Techniques to Improve the Efficiency of Data Transmission in Cable Networks

The cable television (CATV) networks, since their introduction in the late 1940s, have now become a crucial part of the broadcasting industry. To keep up with growing demands from the subscribers, cable networks nowadays not only provide television programs but also deliver two-way interactive services such as telephone, high-speed Internet and social TV features. A new standard for CATV networks is released every five to six years to satisfy the growing demands from the mass market. From this perspective, this thesis is concerned with three main aspects for the continuing development of cable networks: (i) efficient implementations of backward-compatibility functions from the old standard, (ii) addressing and providing solutions for technically-challenging issues in the current standard and, (iii) looking for prospective features that can be implemented in the future standard. Since 1997, five different versions of the digital CATV standard had been released in North America. A new standard often contains major improvements over the previous one. The latest version of the standard, namely DOCSIS 3.1 (released in late 2013), is packed with state-of-the-art technologies and allows approximately ten times the amount of traffic as compared to the previous standard, DOCSIS 3.0 (released in 2008). Backward-compatibility is a must-have function for cable networks. In particular, to facilitate the system migration from older standards to a newer one, the backward compatible functions in the old standards must remain in the newer-standard products. More importantly, to keep the implementation cost low, the inherited backward compatible functions must be redesigned by taking advantage of the latest technology and algorithms. To improve the backward-compatibility functions, the first contribution of the thesis focuses on redesigning the pulse shaping filter by exploiting infinite impulse response (IIR) filter structures as an alternative to the conventional finite impulse response (FIR) structures. Comprehensive comparisons show that more economical filters with better performance can be obtained by the proposed design algorithm, which considers a hybrid parameterization of the filter's transfer function in combination with a constraint on the pole radius to be less than 1. The second contribution of the thesis is a new fractional timing estimation algorithm based on peak detection by log-domain interpolation. When compared with the commonly-used timing detection method, which is based on parabolic interpolation, the proposed algorithm yields more accurate estimation with a comparable implementation cost. The third contribution of the thesis is a technique to estimate the multipath channel for DOCSIS 3.1 cable networks. DOCSIS 3.1 is markedly different from prior generations of CATV networks in that OFDM/OFDMA is employed to create a spectrally-efficient signal. In order to effectively demodulate such a signal, it is necessary to employ a demodulation circuit which involves estimation and tracking of the multipath channel. The estimation and tracking must be highly accurate because extremely dense constellations such as 4096-QAM and possibly 16384-QAM can be used in DOCSIS 3.1. The conventional OFDM channel estimators available in the literature either do not perform satisfactorily or are not suitable for the DOCSIS 3.1 channel. The novel channel estimation technique proposed in this thesis iteratively searches for parameters of the channel paths. The proposed technique not only substantially enhances the channel estimation accuracy, but also can, at no cost, accurately identify the delay of each echo in the system. The echo delay information is valuable for proactive maintenance of the network. The fourth contribution of this thesis is a novel scheme that allows OFDM transmission without the use of a cyclic prefix (CP). The structure of OFDM in the current DOCSIS 3.1 does not achieve the maximum throughput if the channel has multipath components. The multipath channel causes inter-symbol-interference (ISI), which is commonly mitigated by employing CP. The CP acts as a guard interval that, while successfully protecting the signal from ISI, reduces the transmission throughput. The problem becomes more severe for downstream direction, where the throughput of the entire system is determined by the user with the worst channel. To solve the problem, this thesis proposes major alterations to the current DOCSIS 3.1 OFDM/OFDMA structure. The alterations involve using a pair of Nyquist filters at the transceivers and an efficient time-domain equalizer (TEQ) at the receiver to reduce ISI down to a negligible level without the need of CP. Simulation results demonstrate that, by incorporating the proposed alterations to the DOCSIS 3.1 down-link channel, the system can achieve the maximum throughput over a wide range of multipath channel conditions

Hybrid Dy-NFIS & RLS equalization for ZCC code in optical-CDMA over multi-mode optical fiber

