Implementable Wireless Access for B3G Networks - III: Complexity Reducing Transceiver Structures

This article presents a comprehensive overview of some of the research conducted within Mobile VCE’s Core Wireless Access Research Programme,1 a key focus of which has naturally been on MIMO transceivers. The series of articles offers a coherent view of how the work was structured and comprises a compilation of material that has been presented in detail elsewhere (see references within the article). In this article MIMO channel measurements, analysis, and modeling, which were presented previously in the first article in this series of four, are utilized to develop compact and distributed antenna arrays. Parallel activities led to research into low-complexity MIMO single-user spacetime coding techniques, as well as SISO and MIMO multi-user CDMA-based transceivers for B3G systems. As well as feeding into the industry’s in-house research program, significant extensions of this work are now in hand, within Mobile VCE’s own core activity, aiming toward securing major improvements in delivery efficiency in future wireless systems through crosslayer operation

Near-Instantaneously Adaptive HSDPA-Style OFDM Versus MC-CDMA Transceivers for WIFI, WIMAX, and Next-Generation Cellular Systems

Burts-by-burst (BbB) adaptive high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) style multicarrier systems are reviewed, identifying their most critical design aspects. These systems exhibit numerous attractive features, rendering them eminently eligible for employment in next-generation wireless systems. It is argued that BbB-adaptive or symbol-by-symbol adaptive orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) modems counteract the near instantaneous channel quality variations and hence attain an increased throughput or robustness in comparison to their fixed-mode counterparts. Although they act quite differently, various diversity techniques, such as Rake receivers and space-time block coding (STBC) are also capable of mitigating the channel quality variations in their effort to reduce the bit error ratio (BER), provided that the individual antenna elements experience independent fading. By contrast, in the presence of correlated fading imposed by shadowing or time-variant multiuser interference, the benefits of space-time coding erode and it is unrealistic to expect that a fixed-mode space-time coded system remains capable of maintaining a near-constant BER

Performance of turbo multi-user detectors in space-time coded DS-CDMA systems

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-123).In this thesis we address the problem of improving the uplink capacity and the performance of a DS-CDMA system by combining MUD and turbo decoding. These two are combined following the turbo principle. Depending on the concatenation scheme used, we divide these receivers into the Partitioned Approach (PA) and the Iterative Approach (IA) receivers. To enable the iterative exchange of information, these receivers employ a Parallel Interference Cancellation (PIC) detector as the first receiver stage

MIMO-aided near-capacity turbo transceivers: taxonomy and performance versus complexity

In this treatise, we firstly review the associated Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) system theory and review the family of hard-decision and soft-decision based detection algorithms in the context of Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) systems. Our discussions culminate in the introduction of a range of powerful novel MIMO detectors, such as for example Markov Chain assisted Minimum Bit-Error Rate (MC-MBER) detectors, which are capable of reliably operating in the challenging high-importance rank-deficient scenarios, where there are more transmitters than receivers and hence the resultant channel-matrix becomes non-invertible. As a result, conventional detectors would exhibit a high residual error floor. We then invoke the Soft-Input Soft-Output (SISO) MIMO detectors for creating turbo-detected two- or three-stage concatenated SDM schemes and investigate their attainable performance in the light of their computational complexity. Finally, we introduce the powerful design tools of EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT)-charts and characterize the achievable performance of the diverse near- capacity SISO detectors with the aid of EXIT charts

A General Framework for Analyzing, Characterizing, and Implementing Spectrally Modulated, Spectrally Encoded Signals

Fourth generation (4G) communications will support many capabilities while providing universal, high speed access. One potential enabler for these capabilities is software defined radio (SDR). When controlled by cognitive radio (CR) principles, the required waveform diversity is achieved via a synergistic union called CR-based SDR. Research is rapidly progressing in SDR hardware and software venues, but current CR-based SDR research lacks the theoretical foundation and analytic framework to permit efficient implementation. This limitation is addressed here by introducing a general framework for analyzing, characterizing, and implementing spectrally modulated, spectrally encoded (SMSE) signals within CR-based SDR architectures. Given orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a 4G candidate signal, OFDM-based signals are collectively classified as SMSE since modulation and encoding are spectrally applied. The proposed framework provides analytic commonality and unification of SMSE signals. Applicability is first shown for candidate 4G signals, and resultant analytic expressions agree with published results. Implementability is then demonstrated in multiple coexistence scenarios via modeling and simulation to reinforce practical utility

Hybrid ARQ with parallel and serial concatenated convolutional codes for next generation wireless communications

This research focuses on evaluating the currently used FEC encoding-decoding schemes and improving the performance of error control systems by incorporating these schemes in a hybrid FEC-ARQ environment. Beginning with an overview of wireless communications and the various ARQ protocols, the thesis provides an in-depth explanation of convolutional encoding and Viterbi decoding, turbo (PCCC) and serial concatenated convolutional (SCCC) encoding with their respective MAP decoding strategies.;A type-II hybrid ARQ scheme with SCCCs is proposed for the first time and is a major contribution of this thesis. A vast improvement is seen in the BER performance of the successive individual FEC schemes discussed above. Also, very high throughputs can be achieved when these schemes are incorporated in an adaptive type-II hybrid ARQ system.;Finally, the thesis discusses the equivalence of the PCCCs and the SCCCs and proposes a technique to generate a hybrid code using both schemes

