Beyond Gbps Turbo Decoder on Multi-Core CPUs

International audienceThis paper presents a high-throughput implementation of a portable software turbo decoder. The code is optimized for traditional multi-core CPUs (like x86) and it is based on the Enhanced max-log-MAP turbo decoding variant. The code follows the LTE-Advanced specification. The key of the high performance comes from an inter-frame SIMD strategy combined with a fixed-point representation. Our results show that proposed multi-core CPU implementation of turbo-decoders is a challenging alternative to GPU implementation in terms of throughput and energy efficiency. On a high-end processor, our software turbo-decoder exceeds 1 Gbps information throughput for all rate-1/3 LTE codes with K < 4096

AFF3CT : Un environnement de simulation pour le codage de canal

International audienceDans cet article nous présentons un environne-ment de simulation de Monte Carlo pour les systèmes de communications numériques. Nous nous focalisons en particulier sur les fonctions associées au codage de canal. Après avoir présenté les enjeux liés à la simulation , nous identifions trois problèmes inhérents à ce type de simulation. Puis nous présentons les princi-pales caractéristiques de l'environnement AFF3CT

MIPP: a Portable C++ SIMD Wrapper and its use for Error Correction Coding in 5G Standard

International audienceError correction code (ECC) processing has so far been performed on dedicated hardware for previous generations of mobile communication standards, to meet latency and bandwidth constraints. As the 5G mobile standard, and its associated channel coding algorithms , are now being specified, modern CPUs are progressing to the point where software channel decoders can viably be contemplated. A key aspect in reaching this transition point is to get the most of CPUs SIMD units on the decoding algorithms being pondered for 5G mobile standards. The nature and diversity of such algorithms requires highly versatile programming tools. This paper demonstrates the virtues and versatility of our MIPP SIMD wrapper in implementing a high performance portfolio of key ECC decoding algorithms

On the Road to 6G: Visions, Requirements, Key Technologies and Testbeds

Fifth generation (5G) mobile communication systems have entered the stage of commercial development, providing users with new services and improved user experiences as well as offering a host of novel opportunities to various industries. However, 5G still faces many challenges. To address these challenges, international industrial, academic, and standards organizations have commenced research on sixth generation (6G) wireless communication systems. A series of white papers and survey papers have been published, which aim to define 6G in terms of requirements, application scenarios, key technologies, etc. Although ITU-R has been working on the 6G vision and it is expected to reach a consensus on what 6G will be by mid-2023, the related global discussions are still wide open and the existing literature has identified numerous open issues. This paper first provides a comprehensive portrayal of the 6G vision, technical requirements, and application scenarios, covering the current common understanding of 6G. Then, a critical appraisal of the 6G network architecture and key technologies is presented. Furthermore, existing testbeds and advanced 6G verification platforms are detailed for the first time. In addition, future research directions and open challenges are identified for stimulating the on-going global debate. Finally, lessons learned to date concerning 6G networks are discussed

Recent Results on the Implementation of a Burst Error and Burst Erasure Channel Emulator Using an FPGA Architecture

The behaviour of a transmission channel may be simulated using the performance abilities of current generation multiprocessing hardware, namely, a multicore Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). These were investigated by Cullinan et al. in a recent paper (published in 2012) where these three devices capabilities were compared to determine which device would be best suited towards which specific task. In particular, it was shown that, for the application which is objective of our work (i.e., for a transmission channel simulation), the FPGA is 26.67 times faster than the GPU and 10.76 times faster than the CPU. Motivated by these results, in this paper we propose and present a direct hardware emulation. In particular, a Cyclone II FPGA architecture is implemented to simulate a burst error channel behaviour, in which errors are clustered together, and a burst erasure channel behaviour, in which the erasures are clustered together. The results presented in the paper are valid for any FPGA architecture that may be considered for this scope

Cellular, Wide-Area, and Non-Terrestrial IoT: A Survey on 5G Advances and the Road Towards 6G