For long haul coherent optical fiber communication systems, it is significant to precisely monitor the quality of transmission links and optical signals. The channel capacity beyond Shannon limit of Single-mode optical fiber (SMOF) is achieved with the help of Multi-mode optical fiber (MMOF), where the signal is multiplexed in different spatial modes. To increase single-mode transmission capacity and to avoid a foreseen “capacity crunch”, researchers have been motivated to employ MMOF as an alternative. Furthermore, different multiplexing techniques could be applied in MMOF to improve the communication system. One of these techniques is the Optical Code Division Multiple Access (Optical-CDMA), which simplifies and decentralizes network controls to improve spectral efficiency and information security increasing flexibility in bandwidth granularity. This technique also allows synchronous and simultaneous transmission medium to be shared by many users. However, during the propagation of the data over the MMOF based on Optical-CDMA, an inevitable encountered issue is pulse dispersion, nonlinearity and MAI due to mode coupling. Moreover, pulse dispersion, nonlinearity and MAI are significant aspects for the evaluation of the performance of high-speed MMOF communication systems based on Optical-CDMA. This work suggests a hybrid algorithm based on nonlinear algorithm (Dynamic evolving neural fuzzy inference (Dy-NFIS)) and linear algorithm (Recursive least squares (RLS)) equalization for ZCC code in Optical-CDMA over MMOF. Root mean squared error (RMSE), mean squared error (MSE) and Structural Similarity index (SSIM) are used to measure performance results

New Approach of Indoor and Outdoor Localization Systems

Accurate determination of the mobile position constitutes the basis of many new applications. This book provides a detailed account of wireless systems for positioning, signal processing, radio localization techniques (Time Difference Of Arrival), performances evaluation, and localization applications. The first section is dedicated to Satellite systems for positioning like GPS, GNSS. The second section addresses the localization applications using the wireless sensor networks. Some techniques are introduced for localization systems, especially for indoor positioning, such as Ultra Wide Band (UWB), WIFI. The last section is dedicated to Coupled GPS and other sensors. Some results of simulations, implementation and tests are given to help readers grasp the presented techniques. This is an ideal book for students, PhD students, academics and engineers in the field of Communication, localization & Signal Processing, especially in indoor and outdoor localization domains

MIMO-UFMC Transceiver Schemes for Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications

The UFMC modulation is among the most considered solutions for the realization of beyond-OFDM air interfaces for future wireless networks. This paper focuses on the design and analysis of an UFMC transceiver equipped with multiple antennas and operating at millimeter wave carrier frequencies. The paper provides the full mathematical model of a MIMO-UFMC transceiver, taking into account the presence of hybrid analog/digital beamformers at both ends of the communication links. Then, several detection structures are proposed, both for the case of single-packet isolated transmission, and for the case of multiple-packet continuous transmission. In the latter situation, the paper also considers the case in which no guard time among adjacent packets is inserted, trading off an increased level of interference with higher values of spectral efficiency. At the analysis stage, the several considered detection structures and transmission schemes are compared in terms of bit-error-rate, root-mean-square-error, and system throughput. The numerical results show that the proposed transceiver algorithms are effective and that the linear MMSE data detector is capable of well managing the increased interference brought by the removal of guard times among consecutive packets, thus yielding throughput gains of about 10 - 13 $\%$. The effect of phase noise at the receiver is also numerically assessed, and it is shown that the recursive implementation of the linear MMSE exhibits some degree of robustness against this disturbance

Design, analysis and evaluation of sigma-delta based beamformers for medical ultrasound imaging applications

The inherent analogue nature of medical ultrasound signals in conjunction with the abundant merits provided by digital image acquisition, together with the increasing use of relatively simple front-end circuitries, have created considerable demand for single-bit beamformers in digital ultrasound imaging systems. Furthermore, the increasing need to design lightweight ultrasound systems with low power consumption and low noise, provide ample justification for development and innovation in the use of single-bit beamformers in ultrasound imaging systems. The overall aim of this research program is to investigate, establish, develop and confirm through a combination of theoretical analysis and detailed simulations, that utilize raw phantom data sets, suitable techniques for the design of simple-to-implement hardware efficient digital ultrasound beamformers to address the requirements for 3D scanners with large channel counts, as well as portable and lightweight ultrasound scanners for point-of-care applications and intravascular imaging systems. In addition, the stability boundaries of higher-order High-Pass (HP) and Band-Pass (BP) Σ−Δ modulators for single- and dual- sinusoidal inputs are determined using quasi-linear modeling together with the describing-function method, to more accurately model the modulator quantizer. The theoretical results are shown to be in good agreement with the simulation results for a variety of input amplitudes, bandwidths, and modulator orders. The proposed mathematical models of the quantizer will immensely help speed up the design of higher order HP and BP Σ−Δ modulators to be applicable for digital ultrasound beamformers. Finally, a user friendly design and performance evaluation tool for LP, BP and HP modulators is developed. This toolbox, which uses various design methodologies and covers an assortment of modulators topologies, is intended to accelerate the design process and evaluation of modulators. This design tool is further developed to enable the design, analysis and evaluation of beamformer structures including the noise analyses of the final B-scan images. Thus, this tool will allow researchers and practitioners to design and verify different reconstruction filters and analyze the results directly on the B-scan ultrasound images thereby saving considerable time and effort

