Exploiting diversity in wireless channels with bit-interleaved coded modulation and iterative decoding (BICM-ID)

This dissertation studies a state-of-the-art bandwidth-efficient coded modulation technique, known as bit interleaved coded modulation with iterative decoding (BICM-ID), together with various diversity techniques to dramatically improve the performance of digital communication systems over wireless channels. For BICM-ID over a single-antenna frequency non-selective fading channel, the problem of mapping over multiple symbols, i.e., multi-dimensional (multi-D) mapping, with 8-PSK constellation is investigated. An explicit algorithm to construct a good multi-D mapping of 8-PSK to improve the asymptotic performance of BICM-ID systems is introduced. By comparing the performance of the proposed mapping with an unachievable lower bound, it is conjectured that the proposed mapping is the global optimal mapping. The superiority of the proposed mapping over the best conventional (1-dimensional complex) mapping and the multi-D mapping found previously by computer search is thoroughly demonstrated. In addition to the mapping issue in single-antenna BICM-ID systems, the use of signal space diversity (SSD), also known as linear constellation precoding (LCP), is considered in BICM-ID over frequency non-selective fading channels. The performance analysis of BICM-ID and complex N-dimensional signal space diversity is carried out to study its performance limitation, the choice of the rotation matrix and the design of a low-complexity receiver. Based on the design criterion obtained from a tight error bound, the optimality of the rotation matrix is established. It is shown that using the class of optimal rotation matrices, the performance of BICM-ID systems over a frequency non-selective Rayleigh fading channel approaches that of the BICM-ID systems over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel when the dimension of the signal constellation increases. Furthermore, by exploiting the sigma mapping for any M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellation, a very simple sub-optimal, yet effective iterative receiver structure suitable for signal constellations with large dimensions is proposed. Simulation results in various cases and conditions indicate that the proposed receiver can achieve the analytical performance bounds with low complexity. The application of BICM-ID with SSD is then extended to the case of cascaded Rayleigh fading, which is more suitable to model mobile-to-mobile communication channels. By deriving the error bound on the asymptotic performance, it is first illustrated that for a small modulation constellation, a cascaded Rayleigh fading causes a much more severe performance degradation than a conventional Rayleigh fading. However, BICM-ID employing SSD with a sufficiently large constellation can close the performance gap between the Rayleigh and cascaded Rayleigh fading channels, and their performance can closely approach that over an AWGN channel. In the next step, the use of SSD in BICM-ID over frequency selective Rayleigh fading channels employing a multi-carrier modulation technique known as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is studied. Under the assumption of correlated fading over subcarriers, a tight bound on the asymptotic error performance for the general case of applying SSD over all N subcarriers is derived and used to establish the best achievable asymptotic performance by SSD. It is then shown that precoding over subgroups of at least L subcarriers per group, where L is the number of channel taps, is sufficient to obtain this best asymptotic error performance, while significantly reducing the receiver complexity. The optimal joint subcarrier grouping and rotation matrix design is subsequently determined by solving the Vandermonde linear system. Illustrative examples show a good agreement between various analytical and simulation results. Further, by combining the ideas of multi-D mapping and subcarrier grouping, a novel power and bandwidth-efficient bit-interleaved coded modulation with OFDM and iterative decoding (BI-COFDM-ID) in which multi-D mapping is performed over a group of subcarriers for broadband transmission in a frequency selective fading environment is proposed. A tight bound on the asymptotic error performance is developed, which shows that subcarrier mapping and grouping have independent impacts on the overall error performance, and hence they can be independently optimized. Specifically, it is demonstrated that the optimal subcarrier mapping is similar to the optimal multi-D mapping for BICM-ID in frequency non-selective Rayleigh fading environment, whereas the optimal subcarrier grouping is the same with that of OFDM with SSD. Furthermore, analytical and simulation results show that the proposed system with the combined optimal subcarrier mapping and grouping can achieve the full channel diversity without using SSD and provide significant coding gains as compared to the previously studied BI-COFDM-ID with the same power, bandwidth and receiver complexity. Finally, the investigation is extended to the application of BICM-ID over a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system equipped with multiple antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver to exploit both time and spatial diversities, where neither the transmitter nor the receiver knows the channel fading coefficients. The concentration is on the class of unitary constellation, due to its advantages in terms of both information-theoretic capacity and error probability. The tight error bound with respect to the asymptotic performance is also derived for any given unitary constellation and mapping rule. Design criteria regarding the choice of unitary constellation and mapping are then established. Furthermore, by using the unitary constellation obtained from orthogonal design with quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK or 4-PSK) and 8-PSK, two different mapping rules are proposed. The first mapping rule gives the most suitable mapping for systems that do not implement iterative processing, which is similar to a Gray mapping in coherent channels. The second mapping rule yields the best mapping for systems with iterative decoding. Analytical and simulation results show that with the proposed mappings of the unitary constellations obtained from orthogonal designs, the asymptotic error performance of the iterative systems can closely approach a lower bound which is applicable to any unitary constellation and mapping

