Cross-layer optimization of unequal protected layered video over hierarchical modulation

Abstract-unequal protection mechanisms have been proposed at several layers in order to improve the reliability of multimedia contents, especially for video data. The paper aims at implementing a multi-layer unequal protection scheme, which is based on a Physical-Transport-Application cross-layer design. Hierarchical modulation, in the physical layer, has been demonstrated to increase the overall user capacity of a wireless communications. On the other hand, unequal erasure protection codes at the transport layer turned out to be an efficient method to protect video data generated by the application layer by exploiting their intrinsic properties. In this paper, the two techniques are jointly optimized in order to enable recovering lost data in case the protection is performed separately. We show that the cross-layer design proposed herein outperforms the performance of hierarchical modulation and unequal erasure codes taken independently

Reliable Physical Layer Network Coding

When two or more users in a wireless network transmit simultaneously, their electromagnetic signals are linearly superimposed on the channel. As a result, a receiver that is interested in one of these signals sees the others as unwanted interference. This property of the wireless medium is typically viewed as a hindrance to reliable communication over a network. However, using a recently developed coding strategy, interference can in fact be harnessed for network coding. In a wired network, (linear) network coding refers to each intermediate node taking its received packets, computing a linear combination over a finite field, and forwarding the outcome towards the destinations. Then, given an appropriate set of linear combinations, a destination can solve for its desired packets. For certain topologies, this strategy can attain significantly higher throughputs over routing-based strategies. Reliable physical layer network coding takes this idea one step further: using judiciously chosen linear error-correcting codes, intermediate nodes in a wireless network can directly recover linear combinations of the packets from the observed noisy superpositions of transmitted signals. Starting with some simple examples, this survey explores the core ideas behind this new technique and the possibilities it offers for communication over interference-limited wireless networks.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, survey paper to appear in Proceedings of the IEE

Erasure Coding for Real-Time Streaming

We consider a real-time streaming system where messages are created sequentially at the source, and are encoded for transmission to the receiver over a packet erasure link. Each message must subsequently be decoded at the receiver within a given delay from its creation time. The goal is to construct an erasure correction code that achieves the maximum message size when all messages must be decoded by their respective deadlines under a specified set of erasure patterns (erasure model). We present an explicit intrasession code construction that is asymptotically optimal under erasure models containing a limited number of erasures per coding window, per sliding window, and containing erasure bursts of a limited length.Comment: Extended version of a conference paper in the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), July 2012. 12 pages, 3 figure

Flag codes from planar spreads in network coding

In this paper we study a class of multishot network codes given by families of nested subspaces (flags) of a vector space Fnq, being qa prime power and Fqthe finite field of qelements. In particular, we focus on flag codes having maximum distance (optimum distance flag codes). We explore the existence of these codes from spreads, based on the good properties of the latter ones. For n =2k, we show that optimum distance full flag codes with the largest size are exactly those that can be constructed from a planar spread. We give a precise construction of them as well as a decoding algorithm.The first and third authors are partially supported by Projecte AICO/2017/128 of Generalitat Valenciana. The second author is supported by Generalitat Valenciana and Fondo Social Europeo. Grants: ACIF/2018/196 and BEFPI/2019/070. The third author is also supported by the grant BEST/2019/192 of Generalitat Valenciana

On erasure correction coding for streaming

We consider packet erasure correction coding for a streaming system where specific information needs to be decoded by specific deadlines, in order to ensure uninterrupted playback at the receiver. In our previous work [1], we gave a capacity-achieving code construction for the case of a fixed number of erasures. In this work, we consider a sliding window erasure pattern where the number of erasures within windows of size above some threshold is upper bounded by a fraction of the window size, modeling a constraint on burstiness of the channel. We lower bound the rates achievable by our previous code construction as a fraction of the capacity region, which approaches to one as the window size threshold and the initial playout delay increase simultaneously. © 2012 IEEE

Low-resolution ADC receiver design, MIMO interference cancellation prototyping, and PHY secrecy analysis.

This dissertation studies three independent research topics in the general field of wireless communications. The first topic focuses on new receiver design with low-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADC). In future massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems, multiple high-speed high-resolution ADCs will become a bottleneck for practical applications because of the hardware complexity and power consumption. One solution to this problem is to adopt low-cost low-precision ADCs instead. In Chapter II, MU-MIMO-OFDM systems only equipped with low-precision ADCs are considered. A new turbo receiver structure is proposed to improve the overall system performance. Meanwhile, ultra-low-cost communication devices can enable massive deployment of disposable wireless relays. In Chapter III, the feasibility of using a one-bit relay cluster to help a power-constrained transmitter for distant communication is investigated. Nonlinear estimators are applied to enable effective decoding. The second topic focuses prototyping and verification of a LTE and WiFi co-existence system, where the operation of LTE in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) is discussed. LTE-U extends the benefits of LTE and LTE Advanced to unlicensed spectrum, enabling mobile operators to offload data traffic onto unlicensed frequencies more efficiently and effectively. With LTE-U, operators can offer consumers a more robust and seamless mobile broadband experience with better coverage and higher download speeds. As the coexistence leads to considerable performance instability of both LTE and WiFi transmissions, the LTE and WiFi receivers with MIMO interference canceller are designed and prototyped to support the coexistence in Chapter IV. The third topic focuses on theoretical analysis of physical-layer secrecy with finite blocklength. Unlike upper layer security approaches, the physical-layer communication security can guarantee information-theoretic secrecy. Current studies on the physical-layer secrecy are all based on infinite blocklength. Nevertheless, these asymptotic studies are unrealistic and the finite blocklength effect is crucial for practical secrecy communication. In Chapter V, a practical analysis of secure lattice codes is provided

Multi-destination Aggregation with Binary Symmetric Broadcast Channel Based Coding in 802.11 WLANs

In this paper we consider the potential benefits of adopting a binary symmetric broadcast channel paradigm for multi-destination aggregation in 802.11 WLANs, as opposed to a more conventional packet erasure channel paradigm. We propose two approaches for multi-destination aggregation, i.e. superposition coding and a simpler time-sharing coding. Theoretical and simulation results for both unicast and multicast traffic demonstrate that increases in network throughput of more than 100% are possible over a wide range of network conditions and that the much simpler time-sharing scheme yields most of these gains and have minimal loss of performance. Importantly, these performance gains are achieved exclusively through software rather than hardware changes