Design guidelines for spatial modulation

A new class of low-complexity, yet energyefficient Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) transmission techniques, namely the family of Spatial Modulation (SM) aided MIMOs (SM-MIMO) has emerged. These systems are capable of exploiting the spatial dimensions (i.e. the antenna indices) as an additional dimension invoked for transmitting information, apart from the traditional Amplitude and Phase Modulation (APM). SM is capable of efficiently operating in diverse MIMO configurations in the context of future communication systems. It constitutes a promising transmission candidate for large-scale MIMO design and for the indoor optical wireless communication whilst relying on a single-Radio Frequency (RF) chain. Moreover, SM may also be viewed as an entirely new hybrid modulation scheme, which is still in its infancy. This paper aims for providing a general survey of the SM design framework as well as of its intrinsic limits. In particular, we focus our attention on the associated transceiver design, on spatial constellation optimization, on link adaptation techniques, on distributed/ cooperative protocol design issues, and on their meritorious variants

Detect-and-forward relaying aided cooperative spatial modulation for wireless networks

A novel detect-and-forward (DeF) relaying aided cooperative SM scheme is proposed, which is capable of striking a flexible tradeoff in terms of the achievable bit error ratio (BER), complexity and unequal error protection (UEP). More specifically, SM is invoked at the source node (SN) and the information bit stream is divided into two different sets: the antenna index-bits (AI-bits) as well as the amplitude and phase modulation-bits (APM-bits). By exploiting the different importance of the AI-bits and the APM-bits in SM detection, we propose three low-complexity, yet powerful relay protocols, namely the partial, the hybrid and the hierarchical modulation (HM) based DeF relaying schemes. These schemes determine the most appropriate number of bits to be re-modulated by carefully considering their potential benefits and then assigning a specific modulation scheme for relaying the message. As a further benefit, the employment of multiple radio frequency (RF) chains and the requirement of tight inter-relay synchronization (IRS) can be avoided. Moreover, by exploiting the benefits of our low-complexity relaying protocols and our inter-element interference (IEI) model, a low-complexity maximum-likelihood (ML) detector is proposed for jointly detecting the signal received both via the source-destination (SD) and relay-destination (RD) links. Additionally, an upper bound of the BER is derived for our DeF-SM scheme. Our numerical results show that the bound is asymptotically tight in the high-SNR region and the proposed schemes provide beneficial system performance improvements compared to the conventional MIMO schemes in an identical cooperative scenario.<br/

On the Performance of Space Shift Keying (SSK) Modulation with Imperfect Channel Knowledge

International audienceIn this paper, we study the sensitivity and robustness of Space Shift Keying (SSK) modulation to imperfect channel knowledge at the receiver. Unlike the common widespread belief, we show that SSK modulation is more robust to imperfect channel knowledge than other state-of-the-art transmission technologies, and only few training pilots are needed to get reliable enough channel estimates for data detection. More precisely, we focus our attention on the so-called Time-Orthogonal-Signal-Design (TOSD-) SSK modulation scheme, which is an improved version of SSK modulation offering transmit-diversity gains, and provide the following contributions: i) we develop a closed- form analytical framework to compute the Average Bit Error Probability (ABEP) of a mismatched detector for TOSD-SSK modulation, which can be used for arbitrary transmit-antenna, receive-antenna, channel fading, and training pilots; ii) we perform a comparative study of the performance of TOSD-SSK modulation and the Alamouti code under the same imperfect channel knowledge, and show that TOSD-SSK modulation is more robust to channel estimation errors; iii) we point out that only few pilot pulses are required to get performance very close to the perfect channel knowledge lower-bound; and iv) we verify that transmit- and receive-diversity gains of TOSD-SSK modulation are preserved even for a mismatched receiver

