12 research outputs found

    Achievable throughput with Block Diagonalization on OFDM indoor demonstrator

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    The proceeding at: 21st European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO 2013), took place 2013, September 09-13, in Marrakech, Septiembre 2013.Block Diagonalization (BD) is a linear precoding transmission technique able to achieve full multiplexing gain in multiple antenna systems. In this work we present a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) implementation based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) made up of a transmitter with 4 antennas and 2 users equipped with 2 antennas each one, which allows us to evaluate the performance of BD in indoor scenarios. First, the theoretic achievable rates are obtained for the measured channel in an offline evaluation. After that, the bit error rate performance is evaluated regarding the system sum throughput. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that BD performance is validated using a multiuser MIMO testbed.This work has been partially funded by research projects COMONSENS (CSD2008-000 1 0), and GRE3N (TEC20 11-29006-C03-02).Publicad

    Channel estimation in massive MIMO systems

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    Last years were characterized by a great demand for high data throughput, good quality and spectral efficiency in wireless communication systems. Consequently, a revolution in cellular networks has been set in motion towards to 5G. Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is one of the new concepts in 5G and the idea is to scale up the known MIMO systems in unprecedented proportions, by deploying hundreds of antennas at base stations. Although, perfect channel knowledge is crucial in these systems for user and data stream separation in order to cancel interference. The most common way to estimate the channel is based on pilots. However, problems such as interference and pilot contamination (PC) can arise due to the multiplicity of channels in the wireless link. Therefore, it is crucial to define techniques for channel estimation that together with pilot contamination mitigation allow best system performance and at same time low complexity. This work introduces a low-complexity channel estimation technique based on Zadoff-Chu training sequences. In addition, different approaches were studied towards pilot contamination mitigation and low complexity schemes, with resort to iterative channel estimation methods, semi-blind subspace tracking techniques and matrix inversion substitutes. System performance simulations were performed for the several proposed techniques in order to identify the best tradeoff between complexity, spectral efficiency and system performance

    System design and validation of multi-band OFDM wireless communications with multiple antennas

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    [no abstract

    Blind interference alignment for cellular networks

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    Mención Internacional en el título de doctorManaging the interference is the main challenge in cellular networks. Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) schemes have emerged as a means of achieving high-capacity in wireless communications. The most efficient MIMO techniques are based on managing the interference instead of avoiding it by employing orthogonal resource allocation schemes. These transmission schemes require the knowledge of the Channel State Information at the Transmitter (CSIT) to achieve the optimal Degrees of Freedom (DoF), also known as multiplexing gain. Providing an accurate CSIT in cellular environments involves high-capacity backhaul links and accurate synchronization, which imply the use of a large amount of network resources. Recently, a Blind Interference Alignment (BIA) scheme was devised as a means of achieving a growth in DoF regarding the amount of users served without the need for CSIT in the Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) Broadcast Channel (BC). It is demonstrated that BIA achieves the optimal DoF in the BC without CSIT. However, the implementation of BIA in cellular networks is not straightforward. This dissertation investigates the DoF and the corresponding sum-rate of cellular networks in absence of CSIT and their achievability by using BIA schemes. First, this dissertation derives the DoF-region of homogenous cellular networks with partial connectivity. Assuming that all the Base Stations (BSs) cooperate in order to transmit to all users in the network, we proposed an extension of the BIA scheme for the MISO BC where the set of BSs transmits as in a network MIMO. It is shown that the cooperation between BSs results futile because of the lack of full connectivity in cellular networks. After that, this dissertation presents several transmission schemes based on the network topology. By differentiating between users that can treat this interference optimally as noise and those who need to manage the interference from neighbouring BSs, a network BIA scheme is devised to achieve the optimal DoF in homogeneous cellular networks. Second, the use of BIA schemes is analyzed for heterogeneous cellular networks. It is demonstrated that the previous BIA schemes based on the network topology result nonoptimal in DoF because of the particular features of the heterogenous cellular networks. More specifically, assuming a macro-femto network, cooperation between both tiers leads to a penalty for macro users while femto users do not exploit the particular topology of this kind of network. In this dissertation, the optimal linear DoF (lDoF) in a two-tier network are derived subject to optimality in DoF for the upper tier. It is demonstrated that, without CSIT or any cooperation between tiers, the lower tier can achieve nonzero DoF while the upper tier attains the optimal DoF by transmitting independently of the lower tier deployment. After that, a cognitive BIA scheme that achieves this outer bound is devised for macro-femto cellular networks. The third part of this dissertation is focused on the implementation of BIA in practical scenarios. It is shown that transmission at limited SNR and coherence time are the main hurdles to overcome for practical implementations of BIA. With aim of managing both constraints, the use of BIA together with orthogonal approaches is proposed in this work. An improvement on the inherent noise increase of BIA and the required coherence time is achieved at expenses of losing DoF. Therefore, there exists a trade-off between multiplexing gain, sum-rate at finite SNR and coherence time in practical scenarios. The optimal resource allocation for orthogonal transmission is obtained after solving a very specific optimization problem. To complete the characterization of the performance of BIA in realistic scenarios a experimental evaluation based on a hardware implementation is presented at the end of this work. It is shown that BIA outperforms the sum-rate of schemes based on CSIT such as LZFB because of the hardware impairments and the costs of providing CSIT in a realist implementation.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Multimedia y ComunicacionesPresidente: Luc Vandendorpe.- Secretario: María Julia Fernández-Getino García.- Vocal: Ignacio Santamaría Caballer

