Techniques of detection, estimation and coding for fading channels

The thesis describes techniques of detection, coding and estimation, for use in high speed serial modems operating over fading channels such as HF radio and land mobile radio links. The performance of the various systems that employ the above techniques are obtained via computer simulation tests. A review of the characteristics of HF radio channels is first presented, leading to the development of an appropriate channel model which imposes Rayleigh fading on the transmitted signal. Detection processes for a 4.8 kbit/s HF radio modem are then discussed, the emphasis, here, being on variants of the maximum likelihood detector that is implemented by the Viterbi algorithm. The performance of these detectors are compared with that of a nonlinear equalizer operating under the same conditions, and the detector which offers the best compromise between performance and complexity is chosen for further tests. Forward error correction, in the form of trellis coded modulation, is next introduced. An appropriate 8-PSK coded modulation scheme is discussed, and its operation over the above mentioned HF radio modem is evaluated. Performance comparisons are made of the coded and uncoded systems. Channel estimation techniques for fast fading channels akin to cellular land mobile radio links, are next discussed. A suitable model for a fast fading channel is developed, and some novel estimators are tested over this channel. Computer simulation tests are also used to study the feasibility of the simultaneous transmission of two 4-level QAM signals occupying the same frequency band, when each of these signals are transmitted at 24 kbit/s over two independently fading channels, to a single receiver. A novel combined detector/estimator is developed for this purpose. Finally, the performance of the complete 4.8 kbit/s HF radio modem is obtained, when all the functions of detection, estimation and prefiltering are present, where the prefilter and associated processor use a recently developed technique for the adjustment of its tap gains and for the estimation of the minimum phase sampled impulse response

A compressed sensing approach to block-iterative equalization: connections and applications to radar imaging reconstruction

The widespread of underdetermined systems has brought forth a variety of new algorithmic solutions, which capitalize on the Compressed Sensing (CS) of sparse data. While well known greedy or iterative threshold type of CS recursions take the form of an adaptive filter followed by a proximal operator, this is no different in spirit from the role of block iterative decision-feedback equalizers (BI-DFE), where structure is roughly exploited by the signal constellation slicer. By taking advantage of the intrinsic sparsity of signal modulations in a communications scenario, the concept of interblock interference (IBI) can be approached more cunningly in light of CS concepts, whereby the optimal feedback of detected symbols is devised adaptively. The new DFE takes the form of a more efficient re-estimation scheme, proposed under recursive-least-squares based adaptations. Whenever suitable, these recursions are derived under a reduced-complexity, widely-linear formulation, which further reduces the minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) in comparison with traditional strictly-linear approaches. Besides maximizing system throughput, the new algorithms exhibit significantly higher performance when compared to existing methods. Our reasoning will also show that a properly formulated BI-DFE turns out to be a powerful CS algorithm itself. A new algorithm, referred to as CS-Block DFE (CS-BDFE) exhibits improved convergence and detection when compared to first order methods, thus outperforming the state-of-the-art Complex Approximate Message Passing (CAMP) recursions. The merits of the new recursions are illustrated under a novel 3D MIMO Radar formulation, where the CAMP algorithm is shown to fail with respect to important performance measures.A proliferação de sistemas sub-determinados trouxe a tona uma gama de novas soluções algorítmicas, baseadas no sensoriamento compressivo (CS) de dados esparsos. As recursões do tipo greedy e de limitação iterativa para CS se apresentam comumente como um filtro adaptativo seguido de um operador proximal, não muito diferente dos equalizadores de realimentação de decisão iterativos em blocos (BI-DFE), em que um decisor explora a estrutura do sinal de constelação. A partir da esparsidade intrínseca presente na modulação de sinais no contexto de comunicações, a interferência entre blocos (IBI) pode ser abordada utilizando-se o conceito de CS, onde a realimentação ótima de símbolos detectados é realizada de forma adaptativa. O novo DFE se apresenta como um esquema mais eficiente de reestimação, baseado na atualização por mínimos quadrados recursivos (RLS). Sempre que possível estas recursões são propostas via formulação linear no sentido amplo, o que reduz ainda mais o erro médio quadrático mínimo (MMSE) em comparação com abordagens tradicionais. Além de maximizar a taxa de transferência de informação, o novo algoritmo exibe um desempenho significativamente superior quando comparado aos métodos existentes. Também mostraremos que um equalizador BI-DFE formulado adequadamente se torna um poderoso algoritmo de CS. O novo algoritmo CS-BDFE apresenta convergência e detecção aprimoradas, quando comparado a métodos de primeira ordem, superando as recursões de Passagem de Mensagem Aproximada para Complexos (CAMP). Os méritos das novas recursões são ilustrados através de um modelo tridimensional para radares MIMO recentemente proposto, onde o algoritmo CAMP falha em aspectos importantes de medidas de desempenho

