Focusing on the solution of the channel capacity for distributed Alamouti space-time code(DASTC)system

a novel method to derive the upper bound and the closed-form solution of the channel capacity for DASTC is proposed. Choosing the idle node closest to source node as relay node and utilizing the characteristic of DASTC that multiple nodes transmit information cooperatively

the wireless relay channel model is established for DASTC system. Using the max-flow min-cut theorem in network information theory

this method divides the channel model of DASTC into broadcast channel model and multiple access channel model. Sequentially

the upper bound of channel capacity and the achievable channel capacity of DASTC under fixed fading channels and random fading channels are derived. The channel capacity of DASTC based on different protocols can be effectively analyzed. The simulation results show that the channel capacity of DASTC based on decode-and-forward protocol and the channel capacity of DASTC based on amplify-and-forward protocol

which are obtained by the proposed method

are superior to Shannon channel capacity of the direct transmission

and are increased by 1 b/(s·Hz)and 0.4 b/(s·Hz)at high SNR

respectively.