Timing and Carrier Synchronization in Wireless Communication Systems: A Survey and Classification of Research in the Last 5 Years

Timing and carrier synchronization is a fundamental requirement for any wireless communication system to work properly. Timing synchronization is the process by which a receiver node determines the correct instants of time at which to sample the incoming signal. Carrier synchronization is the process by which a receiver adapts the frequency and phase of its local carrier oscillator with those of the received signal. In this paper, we survey the literature over the last 5 years (2010–2014) and present a comprehensive literature review and classification of the recent research progress in achieving timing and carrier synchronization in single-input single-output (SISO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), cooperative relaying, and multiuser/multicell interference networks. Considering both single-carrier and multi-carrier communication systems, we survey and categorize the timing and carrier synchronization techniques proposed for the different communication systems focusing on the system model assumptions for synchronization, the synchronization challenges, and the state-of-the-art synchronization solutions and their limitations. Finally, we envision some future research directions

MIMO-OFDMA Subcarrier Mapping Improvement by using Quarter ICI-SC with STFBC Technique

Many wireless communication systems rely on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) to guarantee reliable transmission and better performance. However, the orthogonality of the subcarriers has been destroyed by frequency offset (FO) and thus leads to intercarrier interference (ICI) which reduces the system performance. In order to overcome this problem, quarter ICI self-cancellation (ICI-SC) subcarrier mapping scheme using data allocation in space-time-frequency block codes (STFBC) for MIMO-OFDMA system is proposed. The technique is then evaluated through Pairwise Error Probability (PEP) and Bit Error Rate (BER) performance. From the results, proposed quarter ICI-SC subcarrier mapping scheme technique with STFBC shows the best result for MIMO-OFDMA system

Esquemas de pré-codificação e equalização para arquiteturas híbridas sub-conectadas na banda de ondas milimétricas

In the last years, the demand for high data rates increased substantially and the mobile communications are currently a necessity for our society. Thus, the number of users to access interactive services and applications has increased. The next generation of wireless communications (5G) is expected to be released in 2020 and it is projected to provide extremely high data rates for the users. The millimeter wave communications band and the massive MIMO are two promising keys technologies to achieve the multi Gbps for the future generations of mobile communications, in particular the 5G. The conjugation of these two technologies, allows packing a large number of antennas in the same volume than in the current frequencies and increase the spectral efficiency. However, when we have a large number of antennas, it is not reasonable to have a fully digital architecture due to the hardware constrains. On the other hand, it is not feasible to have a system that works only in the analog domain by employing a full analog beamforming since the performance is poor. Therefore, it is required a design of hybrid analog/digital architectures to reduce the complexity and achieve a good performance. Fully connected and sub-connected schemes are two examples of hybrid architectures. In the fully connected one, all RF chain connect to all antenna elements while in the sub-connected architecture, each RF chain is connected to a group of antennas. Consequently, the sub-connected architecture is more attractive due to the low complexity when compared to the fully connected one. Also, it is expected that millimeter waves be wideband, however, most of the works developed in last years for hybrid architectures are mainly focused in narrowband channels. Therefore, in this dissertation it is designed a low complex analog precoder at the user terminals and a hybrid analog-digital multi-user linear equalizer for broadband sub-connected millimeter wave massive MIMO at the base station. The analog precoder at the transmitter considers a quantized version of the average angle of departure of each cluster for its computation. In order to remove the multi-user interference, it is considered a hybrid sub-connected approach that minimizes the bit error rate (BER). The performance results show that the proposed hybrid sub-connected scheme is close to the hybrid full-connected design. However, due to the large number of connections, the full-connected scheme is slightly better than the proposed sub-connected scheme but with higher complexity. Therefore, the proposed analog precoder and hybrid sub-connected equalizer are more feasible to practical applications due to the good trade-off between performance and complexity.Nos últimos anos, a necessidade por elevadas taxas de transmissão de dados tem vindo a aumentar substancialmente uma vez que as comunicações móveis assumem cada vez mais um papel fundamental na sociedade atual. Por isso, o número de utilizadores que acedem a serviços e aplicações interativas tem vindo a aumentar. A próxima geração de comunicações móveis (5G) é esperada que seja lançada em 2020 e é projetada para fornecer elevadas taxas de transmissão de dados aos seus utilizadores. A comunicação na banda das ondas milimétricas e o MIMO massivo são duas tecnologias promissoras para alcançar os multi Gb/s para as comunicações móveis futuras, em particular o 5G. Conjugando essas duas tecnologias, permite-nos colocar um maior número de antenas no mesmo volume comparativamente às frequências atuais, aumentando assim a eficiência espectral. No entanto, quanto se tem um grande número de antenas, não é viável ter uma arquitetura totalmente digital devido às restrições de hardware. Por outro lado, não é viável ter um sistema que trabalhe apenas no domínio analógico. Assim sendo, é necessária uma arquitetura híbrida analógica-digital de modo a remover a complexidade geral do sistema. É esperado que os sistemas de comunicação baseados em ondas milimétricas sejam de banda larga, no entanto, a maioria dos trabalhos feitos para arquiteturas híbridas são focados em canais de banda estreita. Dois exemplos de soluções híbridas são as arquiteturas completamente conectada e sub-conectada. Na primeira, todas as cadeias RF estão ligadas a todas as antenas enquanto na arquitetura sub-conectada cada cadeia RF é ligada apenas a um grupo de antenas. Consequentemente, a arquitetura sub-conectada é mais interessante do ponto de vista prático devido à sua menor complexidade quando comparada à arquitetura completamente conectada. Nesta dissertação é projetado um pré-codificador analógico de baixa complexidade no terminal móvel, combinado com um equalizador multiutilizador desenhado para uma arquitetura híbrida sub-conectada, implementado na estação base. O pré-codificador no transmissor assume um conhecimento parcial da informação do canal e, de modo a remover eficientemente a interferência multiutilizador, é proposta também uma arquitetura híbrida sub-conectada que minimiza a taxa média de erro. Os resultados de desempenho mostram que o esquema híbrido sub-conectado proposto está próximo da arquitetura híbrida completamente conectada. No entanto, devido ao grande número de conexões, a arquitetura híbrida completamente conectada é ligeiramente melhor que a arquitetura sub-conectada proposta à custa de uma maior complexidade. Assim sendo, o pré-codificador analógico e o equalizador sub-conectado híbrido proposto são mais viáveis para aplicações práticas devido ao compromisso entre o desempenho e a complexidade.Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicaçõe

