Iterative channel estimation techniques for multiple input multiple output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Izmir, 2007Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 77-78)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxii, 78 leavesOrthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is well-known for its efficient high speed transmission and robustness to frequency-selective fading channels. On the other hand, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems have the ability to increase capacity and reliability of a wireless communication system compared to single-input single-output (SISO) systems. Hence, the integration of the two technologies has the potential to meet the ever growing demands of future communication systems. In these systems, channel estimation is very crucial to demodulate the data coherently. For a good channel estimation, spectral efficiency and lower computational complexity are two important points to be considered. In this thesis, we explore different channel estimation techniques in order to improve estimation performance by increasing the bandwidth efficiency and reducing the computational complexity for both SISO-OFDM and MIMO-OFDM systems. We first investigate pilot and Expectation-Maximization (EM)-based channel estimation techniques and compare their performances. Next, we explore different pilot arrangements by reducing the number of pilot symbols in one OFDM frame to improve bandwidth efficiency. We obtain the bit error rate and the channel estimation performance for these pilot arrangements. Then, in order to decrase the computational complexity, we propose an iterative channel estimation technique, which establishes a link between the decision block and channel estimation block using virtual subcarriers. We compare this proposed technique with EM-based channel estimation in terms of performance and complexity. These channel estimation techniques are also applied to STBC-OFDM and V-BLAST structured MIMO-OFDM systems. Finally, we investigate a joint EM-based channel estimation and signal detection technique for V-BLAST OFDM system

An FPGA implementation of OFDM transceiver for LTE applications

The paper presents a real-time transceiver using an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signaling scheme. The transceiver is implemented on a Field- Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) through Xilinx System Generator for DSP and includes all the blocks needed for the transmission path of OFDM. The transmitter frame can be reconfigured for different pilot and data schemes. In the receiver, time-domain synchronization is achieved thr ough a joint maximum likelihood (ML) symbol arrival-time and carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimator through the redundant information contained in the cyclic prefix (CP). A least-squares channel estimation retrieves the channel state information and a simple zero-forcing scheme has been implemented for channel equalization. Results show that a rough implementation of the signal path can be impleme nted by using only Xilinx System Generator for DSP

Hybrid solutions to instantaneous MIMO blind separation and decoding: narrowband, QAM and square cases

Future wireless communication systems are desired to support high data rates and high quality transmission when considering the growing multimedia applications. Increasing the channel throughput leads to the multiple input and multiple output and blind equalization techniques in recent years. Thereby blind MIMO equalization has attracted a great interest.Both system performance and computational complexities play important roles in real time communications. Reducing the computational load and providing accurate performances are the main challenges in present systems. In this thesis, a hybrid method which can provide an affordable complexity with good performance for Blind Equalization in large constellation MIMO systems is proposed first. Saving computational cost happens both in the signal sep- aration part and in signal detection part. First, based on Quadrature amplitude modulation signal characteristics, an efficient and simple nonlinear function for the Independent Compo- nent Analysis is introduced. Second, using the idea of the sphere decoding, we choose the soft information of channels in a sphere, and overcome the so- called curse of dimensionality of the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm and enhance the final results simultaneously. Mathematically, we demonstrate in the digital communication cases, the EM algorithm shows Newton -like convergence.Despite the widespread use of forward -error coding (FEC), most multiple input multiple output (MIMO) blind channel estimation techniques ignore its presence, and instead make the sim- plifying assumption that the transmitted symbols are uncoded. However, FEC induces code structure in the transmitted sequence that can be exploited to improve blind MIMO channel estimates. In final part of this work, we exploit the iterative channel estimation and decoding performance for blind MIMO equalization. Experiments show the improvements achievable by exploiting the existence of coding structures and that it can access the performance of a BCJR equalizer with perfect channel information in a reasonable SNR range. All results are confirmed experimentally for the example of blind equalization in block fading MIMO systems

Communications over fading channels with partial channel information : performance and design criteria

