Method for the multiple-antenna transmission of a signal by space-time block codes, corresponding reception method and signal

1. A method for sending a signal implemented by a system comprising Nt transmit antennas, with Nt≧2, wherein the method implements the following steps, for at least one vector comprising N symbols to be sent:

dividing said vector into Nt sub-vectors, wherein the step of dividing is performed by the system;

multiplying each of the Nt sub-vectors by a distinct sub-matrix sized (N/Nt,N), where N/Nt is an integer greater than or equal to 2, each sub-matrix being associated with one of the transmit antennas, and said sub-matrices being obtained by subdivision of a unitary square matrix sized (N,N), and wherein the step of multiplying is performed by the system; and

sending the Nt sub-vectors resulting from the multiplying step, one from each of the Nt transmit antennas.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said unitary matrix is full.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said unitary matrix belongs to the group comprising:

real Hadamard matrices;

complex Hadamard matrices;

Fourier matrices;

real rotation matrices;

complex rotation matrices.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method implements two transmitter antennas and said sub-matrices have a value of [1 1] and [1 −1].

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method implements two transmitter antennas and said sub-matrices have a value of

1

2

⁡

[

1

1

1

1

1

-

1

1

-

1

]

⁢

⁢

and

⁢

⁢

1

2

⁡

[

1

1

-

1

-

1

1

-

1

-

1

1

]

.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method implements four transmitter antennas and said sub-matrices have a value of [1 1 1 1], [1 −1 1 −1], [1 1 −1 −1] and [1 −1 −1 1].

7. A method for reception of a signal corresponding to a combination of contributions of Nt transmit antennas, with Nt≧2, wherein for at least one vector comprising N symbols to be sent, the signal is generated by dividing said vector into Nt sub-vectors, multiplying each of the Nt sub-vectors by a distinct sub-matrix sized (N/Nt,N), where N/Nt is an integer greater than or equal to 2, each sub-matrix being associated with one of the transmit antennas, and said sub-matrices being obtained by subdivision of a unitary square matrix sized (N,N), and sending the Nt sub-vectors resulting from the multiplying step, one from each of the Nt transmit antennas, wherein the signal forms, seen from a receiver, a single combined signal representing the multiplication, wherein the method of reception comprises:

implementing the method by a system comprising at least one receiver antenna;

receiving said single combined signal on each of said receiver antennas by the system; and

decoding said single combined signal by the system with a decoding matrix corresponding to a matrix that is the conjugate transpose of said unitary matrix.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a maximum likelihood decoding is applied to data coming from multiplication by said conjugate transpose matrix.

9. A method for sending a signal implemented by a system comprising two transmit antennas, wherein the method implements the following steps, for at least one vector comprising N symbols to be sent:

dividing said vector into two sub-vectors, wherein the step of dividing is performed by the system;

multiplying each of the two sub-vectors by a distinct sub-matrix sized (N/2,N), where N/2 is an integer, each sub-matrix being associated with one of the transmit antennas, and said sub-matrices being obtained by subdivision of a unitary square matrix sized (N,N) and having a value of

1

2

⁡

[

1

1

1

1

1

-

1

1

-

1

]

⁢

⁢

⁢

and

⁢

⁢

1

2

⁢

⌊

1

1

-

1

-

1

1

-

1

-

1

1

⌋

wherein the step of multiplying is performed by the system; and

sending, from the two transmit antennas, the two sub-vectors resulting from the multiplying step.