Channel estimation techniques for filter bank multicarrier based transceivers for next generation of wireless networks

A dissertation submitted to Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering (Electrical and Information Engineering), August 2017The fourth generation (4G) of wireless communication system is designed based on the principles of cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) where the cyclic prefix (CP) is used to combat inter-symbol interference (ISI) and inter-carrier interference (ICI) in order to achieve higher data rates in comparison to the previous generations of wireless networks. Various filter bank multicarrier systems have been considered as potential waveforms for the fast emerging next generation (xG) of wireless networks (especially the fifth generation (5G) networks). Some examples of the considered waveforms are orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with offset quadrature amplitude modulation based filter bank, universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC), bi-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (BFDM) and generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM). In perfect reconstruction (PR) or near perfect reconstruction (NPR) filter bank designs, these aforementioned FBMC waveforms adopt the use of well-designed prototype filters (which are used for designing the synthesis and analysis filter banks) so as to either replace or minimize the CP usage of the 4G networks in order to provide higher spectral efficiencies for the overall increment in data rates. The accurate designing of the FIR low-pass prototype filter in NPR filter banks results in minimal signal distortions thus, making the analysis filter bank a time-reversed version of the corresponding synthesis filter bank. However, in non-perfect reconstruction (Non-PR) the analysis filter bank is not directly a time-reversed version of the corresponding synthesis filter bank as the prototype filter impulse response for this system is formulated (in this dissertation) by the introduction of randomly generated errors. Hence, aliasing and amplitude distortions are more prominent for Non-PR. Channel estimation (CE) is used to predict the behaviour of the frequency selective channel and is usually adopted to ensure excellent reconstruction of the transmitted symbols. These techniques can be broadly classified as pilot based, semi-blind and blind channel estimation schemes. In this dissertation, two linear pilot based CE techniques namely the least square (LS) and linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE), and three adaptive channel estimation schemes namely least mean square (LMS), normalized least mean square (NLMS) and recursive least square (RLS) are presented, analyzed and documented. These are implemented while exploiting the near orthogonality properties of offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OQAM) to mitigate the effects of interference for two filter bank waveforms (i.e. OFDM/OQAM and GFDM/OQAM) for the next generation of wireless networks assuming conditions of both NPR and Non-PR in slow and fast frequency selective Rayleigh fading channel. Results obtained from the computer simulations carried out showed that the channel estimation schemes performed better in an NPR filter bank system as compared with Non-PR filter banks. The low performance of Non-PR system is due to the amplitude distortion and aliasing introduced from the random errors generated in the system that is used to design its prototype filters. It can be concluded that RLS, NLMS, LMS, LMMSE and LS channel estimation schemes offered the best normalized mean square error (NMSE) and bit error rate (BER) performances (in decreasing order) for both waveforms assuming both NPR and Non-PR filter banks. Keywords: Channel estimation, Filter bank, OFDM/OQAM, GFDM/OQAM, NPR, Non-PR, 5G, Frequency selective channel.CK201

Digital and Mixed Domain Hardware Reduction Algorithms and Implementations for Massive MIMO