    Advanced Trends in Wireless Communications

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    Physical limitations on wireless communication channels impose huge challenges to reliable communication. Bandwidth limitations, propagation loss, noise and interference make the wireless channel a narrow pipe that does not readily accommodate rapid flow of data. Thus, researches aim to design systems that are suitable to operate in such channels, in order to have high performance quality of service. Also, the mobility of the communication systems requires further investigations to reduce the complexity and the power consumption of the receiver. This book aims to provide highlights of the current research in the field of wireless communications. The subjects discussed are very valuable to communication researchers rather than researchers in the wireless related areas. The book chapters cover a wide range of wireless communication topics

    Advanced multi-dimensional signal processing for wireless systems

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    Die florierende Entwicklung der drahtlosen Kommunikation erfordert innovative und fortschrittliche Signalverarbeitungsalgorithmen, die auf eine verbesserte Performance hinsichtlich der Zuverlässigkeit, des Durchsatzes, der Effizienz und weiterer Faktoren abzielen. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Lösung dieser Herausforderungen und präsentiert neue und faszinierende Fortschritte, um diesen Herausforderungen zu erfüllen. Hauptsächlich konzentrieren wir uns auf zwei innovative Aspekte der mehrdimensionalen Signalverarbeitung für drahtlose Systeme, denen in den letzten Jahren große Aufmerksamkeit in der Forschung geschenkt wurde. Das sind Mehrträgerverfahren für Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Systeme und die mehrdimensionale harmonische Schätzung (Harmonic Retrieval). Da es sich bei MIMO-Systemen und Mehrträgerverfahren um Schlüsseltechnologien der drahtlosen Kommunikation handelt, sind ihre zahlreichen Vorteile seit langem bekannt und haben ein großes Forschungsinteresse geweckt. Zu diesen Vorteilen zählen zum Beispiel die Steigerung der Datenrate und die Verbesserung der Verbindungszuverlässigkeit. Insbesondere OFDM-basierte MIMO Downlink Systeme für mehrere Teilnehmer (Multi-User MIMO Downlink Systems), die durch SDMA (Space-Division Multiple Access) getrennt werden, kombinieren die Vorteile von MIMO-Systemen mit denen von Mehrträger-Modulationsverfahren. Sie sind wesentliche Elemente des IEEE 802.11ac Standards und werden ebenfalls für 5G (die fünfte Mobilfunkgeneration) ausschlaggebend sein. Obwohl die bisherigen Arbeiten über das Precoding (Vorcodierung) für solche Multi-User MIMO Downlink Systeme schon fruchtbare Ergebnisse zeigten, werden neue Fortschritte benötigt, die den Mehrträger-Charakter des Systems in einer effizienteren Weise ausnutzen oder auf eine höhere spektrale Effizienz des Gesamtsystems abzielen. Andererseits gilt die Filterbank-basierte Mehrträger Modulation (Filter Bank-based Multi-Carrier modulation, FBMC) mit einem gut konzentrierten Spektrum und einer somit niedrigen Out-of-band Leackage als eine vielversprechende Alternative zu OFDM. FBMC ermöglicht eine effiziente Nutzung von Fragmenten im Frequenzspektrums, z. B. in 5G oder Breitband Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) Netzwerken. Jedoch leiden die vorhandenen Verfahren zur Sende- und-Empfangs-Verarbeitung für FBMC-basierte MIMO Systeme unter Einschränkungen in Bezug auf mehrere Aspekte, wie z. B. der erlaubten Dimensionalität des Systems und der zulässigen Frequenzselektivität des Kanals. Die Formen der MIMO Einstellungen, die in der Literatur untersucht wurden, sind noch begrenzt auf MIMO-Systeme für einzelne Teilnehmer und vereinfachte Multi-User MIMO Systeme. Fortschrittlichere Techniken sind daher erforderlich, die diese