Passive detection of correlated subspace signals in two MIMO channels

In this paper, we consider a two-channel multiple-input multiple-output passive detection problem, in which there is a surveillance array and a reference array. The reference array is known to carry a linear combination of broadband noise and a subspace signal of known dimension, but unknown basis. The question is whether the surveillance channel carries a linear combination of broadband noise and a subspace signal of the same dimension, but unknown basis, which is correlated with the subspace signal in the reference channel. We consider a second-order detection problem where these subspace signals are structured by an unknown, but common, p-dimensional random vector of symbols transmitted from sources of opportunity, and then received through unknown M × p matrices at each of the M-element arrays. The noises in each channel have spatial correlation models ranging from arbitrarily correlated to independent with identical variances. We provide a unified framework to derive the generalized likelihood ratio test for these different noise models. In the most general case of arbitrary noise covariance matrices, the test statistic is a monotone function of canonical correlations between the reference and surveillance channels.I. Santamaría and J. Vía have received funding from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain, and AEI/FEDER funds of the E.U. under projects TEC2013-47141-C4-3-R (RACHEL), TEC2016-75067-C4-4-R (CARMEN) and TEC2016-81900-REDT (KERMES). The research of Haonan Wang was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-1521746

Adaptive Communications for Next Generation Broadband Wireless Access Systems

Un dels aspectes claus en el disseny i gestió de les xarxes sense fils d'accés de banda ampla és l'ús eficient dels recursos radio. Des del punt de vista de l'operador, l'ample de banda és un bé escàs i preuat que s´ha d'explotar i gestionar de la forma més eficient possible tot garantint la qualitat del servei que es vol proporcionar. Per altra banda, des del punt de vista del usuari, la qualitat del servei ofert ha de ser comparable al de les xarxes fixes, requerint així un baix retard i una baixa pèrdua de paquets per cadascun dels fluxos de dades entre la xarxa i l'usuari. Durant els darrers anys s´han desenvolupat nombroses tècniques i algoritmes amb l'objectiu d'incrementar l'eficiència espectral. Entre aquestes tècniques destaca l'ús de múltiples antenes al transmissor i al receptor amb l'objectiu de transmetre diferents fluxos de dades simultaneament sense necessitat d'augmentar l'ample de banda. Per altra banda, la optimizació conjunta de la capa d'accés al medi i la capa física (fent ús de l'estat del canal per tal de gestionar de manera optima els recursos) també permet incrementar sensiblement l'eficiència espectral del sistema.L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és l'estudi i desenvolupament de noves tècniques d'adaptació de l'enllaç i gestió dels recursos ràdio aplicades sobre sistemes d'accés ràdio de propera generació (Beyond 3G). Els estudis realitzats parteixen de la premissa que el transmisor coneix (parcialment) l'estat del canal i que la transmissió es realitza fent servir un esquema multiportadora amb múltiples antenes al transmisor i al receptor. En aquesta tesi es presenten dues línies d'investigació, la primera per casos d'una sola antenna a cada banda de l'enllaç, i la segona en cas de múltiples antenes. En el cas d'una sola antena al transmissor i al receptor, un nou esquema d'assignació de recursos ràdio i priorització dels paquets (scheduling) és proposat i analitzat integrant totes dues funcions sobre una mateixa entitat (cross-layer). L'esquema proposat té com a principal característica la seva baixa complexitat i que permet operar amb transmissions multimedia. Alhora, posteriors millores realitzades per l'autor sobre l'esquema proposat han permès també reduir els requeriments de senyalització i combinar de forma óptima usuaris d'alta i baixa mobilitat sobre el mateix accés ràdio, millorant encara més l'eficiència espectral del sistema. En cas d'enllaços amb múltiples antenes es proposa un nou esquema que combina la selecció del conjunt optim d'antenes transmissores amb la selecció de la codificació espai- (frequència-) temps. Finalment es donen una sèrie de recomanacions per tal de combinar totes dues línies d'investigació, així con un estat de l'art de les tècniques proposades per altres autors que combinen en part la gestió dels recursos ràdio i els esquemes de transmissió amb múltiples antenes.Uno de los aspectos claves en el diseño y gestión de las redes inalámbricas de banda ancha es el uso eficiente de los recursos radio. Desde el punto de vista del operador, el ancho de banda es un bien escaso y valioso que se debe explotar y gestionar de la forma más eficiente posible sin afectar a la calidad del servicio ofrecido. Por otro lado, desde