Channel Estimation methods with low complexity for 3GPP/LTE

reference arima211International audienceOFDM based pilots channel estimation methods with processing into the transform domain appear attractive owing to their capacity to highly reduce the noise component effect. However, in current OFDM systems, null subcarriers are placed at the edge of the spectrum in order to assure isolation from interfering signals in neighboring frequency bands; and the presence of these null carriers may lead, if not taken into account, to serious degradation of the estimated channel responses due to the “border effect” phenomenon. In this paper an improved algorithm based on truncated SVD is proposed in order to correctly support the case of null carriers at border spectrum. A method for optimizing the truncation threshold whatever the system parameters is also proposed. To make the truncated SVD channel estimation method applicable to any SISO or MIMO OFDM system and whatever the system parameters, a complexity reduction algorithm based on the distribution of the power in the transfer matrix (based on DFT or DCT) is proposed.Les techniques d’estimation de canal, basée sur des symboles pilotes, par passage dansun domaine de tranfert sont très attractives pour les systèmes de télécommunications utilisant l’OFDM.Cependant, elles montrent des limites pour les systèmes de télécommunications, où un ensemble desous-porteuses de garde, est inséré sur les bords du spectre dans le but d’éviter tout recouvrementspectral avec d’autres applications utilisant des bandes voisines. Ces sous-porteuses de gardeont selon leur nombre tendance à dégrader fortement les performances de ces estimateurs. Nousproposons, dans un premier temps, une optimisation qui permet d’améliorer considérablement lesperformances de ces estimateurs quels que soit le nombre de porteuses de garde. Dans un secondtemps, pour de rendre l’estimateur proposé attractif pour les constructeurs, nous avons proposé unetechnique permettant de réduire leur complexité de réalisation de manière notable

Transform Domain Based Channel Estimation for 3GPP/LTE Systems

ISBN 978-953-307-114-5International audienc

Performance analysis and optimization of DCT-based multicarrier system on frequency-selective fading channels

Regarded as one of the most promising transmission techniques for future wireless communications, the discrete cosine transform (DCT) based multicarrier modulation (MCM) system employs cosine basis as orthogonal functions for real-modulated symbols multiplexing, by which the minimum orthogonal frequency spacing can be reduced by half compared to discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based one. With a time-reversed pre-filter employed at the front of the receiver, interference-free one-tap equalization is achievable for the DCT-based systems. However, due to the correlated pre-filtering operation in time domain, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is enhanced as a result at the output. This leads to reformulated detection criterion to compensate for such filtering effect, rendering minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) and maximum likelihood (ML) detections applicable to the DCT-based multicarrier system. In this paper, following on the pre-filtering based DCT-MCM model that build in the literature work, we extend the overall system by considering both transceiver perfections and imperfections, where frequency offset, time offset and insufficient guard sequence are included. In the presence of those imperfection errors, the DCT-MCM systems are analysed in terms of desired signal power, inter-carrier interference (ICI) and inter-symbol interference (ISI). Thereafter, new detection algorithms based on zero forcing (ZF) iterative results are proposed to mitigate the imperfection effect. Numerical results show that the theoretical analysis match the simulation results, and the proposed iterative detection algorithms are able to improve the overall system performance significantly

A BP-MF-EP Based Iterative Receiver for Joint Phase Noise Estimation, Equalization and Decoding

In this work, with combined belief propagation (BP), mean field (MF) and expectation propagation (EP), an iterative receiver is designed for joint phase noise (PN) estimation, equalization and decoding in a coded communication system. The presence of the PN results in a nonlinear observation model. Conventionally, the nonlinear model is directly linearized by using the first-order Taylor approximation, e.g., in the state-of-the-art soft-input extended Kalman smoothing approach (soft-in EKS). In this work, MF is used to handle the factor due to the nonlinear model, and a second-order Taylor approximation is used to achieve Gaussian approximation to the MF messages, which is crucial to the low-complexity implementation of the receiver with BP and EP. It turns out that our approximation is more effective than the direct linearization in the soft-in EKS with similar complexity, leading to significant performance improvement as demonstrated by simulation results.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Resubmitted to IEEE Signal Processing Letter