Einschränkungen der existierenden Verfahren aufheben. MIMO-Szenarien, die weniger Einschränkungen unterliegen, müssen außerdem untersucht werden, um die Vorteile von FBMC zu weiter herauszuarbeiten. Im Rahmen der mehrdimensionalen harmonischen Schätzung (Harmonic Retrieval) hat sich gezeigt, dass eine höhere Genauigkeit bei der Schätzung durch Tensoren erreicht werden kann. Das liegt daran, dass die Darstellung mehrdimensionaler Signale mit Tensoren eine natürlichere Beschreibung und eine gute Ausnutzung ihrer mehrdimensionalen Struktur erlaubt, z. B. für die Modellordnungsschätzung und die Unterraumschätzung. Wichtige offene Themen umfassen die statistische Robustheit und wie man die Schätzung in zeitlich variierenden Szenarien adaptiv gestalten kann. In Teil I dieser Arbeit präsentieren wir zunächst eine effiziente und flexible Übertragungsstrategie für OFDM-basierten Multi-User MIMO Downlink Systeme. Sie besteht aus einer räumlichen Scheduling-Methode, der effizienten Mehrträger ProSched (Efficient Multi-Carrier ProSched, EMC-ProSched) Erweiterung mit einer effektiven Scheduling-Metrik, die auf Mehrträger-Systeme zugeschnitten wird. Weiterhin werden zwei neuartige Precoding Algorithmen vorgestellt, die lineare Precoding-basierte geometrische Mittelwert-Zerlegung (Linear Precoding-based Geometric Mean Decomposition, LP-GMD) und ein Coordinated Beamforming Algorithmus geringer Komplexität (Low Complexity Coordinated Beamforming, LoCCoBF). Diese beiden neuen Precoding-Verfahren können flexibel entsprechend den Abmessungen des Systems gewählt werden. Wir entwickeln auch einen System Level-Simulator, in dem die Parameter für das Link-to-System Level Interface kalibriert werden können. Diese Kalibrierung ist Standard-spezifisch, z. B. kann der Standard IEEE 802.11ac gewählt werden. Numerische Ergebnisse zeigen, dass diese Übertragungsstrategie Scheduling Fairness garantiert, einen weitaus höheren Durchsatz als die existierenden Verfahren erzielt, eine geringere Komplexität besitzt und nur einen geringen Signalisierungsoverhead erfordert. Der Schwerpunkt des Rests von Teil I bilden MIMO Systeme basierend auf Filter Bank-basierten Mehrträger-Verfahren mit Offset Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (FBMC/OQAM). Es wird ein umfassender Überblick über FBMC gegeben. Nachfolgend werden für verschiedene FBMC/OQAM-basierte MIMO Varianten neue Verfahren zur Sende- und Empfangs-Verarbeitung entwickelt, die unterschiedliche Grade von Frequenz-Selektivität des Kanals voraussetzen. Zunächst wird die Verwendung von weitgehend linearer Verarbeitung (widely linear processing) untersucht. Ein Zwei-Schritt-Empfänger wird für FBMC/OQAM-basierte MIMO Systeme mit einzelnen Teilnehmern entwickelt. Hierbei ist die Frequenz-Selektivität des Kanals niedrig. Verglichen mit linearen MMSE-Empfänger ist die Leistung des Zwei-Schritt-Empfängers viel besser. Das Grundprinzip dieser Zwei-Schritt-Empfänger ist zuerst die Verringerung der intrinsischen Interferenz, um die Ausnutzung von nicht-zirkulären Signalen zu ermöglichen. Es motiviert weitere Studien über weitgehend lineare Verfahren für FBMC/OQAM-basierte Systeme. Darüber hinaus werden zwei Coordinated Beamforming-Algorithmen für FBMC/OQAM-basierte MIMO Systeme mit einzelnen Teilnehmern entwickelt. Sie verzichten auf die Einschränkung der Dimensionalität der bestehenden Methode, bei der die Anzahl der Sendeantennen größer als die Anzahl der Empfangsantennen sein muss. Der Kanal auf jedem Träger wird als flacher Schwund (Flat Fading) modelliert, was einer Klassifizierung als „intermediate frequency selective channel“ entspricht. Unter der Kenntnis der Kanalzustandsinformation am Sender (Channel-State-Information at the Transmitter, CSIT) basiert die Vorcodierung entweder auf einem Zero Forcing (ZF) Kriterium oder auf der Maximierung der Signal-to-Leackage-plus-Noise-Ratio (SLNR). Die