Low rate MIMO

A method of transmitting M streams of data from NT transmission paths of a wireless communication system, wherein each of the NT transmission paths has a rate of Q Mbps, the method comprising:

• employing a processor executing computer executable instructions embodied on a computer readable storage medium to perform the following acts:
• encoding each of M data streams at a rate of
• 1
• S
• ;
• determining a number U of unique tones to be transmitted from each of NT transmission paths;
• and
• sending each of the U unique tones a plurality of times from each of the NT transmission paths, wherein U is determined in accordance with the following:
• U
• =
• Q
• ⨯
• T
• ⨯
• S
• B
• ⨯
• M
• wherein T represents the time period for transmitting each tone, and B represents the number of bits per symbol.

A wireless communication system comprising:

• an encoder adapted to encode received data at a rate of
• 1
• S
• ,
• wherein S is a ratio of two integer numbers;
• a frequency interleaver adapted to interleave the encoded data and generate M streams of data each delivered to a different one of M channels of the wireless communication system;
• said interleaver further adapted to receive an input signal and in response determine a number U of unique tones to be transmitted from each of NT transmission paths of the wireless communication system, wherein U is determined in accordance with the following:
• U
• =
• Q
• ⨯
• T
• ⨯
• S
• B
• ⨯
• M
• wherein T represents the time period for transmitting each symbol, and B represents the number of bits per symbol;
• and
• NT repetition modulation blocks each disposed in a different transmission path of the wireless communication system and each further adapted to send each symbol N times to an associated OFDM block, wherein N is determined in accordance with U.