el punto de vista del usuario, la calidad del servicio ha de ser comparable al ofrecido por las redes fijas, requiriendo así un bajo retardo y una baja tasa de perdida de paquetes para cada uno de los flujos de datos entre la red y el usuario. Durante los últimos años el número de técnicas y algoritmos que tratan de incrementar la eficiencia espectral en dichas redes es bastante amplio. Entre estas técnicas destaca el uso de múltiples antenas en el transmisor y en el receptor con el objetivo de poder transmitir simultáneamente diferentes flujos de datos sin necesidad de incrementar el ancho de banda. Por otro lado, la optimización conjunta de la capa de acceso al medio y la capa física (utilizando información de estado del canal para gestionar de manera óptima los recursos) también permite incrementar sensiblemente la eficiencia espectral del sistema.El objetivo de esta tesis es el estudio y desarrollo de nuevas técnicas de adaptación del enlace y la gestión de los recursos radio, y su posterior aplicación sobre los sistemas de acceso radio de próxima generación (Beyond 3G). Los estudios realizados parten de la premisa de que el transmisor conoce (parcialmente) el estado del canal a la vez que se considera que la transmisión se realiza sobre un sistema de transmisión multiportadora con múltiple antenas en el transmisor y el receptor. La tesis se centra sobre dos líneas de investigación, la primera para casos de una única antena en cada lado del enlace, y la segunda en caso de múltiples antenas en cada lado. Para el caso de una única antena en el transmisor y en el receptor, se ha desarrollado un nuevo esquema de asignación de los recursos radio así como de priorización de los paquetes de datos (scheduling) integrando ambas funciones sobre una misma entidad (cross-layer). El esquema propuesto tiene como principal característica su bajo coste computacional a la vez que se puede aplicar en caso de transmisiones multimedia. Posteriores mejoras realizadas por el autor sobre el esquema propuesto han permitido también reducir los requisitos de señalización así como combinar de forma óptima usuarios de alta y baja movilidad. Por otro lado, en caso de enlaces con múltiples antenas en transmisión y recepción, se presenta un nuevo esquema de adaptación en el cual se combina la selección de la(s) antena(s) transmisora(s) con la selección del esquema de codificación espacio-(frecuencia-) tiempo. Para finalizar, se dan una serie de recomendaciones con el objetivo de combinar ambas líneas de investigación, así como un estado del arte de las técnicas propuestas por otros autores que combinan en parte la gestión de los recursos radio y los esquemas de transmisión con múltiples antenas.In Broadband Wireless Access systems the efficient use of the resources is crucial from many points of views. From the operator point of view, the bandwidth is a scarce, valuable, and expensive resource which must be exploited in an efficient manner while the Quality of Service (QoS) provided to the users is guaranteed. On the other hand, a tight delay and link quality constraints are imposed on each data flow hence the user experiences the same quality as in fixed networks. During the last few years many techniques have been developed in order to increase the spectral efficiency and the throughput. Among them, the use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and the receiver (exploiting spatial multiplexing) with the joint optimization of the medium access control layer and the physical layer parameters.In this Ph.D. thesis, different adaptive techniques for B3G multicarrier wireless systems are developed and proposed focusing on the SS-MC-MA and the OFDM(A) (IEEE 802.16a/e/m standards) communication schemes. The research lines emphasize into the adaptation of the transmission having (Partial) knowledge of the Channel State Information for both; single antenna and multiple antenna links. For single antenna links, the implementation of a joint resource allocation and scheduling strategy by including adaptive modulation and coding is investigated. A low complexity resource allocation and scheduling algorithm is proposed with the objective to cope with real- and/or non-real- time requirements and constraints. A special attention is also devoted in reducing the required signalling. However, for multiple antenna links, the performance of a proposed adaptive transmit antenna selection scheme jointly with space-time block coding selection is investigated and compared with conventional structures. In this research line, mainly two optimizations criteria are proposed for spatial link adaptation, one based on the minimum error rate for fixed throughput, and the second focused on the maximisation of the rate for fixed error rate. Finally, some indications are given on how to include the spatial adaptation into the investigated and proposed resource allocation and scheduling process developed for single antenna transmission