Vorcodierungsvektoren und die Empfangsvektoren werden gemeinsam und iterativ berechnet. Daher führen die zwei Coordinated Beamforming-Algorithmen zu einer wirksamen Verringerung der intrinsischen Interferenz in FBMC/OQAM-basierten Systemen. Die Vorteile der Coordinated Beamforming-Konzepte werden in FBMC/OQAM-basierten Multi-User MIMO Downlink Systeme und koordinierte Mehrpunktverbindung (Coordinated Multi-Point, CoMP-Konzepte) eingebracht. Dafür werden drei intrinsische Interferenz mildernde koordinierte Beamforming-Verfahren (Intrinsic Interference Mitigating Coordinated Beamforming, IIM-CBF) vorgeschlagen. Die ersten beiden IIM-CBF Algorithmen werden für die FBMC/OQAM-basierten Multi-User MIMO Downlink Varianten mit unterschiedlichen Dimensionen entwickelt. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese Verfahren zu einer Abschwächung der Multi-User-Interferenz (MUI) sowie einer Verringerung der intrinsischen Interferenz führen. Bei der dritten IIM-CBF Methode wird ein neuartiges FBMC/OQAM-basiertes-CoMP Konzept vorgestellt. Dieses wird durch die gemeinsame Übertragung von benachbarten Zellen zu Teilnehmern, die sich am Zellenrand befinden, ermöglicht, um den Daten-Durchsatz am Zellenrand zu erhöhen. Die Leistungsfähigkeit der vorgeschlagenen Algorithmen wird durch umfangreiche numerische Simulationen evaluiert. Das Konvergenzverhalten wird untersucht sowie das Thema der Komplexität angesprochen. Außerdem wird die geringere Anfälligkeit von FBMC verglichen mit OFDM gegenüber Frequenzsynchronisationsfehlern demonstriert. Darüber hinaus wird auf die FBMC/OQAM-basierten Multi-User MIMO Downlink Systeme mit stark frequenzselektiven Kanälen eingegangen. Dafür werden Lösungen erarbeitet, die für die Unterdrückung der MUI, der Inter-Symbol Interferenz (ISI) sowie der Inter-Carrier Interferenz (ICI) anwendbar ist. Mehrere Kriterien der multi-tap Vorcodierung werden entwickelt, beispielsweise die Mean Squared Error (MSE) Minimierung sowie die Signal-to-Leakage-Ratio (SLR) und die SLNR Maximierung. An Endgeräten, die eine schwächere Rechenleistung besitzen als sie an der Basisstation vorhanden ist, wird dadurch nur ein single-tap Empfangsfilter benötigt. Teil II der Arbeit konzentriert sich auf die mehrdimensionale harmonische Schätzung (Harmonic Retrieval). Der Einbau von statistischer Robustheit in mehrdimensionale Modellordnungsschätzverfahren wird demonstriert.The thriving development of wireless communications calls for innovative and advanced signal processing techniques targeting at an enhanced performance in terms of reliability, throughput, robustness, efficiency, flexibility, etc.. This thesis addresses such a compelling demand and presents new and intriguing progress towards fulfilling it. We mainly concentrate on two advanced multi-dimensional signal processing challenges for wireless systems that have attracted tremendous research attention in recent years, multi-carrier Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems and multi-dimensional harmonic retrieval. As the key technologies of wireless communications, the numerous benefits of MIMO and multi-carrier modulation, e.g., boosting the data rate and improving the link reliability, have long been identified and have ignited great research interest. In particular, the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based multi-user MIMO downlink with Space-Division Multiple Access (SDMA) combines the twofold advantages of MIMO and multi-carrier modulation. It is the essential element of IEEE 802.11ac and will also be crucial for the fifth generation of wireless communication systems (5G). Although past investigations on scheduling and precoding design for multi-user MIMO downlink systems have been fruitful, new advances are desired that exploit the multi-carrier nature of the system in a more efficient manner or aim at a higher spectral efficiency. On