  In this paper, we propose two new systematic ways to construct amicable
orthogonal designs (AOD), with an aim to facilitate the construction of
power-balanced orthogonal spacetime block codes (O-STBC) with favorable
practical attributes. We also show that an AOD can be constructed from an
Amicable Family (AF), and such a construction is crucial for achieving a
power-balanced O-STBC. In addition, we develop design guidelines on how to
select the "type" parameter of an AOD so that the resultant O-STBC will have
better power-distribution and code-coefficient attributes. Among the new
O-STBCs obtained, one is shown to be optimal in terms of power distribution
attributes. In addition, one of the proposed construction methods is shown to
generalize some other construction methods proposed in the literature.
