The new standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs), named IEEE 802.11n, has been recently released. This new norm builds upon and remains compatible with the previous WLANs standards IEEE 802.11a/g while it is able to achieve transmission rates of up to 600 Mbps. These increased data rates are mainly a consequence of two important new features: (1) multiple antenna technology at transmission and reception, and (2) optional doubling of the system bandwidth thanks to the availability of an additional 20 MHz band. This paper proposes the use of Group-Orthogonal Code Division Multiplex (GO-CDM) as a means to improve the performance of the 802.11n standard by further exploiting the inherent frequency diversity. It is explained why GO-CDM synergistically matches with the two aforementioned new features and the performance gains it can offer under different configurations is illustrated. Furthermore, the effects that group-orthogonal has on key implementation issues such as channel estimation, carrier frequency offset, and peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) are also considered.
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