Efficient Downlink Channel Reconstruction for FDD Multi-Antenna Systems

In this paper, we propose an efficient downlink channel reconstruction scheme for a frequency-division-duplex multi-antenna system by utilizing uplink channel state information combined with limited feedback. Based on the spatial reciprocity in a wireless channel, the downlink channel is reconstructed by using frequency-independent parameters. We first estimate the gains, delays, and angles during uplink sounding. The gains are then refined through downlink training and sent back to the base station (BS). With limited overhead, the refinement can substantially improve the accuracy of the downlink channel reconstruction. The BS can then reconstruct the downlink channel with the uplink-estimated delays and angles and the downlink-refined gains. We also introduce and extend the Newtonized orthogonal matching pursuit (NOMP) algorithm to detect the delays and gains in a multi-antenna multi-subcarrier condition. The results of our analysis show that the extended NOMP algorithm achieves high estimation accuracy. Simulations and over-the-air tests are performed to assess the performance of the efficient downlink channel reconstruction scheme. The results show that the reconstructed channel is close to the practical channel and that the accuracy is enhanced when the number of BS antennas increases, thereby highlighting that the promising application of the proposed scheme in large-scale antenna array systems

Towards Context Information-based High-Performing Connectivity in Internet of Vehicle Communications

Internet-of-vehicles (IoV) is one of the most important use cases in the fifth generation (5G) of wireless networks and beyond. Here, IoV communications refer to two types of scenarios: serving the in-vehicle users with moving relays (MRs); and supporting vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications for, e.g., connected vehicle functionalities. Both of them can be achieved by transceivers on top of vehicles with growing demand for quality of service (QoS), such as spectrum efficiency, peak data rate, and coverage probability. However, the performance of MRs and V2X is limited by challenges such as the inaccurate prediction/estimation of the channel state information (CSI), beamforming mismatch, and blockages. Knowing the environment and utilizing such context information to assist communication could alleviate these issues. This thesis investigates various context information-based performance enhancement schemes for IoV networks, with main contributions listed as follows.In order to mitigate the channel aging issue, i.e., the CSI becomes inaccurate soon at high speeds, the first part of the thesis focuses on one way to increase the prediction horizon of CSI in MRs: predictor antennas (PAs). A PA system is designed as a system with two sets of antennas on the roof of a vehicle, where the PAs positioned at the front of the vehicle are used to predict the CSI observed by the receive antennas (RAs) that are aligned behind the PAs. In PA systems, however, the benefit is affected by a variety of factors. For example, 1) spatial mismatch between the point where the PA estimates the channel and the point where the RA reaches several time slots later, 2) antenna utilization efficiency of the PA, 3) temporal evolution, and 4) estimation error of the PA-base station (BS) channel. First, in Paper A, we study the PA system in the presence of the spatial mismatch problem, and propose an analytical channel model which is used for rate adaptation. In paper B, we propose different approximation schemes for the analytical investigation of PA systems, and study the effect of different parameters on the network performance. Then, involving PAs into data transmission, Paper C and Paper D analyze the outage- and the delay-limited performance of PA systems using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), respectively. As we show in the analytical and the simulation results in Papers C-D, the combination of PA and HARQ protocols makes it possible to improve spectral efficiency and adapt the transmission parameters to mitigate the effect of spatial mismatch. Finally, a review of PA studies in the literature, the challenges and potentials of PA as well as some to-be-solved issues are presented in Paper E.The second part of the thesis focuses on using advanced technologies to further improve the MR/IoV performance. In Paper F, a cooperative PA scheme in IoV networks is proposed to mitigate both the channel aging effect and blockage sensitivity in millimeter-wave channels by collaborative vehicles and BS handover. Then, in Paper G, we study the potentials and challenges of dynamic blockage pre-avoidance in IoV networks

D11.2 Consolidated results on the performance limits of wireless communications

Deliverable D11.2 del projecte europeu NEWCOM#The report presents the Intermediate Results of N# JRAs on Performance Limits of Wireless Communications and highlights the fundamental issues that have been investigated by the WP1.1. The report illustrates the Joint Research Activities (JRAs) already identified during the first year of the project which are currently ongoing. For each activity there is a description, an illustration of the adherence and relevance with the identified fundamental open issues, a short presentation of the preliminary results, and a roadmap for the joint research work in the next year. Appendices for each JRA give technical details on the scientific activity in each JRA.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Wireless interference networks with limited feedback

