Closed-form Output Statistics of MIMO Block-Fading Channels

The information that can be transmitted through a wireless channel, with multiple-antenna equipped transmitter and receiver, is crucially influenced by the channel behavior as well as by the structure of the input signal. We characterize in closed form the probability density function (pdf) of the output of MIMO block-fading channels, for an arbitrary SNR value. Our results provide compact expressions for such output statistics, paving the way to a more detailed analytical information-theoretic exploration of communications in presence of block fading. The analysis is carried out assuming two different structures for the input signal: the i.i.d. Gaussian distribution and a product form that has been proved to be optimal for non-coherent communication, i.e., in absence of any channel state information. When the channel is fed by an i.i.d. Gaussian input, we assume the Gramian of the channel matrix to be unitarily invariant and derive the output statistics in both the noise-limited and the interference-limited scenario, considering different fading distributions. When the product-form input is adopted, we provide the expressions of the output pdf as the relationship between the overall number of antennas and the fading coherence length varies. We also highlight the relation between our newly derived expressions and the results already available in the literature, and, for some cases, we numerically compute the mutual information, based on the proposed expression of the output statistics.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

On the secrecy performance of land mobile satellite communication systems

In this paper, we investigate the secrecy performance against eavesdropping of a land mobile satellite (LMS) system, where the satellite employs the spot beam technique, and both the terrestrial user and eavesdropper are equipped with multiple antennas and utilize maximal ratio combining (MRC) to receive the confidential message. Specifically, in terms of the availability of the eavesdropper’s CSI at the satellite, we consider both passive (Scenario I) and active (Scenario II) eavesdropping. For Scenario I where the eavesdropper’s channel state information (CSI) is unknown to the satellite, closed-form expressions for the probability of non-zero secrecy capacity and secrecy outage probability are derived. Furthermore, expressions for the asymptotic secrecy outage probability are also presented to reveal the secrecy diversity order and array gain of the considered system. For Scenario II where the eavesdropper’s CSI is available at the satellite, novel expressions for the exact and asymptotic average secrecy capacity are obtained. Based on a simple asymptotic formula, we can characterize the high signalto- noise ratio (SNR) slope and high SNR power offset of the LMS systems. Finally, simulations are provided to validate our theoretical analysis and show the effect of different parameters on the system performance

Combined time, frequency and space diversity in DVB-NGH

“© 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”In this paper, we investigate the combined use of time, frequency, and space diversity in DVB-NGH, the next generation mobile broadcasting standard. Compared to current standards like DVB-H or DVB-SH, the largest improvement in next generation systems is expected to be achieved by means of better diversity in the time, frequency, and space domains. In this sense, DVB-NGH is the first broadcasting system to exploit the use of diversity in the three domains by incorporating at the physical layer long time interleaving (TI), time-frequency slicing (TFS), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). This paper investigates the gains of using time, frequency, and space diversity in DVB-NGH, as well as the mutual influence between the different types of diversity. To this purpose, we employ an information-theoretic approach based on the outage capacity of the channel in addition to physical layer simulations.Gozálvez Serrano, D.; Gómez Barquero, D.; Vargas Paredero, DE.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2013). Combined time, frequency and space diversity in DVB-NGH. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 59(4):674-684. doi:10.1109/TBC.2013.2281665S67468459

Aperture-Level Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) with Digital Phased Arrays

In the signal processing community, it has long been assumed that transmitting and receiving useful signals at the same time in the same frequency band at the same physical location was impossible. A number of insights in antenna design, analog hardware, and digital signal processing have allowed researchers to achieve simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) capability, sometimes also referred to as in-band full-duplex (IBFD). All STAR systems must mitigate the interference in the receive channel caused by the signals emitted by the system. This poses a significant challenge because of the immense disparity in the power of the transmitted and received signals. As an analogy, imagine a person that wanted to be able to hear a whisper from across the room while screaming at the top of their lungs. The sound of their own voice would completely drown out the whisper. Approaches to increasing the isolation between the transmit and receive channels of a system attempt to successively reduce the magnitude of the transmitted interference at various points in the received signal processing chain. Many researchers believe that STAR cannot be achieved practically without some combination of modified antennas, analog self-interference cancellation hardware, digital adaptive beamforming, and digital self-interference cancellation. The aperture-level simultaneous transmit and receive (ALSTAR) paradigm confronts that assumption by creating isolation between transmit and receive subarrays in a phased array using only digital adaptive transmit and receive beamforming and digital self-interference cancellation. This dissertation explores the boundaries of performance for the ALSTAR architecture both in terms of isolation and in terms of spatial imaging resolution. It also makes significant strides towards practical ALSTAR implementation by determining the performance capabilities and computational costs of an adaptive beamforming and self-interference cancellation implementation inspired by the mathematical structure of the isolation performance limits and designed for real-time operation

The Role of Physical Layer Security in Satellite-Based Networks

In the coming years, 6G will revolutionize the world with a large amount of bandwidth, high data rates, and extensive coverage in remote and rural areas. These goals can only be achieved by integrating terrestrial networks with non-terrestrial networks. On the other hand, these advancements are raising more concerns than other wireless links about malicious attacks on satellite-terrestrial links due to their openness. Over the years, physical layer security (PLS) has emerged as a good candidate to deal with security threats by exploring the randomness of wireless channels. In this direction, this paper reviews how PLS methods are implemented in satellite communications. Firstly, we discuss the ongoing research on satellite-based networks by highlighting the key points in the literature. Then, we revisit the research activities on PLS in satellite-based networks by categorizing the different system architectures. Finally, we highlight research directions and opportunities to leverage the PLS in future satellite-based networks

Minimum Bit-Error Rate Design for Space-Time Equalisation-Based Multiuser Detection

A novel minimum bit-error rate (MBER) space–time equalization (STE)-based multiuser detector (MUD) is proposed for multiple-receive-antenna-assisted space-division multiple-access systems. It is shown that the MBER-STE-aided MUD significantly outperforms the standard minimum mean-square error design in terms of the achievable bit-error rate (BER). Adaptive implementations of the MBER STE are considered, and both the block-data-based and sample-by-sample adaptive MBER algorithms are proposed. The latter, referred to as the least BER (LBER) algorithm, is compared with the most popular adaptive algorithm, known as the least mean square (LMS) algorithm. It is shown that in case of binary phase-shift keying, the computational complexity of the LBER-STE is about half of that required by the classic LMS-STE. Simulation results demonstrate that the LBER algorithm performs consistently better than the classic LMS algorithm, both in terms of its convergence speed and steady-state BER performance. Index Terms—Adaptive algorithm, minimum bit-error rate (MBER), multiuser detection (MUD), space–time processing