Double concatenated space-time trellis codes

Two double concatenated coding structures are proposed which employ two convolutional codes and a space-time trellis code (STTC) as constituent codes. These are a serial concatenation of a parallel concatenated convolutional code (PCCC) with an STTC and a serial concatenation of a serially concatenated convolutional code (SCCC) with an STTC. The decoding of these two systems is described and their frame error rate (FER) performance is evaluated by simulation. The proposed systems are shown to outperform simple concatenated STTCs in rapid fading channels and achieve equivalent performance in quasi-static fading channels.