Wir betrachten das Problem der Akquirierung von Kanalzustandsinformationen an den Sendern von drahtlosen Netzwerken und entwickeln Feedbackverfahren und Sendestrategien für verschiedene Netzwerk Architekturen. Die entwickelten Verfahren werden analysiert und die Skalierung der Performance des Gesamtsystems anhand bestimmter Systemparameter bestimmt. Zuerst betrachten wir eine einzelne Zelle eines zellularen Systems und nehmen an, dass die Beamformingvektoren durch ein festes Codebuch vorgegeben sind. Wir entwickeln und analysieren ein neues Feedbackverfahren, dass Flexibilität und Robustheit vereint und dadurch effiziente und zuverlässige Kommunikation mit den Empfängern ermöglicht. Eine Analyse des Verfahrens zeigt, dass die Skalierung des Ratenverlustes durch quantisierte Kanalzustandsinformation besser ist als bei vergleichbaren Verfahren. Für das Feedbackverfahren wird ein spezieller Algorithmus entwickelt der es ermöglicht Codebücher für verschiedene Kanalmodelle zu generieren und zu optimieren. Die analytischen Ergebnisse werden durch Simulationen validiert und bestätigen einen Gewinn gegenüber vergleichbaren Verfahren. Anschließend betrachten wir zellulare Systeme mit mehreren Zellen. Wir charakterisieren die Freiheitsgrade (degrees of freedom) unter verschiedenen Annahmen über das Kanalmodell. Des weiteren entwickeln wir verschiedene Algorithmen, die die optimalen Freiheitsgrade erreichen können. Anschließend wird ein Feedbackverfahren entwickelt, dass den Feedbackaufwand für die entwickelten Algorithmen signifikant reduziert. Wir analysieren eine breite Klasse von zellularen Systemen die beliebige koordinierte Sendestrategien verwenden. Für diese Klasse von Systemen leiten wir die Skalierung des Ratenverlustes relativ zum Feedbackaufwand her. Abschließend zeigen wir, wie die analytischen Ergebnisse auf das entwickelte Feedbackverfahren angewendet werden können. Im letzten Kapitel entwickeln wir ein Framework, dass das Potenzial von Compressed Sensing nutzt um den Messaufwand und Feedbackaufwand in zellularen Systemen mit vielen Teilnehmern signifikant zu reduzieren. Das Framework ermöglicht es die Datenraten der Nutzer innerhalb gegebener Fehlerschranken zu schätzen. Grundlage ist neben Compressed Sensing ein neues Messverfahren, dass die Überlagerung von Signalen im Kanal nutzt, um zufällige nicht adaptive Messungen der Kanalkoeffizienten am Empfänger zu ermöglichen. Diese Messungen werden zu einer zentralen Steuereinheit übertragen und dort dekodiert. Wir analysieren die Genauigkeit der Rekonstruktion für einen linearen und einen nicht-linearen Dekodierer und leiten die Skalierung mit der Anzahl der Messungen her. Abschließend zeigen wir, wie der entwickelte Ansatz in zellularen Systemen angewendet werden kann.We consider the problem of acquiring accurate channel state information at the transmitters of a wireless network. We develop different feedback and transmit strategies for different network architectures and analyze their performance. First, we consider a single cell of cellular system and assume that the beamforming vectors are given by a fixed transmit codebook. We develop and analyze a new feedback and transmit strategy which combines flexibility and robustness needed for efficient and reliable communication. We prove that it has better scaling properties compared to classical results on the limited feedback problem in the broadcast channel and that this benefit improves with an increasing number of transmit antennas. We show how feedback codebooks can be designed for different propagation environments. Link level and system level simulations sustain the analytic results showing performance gains of up to 50 % or 70 % compared to zeroforcing when using multiple antennas at the base station and multiple antennas or a single antenna at the terminals, respectively. We characterize the degrees of freedom (i.e. the multiplexing gain) of multi-cellular systems under different assumptions on the channel model and for different system setups. We propose different algorithms that possibly achieve the optimal degrees of freedom. The first algorithm aims on aligning the interference at each receiver in a subspace of the available receive space. Our second algorithm aims on directly maximizing the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of all receivers. By allowing symbol extensions over time or frequency and including a user selection we are able to achieve the alignment of interference for many system setups and exploit multi-user diversity. For coordinated transmit strategies we find the scaling of the performance loss with the feedback load. A distributed interference alignment algorithm is introduced. The algorithm makes efficient use of quantized channel state information and significantly reduces the feedback overhead. We develop a framework that we call compressive rate estimation. To this end, we assume that the composite channel gain matrix (i.e. the matrix of all channel gains between all network nodes) is compressible which means it can be approximated by a sparse or low rank representation. We develop a sensing protocol that exploits the superposition principle of the wireless channel and enables the receiving nodes to obtain non-adaptive random measurements of columns of the composite channel matrix. The random measurements are fed back to a central controller who decodes the composite channel gain matrix (or parts of it) and estimates individual user rates. We analyze the rate loss for a linear and a non-linear decoder and find the scaling laws according to the number of non-adaptive measurements

