40 research outputs found
Deep Learning Designs for Physical Layer Communications
Wireless communication systems and their underlying technologies have undergone unprecedented advances over the last two decades to assuage the ever-increasing demands for various applications and emerging technologies. However, the traditional signal processing schemes and algorithms for wireless communications cannot handle the upsurging complexity associated with fifth-generation (5G) and beyond communication systems due to network expansion, new emerging technologies, high data rate, and the ever-increasing demands for low latency. This thesis extends the traditional downlink transmission schemes to deep learning-based precoding and detection techniques that are hardware-efficient and of lower complexity than the current state-of-the-art. The thesis focuses on: precoding/beamforming in massive multiple-inputs-multiple-outputs (MIMO), signal detection and lightweight neural network (NN) architectures for precoder and decoder designs. We introduce a learning-based precoder design via constructive interference (CI) that performs the precoding on a symbol-by-symbol basis. Instead
of conventionally training a NN without considering the specifics of the optimisation objective, we unfold a power minimisation symbol level precoding (SLP) formulation based on the interior-point-method (IPM) proximal âlogâ barrier function. Furthermore, we propose a concept of NN compression, where the weights are quantised to lower numerical precision formats based on binary and ternary quantisations. We further introduce a stochastic quantisation technique, where parts of the NN weight matrix are quantised while the remaining is not. Finally, we propose a systematic complexity scaling of deep neural network (DNN) based MIMO detectors. The model uses a fraction of the DNN inputs by scaling their values through weights that follow monotonically non-increasing functions. Furthermore, we investigate performance complexity tradeoffs via regularisation constraints on the layer weights such that, at inference, parts of network layers can be removed with minimal impact on the detection accuracy. Simulation results show that our proposed learning-based techniques offer better complexity-vs-BER (bit-error-rate) and complexity-vs-transmit power performances compared to the state-of-the-art MIMO detection and precoding techniques
Spectrum measurement, sensing, analysis and simulation in the context of cognitive radio
The radio frequency (RF) spectrum is a scarce natural resource, currently regulated locally by national agencies. Spectrum has been assigned to different services and it is very difficult for emerging wireless technologies to gain access due to rigid spectmm policy and heavy opportunity cost. Current spectrum management by licensing causes artificial spectrum scarcity. Spectrum monitoring shows that many frequencies and times are unused. Dynamic spectrum access (DSA) is a potential solution to low spectrum efficiency. In DSA, an unlicensed user opportunistically uses vacant licensed spectrum with the help of cognitive radio. Cognitive radio is a key enabling technology for DSA. In a cognitive radio system, an unlicensed Secondary User (SU) identifies vacant licensed spectrum allocated to a Primary User (PU) and uses it without harmful interference to the PU. Cognitive radio increases spectrum usage efficiency while protecting legacy-licensed systems. The purpose of this thesis is to bring together a group of CR concepts and explore how we can make the transition from conventional radio to cognitive radio. Specific goals of the thesis are firstly the measurement of the radio spectrum to understand the current spectrum usage in the Humber region, UK in the context of cognitive radio. Secondly, to characterise the performance of cyclostationary feature detectors through theoretical analysis, hardware implementation, and real-time performance measurements. Thirdly, to mitigate the effect of degradation due to multipath fading and shadowing, the use of -wideband cooperative sensing techniques using adaptive sensing technique and multi-bit soft decision is proposed, which it is believed will introduce more spectral opportunities over wider frequency ranges and achieve higher opportunistic aggregate throughput.Understanding spectrum usage is the first step toward the future deployment of cognitive radio systems. Several spectrum usage measurement campaigns have been performed, mainly in the USA and Europe. These studies show locality and time dependence. In the first part of this thesis a spectrum usage measurement campaign in the Humber region, is reported. Spectrum usage patterns are identified and noise is characterised. A significant amount of spectrum was shown to be underutilized and available for the secondary use. The second part addresses the question: how can you tell if a spectrum channel is being used? Two spectrum sensing techniques are evaluated: Energy Detection and Cyclostationary Feature Detection. The performance of these techniques is compared using the measurements performed in the second part of the thesis. Cyclostationary feature detection is shown to be more robust to noise. The final part of the thesis considers the identification of vacant channels by combining spectrum measurements from multiple locations, known as cooperative sensing. Wideband cooperative sensing is proposed using multi resolution spectrum sensing (MRSS) with a multi-bit decision technique. Next, a two-stage adaptive system with cooperative wideband sensing is proposed based on the combination of energy detection and cyclostationary feature detection. Simulations using the system above indicate that the two-stage adaptive sensing cooperative wideband outperforms single site detection in terms of detection success and mean detection time in the context of wideband cooperative sensing
On detection of OFDM signals for cognitive radio applications