Self-concatenated code design and its application in power-efficient cooperative communications

In this tutorial, we have focused on the design of binary self-concatenated coding schemes with the help of EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) charts and Union bound analysis. The design methodology of future iteratively decoded self-concatenated aided cooperative communication schemes is presented. In doing so, we will identify the most important milestones in the area of channel coding, concatenated coding schemes and cooperative communication systems till date and suggest future research directions

Advanced constellation and demapper schemes for next generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting systems

206 p.Esta tesis presenta un nuevo tipo de constelaciones llamadas no uniformes. Estos esquemas presentan una eficacia de hasta 1,8 dB superior a las utilizadas en los últimos sistemas de comunicaciones de televisión digital terrestre y son extrapolables a cualquier otro sistema de comunicaciones (satélite, móvil, cable¿). Además, este trabajo contribuye al diseño de constelaciones con una nueva metodología que reduce el tiempo de optimización de días/horas (metodologías actuales) a horas/minutos con la misma eficiencia. Todas las constelaciones diseñadas se testean bajo una plataforma creada en esta tesis que simula el estándar de radiodifusión terrestre más avanzado hasta la fecha (ATSC 3.0) bajo condiciones reales de funcionamiento.Por otro lado, para disminuir la latencia de decodificación de estas constelaciones esta tesis propone dos técnicas de detección/demapeo. Una es para constelaciones no uniformes de dos dimensiones la cual disminuye hasta en un 99,7% la complejidad del demapeo sin empeorar el funcionamiento del sistema. La segunda técnica de detección se centra en las constelaciones no uniformes de una dimensión y presenta hasta un 87,5% de reducción de la complejidad del receptor sin pérdidas en el rendimiento.Por último, este trabajo expone un completo estado del arte sobre tipos de constelaciones, modelos de sistema, y diseño/demapeo de constelaciones. Este estudio es el primero realizado en este campo

Coded modulation techniques with bit interleaving and iterative processing for impulsive noise channels

Power line communications (PLC) surfers performance degradation due mainly to impulsive noise interference generated by electrical appliances. This thesis studies coded modulation techniques to improve the spectral efficiency and error performance of PLC. Considered in the first part is the application of bit-interleaved coded modulation with iterative decoding (BICM-ID) in class-A impulsive noise environment. In particular, the optimal soft-output demodulator and its suboptimal version are presented for an additive class-A noise (AWAN) channel so that iterative demodulation and decoding can be performed at the receiver. The effect of signal mapping on the error performance of BICM-ID systems in impulsive noise is then investigated, with both computer simulations and a tight error bound on the asymptotic performance. Extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart analysis is performed to illustrate the convergence properties of different mappings. The superior performance of BICMID compared to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is also clearly demonstrated.Motivated by the successes of both BICM-ID and OFDM in improving the error performance of communications systems in impulsive noise environment, the second part of this thesis introduces a novel scheme of bit-interleaved coded OFDM with iterative decoding (BI-COFDM-ID) over the class-A impulsive noise channel. Here, an iterative receiver composed of outer and inner iteration loops is first described in detail. Error performance improvements of the proposed iterative receiver with different iteration strategies are presented and discussed. Performance comparisons of BI-COFDM-ID, BICM-ID and iteratively decoded OFDM are made to illustrate the superiority of BI-COFDM-ID. The effect of signal mapping on the error performance of BI-COFDM-ID is also studied

Constellation design for future communication systems: a comprehensive survey

[EN] The choice of modulation schemes is a fundamental building block of wireless communication systems. As a key component of physical layer design, they critically impact the expected communication capacity and wireless signal robustness. Their design is also critical for the successful roll-out of wireless standards that require a compromise between performance, efficiency, latency, and hardware requirements. This paper presents a survey of constellation design strategies and associated outcomes for wireless communication systems. The survey discusses their performance and complexity to address the need for some desirable properties, including consistency, channel capacity, system performance, required demapping architecture, flexibility, and independence. Existing approaches for constellation designs are investigated using appropriate metrics and categorized based on their theoretical algorithm design. Next, their application to different communication standards is analyzed in context, aiming at distilling general guidelines applicable to the wireless building block design. Finally, the survey provides a discussion on design directions for future communication system standardization processes.This work was supported in part by the Basque Government under Grant IT1234-19, in part by the PREDOC under Program PRE_2020_2_0105, and in part by the Spanish Government through the Project PHANTOM (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) under Gran

