Abstract: In the light of the blind recognition of space-time coding scheme used in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems, a blind recognition method of orthogonal space-time block coding (OSTBC) based on higher-order cumulant was proposed. Firstly, two kinds formulas of the higher-order cumulant of the received signal were derived, which contain the transmit signal information, and two characteristic parameters which use to recognize OSTBC were proposed. Secondly, the MIMO channel estimation was used to get spatial channel matrix, and the estimation method of two characteristic parameters was presented. Finally, the minimum distance criterion was utilized to achieve the recognition of the OSTBC signal. Simulation results show that the correct identification probability of the proposed method is higher than that of the existing algorithm and the proposed algorithm has a good recognition performance.