Performance Analysis and Mitigation Techniques for I/Q-Corrupted OFDM Systems

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has become a widely adopted modulation technique in modern communications systems due to its multipath resilience and low implementation complexity. The direct conversion architecture is a popular candidate for low-cost, low-power, fully integrated transceiver designs. One of the inevitable problems associated with analog signal processing in direct conversion involves the mismatches in the gain and phases of In-phase (I) and Quadrature-phase (Q) branches. Ideally, the I and Q branches of the quadrature mixer will have perfectly matched gains and are orthogonal in phase. Due to imperfect implementation of the electronics, so called I/Q imbalance emerges and creates interference between subcarriers which are symmetrically apart from the central subcarrier. With practical imbalance levels, basic transceivers fail to maintain the sufficient image rejection, which in turn can cause interference with the desired transmission. Such an I/Q distortion degrades the systems performance if left uncompensated. Moreover, the coexistence of I/Q imbalance and other analog RF imperfections with digital baseband and higher layer functionalities such as multiantenna transmission and radio resource management, reduce the probability of successful transmission. Therefore, mitigation of I/Q imbalance is an essential substance in designing and implementing modern communications systems, while meeting required performance targets and quality of service. This thesis considers techniques to compensate and mitigate I/Q imbalance, when combined with channel estimation, multiantenna transmission, transmission power control, adaptive modulation and multiuser scheduling. The awareness of the quantitative relationship between transceiver parameters and system parameters is crucial in designing and dimensioning of modern communications systems. For this purpose, analytical models to evaluate the performance of an I/Q distorted system are considered

Técnicas de transmissão e recepção para sistemas MIMO heterogéneos na banda das ondas milimétricas

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e TelecomunicaçõesCom o crescimento dos dispositivos de comunicações móveis e de serviços de banda larga, os requisitos do sistema tornam-se cada vez mais exigentes. O LTE-Advanced apresenta um melhoramento progressivo relativamente ao seu antecessor LTE, introduzindo redes heterogéneas, que têm vindo provar constituir uma solução sólida para melhorar tanto a capacidade, como a cobertura da rede. Quanto à implementação do 5G, será necessário um salto disruptivo na tecnologia, que permita novas possibilidades, tal como a de conectar pessoas e coisas. Para tornar isso possível, é necessário investigar e testar novas tecnologias. MIMO massivo e comunicações em ondas milimétricas são algumas das tecnologias que têm vindo a demonstrar resultados com potencial, tais como o aumento da capacidade e da eficiência espectral. No entanto, devido às características da propagação de ondas milimétricas, a existência de cenários com redes heterogéneas ultradensas é uma possibilidade. Ao se considerar cenários ultradensos com um número massivo de utilizadores, o sistema fica limitado devido à interferência, mesmo operando na banda das ondas milimétricas. Como tal, é de extrema importância o desenvolvimento de técnicas que mitiguem essa interferência. Nesta dissertação, propõe-se uma arquitetura de baixa complexidade para um transmissor e um recetor a operarem no sentido ascendente, numa rede heterogénea ultradensa. Nesta arquitetura são aplicadas tecnologias como MIMO massivo, ondas milimétricas e técnicas de beamforming, com o intuito de mitigar a interferência entre células. Usando a probabilidade de erro de bit como métrica de performance, os resultados mostram que a arquitetura proposta consegue remover a interferência eficientemente, alcançando resultados próximos de uma arquitetura completamente digital.With the constant increase of mobile communication devices and broadband services, the system requirements are getting more demanding. Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced comes as a progressive enhancement to its predecessor LTE, introducing heterogeneous networks (HetNets), which have proven to be great solutions to improve both capacity and coverage. As for 5G, it takes more of a disruptive step, enabling new possibilities, such as connecting people and things. To enable such a step, new technologies and techniques need to be researched and tested. Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and millimeter wave (mmWave) communications are two of such technologies, as they show promising results such as increased capacity and spectral efficiency. However, due to the mmWave propagation constraints, the existence of ultra-dense HetNet scenarios may be a possibility. When considering ultra-dense scenarios with a massive number of users, the system becomes interference-limited, even using mmWave band. As such, the design of interference mitigation techniques that deal with both inter and intra-tier interference are of the utmost importance. In this dissertation, a low complexity analog-digital hybrid architecture for both the transmitter and receiver in the uplink scenario is proposed. It is designed for an ultra-dense heterogeneous system and employing massive MIMO, mmWave and beamforming techniques in order to mitigate both intra- and inter-tier interference. Considering the Bit Error Rate (BER) as the performance metric, the results show that the proposed architecture efficiently removes both inter- and intra-tier interferences, achieving a result close to its fully digital counterpart

