Multiuser MIMO-OFDM for Next-Generation Wireless Systems

This overview portrays the 40-year evolution of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) research. The amelioration of powerful multicarrier OFDM arrangements with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems has numerous benefits, which are detailed in this treatise. We continue by highlighting the limitations of conventional detection and channel estimation techniques designed for multiuser MIMO OFDM systems in the so-called rank-deficient scenarios, where the number of users supported or the number of transmit antennas employed exceeds the number of receiver antennas. This is often encountered in practice, unless we limit the number of users granted access in the base station’s or radio port’s coverage area. Following a historical perspective on the associated design problems and their state-of-the-art solutions, the second half of this treatise details a range of classic multiuser detectors (MUDs) designed for MIMO-OFDM systems and characterizes their achievable performance. A further section aims for identifying novel cutting-edge genetic algorithm (GA)-aided detector solutions, which have found numerous applications in wireless communications in recent years. In an effort to stimulate the cross pollination of ideas across the machine learning, optimization, signal processing, and wireless communications research communities, we will review the broadly applicable principles of various GA-assisted optimization techniques, which were recently proposed also for employment inmultiuser MIMO OFDM. In order to stimulate new research, we demonstrate that the family of GA-aided MUDs is capable of achieving a near-optimum performance at the cost of a significantly lower computational complexity than that imposed by their optimum maximum-likelihood (ML) MUD aided counterparts. The paper is concluded by outlining a range of future research options that may find their way into next-generation wireless systems

Near-Instantaneously Adaptive HSDPA-Style OFDM Versus MC-CDMA Transceivers for WIFI, WIMAX, and Next-Generation Cellular Systems

Burts-by-burst (BbB) adaptive high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) style multicarrier systems are reviewed, identifying their most critical design aspects. These systems exhibit numerous attractive features, rendering them eminently eligible for employment in next-generation wireless systems. It is argued that BbB-adaptive or symbol-by-symbol adaptive orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) modems counteract the near instantaneous channel quality variations and hence attain an increased throughput or robustness in comparison to their fixed-mode counterparts. Although they act quite differently, various diversity techniques, such as Rake receivers and space-time block coding (STBC) are also capable of mitigating the channel quality variations in their effort to reduce the bit error ratio (BER), provided that the individual antenna elements experience independent fading. By contrast, in the presence of correlated fading imposed by shadowing or time-variant multiuser interference, the benefits of space-time coding erode and it is unrealistic to expect that a fixed-mode space-time coded system remains capable of maintaining a near-constant BER

Low-complexity frequency synchronization for wireless OFDM systems

Ph.DNUS-TU/E JOINT PH.D. PROGRAMM

Modelling, Dimensioning and Optimization of 5G Communication Networks, Resources and Services

This reprint aims to collect state-of-the-art research contributions that address challenges in the emerging 5G networks design, dimensioning and optimization. Designing, dimensioning and optimization of communication networks resources and services have been an inseparable part of telecom network development. The latter must convey a large volume of traffic, providing service to traffic streams with highly differentiated requirements in terms of bit-rate and service time, required quality of service and quality of experience parameters. Such a communication infrastructure presents many important challenges, such as the study of necessary multi-layer cooperation, new protocols, performance evaluation of different network parts, low layer network design, network management and security issues, and new technologies in general, which will be discussed in this book

