Information-Theoretic Study on Routing Path Selection in Two-Way Relay Networks

Two-way relaying is a promising technique to improve network throughput. However, how to apply it to a wireless network remains an unresolved issue. Particularly, challenges lie in the joint design between the physical layer and the routing protocol. Applying an existing routing protocol to a two-way relay network can easily compromise the advantages of two-way relaying. Considering routing path selection and two-way relaying together can be formulated as a network optimization problem, but it is usually NP-hard. In this paper, we take a different approach to study routing path selection for two-way relay networks. Instead of solving the joint optimization problem, we study the fundamental characteristics of a routing path consisting of multihop two-way relaying nodes. Information theoretical analysis is carried out to derive bandwidth efficiency and energy efficiency of a routing path in a two-way relay network. Such analysis provides a framework of routing path selection by considering bandwidth efficiency, energy efficiency and latency subject to physical layer constraints such as the transmission rate, transmission power, path loss exponent, path length, and the number of relays. This framework provides insightful guidelines on routing protocol design of a two-way relay network. Our analytical framework and insights are illustrated by extensive numerical results

A Survey on MIMO Transmission with Discrete Input Signals: Technical Challenges, Advances, and Future Trends

Multiple antennas have been exploited for spatial multiplexing and diversity transmission in a wide range of communication applications. However, most of the advances in the design of high speed wireless multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) systems are based on information-theoretic principles that demonstrate how to efficiently transmit signals conforming to Gaussian distribution. Although the Gaussian signal is capacity-achieving, signals conforming to discrete constellations are transmitted in practical communication systems. As a result, this paper is motivated to provide a comprehensive overview on MIMO transmission design with discrete input signals. We first summarize the existing fundamental results for MIMO systems with discrete input signals. Then, focusing on the basic point-to-point MIMO systems, we examine transmission schemes based on three most important criteria for communication systems: the mutual information driven designs, the mean square error driven designs, and the diversity driven designs. Particularly, a unified framework which designs low complexity transmission schemes applicable to massive MIMO systems in upcoming 5G wireless networks is provided in the first time. Moreover, adaptive transmission designs which switch among these criteria based on the channel conditions to formulate the best transmission strategy are discussed. Then, we provide a survey of the transmission designs with discrete input signals for multiuser MIMO scenarios, including MIMO uplink transmission, MIMO downlink transmission, MIMO interference channel, and MIMO wiretap channel. Additionally, we discuss the transmission designs with discrete input signals for other systems using MIMO technology. Finally, technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are summarized and the future trends of transmission designs with discrete input signals are addressed.Comment: 110 pages, 512 references, submit to Proceedings of the IEE