Novel Sum-of-Sinusoids Simulation Models for Rayleigh and Rician Fading Channels

The statistical properties of Clarke\u27s fading model with a finite number of sinusoids are analyzed, and an improved reference model is proposed for the simulation of Rayleigh fading channels. A novel statistical simulation model for Rician fading channels is examined. The new Rician fading simulation model employs a zero-mean stochastic sinusoid as the specular (line-of-sight) component, in contrast to existing Rician fading simulators that utilize a non-zero deterministic specular component. The statistical properties of the proposed Rician fading simulation model are analyzed in detail. It is shown that the probability density function of the Rician fading phase is not only independent of time but also uniformly distributed over [-pi, pi). This property is different from that of existing Rician fading simulators. The statistical properties of the new simulators are confirmed by extensive simulation results, showing good agreement with theoretical analysis in all cases. An explicit formula for the level-crossing rate is derived for general Rician fading when the specular component has non-zero Doppler frequenc

A Statistical Simulation Model for Mobile Radio Fading Channels

Recently, a Clarke\u27s model-based simulator was proposed for Rayleigh fading channels. However, that model, as shown in this paper, may encounter statistic deficiency. Therefore, an improved model is presented to remove the statistic deficiency. Furthermore, a new simulation model is proposed for Rician fading channels. This Rician fading simulator with finite number of sinusoids plus a zero-mean stochastic sinusoid as the specular (line-of-sight) component is different from all the existing Rician fading simulators, which have non-zero mean deterministic specular component. The statistical properties of the proposed Rayleigh and Rician fading channel models are analyzed in detail, which shows that these statistics either exactly match or quickly converge to the theoretically desired ones. Additionally and importantly, the probability density function of the Rician fading phase is not only independent from time but also uniformly distributed, which is fundamentally different from that of all the existing Rician fading models. The statistical properties of the new simulators are evaluated by numerical results, finding good agreement in all cases

Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Communication Networks for the Maritime Internet of Things: Key Technologies, Opportunities, and Challenges

With the rapid development of marine activities, there has been an increasing number of maritime mobile terminals, as well as a growing demand for high-speed and ultra-reliable maritime communications to keep them connected. Traditionally, the maritime Internet of Things (IoT) is enabled by maritime satellites. However, satellites are seriously restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. As an alternative, shore & island-based base stations (BSs) can be built to extend the coverage of terrestrial networks using fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G), and beyond 5G services. Unmanned aerial vehicles can also be exploited to serve as aerial maritime BSs. Despite of all these approaches, there are still open issues for an efficient maritime communication network (MCN). For example, due to the complicated electromagnetic propagation environment, the limited geometrically available BS sites, and rigorous service demands from mission-critical applications, conventional communication and networking theories and methods should be tailored for maritime scenarios. Towards this end, we provide a survey on the demand for maritime communications, the state-of-the-art MCNs, and key technologies for enhancing transmission efficiency, extending network coverage, and provisioning maritime-specific services. Future challenges in developing an environment-aware, service-driven, and integrated satellite-air-ground MCN to be smart enough to utilize external auxiliary information, e.g., sea state and atmosphere conditions, are also discussed

A Novel Diversity Receiver Structure for Severe Fading and Frequency Offset Conditions

This paper presents a novel diversity receiver of MPSK signal in fading channel in the presence of the carrier frequency offset. As a part of this receiver, a new algorithm for the estimation of the combining coefficients (ECC algorithm) is introduced. Having in mind that the QPSK modulation is one of the most used modulation formats in many wireless communication standards (LTE, WiFi, WiMax), the performance of the proposed receiver is analyzed in more detail for the QPSK modulation. In the presence of Rayleigh fading, representing the most severe fading condition, this algorithm shows significantly better performance comparing to the same receiver structure that uses conventional constant modulus algorithm (CMA1 or CMA2). The proposed diversity receiver structure with ECC algorithm operates within a wide carrier frequency offset range with a very small variation of the performance. For this reason, it can be applied in 4G mobile communication systems