Advanced receiver structures for mobile MIMO multicarrier communication systems

Beyond third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) wireless communication systems are targeting far higher data rates, spectral efficiency and mobility requirements than existing 3G networks. By using multiple antennas at the transmitter and the receiver, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology allows improving both the spectral efficiency (bits/s/Hz), the coverage, and link reliability of the system. Multicarrier modulation such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a powerful technique to handle impairments specific to the wireless radio channel. The combination of multicarrier modulation together with MIMO signaling provides a feasible physical layer technology for future beyond 3G and fourth generation communication systems. The theoretical benefits of MIMO and multicarrier modulation may not be fully achieved because the wireless transmission channels are time and frequency selective. Also, high data rates call for a large bandwidth and high carrier frequencies. As a result, an important Doppler spread is likely to be experienced, leading to variations of the channel over very short period of time. At the same time, transceiver front-end imperfections, mobility and rich scattering environments cause frequency synchronization errors. Unlike their single-carrier counterparts, multi-carrier transmissions are extremely sensitive to carrier frequency offsets (CFO). Therefore, reliable channel estimation and frequency synchronization are necessary to obtain the benefits of MIMO OFDM in mobile systems. These two topics are the main research problems in this thesis. An algorithm for the joint estimation and tracking of channel and CFO parameters in MIMO OFDM is developed in this thesis. A specific state-space model is introduced for MIMO OFDM systems impaired by multiple carrier frequency offsets under time-frequency selective fading. In MIMO systems, multiple frequency offsets are justified by mobility, rich scattering environment and large angle spread, as well as potentially separate radio frequency - intermediate frequency chains. An extended Kalman filter stage tracks channel and CFO parameters. Tracking takes place in time domain, which ensures reduced computational complexity, robustness to estimation errors as well as low estimation variance in comparison to frequency domain processing. The thesis also addresses the problem of blind carrier frequency synchronization in OFDM. Blind techniques exploit statistical or structural properties of the OFDM modulation. Two novel approaches are proposed for blind fine CFO estimation. The first one aims at restoring the orthogonality of the OFDM transmission by exploiting the properties of the received signal covariance matrix. The second approach is a subspace algorithm exploiting the correlation of the channel frequency response among the subcarriers. Both methods achieve reliable estimation of the CFO regardless of multipath fading. The subspace algorithm needs extremely small sample support, which is a key feature in the face of time-selective channels. Finally, the Cramér-Rao (CRB) bound is established for the problem in order to assess the large sample performance of the proposed algorithms.reviewe

A comprehensive survey on radio resource management in 5G HetNets: current solutions, future trends and open issues

The 5G network technologies are intended to accommodate innovative services with a large influx of data traffic with lower energy consumption and increased quality of service and user quality of experience levels. In order to meet 5G expectations, heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have been introduced. They involve deployment of additional low power nodes within the coverage area of conventional high power nodes and their placement closer to user underlay HetNets. Due to the increased density of small-cell networks and radio access technologies, radio resource management (RRM) for potential 5G HetNets has emerged as a critical avenue. It plays a pivotal role in enhancing spectrum utilization, load balancing, and network energy efficiency. In this paper, we summarize the key challenges i.e., cross-tier interference, co-tier interference, and user association-resource-power allocation (UA-RA-PA) emerging in 5G HetNets and highlight their significance. In addition, we present a comprehensive survey of RRM schemes based on interference management (IM), UA-RA-PA and combined approaches (UA-RA-PA + IM). We introduce a taxonomy for individual (IM, UA-RA-PA) and combined approaches as a framework for systematically studying the existing schemes. These schemes are also qualitatively analyzed and compared to each other. Finally, challenges and opportunities for RRM in 5G are outlined, and design guidelines along with possible solutions for advanced mechanisms are presented

Next generation passive optical networks based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing techniques