Emerging 5G and 6G based wireless communications systems largely rely on multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems to reduce inherently extensive path losses, facilitate high data rates, and high spatial diversity. Massive MIMO systems used in mmWave and sub-THz applications consists of hundreds perhaps thousands of antenna elements at base stations. Digital beamforming techniques provide the highest flexibility and better degrees of freedom for phased antenna arrays as compared to its analog and hybrid alternatives but has the highest hardware complexity. Conventional digital beamformers at the receiver require a dedicated analog to digital converter (ADC) for every antenna element, leading to ADCs for elements. The number of ADCs is the key deterministic factor for the power consumption of an antenna array system. The digital hardware consists of fast Fourier transform (FFT) cores with a multiplier complexity of (N log2N) for an element system to generate multiple beams. It is required to reduce the mixed and digital hardware complexities in MIMO systems to reduce the cost and the power consumption, while maintaining high performance. The well-known concept has been in use for ADCs to achieve reduced complexities. An extension of the architecture to multi-dimensional domain is explored in this dissertation to implement a single port ADC to replace ADCs in an element system, using the correlation of received signals in the spatial domain. This concept has applications in conventional uniform linear arrays (ULAs) as well as in focal plane array (FPA) receivers. Our analysis has shown that sparsity in the spatio-temporal frequency domain can be exploited to reduce the number of ADCs from N to where . By using the limited field of view of practical antennas, multiple sub-arrays are combined without interferences to achieve a factor of K increment in the information carrying capacity of the ADC systems. Applications of this concept include ULAs and rectangular array systems. Experimental verifications were done for a element, 1.8 - 2.1 GHz wideband array system to sample using ADCs. This dissertation proposes that frequency division multiplexing (FDM) receiver outputs at an intermediate frequency (IF) can pack multiple (M) narrowband channels with a guard band to avoid interferences. The combined output is then sampled using a single wideband ADC and baseband channels are retrieved in the digital domain. Measurement results were obtained by employing a element, 28 GHz antenna array system to combine channels together to achieve a 75% reduction of ADC requirement. Implementation of FFT cores in the digital domain is not always exact because of the finite precision. Therefore, this dissertation explores the possibility of approximating the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) matrix to achieve reduced hardware complexities at an allowable cost of accuracy. A point approximate DFT (ADFT) core was implemented on digital hardware using radix-32 to achieve savings in cost, size, weight and power (C-SWaP) and synthesized for ASIC at 45-nm technology

Joint synchronization and calibration of multi-channel transform-domain charge sampling receivers

Transform-domain (TD) sampling is seen as a potential candidate for wideband and ultra-wideband high-performance receivers and is investigated in detail in this research. TD receivers expand the signal over a set of basis functions and operate on the digitized basis coefficients. This parallel digital signal processing relaxes the sampling requirements opening the doors to higher dynamic range and wider bandwidth in receivers. This research is focused on the implementation of a high performance multi-channel wideband receiver that is based on Frequency-domain (FD) sampling, a special case of TD sampling. To achieve high dynamic ranges in these receivers, it is critical that the digital post processing block matches the analog RF front end accurately. This accurate matching has to be ensured across several process variations, mismatches and o�sets that can be present in integrated circuit implementations. A unified model has been defined for the FD multi-channel receiver that contains all these imperfections and a joint synchronization and calibration technique, based on the Least-mean-squared (LMS) algorithm, is presented to track them. A maximum likelihood (ML) algorithm is used to estimate the frequency offset in carriers which is corrected prior to LMS calibration. Simulation results are provided to support these concepts. The sampling circuits in FD receivers are based on charge-sampling and a multi-channel charge-sampling receiver creates an inherent sinc filter-bank that has several advantages compared to the conventional analog filter banks used in other multi-channel receivers. It is shown that the sinc filter banks, besides reduced analog complexity, have very low computational complexity in data estimation which greatly reduces the digital power consumption of these filters. The digital complexity of data estimation in the sinc fiter bank is shown to be less than 1=10th of the complexity in analog filter banks