Antenna Systems

This book offers an up-to-date and comprehensive review of modern antenna systems and their applications in the fields of contemporary wireless systems. It constitutes a useful resource of new material, including stochastic versus ray tracing wireless channel modeling for 5G and V2X applications and implantable devices. Chapters discuss modern metalens antennas in microwaves, terahertz, and optical domain. Moreover, the book presents new material on antenna arrays for 5G massive MIMO beamforming. Finally, it discusses new methods, devices, and technologies to enhance the performance of antenna systems

Efficient Downlink Channel Reconstruction for FDD Multi-Antenna Systems

In this paper, we propose a novel scheme to reconstruct the downlink channel of a frequency-division-duplex (FDD) multi-antenna system utilizing uplink channel state information (CSI) combined with limited feedback. Our finding is that spatial reciprocity holds among frequency-independent parameters, including the gain, delay and angle of each propagation path in a wireless channel. Based on this, we first introduce the Newtonized orthogonal matching pursuit (NOMP) algorithm to estimate these frequency-independent parameters during uplink sounding. The gains are then refined through downlink training and sent back to the base station (BS). With only a limited amount of overhead, the refinement is able to improve the accuracy of downlink channel reconstruction substantially. Utilizing the uplink-estimated delays and angles and the downlink-refined gains, the BS can reconstruct the downlink channel from the uplink estimation. We carry out both simulations and over-the-air tests to assess the performance of the proposed downlink channel reconstruction scheme. Results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is promising

ReSCon '09, Research Student Conference: Book of Abstracts

The second SED Research Student Conference (ReSCon2009) was hosted over three days, 22-24 June 2009, in the Lecture Centre at Brunel University. The conference consisted of technical presentations, a poster session and social events. The abstracts and presentations were the result of ongoing research by postgraduate research students from the School of Engineering and Design at Brunel University. The conference is held annually, and ReSCon plays a key role in contributing to research and innovations within the School

Power control with Machine Learning Techniques in Massive MIMO cellular and cell-free systems