In recent decades, the industry of communications has acquired huge significance, and nowadays constitutes an essential tool for the society information. Thus, the exponential growth in demand of broadband services and the increasing amount of information to be transmitted have spurred the evolution of the access network infrastructure to effectively meet the user needs in an effective way in terms of costs of both installation and maintenance. Passive optical networks (PON) are currently considered the most efficient and least costly alternative to deploy fiber to the home environment. In order to allow many users simultaneously coexist PONs based on time multiplexing (TDMA) have been developed. Looking ahead, however, it is expected that these techniques do not meet the requirements on access networks. In consequence, other multiple access techniques such as Wavelength Division Multiplexing Access (WDMA) or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (OFDMA) are currently under study and development for use in the next generation of PONs. Particularly, in recent years OFDM has stood out among the scientific community to be considered a solution with great potential on future implementation of PONs. This is especially true due to the capacity of OFDM to work with multilevel modulations, its high tolerance to chromatic dispersion, and its high flexibility and granularity in terms of bandwidth management. Given the above, the aim of this Thesis is to study deeply the advantages and challenges of implementing the standard OFDM as an access network solution; likewise, it offers solutions to improve its performance. In order to evaluate the main structures and strategies for OFDM-based PON, a comparative analysis of all of them is performed firstly, highlighting their sensitivity levels, maximum range and number of users. A key aspect for network providers is the cost of operation, deployment and maintenance of networks. As a low-cost solution, this Thesis proposes a network model called Statistical-OFDMA-PON based on intensity modulation and direct detection. In addition, dynamic bandwidth management strategies are applied into this model getting an improvement in the power balance which in turn, allows to increase the maximum range and the scalability in number of users. One of the main OFDM problems is the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) which increases with the number of carriers. This thesis proposes a new algorithm based on folding the signal and transmitting auxiliary information in order to compensate the PAPR effect and thus increase the sensitivity of the optical system. On the other hand, OFDMA requires a large number of operations in the digital domain resulting in a high computational effort, which in turn results in an increased cost. For this reason, this Thesis presents a study on the optimization of the required resolution in the Digital-to-Analog / Analog-to-Digital Converters (DAC/ADCs) maintaining the transmission quality. The optimization of the computation time may make the OFDMA-based optical network more attractive for future PONs. Finally, another problem concerning the OFDM optical networks is their sensitivity to Phase Noise (PN). In this regard, this Thesis presents a study of the effect of the laser linewidth and its dependence on signal bandwidth. A mitigation technique based on pilot tones is implemented and the limiting values for the laser linewidth are found to be within the reach of present low-cost light sources.En estas últimas décadas, la industria de las comunicaciones ha adquirido gran importancia y hoy en día, constituye una herramienta imprescindible para el funcionamiento en la sociedad de la información. Así pues, el crecimiento exponencial en la demanda de servicios de banda ancha y la carga de información cada vez mayor que se necesita transmitir ha estimulado la evolución de las infraestructuras del tramo de acceso a la red para poder satisfacer las necesidades del usuario de forma efectiva en términos de costes de instalación y de mantenimiento. Las redes ópticas pasivas (Passive Optical Networks, PON) son actualmente consideradas la alternativa más eficiente y de menor coste para desplegar fibra hasta los hogares. Con el fin de permitir que muchos usuarios coexistan simultáneamente se han desarrollado PONs basadas en multiplexación en tiempo (Time Division Multiplexing Access, TDMA). De cara al futuro, sin embargo, se prevé que estas técnicas no permitan cubrir las exigencias sobre las redes de acceso. En consecuencia, otras técnicas de acceso múltiple al medio como el acceso múltiple por división de longitud de onda (Wavelength Division Multiplexing Access, WDMA) o el acceso múltiple por división de frecuencia ortogonal (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access, OFDMA) se encuentran actualmente en proceso de estudio y desarrollo para su uso en la futura generación de PONs. En concreto, en los últimos años OFDM se ha destacado entre la comunidad científica al considerarse una solución con gran potencial para su futura implantación en redes de acceso pasivas. Esto es especialmente cierto debido a la capacidad que el OFDM para trabajar con modulaciones multinivel, así como su alta tolerancia a la dispersión cromática y a la gran flexibilidad y granularidad que posibilita en términos de gestión del ancho de banda. Por todo lo anterior, el objetivo de esta Tesis es estudiar con profundidad las ventajas y los retos de aplicar el estándar OFDM como solución de red de acceso; del mismo modo, ofrece soluciones para mejorar su rendimiento. Con el objetivo de evaluar las principales estructuras basadas en OFDM-PON, en primer lugar se realiza un análisis comparativo de todas ellas destacando sus niveles de sensibilidad, máximo alcance y número de usuarios. Un aspecto fundamental para los proveedores de red es el coste de operación, despliegue y mantenimiento de las redes. Como solución de bajo coste, esta Tesis propone un modelo de red llamado Statistical-OFDMA-PON que se basa en modulación de intensidad y detección directa. Además, este modelo se completa con estrategias de gestión dinámica del ancho de banda de los usuarios que conforman la estructura de red propuesta consiguiendo una mejora en el balance de potencias que permite aumentar distancia y número de usuarios. Uno de los principales problemas del OFDM es el alto nivel de la relación de potencia de pico a potencia media (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio, PAPR) creciente con el número de portadoras. Esta Tesis propone un nuevo algoritmo basado en el pliegue de la señal y la transmisión de información auxiliar para compensar el efecto del PAPR aumentando así la sensibilidad del sistema óptico. Por otro lado, OFDMA requiere un número elevado de operaciones en el dominio digital resultando en un alto esfuerzo computacional que a su vez se traduce en un aumento del coste. Por esta razón, esta Tesis presenta un estudio sobre la optimización de la resolución requerida en los conversores analógicodigital (Digital-to-Analog/Analog-to-Digital Converters, DAC/ADCs) manteniendo la calidad de transmisión. La optimización del tiempo de cómputo requerido puede dotar de un mayor atractivo la solución de red óptica basada en OFDMA. Finalmente, otro de los problemas que presentan las redes ópticas OFDM es su sensibilidad frente al ruido de fase (Phase Noise, PN). En este aspecto, esta Tesis presenta un estudio del efecto del ancho de línea del láser y su dependencia con el ancho de banda de la señal. Técnicas de mitigación basadas en tonos piloto han sido implementadas y se han encontrado los valores limitantes del ancho de línea dentro del alcance de los láseres de bajo coste