Evaluation of Overlay/underlay Waveform via SD-SMSE Framework for Enhancing Spectrum Efficiency

Recent studies have suggested that spectrum congestion is mainly due to the inefficient use of spectrum rather than its unavailability. Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) and Cognitive Radio (CR) are two terminologies which are used in the context of improved spectrum efficiency and usage. The DSA concept has been around for quite some time while the advent of CR has created a paradigm shift in wireless communications and instigated a change in FCC policy towards spectrum regulations. DSA can be broadly categorized as using a 1) Dynamic Exclusive Use Model, 2) Spectrum Commons or Open sharing model or 3) Hierarchical Access model. The hierarchical access model envisions primary licensed bands, to be opened up for secondary users, while inducing a minimum acceptable interference to primary users. Spectrum overlay and spectrum underlay technologies fall within the hierarchical model, and allow primary and secondary users to coexist while improving spectrum efficiency. Spectrum overlay in conjunction with the present CR model considers only the unused (white) spectral regions while in spectrum underlay the underused (gray) spectral regions are utilized. The underlay approach is similar to ultra wide band (UWB) and spread spectrum (SS) techniques utilize much wider spectrum and operate below the noise floor of primary users. Software defined radio (SDR) is considered a key CR enabling technology. Spectrally modulated, Spectrally encoded (SMSE) multi-carrier signals such as Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) and Multi-carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MCCDMA) are hailed as candidate CR waveforms. The SMSE structure supports and is well-suited for SDR based CR applications. This work began by developing a general soft decision (SD) CR framework, based on a previously developed SMSE framework that combines benefits of both the overlay and underlay techniques to improve spectrum efficiency and maximizing the channel capacity. The resultant SD-SMSE framework provides a user with considerable flexibility to choose overlay, underlay or hybrid overlay/underlay waveform depending on the scenario, situation or need. Overlay/Underlay SD-SMSE framework flexibility is demonstrated by applying it to a family of SMSE modulated signals such as OFDM, MCCDMA, Carrier Interferometry (CI) MCCDMA and Transform Domain Communication System (TDCS). Based on simulation results, a performance analysis of Overlay, Underlay and hybrid Overlay/Underlay waveforms are presented. Finally, the benefits of combining overlay/underlay techniques to improve spectrum efficiency and maximize channel capacity are addressed

Semi-blind channel estimation for multiuser OFDM-IDMA systems.

M. Sc. Eng. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.Over the last decade, the data rate and spectral efficiency of wireless mobile communications have been significantly enhanced. OFDM technology has been used in the development of advanced systems such as 3GPP LTE and terrestrial digital TV broadcasting. In general, bits of information in mobile communication systems are conveyed through radio links to receivers. The radio channels in mobile radio systems are usually multipath fading channels, which cause inter-symbol interference (ISI) in the received signal. The ability to know the channel impulse response (CIR) and Channel State Information (CSI) helps to remove the ISI from the signal and make coherent detection of the transmitted signal at the receiver end of the system easy and simple. The information about CIR and CSI are primarily provided by channel estimation. This thesis is focused on the development of multiple access communication technique, Multicarrier Interleave Division Multiple Access (MC-IDMA) and the corresponding estimation of the system channel. It compares various efficient channel estimation algorithms. Channel estimation of OFDM-IDMA scheme is important because the emphasis from previous studies assumed the implementation of MC-IDMA in a perfect scenario, where Channel State Information (CSI) is known. MC-IDMA technique incorporates three key features that will be common to the next generation communication systems; multiple access capability, resistance to multipath fading and high bandwidth efficiency. OFDM is almost completely immune to multipath fading effects and IDMA has a recently proposed multiuser capability scheme which employs random interleavers as the only method for user separation. MC-IDMA combines the features of OFDM and IDMA to produce a system that is Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) free and has higher data rate capabilities for multiple users simultaneously. The interleaver property of IDMA is used by MC-IDMA as the only means by which users are separated at the receiver and also its entire bandwidth expansion is devoted to low rate Forward Error Correction (FEC). This provides additional coding gain which is not present in conventional Multicarrier Multiuser systems, (MC-MU) such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Multicarrier-Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA) systems, and others. The effect of channel fading and both cross-cell and intra-cell Multiple Access Interference (MAI) in MC-IDMA is suppressed efficiently by its low-cost turbo-type Chip-by-Chip (CBC) multiuser detection algorithm. We present the basic principles of OFDM-IDMA transmitter and receiver. Comparative studies between Multiple Access Scheme such as Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), CDMA and IDMA are carried out. A linear Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE)-based estimation algorithm is adopted and implemented. This proposed algorithm is a non-data aided method that focuses on obtaining the CSI, remove ISI and reduce the complexity of the MMSE algorithm. However, to obtain a better and improved system performance, an improved MMSE algorithm and simplified MMSE using the structured correlation and reduced auto-covariance matrix are developed in this thesis and proposed for implementation of semi-blind channel estimation in OFDM-IDMA communication systems. The effectiveness of the adopted and proposed algorithms are implemented in a Rayleigh fading multipath channel with varying mobile speeds thus demonstrating the performance of the system in a practical scenario. Also, the implemented algorithms are compared to ascertain which of these algorithms offers a better and more efficient system performance, and with less complexity. The performance of the channel estimation algorithm is presented in terms of the mean square error (MSE) and bit error rate (BER) in both slow fading and fast fading multipath scenarios and the results are documented as well