Genetically Enhanced TTCM Assisted MMSE Multi-user Detection for SDMA-OFDM

Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) aided Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems assisted by efficient Multi-User Detection (MUD) techniques have recently attracted intensive research interests. The Maximum Likelihood Detection (MLD) arrangement was found to attain the best performance, although this was achieved at the cost of a computational complexity, which increases exponentially both with the number of users and with the number of bits per symbol transmitted by higher-order modulation schemes. By contrast, the Minimum Mean-Square Error (MMSE) SDMA-MUD exhibits a lower complexity at the cost of a performance loss. Forward Error Correction (FEC) schemes such as Turbo Trellis Coded Modulation (TTCM) may be efficiently amalgamated with SDMA-OFDM systems for the sake of improving the achievable performance. Genetic Algorithm (GA) based multiuser detection techniques have been shown to provide a good performance in MUD-aided Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems. In this contribution a GA-aided MMSE MUD is proposed for employment in a TTCM-assisted SDMA-OFDM system, which is capable of achieving a similar performance to that attained by its MLD-aided counterpart at a significantly lower complexity, especially at high user loads

Multi-User OFDM Based on Braided Convolutional Codes

Braided convolutional codes (BCCs) form a class of iteratively decodable convolutional codes that are constructed from component convolutional codes. In braided code division multiple access (BCDMA), these very efficient error correcting codes are combined with a multiple access method and inherent interleaving for channel diversity exploitation into one single scheme. In this paper, we describe the BCDMA principle and present simulation results for a frequency selective Rayleigh fading channel. Results for bit interleaved coded modulation (BICM) based on turbo and LDPC codes are also given for comparison

Multiuser non coherent massive MIMO schemes based on DPSK for future communication systems