The effects of system parameters upon the performance are quantified under the assumption that some statistical information of the wireless fading channels is available. These results are useful in determining the optimal design of system parameters. Suboptimal receivers are designed for systems that are constrained in terms of implementation complexity. The achievable rates are investigated for a wireless communication system when neither the transmitter nor the receiver has prior knowledge of the channel state information (CSI). Quantitative results are provided for independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Gaussian signals. A simple, low-duty-cycle signaling scheme is proposed to improve the information rates for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the optimal duty cycle is expressed as a function of the fading rate and SNR. It is demonstrated that the resource allocations and duty cycles developed for Gaussian signals can also be applied to systems using other signaling formats. The average SNR and outage probabilities are examined for amplify-and-forward cooperative relaying schemes in Rayleigh fading channels. Simple power allocation strategies are determined by using knowledge of the mean strengths of the channels. Suboptimal algorithms are proposed for cases that optimal receivers are difficult to implement. For systems with multiple transmit antennas, an iterative method is used to avoid the inversion of a data-dependent matrix in decision-directed channel estimation. When CSI is not available, two noncoherent detection algorithms are formulated based on the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT). Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the use of GLRT-based detectors in systems with cooperative diversity

Code-aided iterative techniques in OFDM systems

Inspired by the 'turbo principle', this thesis deals with two iterative technologies in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems: iterative interference cancelation in space-frequency block coded OFDM (SFBC-OFDM) and iterative channel estimation/ tracking in OFDM Access (OFDMA) with particular application to Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) systems. The linear matched filter (MF) decoding in SFBC-OFDM is simple yet obtains maximumlikelihood (ML) performance based on the assumption that the channel frequency response remains constant within a block. However, frequency response variations gives rise to inter-channel interference (lCI). In this thesis, a parallel interference cancelation (PIC) approach with soft iterations will be proposed to iteratively eliminate ICI in G4 SFBC-OFDM. Furthermore, the information from outer convolutional decoder is exploited and fed back to aid the inner PIC process to generate more accurate coded bits for the convolutional decoder. Therefore, inner and outer iterations work in a collaborative way to enhance the performance of interference cancelation. Code-aided iterative channel estimation/tracking has the ability of efficiently improving the quality of estimation/tracking without using additional pilots/training symbols. This technique is particularly applied to OFDMA physical layer ofWiMAX systems according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard. It will be demonstrated that the performance of the pilot-based channel estimation in uplink (UL) transmission and the channel tracking based on the preamble symbol in downlink (DL) transmission can be improved by iterating between the estimator and the detector the useful information from the outer convolutional codes. The above two issues will be discussed in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, and before this, Chapter 2 to Chapter 4 will introduce some background techniques that are used throughout the thesis

Cooperative Multi-Cell Massive Access with Temporally Correlated Activity

This paper investigates the problem of activity detection and channel estimation in cooperative multi-cell massive access systems with temporally correlated activity, where all access points (APs) are connected to a central unit via fronthaul links. We propose to perform user-centric AP cooperation for computation burden alleviation and introduce a generalized sliding-window detection strategy for fully exploiting the temporal correlation in activity. By establishing the probabilistic model associated with the factor graph representation, we propose a scalable Dynamic Compressed Sensing-based Multiple Measurement Vector Generalized Approximate Message Passing (DCS-MMV-GAMP) algorithm from the perspective of Bayesian inference. Therein, the activity likelihood is refined by performing standard message passing among the activities in the spatial-temporal domain and GAMP is employed for efficient channel estimation. Furthermore, we develop two schemes of quantize-and-forward (QF) and detect-and-forward (DF) based on DCS-MMV-GAMP for the finite-fronthaul-capacity scenario, which are extensively evaluated under various system limits. Numerical results verify the significant superiority of the proposed approach over the benchmarks. Moreover, it is revealed that QF can usually realize superior performance when the antenna number is small, whereas DF shifts to be preferable with limited fronthaul capacity if the large-scale antenna arrays are equipped.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures, minor revisio