A General Framework for Analyzing, Characterizing, and Implementing Spectrally Modulated, Spectrally Encoded Signals

Fourth generation (4G) communications will support many capabilities while providing universal, high speed access. One potential enabler for these capabilities is software defined radio (SDR). When controlled by cognitive radio (CR) principles, the required waveform diversity is achieved via a synergistic union called CR-based SDR. Research is rapidly progressing in SDR hardware and software venues, but current CR-based SDR research lacks the theoretical foundation and analytic framework to permit efficient implementation. This limitation is addressed here by introducing a general framework for analyzing, characterizing, and implementing spectrally modulated, spectrally encoded (SMSE) signals within CR-based SDR architectures. Given orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a 4G candidate signal, OFDM-based signals are collectively classified as SMSE since modulation and encoding are spectrally applied. The proposed framework provides analytic commonality and unification of SMSE signals. Applicability is first shown for candidate 4G signals, and resultant analytic expressions agree with published results. Implementability is then demonstrated in multiple coexistence scenarios via modeling and simulation to reinforce practical utility

Joint signal detection and channel estimation in rank-deficient MIMO systems

L'évolution de la prospère famille des standards 802.11 a encouragé le développement des technologies appliquées aux réseaux locaux sans fil (WLANs). Pour faire face à la toujours croissante nécessité de rendre possible les communications à très haut débit, les systèmes à antennes multiples (MIMO) sont une solution viable. Ils ont l'avantage d'accroître le débit de transmission sans avoir recours à plus de puissance ou de largeur de bande. Cependant, l'industrie hésite encore à augmenter le nombre d'antennes des portables et des accésoires sans fil. De plus, à l'intérieur des bâtiments, la déficience de rang de la matrice de canal peut se produire dû à la nature de la dispersion des parcours de propagation, ce phénomène est aussi occasionné à l'extérieur par de longues distances de transmission. Ce projet est motivé par les raisons décrites antérieurement, il se veut un étude sur la viabilité des transcepteurs sans fil à large bande capables de régulariser la déficience de rang du canal sans fil. On vise le développement des techniques capables de séparer M signaux co-canal, même avec une seule antenne et à faire une estimation précise du canal. Les solutions décrites dans ce document cherchent à surmonter les difficultés posées par le medium aux transcepteurs sans fil à large bande. Le résultat de cette étude est un algorithme transcepteur approprié aux systèmes MIMO à rang déficient