The explosive usage of rich multimedia content in wireless devices has overloaded the communication networks. Moreover, the fifth generation (5G) of wireless communications involves new requirements in the radio access network (RAN) which require higher network capacities and new capabilities such as ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC), vehicular communications or augmented reality. All this has encouraged a remarkable spectrum crisis in the RF bands. A need for searching alternative techniques with more spectral efficiency to accommodate the needs of future emerging wireless communications is emerging. In this context, massive MIMO (m-MIMO) systems have been proposed as a promising solution for providing a substantial increase in the network capacity, becoming one of the key enabling technologies for 5G and beyond. m-MIMO provides high spectral- and energy-efficiency thanks to the deployment of a large number of antennas at the BS. However, we have to take into account that the current communication technologies are based on coherent transmission techniques so far, which require the transmission of a huge amount of signaling. This drawback is escalating with the excessive available number of antennas in m-MIMO. Therefore, the differential encoding and non coherent (NC) detection are an alternative solution to circumvent the drawbacks of m-MIMO in coherent systems. This Ph.D. Thesis is focused on signal processing techniques for NC detection in conjunction with m-MIMO, proposing new constellation designs and NC detection algorithms, where the information is transmitted in the signal differential phase. First, we design new constellation schemes for an uplink multiuser NC m-MIMO system in Rayleigh fading channels. These designs allow us to separate the users' signals at the receiver thanks to a one-to-one correspondence between the constellation for each user and the received joint constellation. Two approaches are considered in terms of BER: each user achieves a different performance and, on the other hand, the same performance is provided for all users. We analyze the number of antennas needed for those designs and compare to the required number by other designs in the literature. It is shown that our designs based on DPSK require a lower number of antennas than that required by their counterpart schemes based on energy. In addition, we compare the performance to their coherent counterpart systems, resulting NC-m-MIMO based on DPSK capable of outperforming the coherent systems with the suitable designs. Second, in order to reduce the number of antennas required for a target performance we propose a multi-user bit interleaved coded modulation - iterative decoding (BICM-ID) scheme as channel coding for a NC-m-MIMO system based on DPSK. We propose a novel NC approach for calculating EXIT curves based on the number of antennas. Then using the EXIT chart we find the best channel coding scheme for our NC-m-MIMO proposal. We show that the number of users served by the BS can be increased with a 70% reduction in the number of antennas with respect to the case without channel coding. In particular, we show that with 100 antennas for error protection equal design for all users and a coding rate of 1/2 we achieve the minimum probability of error. Third, we consider that current scenarios such as backhaul wireless systems, rural or suburban environments, and even new device-to-device (D2D) communications or the communications in higher frequencies (millimeter and the emerging ones in terahertz frequencies) can have a predominant line-of-sight (LOS) component, modeled by Rician fading. For all these new possible scenarios in 5G, we analyze the behavior of the NC m-MIMO systems when we have a Rician fading. We present a new constellation design to overcome the problem of the LOS channel component, as well as an associated detection algorithm to separate each user in reception taking into account the characterization of the constellation. In addition, for contemplating a more realistic scenario, we propose grouping users which experience a Rayleigh fading with those with Rician fading, analyzing the SINR and the performance of such combination in a multi-user NC m-MIMO system based on M-DPSK. The adequate user grouping allows unifying the constellation for both groups of users and the detection algorithm, reducing the complexity of the receiver. Also, the number of users that may be multiplexed may be further increased thanks to the improved performance. In the fourth part of this Thesis, we analyse the performance of multi-user NC m- MIMO based on DPSK in real environments and practical channels defined for the current standards such as LTE, the future technologies such as 5G and even for communications in the terahertz band. For this purpose, we use a metric to model the time-varying characteristics of the practical channels. We employ again the EXIT charts tool for analyzing and designing iteratively decoded systems. This analysis allows us to obtain an estimate of the degradation of the system's performance imposed by realistic channels. Hence, we show that our proposed system is robust to temporal variations, thus it is more recommendable the employment of NC-m-MIMO-DPSK in the future communication standards such as 5G. In order to reduce he number of hardware resources required in terms of RF chains, facilitating its implementation in a real system, we propose incorporating differential spatial modulation (DSM). We present and analyze a novel multiuser scheme for NC-m-MIMO combined with DSM with which we can see that the number of antennas is not a affected by the incorporation of DSM, even we have an improvement on the performance with respect to the coherent case. Finally, we study the viability of multiplexing users by constellation schemes against classical multiplexing techniques such as time division multiple access (TDMA). In order to fully characterize the system performance we analyze the block error rate (BLER) and the throughput of a NC-m-MIMO system. The results show a significant advantage regarding the number of antennas for multiplexing in the constellation against TDMA. However, in some cases, the demodulation of multiple users in constellation could require an excessively large number of antennas compared to TDMA. Therefore, it is necessary to properly manage the tradeoff between throughout and the number of antennas, to reach an optimal operational point, as shown in this Thesis.El inmenso uso de contenido multimedia en los dispositivos inalámbricos ha sobrecargado las redes de comunicaciones. Además, la quinta generación (5G) de sistemas de comunicaciones demanda nuevos requisitos para la red de acceso radio, la cual requiere ofrecer capacidades de red mayores y nuevas funcionalidades como comunicaciones ultra fiables y con muy poca letancia (URLLC), comunicaciones vehiculares o aplicaciones como la realidad aumentada. Todo esto ha propiciado una