Improved Spatial Modulation Techniques for Wireless Communications

Transmission and reception methods with multiple antennas have been demonstrated to be very useful in providing high data rates and improving reliability in wireless communications. In particular, spatial modulation (SM) has recently emerged as an attractive transmission method for multiple-antennas systems due to its better energy efficiency and lower system complexity. This thesis is concerned with developing transmission techniques to improve the spectral efficiency of SM where antenna/subcarrier index involves in conveying information bits. In the first part of the thesis, new transmission techniques are developed for SM over frequency-flat fading channels. The first proposed scheme is based on a high-rate space-time block code instead of using the classical Alamouti STBC, which helps to increase the spectral efficiency and achieve a transmit diversity order of two. A simplified maximum likelihood detection is also developed for this proposed scheme. Analysis of coding gains and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms previously-proposed SM schemes at high data transmission rates. Then, a new space-shift keying (SSK) modulation scheme is proposed which requires a smaller number of transmit antennas than that required in the bi-space shift keying (BiSSK). Such a proposed SSK-based scheme is obtained by multiplexing two in-phase and quadrature generalized SSK streams and optimizing the carrier signals transmitted by the activated antennas. Performance of the proposed scheme is compared with other SSK-based schemes via minimum Euclidean distance analysis and computer simulation. The third scheme proposed in this part is an improved version of quadrature SM (QSM). The main feature of this proposed scheme is to send a second constellation symbol over the in-phase and quadrature antenna dimensions. A significant performance advantage of the proposed scheme is realized at the cost of a slight increase in the number of radio-frequency (RF) chains. Performance comparisons with the most recent SM schemes confirm the advantage of the proposed scheme. The last contribution of the first part is an optimal constellation design for QSM to minimize the average probability of error. It is shown that, the error performance of QSM not only depends on the Euclidean distances between the amplitude phase modulation (APM) symbols and the energies of APM symbols, but also on the in-phase and quadrature components of the QSM symbols. The analysis of the union bound of the average error probability reveals that at a very large number of transmit antennas, the optimal constellations for QSM converge to a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) constellation. Simulation results demonstrate the performance superiority of the obtained constellations over other modulation schemes. In the second part of the thesis, the applications of SM in frequency-selective fading channels are studied. First, a new transmission scheme that employs SM for each group of subcarriers in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission is investigated. Specifically, OFDM symbols in each group are passed through a precoder to maximize the diversity and coding gains, while SM is applied in each group to convey more information bits by antenna indices. Performance analysis and simulation results are carried out to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme over a previously-proposed combination of SM and OFDM. Next, the performance of OFDM based on index modulation and a flexible version of OFDM, knows as OFDM with multiple constellations, is compared for both case of "no precoding'' and "with precoding'' of data symbols. It is shown that the precoded OFDM with multiple constellations outperforms precoded-IM based OFDM systems over frequency-selective fading channels. The last part of the thesis investigates a multiuser downlink transmission system based on in-phase and quadrature space-shift keying modulation and precoding to reduce the minimum number of transmit antennas while keeping the complexity of the receiver low. In addition to the maximum likelihood (ML) detection, the low complexity zero forcing (ZF) receiver is also studied. Theoretical upper bounds for the error probabilities of both ML and ZF receivers are obtained and corroborated with simulation results