the other hand, a Filter Bank-based Multi-Carrier modulation (FBMC) featuring a well-concentrated spectrum and thus a low out-of-band radiation is regarded as a promising alternative multi-carrier scheme to OFDM for an effective utilization of spectrum fragments, e.g., in 5G or broadband Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) networks. Unfortunately, the existing transmit-receive processing schemes for FBMC-based MIMO systems suffer from limitations in several aspects, e.g., with respect to the number of supported receive antennas (dimensionality constraint) and channel frequency selectivity. The forms of MIMO settings that have been investigated are still limited to single-user MIMO and simplified multi-user MIMO systems. More advanced techniques are therefore demanded to alleviate the constraints imposed on the state-of-the-art. More sophisticated MIMO scenarios are yet to be explored to further corroborate the benefits of FBMC. In the context of multi-dimensional harmonic retrieval, it has been demonstrated that a higher estimation accuracy can be achieved by using tensors to preserve and exploit the multidimensional nature of the data, e.g., for model order estimation and subspace estimation. Crucial pending topics include how to further incorporate statistical robustness and how to handle time-varying scenarios in an adaptive manner. In Part I of this thesis, we first present an efficient and flexible transmission strategy for OFDM-based multi-user MIMO downlink systems. It consists of a spatial scheduling scheme, efficient multi-carrier ProSched (EMC-ProSched), with an effective scheduling metric tailored for multi-carrier systems and two new precoding algorithms, linear precoding-based geometric mean decomposition (LP-GMD) and low complexity coordinated beamforming (LoCCoBF). These two new precoding schemes can be flexibly chosen according to the dimensions of the system. We also develop a system-level simulator where the parameters for the link-to-system level interface can be calibrated according to a certain standardization framework, e.g., IEEE 802.11ac. Numerical results show that the proposed transmission strategy, apart from guaranteeing the scheduling fairness and a small signaling overhead, achieves a much higher throughput than the state-of-the-art and requires a lower complexity. The remainder of Part I is dedicated to Filter Bank-based Multi-Carrier with Offset Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (FBMC/OQAM)-based MIMO systems. We begin with a thorough overview of FBMC. Then we present new transmit-receive processing techniques for FBMC/OQAM-based MIMO settings ranging from the single-user MIMO case to the Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) downlink considering various degrees of channel frequency selectivity. The use of widely linear processing is first investigated. A two-step receiver is designed for FBMC/OQAM-based point-to-point MIMO systems with low frequency selective channels. It exhibits a significant performance superiority over the linear MMSE receiver. The rationale in this two-step receiver is that the intrinsic interference is first mitigated to facilitate the exploitation of the non-circularity residing in the signals. It sheds light upon further studies on widely linear processing for FBMC/OQAM-based systems. Moreover, two coordinated beamforming algorithms are devised for FBMC/OQAM-based point-to-point MIMO systems to relieve the dimensionality constraint of existing schemes that the number of transmit antennas must be larger than the number of receive antennas. The channel on each subcarrier is assumed to be flat fading, which is categorized as the class of intermediate frequency selective channels. With the Channel State Information at the Transmitter (CSIT) known, the precoder designed based on a Zero Forcing (ZF) criterion or