Mehrdimensionale Kanalschätzung für MIMO-OFDM

DIGITAL wireless communication started in the 1990s with the wide-spread deployment of GSM. Since then, wireless systems evolved dramatically. Current wireless standards approach the goal of an omnipresent communication system, which fulfils the wish to communicate with anyone, anywhere at anytime. Nowadays, the acceptance of smartphones and/or tablets is huge and the mobile internet is the core application. Given the current growth, the estimated data traffic in wireless networks in 2020 might be 1000 times higher than that of 2010, exceeding 127 exabyte. Unfortunately, the available radio spectrum is scarce and hence, needs to be utilized efficiently. Key technologies, such as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) as well as various MIMO precoding techniques increase the theoretically achievable channel capacity considerably and are used in the majority of wireless standards. On the one hand, MIMO-OFDM promises substantial diversity and/or capacity gains. On the other hand, the complexity of optimum maximum-likelihood detection grows exponentially and is thus, not sustainable. Additionally, the required signaling overhead increases with the number of antennas and thereby reduces the bandwidth efficiency. Iterative receivers which jointly carry out channel estimation and data detection are a potential enabler to reduce the pilot overhead and approach optimum capacity at often reduced complexity. In this thesis, a graph-based receiver is developed, which iteratively performs joint data detection and channel estimation. The proposed multi-dimensional factor graph introduces transfer nodes that exploit correlation of adjacent channel coefficients in an arbitrary number of dimensions (e.g. time, frequency, and space). This establishes a simple and flexible receiver structure that facilitates soft channel estimation and data detection in multi-dimensional dispersive channels, and supports arbitrary modulation and channel coding schemes. However, the factor graph exhibits suboptimal cycles. In order to reach the maximum performance, the message exchange schedule, the process of combining messages, and the initialization are adapted. Unlike conventional approaches, which merge nodes of the factor graph to avoid cycles, the proposed message combining methods mitigate the impairing effects of short cycles and retain a low computational complexity. Furthermore, a novel detection algorithm is presented, which combines tree-based MIMO detection with a Gaussian detector. The resulting detector, termed Gaussian tree search detection, integrates well within the factor graph framework and reduces further the overall complexity of the receiver. Additionally, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is investigated for the purpose of initial channel estimation. The bio-inspired algorithm is particularly interesting because of its fast convergence to a reasonable MSE and its versatile adaptation to a variety of optimization problems. It is especially suited for initialization since no a priori information is required. A cooperative approach to PSO is proposed for large-scale antenna implementations as well as a multi-objective PSO for time-varying frequency-selective channels. The performance of the multi-dimensional graph-based soft iterative receiver is evaluated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The achieved results are compared to the performance of an iterative state-of-the-art receiver. It is shown that a similar or better performance is achieved at a lower complexity. An appealing feature of iterative semi-blind channel estimation is that the supported pilot spacings may exceed the limits given the by Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem. In this thesis, a relation between pilot spacing and channel code is formulated. Depending on the chosen channel code and code rate, the maximum spacing approaches the proposed “coded sampling bound”.Die digitale drahtlose Kommunikation begann in den 1990er Jahren mit der zunehmenden Verbreitung von GSM. Seitdem haben sich Mobilfunksysteme drastisch weiterentwickelt. Aktuelle Mobilfunkstandards nähern sich dem Ziel eines omnipräsenten Kommunikationssystems an und erfüllen damit den Wunsch mit jedem Menschen zu jeder Zeit an jedem