Iterative Detection for Overloaded Multiuser MIMO OFDM Systems

Inspired by multiuser detection (MUD) and the ‘Turbo principle’, this thesis deals with iterative interference cancellation (IIC) in overloaded multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Linear detection schemes, such as zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean square error (MMSE) cannot be used for the overloaded system because of the rank deficiency of channel matrix, while the optimal approach, the maximum likelihood (ML) detection has high computational complexity. In this thesis, an iterative interference cancellation (IIC) multiuser detection scheme with matched filter and convolutional codes is considered. The main idea of this combination is a low complexity receiver. Parallel interference cancellation (PIC) is employed to improve the multiuser receiver performance for overloaded systems. A log-likelihood ratio (LLR) converter is proposed to further improve the reliability of the soft value converted from the output of the matched filter. Simulation results show that the bit error rate (BER) performance of this method is close to the optimal approach for a two user system. However, for the four user or more user system, it has an error floor of the BER performance. For this case, a channel selection scheme is proposed to distinguish whether the channel is good or bad by using the mutual information based on the extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart. The mutual information can be predicted in a look-up table which greatly reduces the complexity. For those ‘bad’ channels identified by the channel selection, we introduce two adaptive transmission methods to deal with such channels: one uses a lower code rate, and the other is multiple transmissions. The use of an IIC receiver with the interleave-division multiple access (IDMA) to further improve the BER performance without any channel selection is also investigated. It has been shown that this approach can remove the error floor. Finally, the influence of channel accuracy on the IIC is investigated. Pilot-based Wiener filter channel estimation is used to test and verify how much the IIC is influenced by the channel accuracy

Channel Estimation Architectures for Mobile Reception in Emerging DVB Standards

Throughout this work, channel estimation techniques have been analyzed and proposed for moderate and very high mobility DVB (digital video broadcasting) receivers, focusing on the DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial 2) framework and the forthcoming DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld) standard. Mobility support is one of the key features of these DVB specifications, which try to deal with the challenge of enabling HDTV (high definition television) delivery at high vehicular speed. In high-mobility scenarios, the channel response varies within an OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) block and the subcarriers are no longer orthogonal, which leads to the so-called ICI (inter-carrier interference), making the system performance drop severely. Therefore, in order to successfully decode the transmitted data, ICI-aware detectors are necessary and accurate CSI (channel state information), including the ICI terms, is required at the receiver. With the aim of reducing the number of parameters required for such channel estimation while ensuring accurate CSI, BEM (basis expansion model) techniques have been analyzed and proposed for the high-mobility DVB-T2 scenario. A suitable clustered pilot structure has been proposed and its performance has been compared to the pilot patterns proposed in the standard. Different reception schemes that effectively cancel ICI in combination with BEM channel estimation have been proposed, including a Turbo scheme that includes a BP (belief propagation) based ICI canceler, a soft-input decision-directed BEM channel estimator and the LDPC (low-density parity check) decoder. Numerical results have been presented for the most common channel models, showing that the proposed receiver schemes allow good reception, even in receivers with extremely high mobility (up to 0.5 of normalized Doppler frequency).Doktoretza tesi honetan, hainbat kanal estimazio teknika ezberdin aztertu eta proposatu dira mugikortasun ertain eta handiko DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) hartzaileentzat, bigarren belaunaldiko Lurreko Telebista Digitalean DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial 2 ) eta hurrengo DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld) estandarretan oinarrututa. Mugikortasuna bigarren belaunaldiko telebista estandarrean funtsezko ezaugarri bat da, HDTV (high definition television) zerbitzuak abiadura handiko hartzaileetan ahalbidetzeko erronkari aurre egiteko nahian. Baldintza horietan, kanala OFDM (ortogonalak maiztasun-zatiketa multiplexing ) sinbolo baten barruan aldatzen da, eta subportadorak jada ez dira ortogonalak, ICI-a (inter-carrier interference) sortuz, eta sistemaren errendimendua hondatuz. Beraz, transmititutako datuak behar bezala deskodeatzeko, ICI-a ekiditeko gai diren detektagailuak eta CSI-a (channel state information) zehatza, ICI osagaiak barne, ezinbestekoak egiten dira hartzailean. Kanalaren estimazio horretarako beharrezkoak diren parametro kopurua murrizteko eta aldi berean CSI zehatza bermatzeko, BEM (basis expansion model) teknika aztertu eta proposatu da ICI kanala identifikatzeko mugikortasun handiko DVB-T2 eszenatokitan. Horrez gain, pilotu egitura egokia proposatu da, estandarrean proposatutako pilotu ereduekin alderatuz BEM estimazioan oinarritua. ICI-a baliogabetzen duten hartzaile sistema ezberdin proposatu dira, Turbo sistema barne, non BP (belief propagation) detektagailua, soft BEM estimazioa eta LDPC (low-density parity check ) deskodetzailea uztartzen diren. Ohiko kanal ereduak erabilita, simulazio emaitzak aurkeztu dira, proposatutako hartzaile sistemak mugikortasun handiko kasuetan harrera ona dutela erakutsiz, 0.5 Doppler maiztasun normalizaturaino.Esta tesis doctoral analiza y propone diferentes técnicas de estimación de canal para receptores DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) con movilidad moderada y alta, centrándose en el estándar de segunda generación DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial 2 ) y en el próximó estándar DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld ). La movilidad es una de las principales claves de estas especificaciones, que tratan de lidiar con el reto de permitir la recepción de señal HDTV (high definition television) en receptores móviles. En escenarios de alta movilidad, la respuesta del canal varía dentro de un símbolo OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing ) y las subportadoras ya no son ortogonales, lo que genera la llamada ICI (inter-carrier interference), deteriorando el rendimiento de los receptores severamente. Por lo tanto, con el fin de decodificar correctamente los datos transmitidos, detectores capaces de suprimir la ICI y una precisa CSI (channel state information), incluyendo los términos de ICI, son necesarios en el receptor. Con el objetivo de reducir el número de parámetros necesarios para dicha estimación de canal, y al mismo tiempo garantizar una CSI precisa, la técnica de estimación BEM (basis expansion model) ha sido analizada y propuesta para identificar el canal con ICI en receptores DVB-T2 de alta movilidad. Además se ha propuesto una estructura de pilotos basada en clústers, comparando su rendimiento con los patrones de pilotos establecidos en el estándar. Se han propuesto diferentes sistemas de recepción que cancelan ICI en combinación con la estimación BEM, incluyendo un esquema Turbo que incluye un detector BP (belief propagation), un estimador BEM soft y un decodificador LDPC (low-density parity check). Se han presentado resultados numéricos para los modelos de canal más comunes, demostrando que los sistemas de recepción propuestos permiten la decodificación correcta de la señal incluso en receptores con movilidad muy alta (hasta 0,5 de frecuencia de Doppler normalizada)

