Performance analysis of statistical STBC cooperative diversity using binary sensors with observation noise

This letter analyzes the performance of statistical cooperative diversity based on space-time block codes (STBC) (Statistical STBC cooperative diversity) considering the effects of quantization and observation noise. Binary quantization is used. The bit error rate (BER) and average mutual information of the statistical STBC cooperative diversity with Alamouti's STBC and two active nodes are derived in the presence of general observation noise. It is shown that the performance of the statistical STBC cooperative diversity depends on the effects of observation noise and the number of cooperating nodes largely. It is also shown how much the communication between sensor nodes or feedback from the fusion center improves the performance of STBC cooperative diversity.