A method for the construction of hierarchical generalized space shift keying (GSSK) modulation for unequal error protection

Abstract In this paper, we propose a systematic method to achieve two-level unequal error protection (UEP) with generalized space shift keying (GSSK) modulation for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. GSSK is a modulation scheme that encodes the source information in the antenna indices. To enable the nonuniform arrangement of the spatial constellation of GSSK modulation, new techniques are needed as new features of GSSK modulation are observed. The proposed method is based on first partitioning the GSSK constellation into subsets and then choosing constellation points inside a subset. The high-priority (HP) bits select the subset and the low-priority (LP) bits select constellation points inside a subset. The proposed subset partitioning procedure developed based on a theoretical study on set partitioning in the multidimensional space guarantees optimal or near-optimal HP protection, enables simple and systematic designs for LP protection, and increases the LP capacity. The proposed systematic design approach applies to systems with any numbers of transmit antennas and can create various hierarchical GSSK schemes with different HP/LP protection capabilities.