Performance analysis of MIMO-OFDM systems using complex Gaussian quadratic forms

En este trabajo se proponen aportaciones originales para el análisis de prestaciones en sistemas multiantena con múltiples portadoras, mediante el desarrollo de nuevas técnicas matemáticas para el cálculo de probabilidades de error. Así, ha sido posible analizar el efecto de no idealidades (estimación de canal imperfecta, offset de continua, desbalanceo I/Q…) en las prestaciones de sistemas de comunicaciones móviles e inalámbricas

D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies

This document provides the most recent updates on the technical contributions and research challenges focused in WP3. Each Technology Component (TeC) has been evaluated under possible uniform assessment framework of WP3 which is based on the simulation guidelines of WP6. The performance assessment is supported by the simulation results which are in their mature and stable state. An update on the Most Promising Technology Approaches (MPTAs) and their associated TeCs is the main focus of this document. Based on the input of all the TeCs in WP3, a consolidated view of WP3 on the role of multinode/multi-antenna transmission technologies in 5G systems has also been provided. This consolidated view is further supported in this document by the presentation of the impact of MPTAs on METIS scenarios and the addressed METIS goals.Aziz, D.; Baracca, P.; De Carvalho, E.; Fantini, R.; Rajatheva, N.; Popovski, P.; Sørensen, JH.... (2015). D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/7675

Evaluation of 3GPP Technology Candidate Towards Fourth Generation Mobile

[ES] LTE-Advanced es una de las tecnologías candidatas para convertirse en la próxima generación de comunicaciones móviles (4G). Es responsabilidad de la Unión Internacional de las Telecomunicaciones (UIT) evaluar esta tecnología a través de los Grupos de Evaluación Externos (GEE), entre los cuales se encuentra el consorcio WINNER+ (Wireless World Initiative New Radio +). El Grupo de Comunicaciones Móviles (GCM) del Instituto de Telecomunicaciones y Aplicaciones Multimedia, como socio de WINNER+, está analizando diferentes técnicas para optimizar la red de acceso radio LTEAdvanced. Esta tesina de máster se enmarca dentro de este trabajo, y especialmente, en la comparación de los turbo-códigos (TC) y Low Density Partity Check (LDPC) para anchos de banda de hasta 100 MHz. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que tanto los TC como los LDPC son buenos codificadores para esos tamaños de bloque. Los códigos LDPC representan una mejora de 0.5 dB como máximo respecto a los TC. Además, se ha realizado un estudio de prestaciones de la capa física de LTE en el enlace ascendente y descendente, junto con una propuesta de calibración de este tipo de simulaciones de enlace.[EN] LTE-Advanced is one promising candidate technology to become part of the next generation mobile (4G). It is up to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standardization body to assess this technology through the External Evaluation Groups (EEG), being one of them the WINNER+ project (Wireless World Initiative New Radio +). The Mobile Communications Group (MCG) of the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications, as a partner of WINNER+, is currently analyzing and proposing different techniques with the aim of optimizing the LTE-Advanced radio access network. This Master Thesis is part of this activity and, especially, on the comparison of Turbo (TC) and Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes for bandwidths up to 100 MHz. Results prove that both TC and LDPC codes are good encoders for those block sizes. The LDPC codes only entail a maximum 0.5 dB improvement as compared with TC. In addition to this assessment, a performance study of LTE downlink/uplink (DL/ UL) physical layer together with a calibration proposal for link level simulations has been carried out.Cabrejas Peñuelas, J. (2009). Evaluation of 3GPP Technology Candidate Towards Fourth Generation Mobile. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/27347.Archivo delegad