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

Space Shift Keying (SSK-) MIMO with Practical Channel Estimates

International audienceIn this paper, we study the performance of space modulation for Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless systems with imperfect channel knowledge at the receiver. We focus our attention on two transmission technologies, which are the building blocks of space modulation: i) Space Shift Keying (SSK) modulation; and ii) Time-Orthogonal-Signal-Design (TOSD-) SSK modulation, which is an improved version of SSK modulation providing transmit-diversity. We develop a single- integral closed-form analytical framework to compute the Average Bit Error Probability (ABEP) of a mismatched detector for both SSK and TOSD-SSK modulations. The framework exploits the theory of quadratic-forms in conditional complex Gaussian Random Variables (RVs) along with the Gil-Pelaez inversion theorem. The analytical model is very general and can be used for arbitrary transmit- and receive-antennas, fading distributions, fading spatial correlations, and training pilots. The analytical derivation is substantiated through Monte Carlo simulations, and it is shown, over independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading channels, that SSK modulation is as robust as single-antenna systems to imperfect channel knowledge, and that TOSD-SSK modulation is more robust to channel estimation errors than the Alamouti scheme. Furthermore, it is pointed out that only few training pilots are needed to get reliable enough channel estimates for data detection, and that transmit- and receive-diversity of SSK and TOSD-SSK modulations are preserved even with imperfect channel knowledge

Advanced Trends in Wireless Communications

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

Frequency hopping in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are nowadays being used to collectively gather and spread information in different kinds of applications, for military, civilian, environmental as well as commercial purposes. Therefore the proper functioning of WSNs under different kinds of environmental conditions, especially hostile environments, is a must and a lot of research currently ongoing. The problems related to the initialization and deployment of WSNs under harsh and resource limited conditions are investigated in this thesis. Frequency hopping (FH) is a spread spectrum technique in which multiple channels are used, or hoped, for communications across the network. This mitigates the worst effects of interference with frequency agile communication systems rather than by brute force approaches. FH is a promising technique for achieving the coexistence of sensor networks with other currently existing wireless systems, and it is successful within the somewhat limited computational capabilities of the sensor nodes hardware radios. In this thesis, a FH scheme for WSNs is implemented for a pair of nodes on an application layer. The merits and demerits of the scheme are studied for different kinds of WSN environments. The implementation has been done using a Sensinode NanoStack, a communication stack for internet protocol (IP) based wireless sensor networks and a Sensinode Devkit, for an IPv6 over low power wireless personal area network (6LoWPAN). The measurements are taken from the developed test bed and channel simulator for different kinds of scenarios. The detailed analysis of the FH scheme is done to determine its usefulness against interference from other wireless systems, especially wireless local area networks (WLANs), and the robustness of the scheme to combat fading or frequency selective fading

Hybrid Iterative Multiuser Detection for Channel Coded Space Division Multiple Access OFDM Systems

Space division multiple access (SDMA) aided orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems assisted by efficient multiuser detection (MUD) techniques have recently attracted intensive research interests. The maximum likelihood detection (MLD) arrangement was found to attain the best performance, although this was achieved at the cost of a computational complexity, which increases exponentially both with the number of users and with the number of bits per symbol transmitted by higher order modulation schemes. By contrast, the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) SDMA-MUD exhibits a lower complexity at the cost of a performance loss. Forward error correction (FEC) schemes such as, for example, turbo trellis coded modulation (TTCM), may be efficiently combined with SDMA-OFDM systems for the sake of improving the achievable performance. Genetic algorithm (GA) based multiuser detection techniques have been shown to provide a good performance in MUD-aided code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. In this contribution, a GA-aided MMSE MUD is proposed for employment in a TTCM assisted SDMA-OFDM system, which is capable of achieving a similar performance to that attained by its optimum MLD-aided counterpart at a significantly lower complexity, especially at high user loads. Moreover, when the proposed biased Q-function based mutation (BQM) assisted iterative GA (IGA) MUD is employed, the GA-aided system’s performance can be further improved, for example, by reducing the bit error ratio (BER) measured at 3 dB by about five orders of magnitude in comparison to the TTCM assisted MMSE-SDMA-OFDM benchmarker system, while still maintaining modest complexity