Abstract
In this paper, we propose a generalized space-time block coded spatial modulation (GSTBC-SM) scheme for openloop massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) downlink communication systems. Specifically, we firstly partition the information bits into multiple groups with each group modulated by the spatial modulation (SM), where the SM symbols are invoked for orthogonal STBC (OSTBC) and quasi-orthogonal STBC (Q-OSTBC) structures. Then, message passing (MP) and block minimum mean square equalization (B-MMSE) detectors are designed for our GSTBC-SM systems, to achieve near-optimal performance with significantly reduced complexity in massive MIMO configurations. Finally, we derive the theoretical average bit error probability (ABEP) of the proposed scheme. The main contribution is that the propose scheme achieves high transmission rate and diversity gain even with small number of radio frequency (RF) chains at the transmitter. Simulation results verify the theoretical derivations and show that the proposed GSTBCSM scheme provides near 20 dB gain over the conventional GSTBC scheme under massive MIMO configurations. Index Terms—Spatial Modulation (SM), Space Time Block Coding (STBC), High throughput, Diversity gain.