the maximization of the Signal-to-Leakage-plus-Noise-Ratio (SLNR) is jointly and iteratively computed with the receiver, leading to an effective mitigation of the intrinsic interference inherent in FBMC/OQAM-based systems. The benefits of the coordinated beamforming concept are successfully translated into the FBMC/OQAM-based multi-user MIMO downlink and the CoMP downlink. Three intrinsic interference mitigating coordinated beamforming (IIM-CBF) schemes are developed. The first two IIM-CBF schemes are proposed for FBMC/OQAM-based multi-user MIMO downlink settings with different dimensions and are able to effectively suppress the Multi-User Interference (MUI) as well as the intrinsic interference. A novel FBMC/OQAM-based CoMP concept is established via the third IIM-CBF scheme which enables the joint transmission of adjacent cells to the cell edge users to combat the strong interference as well as the heavy path loss and to boost the cell edge throughput. The performance of the proposed algorithms is evaluated via extensive numerical simulations. Their convergence behavior is studied, and the complexity issue is also addressed. In addition, the stronger resilience of FBMC over OFDM against frequency misalignments is demonstrated. Furthermore, we cover the case of highly frequency selective channels and provide solutions to the very challenging task of suppressing the MUI, the Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI), as well as the Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) and supporting per-user multi-stream transmissions. Several design criteria of the multi-tap precoders are devised including the Mean Squared Error (MSE) minimization as well as the Signal-to-Leakage-Ratio (SLR) and SLNR maximization. By rendering a larger computational load at the base station, only single-tap spatial receive filters are required at the user terminals with a weaker computational capability, which enhances the applicability of the proposed schemes in real-world multi-user MIMO downlink systems. Part II focuses on the context of multi-dimensional harmonic retrieval. We demonstrate the incorporation of statistical robustness into multi-dimensional model order estimation schemes by substituting the sample covariance matrices of the unfoldings of the measurement tensor with robust covariance estimates. It is observed that in the presence of a very severe contamination of the measurements due to brief sensor failures, the robustified tensor-based model order estimation schemes lead to a satisfactory estimation accuracy. This philosophy of introducing statistical robustness also inspires robust versions of parameter estimation algorithms. Last but not the least, we present a generic framework for Tensor-based subspace tracking via Kronecker-structured projections (TeTraKron) for time-varying multi-dimensional harmonic retrieval problems. It allows to extend arbitrary matrix-based subspace tracking schemes to track the tensor-based subspace estimate in an elegant and efficient manner. By including forward-backward-averaging, we show that TeTraKron can also be employed to devise real-valued tensor-based subspace tracking algorithms. Taking a few matrix-based subspace tracking approaches as an example, a remarkable improvement of the tracking accuracy is observed in case of the TeTraKron-based tensor extensions. The performance of ESPRIT-type parameter estimation schemes is also assessed where the subspace estimates obtained by the proposed TeTraKron-based subspace tracking algorithms are used. We observe that Tensor-ESPRIT combined with a tensor-based subspace tracking scheme significantly outperforms the combination of standard ESPRIT and the corresponding matrix-based subspace tracking method. These results open the way for robust multi-dimensional big data signal processing applications in time-varying environments