A time-domain control signal detection technique for OFDM

Transmission of system-critical control information plays a key role in efficient management of limited wireless network resources and successful reception of payload data information. This paper uses an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) architecture to investigate the detection performance of a time-domain approach used to detect deterministic control signalling information. It considers a type of control information chosen from a finite set of information, which is known at both transmitting and receiving wireless terminals. Unlike the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation method, which is often used, the time-domain detection technique requires no channel estimation and no pilots as it uses a form of time-domain correlation as the means of detection. Results show that when compared with the ML method, the time-domain approach improves detection performance even in the presence of synchronisation error caused by carrier frequency offset

Performance enhancement for LTE and beyond systems

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyWireless communication systems have undergone fast development in recent years. Based on GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specified the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard to cope with rapidly increasing demands, including capacity, coverage, and data rate. To achieve this goal, several key techniques have been adopted by LTE, such as Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and heterogeneous network (HetNet). However, there are some inherent drawbacks regarding these techniques. Direct conversion architecture is adopted to provide a simple, low cost transmitter solution. The problem of I/Q imbalance arises due to the imperfection of circuit components; the orthogonality of OFDM is vulnerable to carrier frequency offset (CFO) and sampling frequency offset (SFO). The doubly selective channel can also severely deteriorate the receiver performance. In addition, the deployment of Heterogeneous Network (HetNet), which permits the co-existence of macro and pico cells, incurs inter-cell interference for cell edge users. The impact of these factors then results in significant degradation in relation to system performance. This dissertation aims to investigate the key techniques which can be used to mitigate the above problems. First, I/Q imbalance for the wideband transmitter is studied and a self-IQ-demodulation based compensation scheme for frequencydependent (FD) I/Q imbalance is proposed. This combats the FD I/Q imbalance by using the internal diode of the transmitter and a specially designed test signal without any external calibration instruments or internal low-IF feedback path. The instrument test results show that the proposed scheme can enhance signal quality by 10 dB in terms of image rejection ratio (IRR). In addition to the I/Q imbalance, the system suffers from CFO, SFO and frequency-time selective channel. To mitigate this, a hybrid optimum OFDM receiver with decision feedback equalizer (DFE) to cope with the CFO, SFO and doubly selective channel. The algorithm firstly estimates the CFO and channel frequency response (CFR) in the coarse estimation, with the help of hybrid classical timing and frequency synchronization algorithms. Afterwards, a pilot-aided polynomial interpolation channel estimation, combined with a low complexity DFE scheme, based on minimum mean squared error (MMSE) criteria, is developed to alleviate the impact of the residual SFO, CFO, and Doppler effect. A subspace-based signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation algorithm is proposed to estimate the SNR in the doubly selective channel. This provides prior knowledge for MMSE-DFE and automatic modulation and coding (AMC). Simulation results show that this proposed estimation algorithm significantly improves the system performance. In order to speed up algorithm verification process, an FPGA based co-simulation is developed. Inter-cell interference caused by the co-existence of macro and pico cells has a big impact on system performance. Although an almost blank subframe (ABS) is proposed to mitigate this problem, the residual control signal in the ABS still inevitably causes interference. Hence, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference cancellation algorithm, utilizing the information in the ABS, is proposed. First, the timing and carrier frequency offset of the interference signal is compensated by utilizing the cross-correlation properties of the synchronization signal. Afterwards, the reference signal is generated locally and channel response is estimated by making use of channel statistics. Then, the interference signal is reconstructed based on the previous estimate of the channel, timing and carrier frequency offset. The interference is mitigated by subtracting the estimation of the interference signal and LLR puncturing. The block error rate (BLER) performance of the signal is notably improved by this algorithm, according to the simulation results of different channel scenarios. The proposed techniques provide low cost, low complexity solutions for LTE and beyond systems. The simulation and measurements show good overall system performance can be achieved

A selective control information detection scheme for OFDM receivers

In wireless communications, both control information and payload (user-data) are concurrently transmitted and required to be successfully recovered. This paper focuses on block-level detection, which is applicable for detecting transmitted control information, particularly when this information is selected or chosen from a finite set of information that are known at both transmitting and receiving devices. Using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing architecture, this paper investigates and evaluates the performance of a time-domain decision criterion in comparison with a form of Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation method. Unlike the ML method, the proposed time-domain detection technique requires no channel estimation as it uses the correlation (in the time-domain) that exists between the received and the transmitted selective information as a means of detection. In comparison with the ML method, results show that the proposed method offers improved detection performance, particularly when the control information consists of at least 16. However, the implementation of the proposed method requires a slightly increased number of mathematical computations