Truncated-ARQ aided adaptive network coding for cooperative two-way relaying networks: cross-layer design and analysis

Network Coding (NC) constitutes a promising technique of improving the throughput of relay-aided networks. In this context, we propose a cross-layer design for both amplifyand- forward (AF-) and decode-and-forward two-way relaying (DF-TWR) based on the NC technique invoked for improving the achievable throughput under specific Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, such as the maximum affordable delay and error rate.We intrinsically amalgamate adaptive Analog Network Coding (ANC) and Network Coded Modulation (NCM) with truncated Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) operating at the different OSI layers. At the data-link layer, we design a pair of improved NC-based ARQ strategies based on the Stop-andwait and the Selective-repeat ARQ protocols. At the physical layer, adaptive ANC/NCM are invoked based on our approximate packet error ratio (PER). We demonstrate that the adaptive ANC design can be readily amalgamated with the proposed protocols. However, adaptive NC-QAM suffers from an SNR-loss, when the transmit rates of the pair of downlink (DL) channels spanning from the relay to the pair of destinations are different. Therefore we develop a novel transmission strategy for jointly selecting the optimal constellation sizes for both of the relay-to-destination links that have to be adapted to both pair of channel conditions. Finally, we analyze the attainable throughput, demonstrating that our truncated ARQ-aided adaptive ANC/NCM schemes attain considerable throughput gains over the schemes dispensing with ARQ, whilst our proposed scheme is capable of supporting bidirectional NC scenarios

Maximum Euclidean distance network coded modulation for asymmetric decode-and-forward two-way relaying

Network coding (NC) compresses two traffic flows with the aid of low-complexity algebraic operations, hence holds the potential of significantly improving both the efficiency of wireless two-way relaying, where each receiver is collocated with a transmitter and hence has prior knowledge of the message intended for the distant receiver. In this contribution, network coded modulation (NCM) is proposed for jointly performing NC and modulation. As in classic coded modulation, the Euclidean distance between the symbols is maximised, hence the symbol error probability is minimised. Specifically, the authors first propose set-partitioning-based NCM as an universal concept which can be combined with arbitrary constellations. Then the authors conceive practical phase-shift keying/quadrature amplitude modulation (PSK/QAM) NCM schemes, referred to as network coded PSK/QAM, based on modulo addition of the normalised phase/amplitude. To achieve a spatial diversity gain at a low complexity, a NC oriented maximum ratio combining scheme is proposed for combining the network coded signal and the original signal of the source. An adaptive NCM is also proposed to maximise the throughput while guaranteeing a target bit error probability (BEP). Both theoretical performance analysis and simulations demonstrate that the proposed NCM can achieve at least 3 dB signal-to-noise ratio gain and two times diversity gain

Variable-Rate, Variable-Power Network-Coded-QAM/PSK for Bi-Directional Relaying Over Fading Channels

Network coded modulation (NCM) holds the promise of significantly improving the efficiency of two-way wireless relaying. In this contribution, we propose near instantaneously adaptive variable-rate, variable-power QAM/PSK for NC-aided decode-and-forward two-way relaying (DF-TWR) to maximize the average throughput. The proposed scheme is optimized subject to both average-power and bit-error-ratio (BER) constraints. Based on the BER bounds, we investigate a discrete-rate adaptation scheme, relying on a pair of solutions proposed for maximizing the spectral efficiency of the network. We then derive a closed-form solution based power adaptation policy for a continuous-rate scheme and quantify the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss imposed by NC-QAM. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed discrete adaptive NC-QAM/PSK schemes are capable of attaining a higher spectral efficiency than their fixed-power counterparts

Variable-rate, variable-power network-coded-QAM/PSK for bi-directional relaying over fading channels

Network coded modulation (NCM) holds the promise of significantly improving the efficiency of two-way wireless relaying. In this contribution, we propose near instantaneously adaptive variable-rate, variable-power QAM/PSK for NC-aided decode-and-forward two-way relaying (DF-TWR) to maximize the average throughput. The proposed scheme is optimized subject to both average-power and bit-error-ratio (BER) constraints. Based on the BER bounds, we investigate a discrete-rate adaptation scheme, relying on a pair of solutions proposed for maximizing the spectral efficiency of the network. We then derive a closed-form solution based power adaptation policy for a continuous-rate scheme and quantify the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss imposed by NC-QAM. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed discrete adaptive NC-QAM/PSK schemes are capable of attaining a higher spectral efficiency than their fixed-power counterparts