    Doctoral Thesis: Massive MIMO in Real Propagation Environments

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    Mobile communications are now evolving towards the fifth generation (5G). In the near future, we expect an explosive increase in the number of connected devices, such as phones, tablets, sensors, connected vehicles and so on. Much higher data rates than in today's 4G systems are required. In the 5G visions, better coverage in remote regions is also included, aiming for bringing the current "4 billion unconnected" population into the online world. There is also a great interest in "green communications", for less energy consumption in the ICT (information and communication technology) industry. Massive MIMO is a potential technology to fulfill the requirements and visions. By equipping a base station with a large number, say tens to hundreds, of antennas, many terminals can be served in the same time-frequency resource without severe inter-user interference. Through "aggressive" spatial multiplexing, higher data rates can be achieved without increasing the required spectrum. Processing efforts can be made at the base station side, allowing terminals to have simple and cheap hardware. By exploiting the many spatial degrees of freedom, linear precoding/detection schemes can be used to achieve near-optimal performance. The large number of antennas also brings the advantage of large array gain, resulting in an increase in received signal strength. Better coverage is thus achieved. On the other hand, transmit power from base stations and terminals can be scaled down to pursue energy efficiency. In the last five years, a lot of theoretical studies have been done, showing the extraordinary advantages of massive MIMO. However, the investigations are mainly based on theoretical channels with independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Gaussian coefficients, and sometimes assuming unlimited number of antennas. When bringing this new technology from theory to practice, it is important to understand massive MIMO behavior in real propagation channels using practical antenna arrays. Not much has been known about real massive MIMO channels, and whether the claims about massive MIMO still hold there, until the studies in this thesis were done. The thesis study connects the "ideal" world of theory to the "non-ideal" reality. Channel measurements for massive MIMO in the 2.6 GHz band were performed, in different propagation environments and using different types of antenna arrays. Based on obtained real-life channel data, the studies include • channel characterization to identify important massive MIMO properties, • evaluation of propagation conditions in real channels and corresponding massive MIMO performance, • channel modeling for massive MIMO to capture the identified channel properties, and • reduction of massive MIMO hardware complexity through antenna selection. The investigations in the thesis conclude that massive MIMO works efficiently in real propagation environments. The theoretical advantages, as observed in i.i.d. Rayleigh channels, can also be harvested in real channels. Important propagation effects are identified for massive MIMO scenarios, including channel variations over large arrays, multipath-component (MPC) lifetime, and 3D propagation. These propagation properties are modeled and included into the COST 2100 MIMO channel model as an extension for massive MIMO. The study on antenna selection shows that characteristics in real channels allow for significant reductions of massive MIMO complexity without significant performance loss. As one of the world's first research work on massive MIMO behavior in real propagation channels, the studies in this thesis promote massive MIMO as a practical technology for future communication systems

    Richtungsaufgelöste Kanalmodellierung und Systemstudien für Mehrantennensysteme in urbanen Gebieten

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    Das vorliegende Buch bietet eine umfassende Analyse des urbanen Mehrnutzer-MIMO-Funkkanals und stellt ein neuartiges geometrisch-stochastisches Kanalmodell für diesen Kanal vor. Besonderes Augenmerk liegt dabei auf der realistischen Modellierung der Zeitvarianz, Frequenz- und Richtungsselektivität sowie der Nutz- und Interferenzsignale im Netz. Zur Parametrierung und Verifikation des Modells werden Ray Tracing Simulationen sowie beidseitig richtungsaufgelöste Funkkanalmessungen eingesetzt

    1-D broadside-radiating leaky-wave antenna based on a numerically synthesized impedance surface

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    A newly-developed deterministic numerical technique for the automated design of metasurface antennas is applied here for the first time to the design of a 1-D printed Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA) for broadside radiation. The surface impedance synthesis process does not require any a priori knowledge on the impedance pattern, and starts from a mask constraint on the desired far-field and practical bounds on the unit cell impedance values. The designed reactance surface for broadside radiation exhibits a non conventional patterning; this highlights the merit of using an automated design process for a design well known to be challenging for analytical methods. The antenna is physically implemented with an array of metal strips with varying gap widths and simulation results show very good agreement with the predicted performance

    Beam scanning by liquid-crystal biasing in a modified SIW structure

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    A fixed-frequency beam-scanning 1D antenna based on Liquid Crystals (LCs) is designed for application in 2D scanning with lateral alignment. The 2D array environment imposes full decoupling of adjacent 1D antennas, which often conflicts with the LC requirement of DC biasing: the proposed design accommodates both. The LC medium is placed inside a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) modified to work as a Groove Gap Waveguide, with radiating slots etched on the upper broad wall, that radiates as a Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA). This allows effective application of the DC bias voltage needed for tuning the LCs. At the same time, the RF field remains laterally confined, enabling the possibility to lay several antennas in parallel and achieve 2D beam scanning. The design is validated by simulation employing the actual properties of a commercial LC medium
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