Linear Transmit-Receive Strategies for Multi-user MIMO Wireless Communications

Die Notwendigkeit zur Unterdrueckung von Interferenzen auf der einen Seite und zur Ausnutzung der durch Mehrfachzugriffsverfahren erzielbaren Gewinne auf der anderen Seite rueckte die raeumlichen Mehrfachzugriffsverfahren (Space Division Multiple Access, SDMA) in den Fokus der Forschung. Ein Vertreter der raeumlichen Mehrfachzugriffsverfahren, die lineare Vorkodierung, fand aufgrund steigender Anzahl an Nutzern und Antennen in heutigen und zukuenftigen Mobilkommunikationssystemen besondere Beachtung, da diese Verfahren das Design von Algorithmen zur Vorcodierung vereinfachen. Aus diesem Grund leistet diese Dissertation einen Beitrag zur Entwicklung linearer Sende- und Empfangstechniken fuer MIMO-Technologie mit mehreren Nutzern. Zunaechst stellen wir ein Framework zur Approximation des Datendurchsatzes in Broadcast-MIMO-Kanaelen mit mehreren Nutzern vor. In diesem Framework nehmen wir das lineare Vorkodierverfahren regularisierte Blockdiagonalisierung (RBD) an. Durch den Vergleich von Dirty Paper Coding (DPC) und linearen Vorkodieralgorithmen (z.B. Zero Forcing (ZF) und Blockdiagonalisierung (BD)) ist es uns moeglich, untere und obere Schranken fuer den Unterschied bezueglich Datenraten und bezueglich Leistung zwischen beiden anzugeben. Im Weiteren entwickeln wir einen Algorithmus fuer koordiniertes Beamforming (Coordinated Beamforming, CBF), dessen Loesung sich in geschlossener Form angeben laesst. Dieser CBF-Algorithmus basiert auf der SeDJoCo-Transformation und loest bisher vorhandene Probleme im Bereich CBF. Im Anschluss schlagen wir einen iterativen CBF-Algorithmus namens FlexCoBF (flexible coordinated beamforming) fuer MIMO-Broadcast-Kanaele mit mehreren Nutzern vor. Im Vergleich mit bis dato existierenden iterativen CBF-Algorithmen kann als vielversprechendster Vorteil die freie Wahl der linearen Sende- und Empfangsstrategie herausgestellt werden. Das heisst, jede existierende Methode der linearen Vorkodierung kann als Sendestrategie genutzt werden, waehrend die Strategie zum Empfangsbeamforming frei aus MRC oder MMSE gewaehlt werden darf. Im Hinblick auf Szenarien, in denen Mobilfunkzellen in Clustern zusammengefasst sind, erweitern wir FlexCoBF noch weiter. Hier wurde das Konzept der koordinierten Mehrpunktverbindung (Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) transmission) integriert. Zuletzt stellen wir drei Moeglichkeiten vor, Kanalzustandsinformationen (Channel State Information, CSI) unter verschiedenen Kanalumstaenden zu erlangen. Die Qualitaet der Kanalzustandsinformationen hat einen starken Einfluss auf die Guete des Uebertragungssystems. Die durch unsere neuen Algorithmen erzielten Verbesserungen haben wir mittels numerischer Simulationen von Summenraten und Bitfehlerraten belegt.In order to combat interference and exploit large multiplexing gains of the multi-antenna systems, a particular interest in spatial division multiple access (SDMA) techniques has emerged. Linear precoding techniques, as one of the SDMA strategies, have obtained more attention due to the fact that an increasing number of users and antennas involved into the existing and future mobile communication systems requires a simplification of the precoding design. Therefore, this thesis contributes to the design of linear transmit and receive strategies for multi-user MIMO broadcast channels in a single cell and clustered multiple cells. First, we present a throughput approximation framework for multi-user MIMO broadcast channels employing regularized block diagonalization (RBD) linear precoding. Comparing dirty paper coding (DPC) and linear precoding algorithms (e.g., zero forcing (ZF) and block diagonalization (BD)), we further quantify lower and upper bounds of the rate and power offset between them as a function of the system parameters such as the number of users and antennas. Next, we develop a novel closed-form coordinated beamforming (CBF) algorithm (i.e., SeDJoCo based closed-form CBF) to solve the existing open problem of CBF. Our new algorithm can support a MIMO system with an arbitrary number of users and transmit antennas. Moreover, the application of our new algorithm is not only for CBF, but also for blind source separation (BSS), since the same mathematical model has been used in BSS application.Then, we further propose a new iterative CBF algorithm (i.e., flexible coordinated beamforming (FlexCoBF)) for multi-user MIMO broadcast channels. Compared to the existing iterative CBF algorithms, the most promising advantage of our new algorithm is that it provides freedom in the choice of the linear transmit and receive beamforming strategies, i.e., any existing linear precoding method can be chosen as the transmit strategy and the receive beamforming strategy can be flexibly chosen from MRC or MMSE receivers. Considering clustered multiple cell scenarios, we extend the FlexCoBF algorithm further and introduce the concept of the coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission. Finally, we present three strategies for channel state information (CSI) acquisition regarding various channel conditions and channel estimation strategies. The CSI knowledge is required at the base station in order to implement SDMA techniques. The quality of the obtained CSI heavily affects the system performance. The performance enhancement achieved by our new strategies has been demonstrated by numerical simulation results in terms of the system sum rate and the bit error rate