The next wave of wireless technologies is proliferating in connecting things among themselves as well as to humans. In the era of the Internet of things (IoT), billions of sensors, machines, vehicles, drones, and robots will be connected, making the world around us smarter. The IoT will encompass devices that must wirelessly communicate a diverse set of data gathered from the environment for myriad new applications. The ultimate goal is to extract insights from this data and develop solutions that improve quality of life and generate new revenue. Providing large-scale, long-lasting, reliable, and near real-time connectivity is the major challenge in enabling a smart connected world. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on existing and emerging communication solutions for serving IoT applications in the context of cellular, wide-area, as well as non-terrestrial networks. Specifically, wireless technology enhancements for providing IoT access in fifth-generation (5G) and beyond cellular networks, and communication networks over the unlicensed spectrum are presented. Aligned with the main key performance indicators of 5G and beyond 5G networks, we investigate solutions and standards that enable energy efficiency, reliability, low latency, and scalability (connection density) of current and future IoT networks. The solutions include grant-free access and channel coding for short-packet communications, non-orthogonal multiple access, and on-device intelligence. Further, a vision of new paradigm shifts in communication networks in the 2030s is provided, and the integration of the associated new technologies like artificial intelligence, non-terrestrial networks, and new spectra is elaborated. Finally, future research directions toward beyond 5G IoT networks are pointed out.Comment: Submitted for review to IEEE CS&

Study of Various Motherboards

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Experimental analysis of vectorized instructions impact on energy and power consumption under thermal design power constraints

International audienceVectorized instructions were introduced to improve the performance of applications. However, they come with an increase in the power consumption cost. As a consequence, processors are designed to limit the frequency of the processors when such instructions are used in order to maintain the thermal design power.In this paper, we study and compare the impact of thermal design power and SIMD instructions on performance, power and energy consumption of processors and memory. The study is performed on three different architectures providing different characteristics and four applications with different profiles (including one application with different phases, each phase having a different profile).The study shows that, because of processor frequency, performance and power consumption are strongly related under thermal design power. It also shows that AVX512 has unexpected behavior regarding processor power consumption, while DRAM power consumption is impacted by SIMD instructions because of the generated memory throughput

Implementation of New Multiple Access Technique Encoder for 5G Wireless Telecomunication Networks