Ort kommunizieren zu können. Heutzutage ist die Akzeptanz von Smartphones und Tablets immens und das mobile Internet ist die zentrale Anwendung. Ausgehend von dem momentanen Wachstum wird das Datenaufkommen in Mobilfunk-Netzwerken im Jahr 2020, im Vergleich zum Jahr 2010, um den Faktor 1000 gestiegen sein und 100 Exabyte überschreiten. Unglücklicherweise ist die verfügbare Bandbreite beschränkt und muss daher effizient genutzt werden. Schlüsseltechnologien, wie z.B. Mehrantennensysteme (multiple-input multiple-output, MIMO), orthogonale Frequenzmultiplexverfahren (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing, OFDM) sowie weitere MIMO Codierverfahren, vergrößern die theoretisch erreichbare Kanalkapazität und kommen bereits in der Mehrheit der Mobil-funkstandards zum Einsatz. Auf der einen Seite verspricht MIMO-OFDM erhebliche Diversitäts- und/oder Kapazitätsgewinne. Auf der anderen Seite steigt die Komplexität der optimalen Maximum-Likelihood Detektion exponientiell und ist infolgedessen nicht haltbar. Zusätzlich wächst der benötigte Mehraufwand für die Kanalschätzung mit der Anzahl der verwendeten Antennen und reduziert dadurch die Bandbreiteneffizienz. Iterative Empfänger, die Datendetektion und Kanalschätzung im Verbund ausführen, sind potentielle Wegbereiter um den Mehraufwand des Trainings zu reduzieren und sich gleichzeitig der maximalen Kapazität mit geringerem Aufwand anzunähern. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird ein graphenbasierter Empfänger für iterative Datendetektion und Kanalschätzung entwickelt. Der vorgeschlagene multidimensionale Faktor Graph führt sogenannte Transferknoten ein, die die Korrelation benachbarter Kanalkoeffizienten in beliebigen Dimensionen, z.B. Zeit, Frequenz und Raum, ausnutzen. Hierdurch wird eine einfache und flexible Empfängerstruktur realisiert mit deren Hilfe weiche Kanalschätzung und Datendetektion in mehrdimensionalen, dispersiven Kanälen mit beliebiger Modulation und Codierung durchgeführt werden kann. Allerdings weist der Faktorgraph suboptimale Schleifen auf. Um die maximale Performance zu erreichen, wurde neben dem Ablauf des Nachrichtenaustausches und des Vorgangs zur Kombination von Nachrichten auch die Initialisierung speziell angepasst. Im Gegensatz zu herkömmlichen Methoden, bei denen mehrere Knoten zur Vermeidung von Schleifen zusammengefasst werden, verringern die vorgeschlagenen Methoden die leistungsmindernde Effekte von Schleifen, erhalten aber zugleich die geringe Komplexität des Empfängers. Zusätzlich wird ein neuartiger Detektionsalgorithmus vorgestellt, der baumbasierte Detektionsalgorithmen mit dem sogenannten Gauss-Detektor verknüpft. Der resultierende baumbasierte Gauss-Detektor (Gaussian tree search detector) lässt sich ideal in das graphenbasierte Framework einbinden und verringert weiter die Gesamtkomplexität des Empfängers. Zusätzlich wird Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) zum Zweck der initialen Kanalschätzung untersucht. Der biologisch inspirierte Algorithmus ist insbesonders wegen seiner schnellen Konvergenz zu einem akzeptablen MSE und seiner vielseitigen Abstimmungsmöglichkeiten auf eine Vielzahl von Optimierungsproblemen interessant. Da PSO keine a priori Informationen benötigt, ist er speziell für die Initialisierung geeignet. Sowohl ein kooperativer Ansatz für PSO für Antennensysteme mit extrem vielen Antennen als auch ein multi-objective PSO für Kanäle, die in Zeit und Frequenz dispersiv sind, werden evaluiert. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des multidimensionalen graphenbasierten iterativen Empfängers wird mit Hilfe von Monte Carlo Simulationen untersucht. Die Simulationsergebnisse werden mit denen eines dem Stand der Technik entsprechenden Empfängers verglichen. Es wird gezeigt, dass ähnliche oder bessere Ergebnisse mit geringerem Aufwand erreicht werden. Eine weitere ansprechende Eigenschaft von iterativen semi-blinden Kanalschätzern ist, dass der mögliche Abstand von Trainingssymbolen die Grenzen des Nyquist-Shannon Abtasttheorem überschreiten kann. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird eine Beziehung zwischen dem Trainingsabstand und dem Kanalcode formuliert. In Abhängigkeit des gewählten Kanalcodes und der Coderate folgt der maximale Trainingsabstand der vorgeschlagenen “coded sampling bound”