Blind Recognition of Linear Space–Time Block Codes: A Likelihood-Based Approach

International audienceBlind recognition of communication parameters is a research topic of high importance for both military and civilian communication systems. Numerous studies about carrier frequency estimation, modulation recognition as well as channel identification are available in literature. This paper deals with the blind recognition of the space–time block coding (STBC) scheme used in multiple input–multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems. Assuming there is perfect synchronization at the receiver side, this paper proposes three maximum-likelihood (ML)-based approaches for STBC classification: the optimal classifier, the second-order statistic (SOS) classifier, and the code parameter (CP) classifier. While the optimal and the SOS approaches require ideal conditions, the CP classifier is well suited for the blind context where the communication parameters are unknown at the receiver side. Our simulations show that this blind classifier is more easily implemented and yields better performance than those available in literature

Benchmarking End-to-end Learning of MIMO Physical-Layer Communication

End-to-end data-driven machine learning (ML) of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems has been shown to have the potential of exceeding the performance of engineered MIMO transceivers, without any a priori knowledge of communication-theoretic principles. In this work, we aim to understand to what extent and for which scenarios this claim holds true when comparing with fair benchmarks. We study closed-loop MIMO, open-loop MIMO, and multi-user MIMO and show that the gains of ML-based communication in the former two cases can be to a large extent ascribed to implicitly learned geometric shaping and bit and power allocation, not to learning new spatial encoders. For MU-MIMO, we demonstrate the feasibility of a novel method with centralized learning and decentralized executing, outperforming conventional zero-forcing. For each scenario, we provide explicit descriptions as well as open-source implementations of the selected neural-network architectures.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, conference pape

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

Structured Sparsity Models for Multiparty Speech Recovery from Reverberant Recordings

We tackle the multi-party speech recovery problem through modeling the acoustic of the reverberant chambers. Our approach exploits structured sparsity models to perform room modeling and speech recovery. We propose a scheme for characterizing the room acoustic from the unknown competing speech sources relying on localization of the early images of the speakers by sparse approximation of the spatial spectra of the virtual sources in a free-space model. The images are then clustered exploiting the low-rank structure of the spectro-temporal components belonging to each source. This enables us to identify the early support of the room impulse response function and its unique map to the room geometry. To further tackle the ambiguity of the reflection ratios, we propose a novel formulation of the reverberation model and estimate the absorption coefficients through a convex optimization exploiting joint sparsity model formulated upon spatio-spectral sparsity of concurrent speech representation. The acoustic parameters are then incorporated for separating individual speech signals through either structured sparse recovery or inverse filtering the acoustic channels. The experiments conducted on real data recordings demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for multi-party speech recovery and recognition.Comment: 31 page

Blind Channel Estimation for STBC Systems Using Higher-Order Statistics

International audienceThis paper describes a new blind channel estimation algorithm for Space-Time Block Coded (STBC) systems. The proposed method exploits the statistical independence of sources before space-time encoding. The channel matrix is estimated by minimizing a kurtosis-based cost function after Zero-Forcing equalization. In contrast to subspace or Second-Order Statistics (SOS) approaches, the proposed method is more general since it can be employed for the general class of linear STBCs including Spatial Multiplexing, Orthogonal, quasi-Orthogonal and Non-Orthogonal STBCs. Furthermore, unlike other approaches, the method does not require any modification of the transmitter and, consequently, is well-suited for non-cooperative context. Numerical examples corroborate the performance of the proposed algorithm

Modulation Recognition for MIMO Communications

International audienceThe blind recognition of communication parameters is an important research topic in both commercial and civilian systems. In this paper, we investigate the blind recognition of the modulation. Currently most part of the existing algorithms assumes that the transmitter uses a single-antenna. This study extends the problem for multiple-antennas (MIMO) systems. We adopt a Maximum Likelihood approach for the blind recognition of the modulation and we consider two different situations. First, we assume the channel knowledge at the receiver side and we expose the optimal solution which is called Average Likelihood Ratio Test (ALRT). Then, we relax this assumption and we propose a second method based on a Hybrid Likelihood Ratio Test (HLRT)