Trellis- and network-coded modulation for decode-and-forward two-way relaying over time-varying channels

We present a bandwidth-efficient joint channel coding-modulation scheme conceived for the broadcast channel (BC) of Decode-and-forward Two-way Relaying (DF-TWR), where Trellis-coded modulation (TCM) is intrinsically amalgamated with network-coded modulation (NCM) for achieving both a channel coding gain and a high throughput. We conceive a low-complexity receiver algorithm for our joint Trellis- and Network-coded modulation (TC-NCM) scheme, which applies decoding and demodulation simultaneously, without the need to first demodulate the signal before decoding, as in the traditional solutions. As a further contribution, the TC-NCM scheme is intrinsically amalgamated with adaptive transceiver techniques. We then further investigate the performance of our near-instantaneously adaptive discrete-rate TC-NC-QAM/PSK scheme. Both simulation results and numerical analysis are presented, which are compared to the performance of traditional NCM schemes. The results show that our scheme not only increases the achievable transmission rate, but also improves the reliability, yet it is of modest complexity

Five decades of hierarchical modulation and its benefits in relay-aided networking

Hierarchical modulation (HM), which is also known as layered modulation, has been widely adopted across the telecommunication industry. Its strict backward compatibility with single-layer modems and its low complexity facilitate the seamless upgrading of wireless communication services. The specific features of HM may be conveniently exploited for improving the throughput/information-rate of the system without requiring any extra bandwidth, while its complexity may even be lower than that of the equivalent system relying on conventional modulation schemes. As a recent research trend, the potential employment of HM in the context of cooperative communications has also attracted substantial research interests. Motivated by the lower complexity and higher flexibility of HM, we provide a comprehensive survey and conclude with a range of promising future research directions. Our contribution is the conception of a new cooperative communication paradigm relying on turbo trellis-coded modulation-aided twin-layer HM-16QAM and the analytical performance investigation of a four-node cooperative communication network employing a novel opportunistic routing algorithm. The specific performance characteristics evaluated include the distribution of delay, the outage probability, the transmit power of each node, the average packet power consumption, and the system throughput. The simulation results have demonstrated that when transmitting the packets formed by layered modulated symbol streams, our opportunistic routing algorithm is capable of reducing the transmit power required for each node in the network compared with that of the system using the traditional opportunistic routing algorithm. We have also illustrated that the minimum packet power consumption of our system using our opportunistic routing algorithm is also lower than that of the system using the traditional opportunistic routing algorithm

Achieving reliable and enhanced communication in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs)

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyWith the envisioned age of Internet of Things (IoTs), different aspects of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) will be linked so as to advance road transportation safety, ease congestion of road traffic, lessen air pollution, improve passenger transportation comfort and significantly reduce road accidents. In vehicular networks, regular exchange of current position, direction, speed, etc., enable mobile vehicle to foresee an imminent vehicle accident and notify the driver early enough in order to take appropriate action(s) or the vehicle on its own may take adequate preventive measures to avert the looming accident. Actualizing this concept requires use of shared media access protocol that is capable of guaranteeing reliable and timely broadcast of safety messages. This dissertation investigates the use of Network Coding (NC) techniques to enrich the content of each transmission and ensure improved high reliability of the broadcasted safety messages with less number of retransmissions. A Code Aided Retransmission-based Error Recovery (CARER) protocol is proposed. In order to avoid broadcast storm problem, a rebroadcasting vehicle selection metric η, is developed, which is used to select a vehicle that will rebroadcast the received encoded message. Although the proposed CARER protocol demonstrates an impressive performance, the level of incurred overhead is fairly high due to the use of complex rebroadcasting vehicle selection metric. To resolve this issue, a Random Network Coding (RNC) and vehicle clustering based vehicular communication scheme with low algorithmic complexity, named Reliable and Enhanced Cooperative Cross-layer MAC (RECMAC) scheme, is proposed. The use of this clustering technique enables RECMAC to subdivide the vehicular network into small manageable, coordinated clusters which further improve transmission reliability and minimise negative impact of network overhead. Similarly, a Cluster Head (CH) selection metric ℱ(\u1d457) is designed, which is used to determine and select the most suitably qualified candidate to become the CH of a particular cluster. Finally, in order to investigate the impact of available radio spectral resource, an in-depth study of the required amount of spectrum sufficient to support high transmission reliability and minimum latency requirements of critical road safety messages in vehicular networks was carried out. The performance of the proposed schemes was clearly shown with detailed theoretical analysis and was further validated with simulation experiments