Frame Structure Design and Analysis for Millimeter Wave Cellular Systems

The millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies have attracted considerable attention for fifth generation (5G) cellular communication as they offer orders of magnitude greater bandwidth than current cellular systems. However, the medium access control (MAC) layer may need to be significantly redesigned to support the highly directional transmissions, ultra-low latencies and high peak rates expected in mmWave communication. To address these challenges, we present a novel mmWave MAC layer frame structure with a number of enhancements including flexible, highly granular transmission times, dynamic control signal locations, extended messaging and ability to efficiently multiplex directional control signals. Analytic formulae are derived for the utilization and control overhead as a function of control periodicity, number of users, traffic statistics, signal-to-noise ratio and antenna gains. Importantly, the analysis can incorporate various front-end MIMO capability assumptions -- a critical feature of mmWave. Under realistic system and traffic assumptions, the analysis reveals that the proposed flexible frame structure design offers significant benefits over designs with fixed frame structures similar to current 4G long-term evolution (LTE). It is also shown that fully digital beamforming architectures offer significantly lower overhead compared to analog and hybrid beamforming under equivalent power budgets.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions for Wireless Communication

Multicast broadcast services support in OFDMA-based WiMAX systems [Advances in mobile multimedia]

Multimedia stream service provided by broadband wireless networks has emerged as an important technology and has attracted much attention. An all-IP network architecture with reliable high-throughput air interface makes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA)-based mobile worldwide interoperability for microwave access (mobile WiMAX) a viable technology for wireless multimedia services, such as voice over IP (VoIP), mobile TV, and so on. One of the main features in a WiMAX MAC layer is that it can provide'differentiated services among different traffic categories with individual QoS requirements. In this article, we first give an overview of the key aspects of WiMAX and describe multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) architecture of the 3GPP. Then, we propose a multicast and broadcast service (MBS) architecture for WiMAX that is based on MBMS. Moreover, we enhance the MBS architecture for mobile WiMAX to overcome the shortcoming of limited video broadcast performance over the baseline MBS model. We also give examples to demonstrate that the proposed architecture can support better mobility and offer higher power efficiency

Iterative Joint Channel Estimation and Multi-User Detection for Multiple-Antenna Aided OFDM Systems

Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems have recently attracted substantial research interest. However, compared to Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO) systems, channel estimation in the MIMO scenario becomes more challenging, owing to the increased number of independent transmitter-receiver links to be estimated. In the context of the Bell LAyered Space-Time architecture (BLAST) or Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) multi-user MIMO OFDM systems, none of the known channel estimation techniques allows the number of users to be higher than the number of receiver antennas, which is often referred to as a “rank-deficient” scenario, owing to the constraint imposed by the rank of the MIMO channel matrix. Against this background, in this paper we propose a new Genetic Algorithm (GA) assisted iterative Joint Channel Estimation and Multi-User Detection (GA-JCEMUD) approach for multi-user MIMO SDMA-OFDM systems, which provides an effective solution to the multi-user MIMO channel estimation problem in the above-mentioned rank-deficient scenario. Furthermore, the GAs invoked in the data detection literature can only provide a hard-decision output for the Forward Error Correction (FEC) or channel decoder, which inevitably limits the system’s achievable performance. By contrast, our proposed GA is capable of providing “soft” outputs and hence it becomes capable of achieving an improved performance with the aid of FEC decoders. A range of simulation results are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme. Index Terms—Channel estimation, genetic algorithm, multiple-input-multiple-output, multi-user detection, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, space division multiple access