crisis notable en el espectro electromagnético, lo que ha llevado a una necesidad por buscar técnicas alternativas con más eficiencia espectral para acomodar todos los requisitos de las tecnologías de comunicaciones emergentes y futuras. En este contexto, los sistemas multi antena masivos, conocidos como massive MIMO, m-MIMO, han sido propuestos como una solución prometedora que proporciona un incremento substancial de la capacidad de red, convirtiéndose en una de las tecnologías claves para el 5G. Los sistemas m-MIMO elevan enormemente el número de antenas en la estación base, lo que les permite ofrecer alta eficiencia espectral y energética. No obstante, tenemos que tener en cuenta que las actuales tecnologías de comunicaciones emplean técnicas coherentes, las cuales requieren de información del estado del canal y por ello la transmisión de una enorme cantidad de información de señalización. Este inconveniente se ve agravado en el caso del m-MIMO debido al enorme número de antenas. Por ello, la codificación diferencial y la detección no coherente (NC) son una solución alternativa para solventar el problema de m-MIMO en los sistemas coherentes. Esta Tesis se centra en las técnicas de procesado de señal para detección NC junto con m-MIMO, proponiendo nuevos esquemas de constelación y algoritmos de detección NC, donde la información sea transmitida en la diferencia de fase de la señal. Primero, diseñamos nuevas constelaciones para un sistema multi usuario NC en m- MIMO en enlace ascendente (uplink) en canales con desvanecimiento tipo Rayleigh. Estos diseños nos permiten separar las señales de los usuarios en el receptor gracias a la correspondencia unívoca entre la constelación de cada usuario individual y la constelación conjunta recibida en la estación base. Hemos considerado dos enfoques para el diseño en términos de probabilidad de error: cada usuario consigue un rendimiento distinto, mientras que por otro lado, todos los usuarios son capaces de recibir las mismas prestaciones de probabilidad de error. Analizamos el número de antenas necesario para estos diseños y comparamos con el número requerido por otros diseños propuestos en la literatura. Nuestro diseño basado en DPSK requiere un número menor de antenas comparado con los sistemas basados en detección de energía. También comparamos con su homólogo coherente, resultando que NC-m-MIMO basado en DPSK es capaz de superar a los sistemas coherentes con los diseños adecuados. En segundo lugar, para reducir el número de antenas requerido para un rendimiento dado, proponemos incluir un esquema de codificación de canal. Hemos optado por un esquema de modulación codificado por bit entrelazado y decodificación iterativa (BICMID). Hemos empleado la herramienta EXIT chart para el diseño de la codificación de canal, proponiendo un nuevo enfoque para calcular las curvas EXIT de forma NC y basadas en el número de antenas. Los resultados muestran que el número de usuarios servidos por la estación base puede ser incrementado reduciendo un 70% el número de antenas con respecto al caso sin codificación de canal. En particular, para un array de 100 antenas y un diseño que ofrezca iguales prestaciones a todos los usuarios, con un código de tasa 1=2, podemos conseguir la mínima probabilidad de error. En tercer lugar, consideramos escenarios donde el canal tenga una componente predominante de visión directa (LOS) con la estación base modelada mediante un desvanecimiento tipo Rician. Por ejemplo, sistemas inalámbricos de backhaul, entornos rurales o sub urbanos, comunicaciones entre dispositivos (D2D), también cuando nos movemos hacia frecuencias superiores como son en la banda de milimétricas o más recientemente, la banda de terahercios para buscar mayores anchos de banda. Todos estos escenarios están contemplados en el futuro 5G. Los diseños presentados para canales Rayleigh ya no son válidos debido a la componente LOS del canal, por ello presentamos un nuevo diseño de constelación que resuelve el problema de la componente LOS, así como una guía para diseñar nuevas constelaciones. También proponemos un algoritmo asociado al diseñno de la constelación para poder separar a los usuarios en recepción. Además, para contemplar un escenario más realista donde podamos encontrar tanto desvanecimiento Rayleigh como Rice, proponemos agrupar usuarios de ambos grupos, analizando su rendimiento y relación señal a interferencia en la combinación. El adecuado agrupamiento permite unificar el diseño de la constelación para ambos desvanecimientos y por tanto reducir la complejidad en el receptor. También, el número de usuarios multiplicados en la constelación podría ser incrementado, gracias a la mejora en el rendimiento. El cuarto módulo de esta tesis es dedicado a analizar el rendimiento de los diseños propuestos en presencia de canales reales, donde disponemos de variabilidad temporal y en frecuencia. Proponemos usar una métrica que modela las características de la variabilidad temporal y, usando de nuevo la herramienta EXIT, analizamos los sistemas decodificados iterativamente considerando ahora los parámetros prácticos del canal. Este análisis nos permite obtener una estimación de la degradación que sufre el rendimiento del sistema impuesto por canales reales. Los resultados muestran que los sistemas NC-m-MIMO basados en DPSK son muy robustos a la variabilidad temporal por lo que son recomendables para los nuevos escenarios propuestos por el 5G, donde el canal cambia rápidamente. Otra consideración para introducir los sistemas NC con m-MIMO es la problemática de necesitar muchas cadenas de radio frecuencia que llevarían a tamaños de dispositivos enormes. Para reducir este número se propone la modulación espacial. En esta Tesis, estudiamos su uso con los sistemas NC, proponiendo una solución de modulación espacial diferencial para esquemas con múltiples usuarios combinado con NC-m-MIMO. Finalmente, estudiamos la viabilidad de multiplexar usuarios en la constelación frente a usar técnicas clásicas de multiplexación como TDMA. Para caracterizar completamente el rendimiento del sistema, analizamos la tasa de error de bloque (BLER) y el throughput de un sistema NC-m-MIMO. Los resultados muestran una ventaja significativa en cuanto al número de antennas para multiplexar usuarios en la constelación frente al requerido por TDMA. No obstante, en algunos casos, la demodulación de múltiples usuarios en la constelación podría requerir un número de antennas excesivamente grande comparado con la multiplexación en el tiempo. Por ello, es necesario gestionar adecuadamente un balance entre el throughput y el número de antenas para alcanzar un punto operacional óptimo, como se muestra en esta Tesis.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Multimedia y Comunicaciones por la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid y la Universidad Rey Juan CarlosPresidente: Ana Isabel Pérez Neira.- Secretario: Máximo Morales Céspedes.- Vocal: María del Carmen Aguayo Torre