Multiuser MIMO techniques with feedback

Kooperative Antennenanlagen haben vor kurzem einen heißen Forschungsthema geworden, da Sie deutlich höhere spektrale Effizienz als herkömmliche zelluläre Systeme versprechen. Der Gewinn wird durch die Eliminierung von Inter-Zelle Störungen (ICI) durch Koordinierung der-Antenne Übertragungen erworben. Vor kurzem, verteilte Organisation Methoden vorgeschlagen. Eine der größten Herausforderungen für das Dezentrale kooperative Antennensystem ist Kanalschätzung für den Downlink Kanal besonders wenn FDD verwendet wird. Alle zugehörigen Basisstationen im genossenschaftlichen Bereich müssen die vollständige Kanal Informationen zu Wissen, die entsprechenden precoding Gewicht Matrix zu berechnen. Diese Information ist von mobilen Stationen übertragen werden Stationen mit Uplink Ressourcen zu stützen. Wird als mehrere Basisstationen und mehreren mobilen Stationen in kooperativen Antennensysteme und jede Basisstation und Mobilstation beteiligt sind, können mit mehreren Antennen ausgestattet sein, die Anzahl der Kanal Parameter wieder gefüttert werden erwartet, groß zu sein. In dieser Arbeit wird ein effizientes Feedback Techniken der downlink Kanal Informationen sind für die Multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output Fall vorgeschlagen, der insbesondere auf verteilte kooperative Antennensysteme zielt. Zuerst wird ein Unterraum-basiertes Kanalquantisierungsverfahren vorgeschlagen, das ein vorbestimmtes Codebuch verwendet. Ein iterativer Codebuchentwurfsalgorithmus wird vorgeschlagen, der zu einem lokalen optimalen Codebuch konvergiert. Darüber hinaus werden Feedback-Overhead-Reduktionsverfahren entwickelt, die die zeitliche Korrelation des Kanals ausnutzen. Es wird gezeigt, dass das vorgeschlagene adaptive Codebuchverfahren in Verbindung mit einem Datenkomprimierungsschema eine Leistung nahe an dem perfekten Kanalfall erzielt, was viel weniger Rückkopplungsoverhead im Vergleich zu anderen Techniken erfordert. Das auf dem Unterraum basierende Kanalquantisierungsverfahren wird erweitert, indem mehrere Antennen auf der Senderseite und/oder auf der Empfängerseite eingeführt werden, und die Leistung eines Vorcodierungs- (/Decodierungs-) Schemas mit regulierter Blockdiagonalisierung (RBD) wurde untersucht. Es wird ein kosteneffizientes Decodierungsmatrixquantisierungsverfahren vorgeschlagen, dass eine komplexe Berechnung an der Mobilstation vermeiden kann, während es nur eine leichte Verschlechterung zeigt. Die Arbeit wird abgeschlossen, indem die vorgeschlagenen Feedback-Methoden hinsichtlich ihrer Leistung, ihres erforderlichen Feedback-Overheads und ihrer Rechenkomplexität verglichen werden.Cooperative antenna systems have recently become a hot research topic, as they promise significantly higher spectral efficiency than conventional cellular systems. The gain is acquired by eliminating inter-cell interference (ICI) through coordination of the base antenna transmissions. Recently, distributed organization methods have been suggested. One of the main challenges of the distributed cooperative antenna system is channel estimation for the downlink channel especially when FDD is used. All of the associated base stations in the cooperative area need to know the full channel state information to calculate the corresponding precoding weight matrix. This information has to be transferred from mobile stations to base stations by using uplink resources. As several base stations and several mobile stations are involved in cooperative antenna systems and each base station and mobile station may be equipped with multiple antennas, the number of channel state parameters to be fed back is expected to be big. In this thesis, efficient feedback techniques of the downlink channel state information are proposed for the multi-user multiple-input multiple-output case, targeting distributed cooperative antenna systems in particular. First, a subspace based channel quantization method is proposed which employs a predefined codebook. An iterative codebook design algorithm is proposed which converges to a local optimum codebook. Furthermore, feedback overhead reduction methods are devised exploiting temporal correlation of the channel. It is shown that the proposed adaptive codebook method in conjunction with a data compression scheme achieves a performance close to the perfect channel case, requiring much less feedback overhead compared with other techniques. The subspace based channel quantization method is extended by introducing multiple antennas at the transmitter side and/or at the receiver side and the performance of a regularized block diagonalization (RBD) precoding(/decoding) scheme has been investigated as well as a zero-forcing (ZF) precoding scheme. A cost-efficient decoding matrix quantization method is proposed which can avoid a complex computation at the mobile station while showing only a slight degradation. The thesis is concluded by comparing the proposed feedback methods in terms of their performance, their required feedback overhead, and their computational complexity. The techniques that are developed in this thesis can be useful and applicable for 5G, which is envisioned to support the high granularity/resolution codebook and its efficient deployment schemes. Keywords: MU-MIMO, COOPA, limited feedback, CSI, CQ, feedback overhead reduction, Givens rotatio

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

Index Modulation Techniques for Energy-efficient Transmission in Large-scale MIMO Systems