RÉSUMÉ Les exigences de la connectivité mobile massive de différents appareils et de diverses applications déterminent les besoins des prochaines générations de technologies mobiles (5G) afin de surmonter les demandes futures. L'expansion significative de la connectivité et de la densité du trafic caractérisent les besoins de la cinquième génération de réseaux mobiles. Par conséquent, pour la 5G, il est nécessaire d'avoir une densité de connectivité beaucoup plus élevée et une plus grande portée de mobilité, un débit beaucoup plus élevé et une latence beaucoup plus faible. En raison de l'exigence d'une connectivité massive, de nombreuses nouvelles technologies doivent être améliorées: le codage des canaux, la technique d'accès multiple, la modulation et la diversité, etc. Par conséquent, compte tenu de l'environnement 5G, surcoût de signalisation et de la latence devrait être pris en compte [1]. En outre, l'application de la virtualisation des accès sans fil (WAV) devrait également être considérée et, par conséquent, il est également nécessaire de concevoir la plate-forme matérielle prenant en charge les nouvelles normes pour la mise en œuvre des émetteurs-récepteurs virtuels. L'une des nouvelles technologies possibles pour la 5G est l'accès multiple pour améliorer le débit. Par conséquent, au lieu d'OFDMA utilisé dans la norme LTE (4G), l'application d'une nouvelle technique d'accès multiple appelée Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) est investiguée dans cette dissertation. SCMA est une nouvelle technique d'accès multiple non orthogonale du domaine fréquentiel proposée pour améliorer l'efficacité spectrale de l'accès radio sans fil [2]. L'encodage SCMA est l'un des algorithmes les plus simples dans les techniques d'accès multiple qui offre l'opportunité d'expérimenter des méthodes génériques de mise en oeuvre. En outre, la nouvelle méthode d'accès multiple est supposée fournir un débit plus élevé. Le choix du codage SCMA avec moins de complexité pourrait être une approche appropriée. La cible fixée pour cette recherche était d'atteindre un débit d’encodage de plus de 1 Gbps pour le codeur SCMA. Les implémentations de codage SCMA ont été effectuées à la fois en logiciel et en matériel pour permettre de les comparer. Les implémentations logicielles ont été développées avec le langage de programmation C. Parmi plusieurs conceptions, la performance a été améliorée en utilisant différentes méthodes pour augmenter le parallélisme, diminuer la complexité de calcul et par conséquent le temps de traitement.----------ABSTRACT The demands of massive mobile connectivity of different devices and diverse applications at the same time set requirments for next generations of mobile technology (5G). The significant expansion of connectivity and traffic density characterize the requirements of fifth generation mobile. Therefore, in 5G, there is a need to have much higher connectivity density, higher mobility ranges, much higher throughput, and much lower latency. In pursuance of the requirement of massive connectivity, numerous technologies must be improved: channel coding, multiple access technique, modulation and diversity, etc. For instance, with 5G, the cost of signaling overhead and latency should be taken into account [1]. Besides, applying wireless access virtualization (WAV) should be considered and there is also a need to have effective implementations supporting novel virtual transceiver. One of the possible new technologies for 5G is exploiting multiple access techniques to improve throughput. Therefore, instead of OFDMA in LTE (4G), applying a new multiple access technique called Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) is an approach considered in this dissertation. SCMA is a new frequency domain non-orthogonal multiple access technique proposed to improve spectral efficiency of wireless radio access [2]. SCMA encoding is one of the simplest multiple access technique that offers an opportunity to experiment generic implementation methods. In addition, the new multiple access method is supposed to provide higher throughput, thus choosing SCMA encoding with less complexity could be an appropriate approach. The target with SCMA was to achieve an encoding throughput of more that 1Gbps. SCMA encoding implementations were done both in software and hardware to allow comparing them. The software implementations were developed with the C programing language. Among several designs, the performance was improved by using different methods to increase parallelism, decrease the computational complexity and consequently the processing time. The best achieved results with software implementations offer a 3.59 Gbps throughput, which is 3.5 times more that the target. For hardware implementation, high level synthesis was experimented. In order to do that, the C based functions and testbenches which were developed for software implementations, were used as inputs to Vivado HLS

A White Paper on Broadband Connectivity in 6G

Executive Summary This white paper explores the road to implementing broadband connectivity in future 6G wireless systems. Different categories of use cases are considered, from extreme capacity with peak data rates up to 1 Tbps, to raising the typical data rates by orders-of-magnitude, to support broadband connectivity at railway speeds up to 1000 km/h. To achieve these goals, not only the terrestrial networks will be evolved but they will also be integrated with satellite networks, all facilitating autonomous systems and various interconnected structures. We believe that several categories of enablers at the infrastructure, spectrum, and protocol/algorithmic levels are required to realize the intended broadband connectivity goals in 6G. At the infrastructure level, we consider ultra-massive MIMO technology (possibly implemented using holographic radio), intelligent reflecting surfaces, user-centric and scalable cell-free networking, integrated access and backhaul, and integrated space and terrestrial networks. At the spectrum level, the network must seamlessly utilize sub-6 GHz bands for coverage and spatial multiplexing of many devices, while higher bands will be used for pushing the peak rates of point-to-point links. The latter path will lead to THz communications complemented by visible light communications in specific scenarios. At the protocol/algorithmic level, the enablers include improved coding, modulation, and waveforms to achieve lower latencies, higher reliability, and reduced complexity. Different options will be needed to optimally support different use cases. The resource efficiency can be further improved by using various combinations of full-duplex radios, interference management based on rate-splitting, machine-learning-based optimization, coded caching, and broadcasting. Finally, the three levels of enablers must be utilized not only to deliver better broadband services in urban areas, but also to provide full-coverage broadband connectivity must be one of the key outcomes of 6G