This PhD thesis presents a comprehensive investigation into power control (PC) optimization in cellular (CL) and cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) systems using machine learning (ML) techniques. The primary focus is on enhancing the sum spectral efficiency (SE) of these systems by leveraging various ML methods. To begin with, it is combined and extended two existing datasets, resulting in a unique dataset tailored for this research. The weighted minimum mean square error (WMMSE) method, a popular heuristic approach, is utilized as the baseline method for addressing the sum SE maximization problem. It is compared the performance of the WMMSE method with the deep Q-network (DQN) method through training on the complete dataset in both CL and CF-mMIMO systems. Furthermore, the PC problem in CL/CF-mMIMO systems is effectively tackled through the application of ML-based algorithms. These algorithms present highly efficient solutions with significantly reduced computational complexity [3]. Several ML methods are proposed for CL/CF-mMIMO systems, tailored explicitly to address the PC problem in CL/CF-mMIMO systems. Among them are the innovative proposed Fuzzy/DQN method, proposed DNN/GA method, proposed support vector machine (SVM) method, proposed SVM/RBF method, proposed decision tree (DT) method, proposed K-nearest neighbour (KNN) method, proposed linear regression (LR) method, and the novel proposed fusion scheme. The fusion schemes expertly combine multiple ML methods, such as system model 1 (DNN, DNN/GA, DQN, fuzzy/DQN, and SVM algorithms) and system model 2 (DNN, SVM-RBF, DQL, LR, KNN, and DT algorithms), which are thoroughly evaluated to maximize the sum spectral efficiency (SE), offering a viable alternative to computationally intensive heuristic algorithms. Subsequently, the DNN method is singled out for its exceptional performance and is further subjected to in-depth analysis. Each of the ML methods is trained on a merged dataset to extract a novel feature vector, and their respective performances are meticulously compared against the WMMSE method in the context of CL/CF-mMIMO systems. This research promises to pave the way for more robust and efficient PC solutions, ensuring enhanced SE and ultimately advancing the field of CL/CF-mMIMO systems. The results reveal that the DNN method outperforms the other ML methods in terms of sum SE, while exhibiting significantly lower computational complexity compared to the WMMSE algorithm. Therefore, the DNN method is chosen for examining its transferability across two datasets (dataset A and B) based on their shared common features. Three scenarios are devised for the transfer learning method, involving the training of the DNN method on dataset B (S1), the utilization of model A and dataset B (S2), and the retraining of model A on dataset B (S3). These scenarios are evaluated to assess the effectiveness of the transfer learning approach. Furthermore, three different setups for the DNN architecture (DNN1, DNN2, and DNN3) are employed and compared to the WMMSE method based on performance metrics such as mean squared error (MSE), root mean squared error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). Moreover, the research evaluates the impact of the number of base stations (BSs), access points (APs), and users on PC in CL/CF-mMIMO systems using ML methodology. Datasets capturing diverse scenarios and configurations of mMIMO systems were carefully assembled. Extensive simulations were conducted to analyze how the increasing number of BSs/APs affects the dimensionality of the input vector in the DNN algorithm. The observed improvements in system performance are quantified by the enhanced discriminative power of the model, illustrated through the cumulative distribution function (CDF). This metric encapsulates the model's ability to effectively capture and distinguish patterns across diverse scenarios and configurations within mMIMO systems. The parameter of the CDF being indicated is the probability. Specifically, the improved area under the CDF refers to an enhanced probability of a random variable falling below a certain threshold. This enhancement denotes improved model performance, showcasing a greater precision in predicting outcomes. Interestingly, the number of users was found to have a limited effect on system performance. The comparison between the DNN-based PC method and the conventional WMMSE method revealed the superior performance and efficiency of the DNN algorithm. Lastly, a comprehensive assessment of the DNN method against the WMMSE method was conducted for addressing the PC optimization problem in both CL and CF system architectures. In addition to, this thesis focuses on enhancing spectral efficiency (SE) in wireless communication systems, particularly within cell-free (CF) mmWave massive MIMO environments. It explores the challenges of optimizing SE through traditional methods, including the weighted minimum mean squared error (WMMSE), fractional programming (FP), water-filling, and max-min fairness approaches. The prevalence of access points (APs) over user equipment (UE) highlights the importance of zero-forcing precoding (ZFP) in CF-mMIMO. However, ZFP faces issues related to channel aging and resource utilization. To address these challenges, a novel scheme called delay-tolerant zero-forcing precoding (DT-ZFP) is introduced, leveraging deep learning-aided channel prediction to mitigate channel aging effects. Additionally, a cutting-edge power control (PC) method, HARP-PC, is proposed, combining heterogeneous graph neural network (HGNN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and reinforcement learning (RL) to optimize SE in dynamic CF mmWave-mMIMO systems. This research advances the field by addressing these challenges and introducing innovative approaches to enhance PC and SE in contemporary wireless communication networks. Overall, this research contributes to the advancement of PC optimization in CL/CF-mMIMO systems through the application of ML techniques, demonstrating the potential of the DNN method, and providing insights into system performance under various scenarios and network configurations

Physical Layer Security in Integrated Sensing and Communication Systems

The development of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) systems has been spurred by the growing congestion of the wireless spectrum. The ISAC system detects targets and communicates with downlink cellular users simultaneously. Uniquely for such scenarios, radar targets are regarded as potential eavesdroppers which might surveil the information sent from the base station (BS) to communication users (CUs) via the radar probing signal. To address this issue, we propose security solutions for ISAC systems to prevent confidential information from being intercepted by radar targets. In this thesis, we firstly present a beamformer design algorithm assisted by artificial noise (AN), which aims to minimize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the target while ensuring the quality of service (QoS) of legitimate receivers. Furthermore, to reduce the power consumed by AN, we apply the directional modulation (DM) approach to exploit constructive interference (CI). In this case, the optimization problem is designed to maximize the SINR of the target reflected echoes with CI constraints for each CU, while constraining the received symbols at the target in the destructive region. Apart from the separate functionalities of radar and communication systems above, we investigate sensing-aided physical layer security (PLS), where the ISAC BS first emits an omnidirectional waveform to search for and estimate target directions. Then, we formulate a weighted optimization problem to simultaneously maximize the secrecy rate and minimize the Cram\'er-Rao bound (CRB) with the aid of the AN, designing a beampattern with a wide main beam covering all possible angles of targets. The main beam width of the next iteration depends on the optimal CRB. In this way, the sensing and security functionalities provide mutual benefits, resulting in the improvement of mutual performances with every iteration of the optimization, until convergence. Overall, numerical results show the effectiveness of the ISAC security designs through the deployment of AN-aided secrecy rate maximization and CI techniques. The sensing-assisted PLS scheme offers a new approach for obtaining channel information of eavesdroppers, which is treated as a limitation of conventional PLS studies. This design gains mutual benefits in both single and multi-target scenarios