This thesis exploits index modulation techniques to design energy- and spectrum-efficient system models to operate in future wireless networks. In this respect, index modulation techniques are studied considering two different media: mapping the information onto the frequency indices of multicarrier systems, and onto the antenna array indices of a platform that comprises multiple antennas. The index modulation techniques in wideband communication scenarios considering orthogonal and generalized frequency division multiplexing systems are studied first. Single cell multiuser networks are considered while developing the system models that exploit the index modulation on the subcarriers of the multicarrier systems. Instead of actively modulating all the subcarriers, a subset is selected according to the index modulation bits. As a result, there are subcarriers that remain idle during the data transmission phase and the activation pattern of the subcarriers convey additional information. The transceivers for the orthogonal and generalized frequency division multiplexing systems with index modulation are both designed considering the uplink and downlink transmission phases with a linear combiner and precoder in order to reduce the system complexity. In the developed system models, channel state information is required only at the base station. The linear combiner is designed adopting minimum mean square error method to mitigate the inter-user-interference. The proposed system models offer a flexible design as the parameters are independent of each other. The parameters can be adjusted to design the system in favor of the energy efficiency, spectrum efficiency, peak-to-average power ratio, or error performance. Then, the index modulation techniques are studied for large-scale multiple-input multiple-output systems that operate in millimeter wave bands. In order to overcome the drawbacks of transmission in millimeter wave frequencies, channel properties should be taken in to account while envisaging the wireless communication network. The large-scale multiple-input multiple-output systems increase the degrees of freedom in the spatial domain. This feature can be exploited to focus the transmit power directly onto the intended receiver terminal to cope with the severe path-loss. However, scaling up the number of hardware elements results in excessive power consumption. Hybrid architectures provide a remedy by shifting a part of the signal processing to the analog domain. In this way, the number of bulky and high power consuming hardware elements can be reduced. However, there will be a performance degradation as a consequence of renouncing the fully digital signal processing. Index modulation techniques can be combined with the hybrid system architecture to compensate the loss in spectrum efficiency to further increase the data rates. A user terminal architecture is designed that employs analog beamforming together with spatial modulation where a part of the information bits is mapped onto the indices of the antenna arrays. The system is comprised a switching stage that allocates the user terminal antennas on the phase shifter groups to minimize the spatial correlation, and a phase shifting stage that maximizes the beamforming gain to combat the path-loss. A computationally efficient optimization algorithm is developed to configure the system. The flexibility of the architecture enables optimization of the hybrid transceiver at any signal-to-noise ratio values. A base station is designed in which hybrid beamforming together with spatial modulation is employed. The analog beamformer is designed to point the transmit beam only in the direction of the intended user terminal to mitigate leakage of the transmit power to other directions. The analog beamformer to transmit the signal is chosen based on the spatial modulation bits. The digital precoder is designed to eliminate the inter-user-interference by exploiting the zero-forcing method. The base station computes the hybrid beamformers and the digital combiners, and only feeds back the digital combiners of each antenna array-user pair to the related user terminals. Thus, a low complexity user architecture is sufficient to achieve a higher performance. The developed optimization framework for the energy efficiency jointly optimizes the number of served users and the total transmit power by utilizing the derived upper bound of the achievable rate. The proposed transceiver architectures provide a more energy-efficient system model compared to the hybrid systems in which the spatial modulation technique is not exploited. This thesis develops low-complexity system models that operate in narrowband and wideband channel environments to meet the energy and spectrum efficiency demands of future wireless networks. It is corroborated in the thesis that adopting index modulation techniques both in the systems improves the system performance in various aspects.:1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation 1 1.2 Overview and Contribution 2 1.3 Outline 9 2 Preliminaries and Fundamentals 13 2.1 Multicarrier Systems 13 2.2 Large-scale Multiple Input Multiple Output Systems 17 2.3 Index Modulation Techniques 19 2.4 Single Cell Multiuser Networks 22 3 Multicarrier Systems with Index Modulation 27 3.1 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing 28 3.2 Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing 40 3.3 Summary 52 4 Hybrid Beamforming with Spatial Modulation 55 4.1 Uplink Transmission 56 4.2 Downlink Transmission 74 4.3 Summary 106 5 Conclusion and Outlook 109 5.1 Conclusion 109 5.2 Outlook 111 A Quantization Error Derivations 113 B On the Achievable Rate of Gaussian Mixtures 115 B.1 The Conditional Density Function 115 B.2 Tight Bounds on the Differential Entropy 116 B.3 A Bound on the Achievable Rate 118 C Multiuser MIMO Downlink without Spatial Modulation 121 Bibliograph