  High data-rate Distributed Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes (DOSTBCs) which
achieve the single-symbol decodability and full diversity order are proposed in
this paper. An upper bound of the data-rate of the DOSTBC is derived and it is
approximately twice larger than that of the conventional repetition-based
cooperative strategy. In order to facilitate the systematic constructions of
the DOSTBCs achieving the upper bound of the data-rate, some special DOSTBCs,
which have diagonal noise covariance matrices at the destination terminal, are
investigated. These codes are referred to as the row-monomial DOSTBCs. An upper
bound of the data-rate of the row-monomial DOSTBC is derived and it is equal to
or slightly smaller than that of the DOSTBC. Lastly, the systematic
construction methods of the row-monomial DOSTBCs achieving the upper bound of
the data-rate are presented.