Técnicas de pré-codificação para sistemas multicelulares coordenados

Doutoramento em TelecomunicaçõesCoordenação Multicélula é um tópico de investigação em rápido crescimento e uma solução promissora para controlar a interferência entre células em sistemas celulares, melhorando a equidade do sistema e aumentando a sua capacidade. Esta tecnologia já está em estudo no LTEAdvanced sob o conceito de coordenação multiponto (COMP). Existem várias abordagens sobre coordenação multicélula, dependendo da quantidade e do tipo de informação partilhada pelas estações base, através da rede de suporte (backhaul network), e do local onde essa informação é processada, i.e., numa unidade de processamento central ou de uma forma distribuída em cada estação base. Nesta tese, são propostas técnicas de pré-codificação e alocação de potência considerando várias estratégias: centralizada, todo o processamento é feito na unidade de processamento central; semidistribuída, neste caso apenas parte do processamento é executado na unidade de processamento central, nomeadamente a potência alocada a cada utilizador servido por cada estação base; e distribuída em que o processamento é feito localmente em cada estação base. Os esquemas propostos são projectados em duas fases: primeiro são propostas soluções de pré-codificação para mitigar ou eliminar a interferência entre células, de seguida o sistema é melhorado através do desenvolvimento de vários esquemas de alocação de potência. São propostas três esquemas de alocação de potência centralizada condicionada a cada estação base e com diferentes relações entre desempenho e complexidade. São também derivados esquemas de alocação distribuídos, assumindo que um sistema multicelular pode ser visto como a sobreposição de vários sistemas com uma única célula. Com base neste conceito foi definido uma taxa de erro média virtual para cada um desses sistemas de célula única que compõem o sistema multicelular, permitindo assim projectar esquemas de alocação de potência completamente distribuídos. Todos os esquemas propostos foram avaliados em cenários realistas, bastante próximos dos considerados no LTE. Os resultados mostram que os esquemas propostos são eficientes a remover a interferência entre células e que o desempenho das técnicas de alocação de potência propostas é claramente superior ao caso de não alocação de potência. O desempenho dos sistemas completamente distribuídos é inferior aos baseados num processamento centralizado, mas em contrapartida podem ser usados em sistemas em que a rede de suporte não permita a troca de grandes quantidades de informação.Multicell coordination is a promising solution for cellular wireless systems to mitigate inter-cell interference, improving system fairness and increasing capacity and thus is already under study in LTE-A under the coordinated multipoint (CoMP) concept. There are several coordinated transmission approaches depending on the amount of information shared by the transmitters through the backhaul network and where the processing takes place i.e. in a central processing unit or in a distributed way on each base station. In this thesis, we propose joint precoding and power allocation techniques considering different strategies: Full-centralized, where all the processing takes place at the central unit; Semi-distributed, in this case only some process related with power allocation is done at the central unit; and Fulldistributed, where all the processing is done locally at each base station. The methods are designed in two phases: first the inter-cell interference is removed by applying a set of centralized or distributed precoding vectors; then the system is further optimized by centralized or distributed power allocation schemes. Three centralized power allocation algorithms with per-BS power constraint and different complexity tradeoffs are proposed. Also distributed power allocation schemes are proposed by considering the multicell system as superposition of single cell systems, where we define the average virtual bit error rate (BER) of interference-free single cell system, allowing us to compute the power allocation coefficients in a distributed manner at each BS. All proposed schemes are evaluated in realistic scenarios considering LTE specifications. The numerical evaluations show that the proposed schemes are efficient in removing inter-cell interference and improve system performance comparing to equal power allocation. Furthermore, fulldistributed schemes can be used when the amounts of information to be exchanged over the backhaul is restricted, although system performance is slightly degraded from semi-distributed and full-centralized schemes, but the complexity is considerably lower. Besides that for high degrees of freedom distributed schemes show similar behaviour to centralized ones

High Dimensional Modulation and MIMO Techniques for Access Networks

Exploration of advanced modulation formats and multiplexing techniques for next generation optical access networks are of interest as promising solutions for delivering multiple services to end-users. This thesis addresses this from two different angles: high dimensionality carrierless amplitudephase (CAP) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems. High dimensionality CAP modulation has been investigated in optical fiber systems. In this project we conducted the first experimental demonstration of 3 and 4 dimensional CAP with bit rates up to 10 Gb/s. These results indicate the potentiality of supporting multiple users with converged services. At the same time, orthogonal division multiple access (ODMA) systems for multiple possible dimensions of CAP modulation has been demonstrated for user and service allocation in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical access network. 2 x 2 MIMO RoF employing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with 5.6 GHz RoF signaling over all-vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) WDM passive optical networks (PONs). We have employed polarization division multiplexing (PDM) to further increase the capacity per wavelength of the femto-cell network. Bit rate up to 1.59 Gbps with fiber-wireless transmission over 1 m air distance is demonstrated. The results presented in this thesis demonstrate the feasibility of high dimensionality CAP in increasing the number of dimensions and their potentially to be utilized for multiple service allocation to different users. MIMO multiplexing techniques with OFDM provides the scalability in increasing spectral effciency and bit rates for RoF systems. High dimensional CAP and MIMO multiplexing techniques are two promising solutions for supporting wired and hybrid wired-wireless access networks