Tecnologias coerentes para redes ópticas flexíveis

Next-generation networks enable a broad range of innovative services with the best delivery by utilizing very dense wired/wireless networks. However, the development of future networks will require several breakthroughs in optical networks such as high-performance optical transceivers to support a very-high capacity optical network as well as optimization of the network concept, ensuring a dramatic reduction of the cost per bit. At the same time, all of the optical network segments (metro, access, long-haul) need new technology options to support high capacity, spectral efficiency and data-rate flexibility. Coherent detection offers an opportunity by providing very high sensitivity and supporting high spectral efficiency. Coherent technology can still be combined with polarization multiplexing. Despite the increased cost and complexity, the migration to dual-polarization coherent transceivers must be considered, as it enables to double the spectral efficiency. These dual-polarization systems require an additional digital signal processing (DSP) subsystem for polarization demultiplexing. This work seeks to provide and characterize cost-effective novel coherent transceivers for the development of new generation practical, flexible and high capacity transceivers for optical metro-access and data center interconnects. In this regard, different polarization demultiplexing (PolDemux) algorithms, as well as adaptive Stokes will be considered. Furthermore, low complexity and modulation format-agnostic DSP techniques based on adaptive Stokes PolDemux for flexible and customizable optical coherent systems will be proposed. On this subject, the performance of the adaptive Stokes algorithm in an ultra-dense wavelength division multiplexing (U-DWDM) system will be experimentally evaluated, in offline and real-time operations over a hybrid optical-wireless link. In addition, the efficiency of this PolDemux algorithm in a flexible optical metro link based on Nyquist pulse shaping U-DWDM system and hybrid optical signals will be assessed. Moreover, it is of great importance to find a transmission technology that enables to apply the Stokes PolDemux for long-haul transmission systems and data center interconnects. In this work, it is also proposed a solution based on the use of digital multi-subcarrier multiplexing, which improve the performance of long-haul optical systems, without increasing substantially, their complexity and cost.As redes de telecomunicações futuras permitirão uma ampla gama de serviços inovadores e com melhor desempenho. No entanto, o desenvolvimento das futuras redes implicará vários avanços nas redes de fibra ótica, como transcetores óticos de alto desempenho capazes de suportar ligações de muito elevada capacidade, e a otimização da estrutura da rede, permitindo uma redução drástica do custo por bit transportado. Simultaneamente, todos os segmentos de rede ótica (metropolitanas, acesso e longo alcance) necessitam de novas opções tecnológicas para suportar uma maior capacidade, maior eficiência espetral e flexibilidade. Neste contexto, a deteção coerente surge como uma oportunidade, fornecendo alta sensibilidade e elevada eficiência espetral. A tecnologia de deteção coerente pode ainda ser associada à multiplexação na polarização. Apesar de um potencial aumento ao nível do custo e da complexidade, a migração para transcetores coerentes de dupla polarização deve ser ponderada, pois permite duplicar a eficiência espetral. Esses sistemas de dupla polarização requerem um subsistema de processamento digital de sinal (DSP) adicional para desmultiplexagem da polarização. Este trabalho procura fornecer e caracterizar novos transcetores coerentes de baixo custo para o desenvolvimento de uma nova geração de transcetores mais práticos, flexíveis e de elevada capacidade, para interconexões óticas ao nível das futuras redes de acesso e metro. Assim, serão analisados diferentes algoritmos para a desmultiplexagem da polarização, incluindo uma abordagem adaptativa baseada no espaço de Stokes. Além disso, são propostas técnicas de DSP independentes do formato de modulação e de baixa complexidade baseadas na desmultiplexagem de Stokes adaptativa para sistemas óticos coerentes flexíveis. Neste contexto, o desempenho do algoritmo adaptativo de desmultiplexagem na polarização baseado no espaço de Stokes é avaliado experimentalmente num sistema U-DWDM, tanto em análises off-line como em tempo real, considerando um percurso ótico hibrido que combina um sistema de transmissão suportado por fibra e outro em espaço livre. Foi ainda analisada a eficiência do algoritmo de desmultiplexagem na polarização numa rede ótica de acesso flexível U-DWDM com formatação de pulso do tipo Nyquist. Neste trabalho foi ainda analisada a aplicação da técnica de desmultiplexagem na polarização baseada no espaço de Stokes para sistemas de longo alcance. Assim, foi proposta uma solução de aplicação baseada no uso da multiplexagem digital de múltiplas sub-portadoras, tendo-se demonstrado uma melhoria na eficiência do desempenho dos sistemas óticos de longo alcance, sem aumentar significativamente a respetiva complexidade e custo.Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Eletrotécnic

Waveform Design for 5G and beyond Systems

5G traffic has very diverse requirements with respect to data rate, delay, and reliability. The concept of using multiple OFDM numerologies adopted in the 5G NR standard will likely meet these multiple requirements to some extent. However, the traffic is radically accruing different characteristics and requirements when compared with the initial stage of 5G, which focused mainly on high-speed multimedia data applications. For instance, applications such as vehicular communications and robotics control require a highly reliable and ultra-low delay. In addition, various emerging M2M applications have sparse traffic with a small amount of data to be delivered. The state-of-the-art OFDM technique has some limitations when addressing the aforementioned requirements at the same time. Meanwhile, numerous waveform alternatives, such as FBMC, GFDM, and UFMC, have been explored. They also have their own pros and cons due to their intrinsic waveform properties. Hence, it is the opportune moment to come up with modification/variations/combinations to the aforementioned techniques or a new waveform design for 5G systems and beyond. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide the latest research and advances in the field of waveform design for 5G systems and beyond