,Name,Value) creates an OSTBC Combiner object, H. This object has the NumTransmitAntennas property set to N, the NumReceiveAntennas property set to N, and the other specified properties set to the specified values.

Properties

NumTransmitAntennas

Number of transmit antennas

Specify the number of antennas at the transmitter as 2 | 3 | 4. The default is 2.

SymbolRate

Symbol rate of code

Specify the symbol rate of the code as 3/4 | 1/2. The default is 3/4. This property applies when the NumTransmitAntennas property is greater than 2. For 2 transmit antennas, the symbol rate defaults to 1.

NumReceiveAntennas

Number of receive antennas

Specify the number of antennas at the receiver as a double-precision, real, scalar integer value from 1 to 8. The default is 1.

Fixed-Point Properties

`RoundingMethod`	Rounding of fixed-point numeric values Specify the rounding method as `Ceiling` \| `Convergent` \| `Floor` \| `Nearest` \| `Round` \| `Simplest` \| `Zero`. The default is `Floor`.
`OverflowAction`	Action when fixed-point numeric values overflow Specify the overflow action as one of `Wrap` \| `Saturate`. The default is `Wrap`. This property specifies the action to be taken in case of overflow. Such overflow occurs if the magnitude of a fixed-point calculation result does not fit into the range of the data type and scaling that stores the result.
`ProductDataType`	Data type of product Specify the product data type as one of `Full precision` \| `Custom`. The default is `Full precision`.
`CustomProductDataType`	Fixed-point data type of product Specify the product fixed-point type as a scaled `numerictype` (Fixed-Point Designer) object with a signedness of Auto. The default is `numerictype([],32,16)`. This property applies when you set the ProductDataType property to `Custom`.
`AccumulatorDataType`	Data type of accumulator Specify the accumulator data type as `Full precision` \| `Same as product` \| `Custom`. The default is `Full precision`.
`CustomAccumulatorDataType`	Fixed-point data type of accumulator Specify the accumulator fixed-point type as a scaled `numerictype` (Fixed-Point Designer) object with a signedness of Auto. The default is `numerictype([],32,16)`. This property applies when you set the AccumulatorDataType property to `Custom`.
`EnergyProductDataType`	Data type of energy product Specify the complex energy product data type as one of `Full precision` \| `Same as product` \| `Custom`. The default is `Full precision`. This property sets the data type of the complex product in the denominator to calculate the total energy in the MIMO channel.
`CustomEnergyProductDataType`	Fixed-point data type of energy product Specify the energy product fixed-point type as a scaled `numerictype` (Fixed-Point Designer) object with a signedness of Auto. The default is `numerictype([],32,16)`. This property applies when you set the EnergyProductDataType property to `Custom`.
`EnergyAccumulatorDataType`	Data type of energy accumulator Specify the energy accumulator data type as one of `Full precision` \| `Same as energy product` \| `Same as accumulator` \| `Custom`. The default is `Full precision`. This property sets the data type of the summation in the denominator to calculate the total energy in the MIMO channel.
`CustomEnergyAccumulatorDataType`	Fixed-point data type of energy accumulator Specify the energy accumulator fixed-point type as a scaled `numerictype` (Fixed-Point Designer) object with a signedness of Auto. The default is `numerictype([],32,16)`. This property applies when you set the EnergyAccumulatorDataType property to `Custom`.
`DivisionDataType`	Data type of division Specify the division data type as one of `Same as accumulator` \| `Custom`. The default is `Same as accumulator`. This property sets the data type at the output of the division operation. The setting normalizes diversity combining by the total energy in the MIMO channel.
`CustomDivisionDataType`	Fixed-point data type of division Specify the division fixed-point type as a scaled `numerictype` (Fixed-Point Designer) object with a signedness of Auto. The default is `numerictype([],32,16)`. This property applies when you set the DivisionDataType property to `Custom`.

Methods

step	Combine inputs using orthogonal space-time block code

Common to All System Objects
`release`	Allow System object property value changes

Examples

collapse all

Encode with OSTBC and Calculate Errors

Open Live Script

Determine the bit error rate for a QSPK signal employing OSTBC encoding when transmitted through a 4x2 MIMO channel. Perfect channel estimation is assumed to be used by the OSTBC combiner.

Define the system parameters.

numTx = 4;         % Number of transmit antennas
numRx = 2;         % Number of receive antennas
Rs = 1e6;          % Sampling rate (Hz)
tau = [0 2e-6];    % Path delays (sec)
pdb = [0 -10];     % Average path gains (dB)
maxDopp = 30;      % Maximum Doppler shift (Hz)
numBits = 12000;   % Number of bits
SNR = 6;           % Signal-to-noise ratio (dB)

Set the random number generator to its default state to ensure repeatable results.

rng default

Create a QPSK modulator System object™. Set the BitInput property to true and the SymbolMapping property to Gray.

hMod = comm.QPSKModulator(...
    'BitInput',true,...
    'SymbolMapping','Gray');

Create a corresponding QPSK demodulator System object. Set the SymbolMapping property to Gray and the BitOutput property to true.

hDemod = comm.QPSKDemodulator(...
    'SymbolMapping','Gray',...
    'BitOutput',true);

Create an OSTBC encoder and combiner pair, where the number of antennas is specified in the system parameters.

hOSTBCEnc = comm.OSTBCEncoder(...
    'NumTransmitAntennas',numTx);

hOSTBCComb = comm.OSTBCCombiner(...
    'NumTransmitAntennas',numTx,...
    'NumReceiveAntennas',numRx);

Create a flat 4x2 MIMO Channel System object, where the channel characteristics are set using name-value pairs. The path gains are made available to serve as a perfect channel estimate for the OSTBC combiner.

hChan = comm.MIMOChannel(...
    'SampleRate',Rs,...
    'PathDelays',tau,...
    'AveragePathGains',pdb,...
    'MaximumDopplerShift',maxDopp,...
    'SpatialCorrelationSpecification','None',...
    'NumTransmitAntennas',numTx,...
    'NumReceiveAntennas',numRx,...
    'PathGainsOutputPort',true);

Create an AWGN channel System object in which the noise method is specified as a signal-to-noise ratio.

hAWGN = comm.AWGNChannel(...
    'NoiseMethod','Signal to noise ratio (SNR)',...
    'SNR',SNR,...
    'SignalPower',1);

Generate a random sequence of bits.

data = randi([0 1],numBits,1);

Apply QPSK modulation.

modData = step(hMod,data);

Encode the modulated data using the OSTBC encoder object.

encData = step(hOSTBCEnc,modData);

Transmit the encoded data through the MIMO channel and add white noise by using the step functions of the MIMO and AWGN channel objects, respectively.

[chanOut,pathGains] = step(hChan,encData);
rxSignal = step(hAWGN,chanOut);

Sum the pathGains array along the number of paths (2nd dimension) to form the channel estimate. Apply the squeeze function to make its dimensions conform with those of rxSignal.

chEst = squeeze(sum(pathGains,2));

Combine the received MIMO signal and its channel estimate using the step function of the OSTBC combiner object. Demodulate the combined signal.

combinedData = step(hOSTBCComb,rxSignal,chEst);
receivedData = step(hDemod,combinedData);

Compute the number of bit errors and the bit error rate.

[numErrors,ber] = biterr(data,receivedData)

numErrors = 11

ber = 9.1667e-04

Algorithms

This object implements the algorithm, inputs, and outputs described on the OSTBC Combiner block reference page. The object properties correspond to the block parameters.