Abstract
This work presents the performance analysis of space-time block codes (STBCs) for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) fast-fading channels in scenarios with modified line-of-sight (LOS). The objective is to investigate how the V2V MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) system performance is influenced by two important impairments: deterministic ground reflections and an increased Doppler frequency (time-variant channels). STBCs of various coding rates (using an approximation model) are evaluated by assuming antenna elements distributed over the surface of two contiguous vehicles. A multi-ray model is used to study the multiple constructive/destructive interference patterns of the transmitted/received signals by all pairs of Tx-Rx antenna links considering ground reflections. A double scattering model is used to include the effects of stochastic channel components that depend on the Doppler frequency. The results show that STBCs are capable of counteracting fades produced by destructive self-interference components across a range of inter-vehicle distances and for a range of Doppler frequency values. Notably, the effectiveness of STBCs in deep fades is shown to outperform schemes with exclusive receive diversity, despite the interference created by the loss of orthogonality in time-varying channels with a moderate increase of Doppler frequency (mainly due to higher vehicle speeds, higher frequency or shorter time slots). Higher-order STBCs with rate losses are also evaluated using an approximation model, showing interesting gains even for low coding rate performance, particularly when accompanied by a multiple antenna receiver. Overall, these results can shed light on how to exploit transmit diversity in time-varying vehicular channels with modified LOS.