Timing and Carrier Synchronization in Wireless Communication Systems: A Survey and Classification of Research in the Last 5 Years

Timing and carrier synchronization is a fundamental requirement for any wireless communication system to work properly. Timing synchronization is the process by which a receiver node determines the correct instants of time at which to sample the incoming signal. Carrier synchronization is the process by which a receiver adapts the frequency and phase of its local carrier oscillator with those of the received signal. In this paper, we survey the literature over the last 5 years (2010–2014) and present a comprehensive literature review and classification of the recent research progress in achieving timing and carrier synchronization in single-input single-output (SISO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), cooperative relaying, and multiuser/multicell interference networks. Considering both single-carrier and multi-carrier communication systems, we survey and categorize the timing and carrier synchronization techniques proposed for the different communication systems focusing on the system model assumptions for synchronization, the synchronization challenges, and the state-of-the-art synchronization solutions and their limitations. Finally, we envision some future research directions

Cooperative systems based signal processing techniques with applications to three-dimensional video transmission

Three-dimensional (3-D) video has recently emerged to offer an immersive multimedia experience that can not be offered by two-dimensional (2-D) video applications. Currently, both industry and academia are focused on delivering 3-D video services to wireless communication systems. Modern video communication systems currently adopt cooperative communication and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as they are an attractive solution to combat fading in wireless communication systems and achieve high data-rates. However, this strong motivation to transmit the video signals over wireless systems faces many challenges. These are mainly channel bandwidth limitations, variations of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in wireless channels, and the impairments in the physical layer such as time varying phase noise (PHN), and carrier frequency offset (CFO). In response to these challenges, this thesis seeks to develop efficient 3-D video transmission methods and signal processing algorithms that can overcome the effects of error-prone wireless channels and impairments in the physical layer. In the first part of the thesis, an efficient unequal error protection (UEP) scheme, called video packet partitioning, and a new 3-D video transceiver structure are proposed. The proposed video transceiver uses switching operations between various UEP schemes based on the packet partitioning to achieve a trade- off between system complexity and performance. Experimental results show that the proposed system achieves significantly high video quality at different SNRs with the lowest possible bandwidth and system complexity compared to direct transmission schemes. The second part of the thesis proposes a new approach to joint source-channel coding (JSCC) that simultaneously assigns source code rates, the number of high and low priority packets, and channel code rates for the application, network, and physical layers, respectively. The proposed JSCC algorithm takes into account the rate budget constraint and the available instantaneous SNR of the best relay selection in cooperative systems. Experimental results show that the proposed JSCC algorithm outperforms existing algorithms in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). In the third part of the thesis, a computationally efficient training based approach for joint channel, CFO, and PHN estimation in OFDM systems is pro- posed. The proposed estimator is based on an expectation conditional maximization (ECM) algorithm. To compare the estimation accuracy of the proposed estimator, the hybrid Cram´er-Rao lower bound (HCRB) of hybrid parameters of interest is derived. Next, to detect the signal in the presence of PHN, an iterative receiver based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) for joint data detection and PHN mitigation is proposed. It is demonstrated by numerical simulations that, compared to existing algorithms, the performance of the proposed ECM-based estimator in terms of the mean square error (MSE) is closer to the derived HCRB and outperforms the existing estimation algorithms at moderate-to-high SNRs. Finally, this study extends the research on joint channel, PHN, and CFO estimation one step forward from OFDM systems to cooperative OFDM systems. An iterative algorithm based on the ECM in cooperative OFDM networks in the presence of unknown channel gains, PHNs and CFOs is applied. Moreover, the HCRB for the joint estimation problem in both decode-and-forward (DF) and amplify-and-forward (AF) relay systems is presented. An iterative algorithm based on the EKF for data detection and tracking the unknown time-varying PHN throughout the OFDM data packet is also used. For more efficient 3-D video transmission, the estimation algorithms and UEP schemes based packet portioning were combined to achieve a more robust video bit stream in the presence of PHNs. Applying this combination, simulation results demonstrate that promising bit-error-rate (BER) and PSNR performance can be achieved at the destination at different SNRs and PHN variance. The proposed schemes and algorithms offer solutions for existing problems in the techniques for applications to 3-D video transmission

Multiuser MIMO-OFDM for Next-Generation Wireless Systems

This overview portrays the 40-year evolution of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) research. The amelioration of powerful multicarrier OFDM arrangements with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems has numerous benefits, which are detailed in this treatise. We continue by highlighting the limitations of conventional detection and channel estimation techniques designed for multiuser MIMO OFDM systems in the so-called rank-deficient scenarios, where the number of users supported or the number of transmit antennas employed exceeds the number of receiver antennas. This is often encountered in practice, unless we limit the number of users granted access in the base station’s or radio port’s coverage area. Following a historical perspective on the associated design problems and their state-of-the-art solutions, the second half of this treatise details a range of classic multiuser detectors (MUDs) designed for MIMO-OFDM systems and characterizes their achievable performance. A further section aims for identifying novel cutting-edge genetic algorithm (GA)-aided detector solutions, which have found numerous applications in wireless communications in recent years. In an effort to stimulate the cross pollination of ideas across the machine learning, optimization, signal processing, and wireless communications research communities, we will review the broadly applicable principles of various GA-assisted optimization techniques, which were recently proposed also for employment inmultiuser MIMO OFDM. In order to stimulate new research, we demonstrate that the family of GA-aided MUDs is capable of achieving a near-optimum performance at the cost of a significantly lower computational complexity than that imposed by their optimum maximum-likelihood (ML) MUD aided counterparts. The paper is concluded by outlining a range of future research options that may find their way into next-generation wireless systems