Efficient Radio Resource Allocation Schemes and Code Optimizations for High Speed Downlink Packet Access Transmission

An important enhancement on the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) air interface of the 3G mobile communications, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) standard has been launched to realize higher spectral utilization efficiency. It introduces the features of multicode CDMA transmission and Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) technique, which makes radio resource allocation feasible and essential. This thesis studies channel-aware resource allocation schemes, coupled with fast power adjustment and spreading code optimization techniques, for the HSDPA standard operating over frequency selective channel. A two-group resource allocation scheme is developed in order to achieve a promising balance between performance enhancement and time efficiency. It only requires calculating two parameters to specify the allocations of discrete bit rates and transmitted symbol energies in all channels. The thesis develops the calculation methods of the two parameters for interference-free and interference-present channels, respectively. For the interference-present channels, the performance of two-group allocation can be further enhanced by applying a clustering-based channel removal scheme. In order to make the two-group approach more time-efficient, reduction in matrix inversions in optimum energy calculation is then discussed. When the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) equalizer is applied, optimum energy allocation can be calculated by iterating a set of eigenvalues and eigenvectors. By using the MMSE Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) receiver, the optimum energies are calculated recursively combined with an optimum channel ordering scheme for enhancement in both system performance and time efficiency. This thesis then studies the signature optimization methods with multipath channel and examines their system performances when combined with different resource allocation methods. Two multipath-aware signature optimization methods are developed by applying iterative optimization techniques, for the system using MMSE equalizer and MMSE precoder respectively. A PAM system using complex signature sequences is also examined for improving resource utilization efficiency, where two receiving schemes are proposed to fully take advantage of PAM features. In addition by applying a short chip sampling window, a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) based interference-free signature design method is presented