Analysis and Mitigation of Asynchronous Interference in Coordinated Multipoint Systems

Next generation cellular wireless networks need to achieve both high peak and average data rates. Also, they need to improve the fairness by providing more homogenous quality of service distribution over the entire cell area. Base station (BS) cooperation is one of the techniques which is used to achieve these requirements, especially the fairness requirement. It is able not only to mitigate inter-cell interference, but also to exploit this interference and to use it as a useful signal. Although BS cooperation or what is called coordinated multipoint (CoMP) communications proves that it can achieve high gains in theory, there are some challenges that need to be solved in order for it to be widely deployed. One of the major challenges which prevents the CoMP concept from being widely deployed in new cellular systems is timing synchronization. This problem is particularly challenging when OFDM is employed which is the case in the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) of WiMAX systems and in the DL of LTE systems. The problem is inherited from the limitations caused by integer time offsets in OFDM systems. In order to achieve the gains promised by CoMP systems, the user equipments' (UEs) signals in UL or the BSs signals in DL should be synchronized such that the time difference of arrivals do not exceed the cyclic prefix length of the transmitted signals. In this thesis, we first provide a detailed mathematical analysis of the impact of integer time offsets on the performance of single-input-single-output (SISO) OFDM systems. In particular, closed-form expressions for the different types of interference caused by the integer time offset are derived. Furthermore, we derive exact closed-form expressions for the bit error rate (BER) and the symbol error rate (SER) of BPSK, QPSK and 16-QAM modulation for transmission over both AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. The effect of the fractional carrier frequency offset (CFO) is taken into consideration in the derivations. For OFDM systems with a large number of subcarriers, an approximate method for evaluating the BER/SER is given. Next, we generalized our expressions to be suitable for the single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) OFDM systems. The derived closed-form expressions for the interference and probability of error enabled us to investigate the timing synchronization problem of UL CoMP systems, where it is not possible for a UE to be synchronized to more than one BS at the same time. This synchronization problem imposes an upper limit on the percentage of cooperation which could occur in an UL CoMP system. By using geometrical and analytical approaches, we define this upper bound. Moreover, an MMSE-based receiver that mitigates the unavoidable asynchronous interference is proposed. Furthermore, a simple joint channel and delay estimation block is incorporated into the receiver to examine its performance with estimation errors. Finally, an iterative procedure is suggested to reduce the complexity of the proposed mitigation method. Numerical results are provided to show the accuracy of the derived expressions and the robustness of the proposed mitigation method

Performance Analysis of Coherent and Noncoherent Modulation under I/Q Imbalance

In-phase/quadrature-phase Imbalance (IQI) is considered a major performance-limiting impairment in direct-conversion transceivers. Its effects become even more pronounced at higher carrier frequencies such as the millimeter-wave frequency bands being considered for 5G systems. In this paper, we quantify the effects of IQI on the performance of different modulation schemes under multipath fading channels. This is realized by developing a general framework for the symbol error rate (SER) analysis of coherent phase shift keying, noncoherent differential phase shift keying and noncoherent frequency shift keying under IQI effects. In this context, the moment generating function of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio is first derived for both single-carrier and multi-carrier systems suffering from transmitter (TX) IQI only, receiver (RX) IQI only and joint TX/RX IQI. Capitalizing on this, we derive analytic expressions for the SER of the different modulation schemes. These expressions are corroborated by comparisons with corresponding results from computer simulations and they provide insights into the dependence of IQI on the system parameters. We demonstrate that the effects of IQI differ considerably depending on the considered system as some cases of single-carrier transmission appear robust to IQI, whereas multi-carrier systems experiencing IQI at the RX require compensation in order to achieve a reliable communication link

Probability of Error of Linearly Modulated Signals with Gaussian Cochannel Interference in Maximally Correlated Rayleigh Fading Channels

We evaluate the probability of error of linearly modulated signals, such as phase-shift keying (PSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), in the presence of Gaussian cochannel interference (CCI) and Rayleigh fading channels. Specifically, we assume that the fading channel of the CCI is maximally correlated with the fading channel of the signal of interest (SOI). In practical applications, the maximal correlation of the CCI channel with the SOI channel occurs when the CCI is generated at the transmitter, such as the multiuser interference in downlink systems, or when a transparent repeater relays some thermal noise together with the SOI. We analytically evaluate the error probability by using a series expansion of generalized hypergeometric functions. A convenient truncation criterion is also discussed. The proposed theoretical approach favorably compares with alternative approaches, such as numerical integration and Monte Carlo estimation. Among the various applications of the proposed analysis, we illustrate the effect of nonlinear amplifiers in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, the downlink reception of code-division multiple-access (CDMA) signals, and the outdoor-to-indoor relaying of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals

Reducing Multiple Access Interference in Broadband Multi-User Wireless Networks

This dissertation is devoted to developing multiple access interference (MAI) reduction techniques for multi-carrier multi-user wireless communication networks. In multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) systems, a full multipath diversity can be achieved by transmitting one symbol over multiple orthogonal subcarriers by means of spreading codes. However, in frequency selective fading channels, orthogonality among users can be destroyed leading to MAI. MAI represents the main obstacle to support large number of users in multi-user wireless systems. Consequently, MAI reduction becomes a main challenge when designing multi-carrier multi-user wireless networks. In this dissertation, first, we study MC-CDMA systems with different existing MAI reduction techniques. The performance of the studied systems can be further improved by using a fractionally spaced receivers instead of using symbol spaced receivers. A fractionally spaced receiver is obtained by oversampling received signals in a time domain. Second, a novel circular-shift division multiple access (CSDMA) scheme for multi-carrier multi-user wireless systems is developed. In CSDMA, each symbol is first spread onto multiple orthogonal subcarriers in the frequency domain through repetition codes. The obtained frequency-domain signals are then converted to a time-domain representation. The time-domain signals of different users are then circularly shifted by different numbers of locations. The time-domain circular shifting enables the receiver to extract signals from different users with zero or a small amount of MAI. Our results show that the CSDMA scheme can achieve a full multipath diversity with a performance outperforms that of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). Moreover, multipath diversity of CSDMA can be further improved by employing the time-domain oversampling. Performance fluctuations due to a timing offset between transmitter and receiver clocks in MC-CDMA and CSDMA systems can be removed by employing the time-domain oversampling. Third, we study the theoretical error performance of high mobility single-user wireless communication system with doubly selective (time-varying and frequency-selective) fading channel under impacts of imperfect channel state information (CSI). Throughout this dissertation, intensive computer simulations are performed under various system configurations to investigate the obtained theoretical results, excellent agreements between simulation and theoretical results were observed in this dissertation

Design and implementation of a downlink MC-CDMA receiver

Cette thèse présente une étude d'un système complet de transmission en liaison descendante utilisant la technologie multi-porteuse avec l'accès multiple par division de code (Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access, MC-CDMA). L'étude inclut la synchronisation et l'estimation du canal pour un système MC-CDMA en liaison descendante ainsi que l'implémentation sur puce FPGA d'un récepteur MC-CDMA en liaison descendante en bande de base. Le MC-CDMA est une combinaison de la technique de multiplexage par fréquence orthogonale (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM) et de l'accès multiple par répartition de code (CDMA), et ce dans le but d'intégrer les deux technologies. Le système MC-CDMA est conçu pour fonctionner à l'intérieur de la contrainte d'une bande de fréquence de 5 MHz pour les modèles de canaux intérieur/extérieur pédestre et véhiculaire tel que décrit par le "Third Genaration Partnership Project" (3GPP). La composante OFDM du système MC-CDMA a été simulée en utilisant le logiciel MATLAB dans le but d'obtenir des paramètres de base. Des codes orthogonaux à facteur d'étalement variable (OVSF) de longueur 8 ont été choisis comme codes d'étalement pour notre système MC-CDMA. Ceci permet de supporter des taux de transmission maximum jusquà 20.6 Mbps et 22.875 Mbps (données non codées, pleine charge de 8 utilisateurs) pour les canaux intérieur/extérieur pédestre et véhiculaire, respectivement. Une étude analytique des expressions de taux d'erreur binaire pour le MC-CDMA dans un canal multivoies de Rayleigh a été réalisée dans le but d'évaluer rapidement et de façon précise les performances. Des techniques d'estimation de canal basées sur les décisions antérieures ont été étudiées afin d'améliorer encore plus les performances de taux d'erreur binaire du système MC-CDMA en liaison descendante. L'estimateur de canal basé sur les décisions antérieures et utilisant le critère de l'erreur quadratique minimale linéaire avec une matrice' de corrélation du canal de taille 64 x 64 a été choisi comme étant un bon compromis entre la performance et la complexité pour une implementation sur puce FPGA. Une nouvelle séquence d'apprentissage a été conçue pour le récepteur dans la configuration intérieur/extérieur pédestre dans le but d'estimer de façon grossière le temps de synchronisation et le décalage fréquentiel fractionnaire de la porteuse dans le domaine du temps. Les estimations fines du temps de synchronisation et du décalage fréquentiel de la porteuse ont été effectués dans le domaine des fréquences à l'aide de sous-porteuses pilotes. Un récepteur en liaison descendante MC-CDMA complet pour le canal intérieur /extérieur pédestre avec les synchronisations en temps et en fréquence en boucle fermée a été simulé avant de procéder à l'implémentation matérielle. Le récepteur en liaison descendante en bande de base pour le canal intérieur/extérieur pédestre a été implémenté sur un système de développement fabriqué par la compagnie Nallatech et utilisant le circuit XtremeDSP de Xilinx. Un transmetteur compatible avec le système de réception a également été réalisé. Des tests fonctionnels du récepteur ont été effectués dans un environnement sans fil statique de laboratoire. Un environnement de test plus dynamique, incluant la mobilité du transmetteur, du récepteur ou des éléments dispersifs, aurait été souhaitable, mais n'a pu être réalisé étant donné les difficultés logistiques inhérentes. Les taux d'erreur binaire mesurés avec différents nombres d'usagers actifs et différentes modulations sont proches des simulations sur ordinateurs pour un canal avec bruit blanc gaussien additif