As the requirement for wireless telecommunications services continues to grow, it has become increasingly important to ensure that the Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum is managed efficiently. As a result of the current spectrum allocation policy, it has been found that portions of RF spectrum belonging to licensed users are often severely underutilised, at particular times and geographical locations. Awareness of this problem has led to the development of Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) and Cognitive Radio (CR) as possible solutions. In one variation of the shared-use model for DSA, it is proposed that the inefficient use of licensed spectrum could be overcome by enabling unlicensed users to opportunistically access the spectrum when the licensed user is not transmitting. In order for an unlicensed device to make decisions, it must be aware of its own RF environment and, therefore, it has been proposed that DSA could been abled using CR. One approach that has be identified to allow the CR to gain information about its operating environment is spectrum sensing. An interesting solution that has been identified for spectrum sensing is cyclostationary detection. This property refers to the inherent periodic nature of the second order statistics of many communications signals. One of the most common modulation formats in use today is Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which exhibits cyclostationarity due to the addition of a Cyclic Prefix (CP). This thesis examines several statistical tests for cyclostationarity in OFDM signals that may be used for spectrum sensing in DSA and CR. In particular, focus is placed on statistical tests that rely on estimation of the Cyclic Autocorrelation Function (CAF). Based on splitting the CAF into two complex component functions, several new statistical tests are introduced and are shown to lead to an improvement in detection performance when compared to the existing algorithms. The performance of each new algorithm is assessed in Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), impulsive noise and when subjected to impairments such as multipath fading and Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO). Finally, each algorithm is targeted for Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation using a Xilinx 7 series device. In order to keep resource costs to a minimum, it is suggested that the new algorithms are implemented on the FPGA using hardware sharing, and a simple mathematical re-arrangement of certain tests statistics is proposed to circumvent a costly division operation.As the requirement for wireless telecommunications services continues to grow, it has become increasingly important to ensure that the Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum is managed efficiently. As a result of the current spectrum allocation policy, it has been found that portions of RF spectrum belonging to licensed users are often severely underutilised, at particular times and geographical locations. Awareness of this problem has led to the development of Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) and Cognitive Radio (CR) as possible solutions. In one variation of the shared-use model for DSA, it is proposed that the inefficient use of licensed spectrum could be overcome by enabling unlicensed users to opportunistically access the spectrum when the licensed user is not transmitting. In order for an unlicensed device to make decisions, it must be aware of its own RF environment and, therefore, it has been proposed that DSA could been abled using CR. One approach that has be identified to allow the CR to gain information about its operating environment is spectrum sensing. An interesting solution that has been identified for spectrum sensing is cyclostationary detection. This property refers to the inherent periodic nature of the second order statistics of many communications signals. One of the most common modulation formats in use today is Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which exhibits cyclostationarity due to the addition of a Cyclic Prefix (CP). This thesis examines several statistical tests for cyclostationarity in OFDM signals that may be used for spectrum sensing in DSA and CR. In particular, focus is placed on statistical tests that rely on estimation of the Cyclic Autocorrelation Function (CAF). Based on splitting the CAF into two complex component functions, several new statistical tests are introduced and are shown to lead to an improvement in detection performance when compared to the existing algorithms. The performance of each new algorithm is assessed in Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), impulsive noise and when subjected to impairments such as multipath fading and Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO). Finally, each algorithm is targeted for Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation using a Xilinx 7 series device. In order to keep resource costs to a minimum, it is suggested that the new algorithms are implemented on the FPGA using hardware sharing, and a simple mathematical re-arrangement of certain tests statistics is proposed to circumvent a costly division operation
Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments
The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: ⢠Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments⢠Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks⢠Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication⢠Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs⢠Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks⢠Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures⢠Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques⢠Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications⢠Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems⢠Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin
Low-complexity antenna selection techniques for massive MIMO systems
PhD ThesisMassive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (M-MIMO) is a state of the art technology
in wireless communications, where hundreds of antennas are exploited at the base
station (BS) to serve a much smaller number of users. Employing large antenna
arrays can improve the performance dramatically in terms of the achievable rates
and radiated energy, however, it comes at the price of increased cost, complexity,
and power consumption.
To reduce the hardware complexity and cost, while maintaining the advantages of
M-MIMO, antenna selection (AS) techniques can be applied where only a subset of
the available antennas at the BS are selected. Optimal AS can be obtained through
exhaustive search, which is suitable for conventional MIMO systems, but is prohibited
for systems with hundreds of antennas due to its enormous computational
complexity. Therefore, this thesis address the problem of designing low complexity
AS algorithms for multi-user (MU) M-MIMO systems.
In chapter 3, different evolutionary algorithms including bio-inspired, quantuminspired,
and heuristic methods are applied for AS in uplink MU M-MIMO systems.
It was demonstrated that quantum-inspired and heuristic methods outperform
the bio-inspired techniques in terms of both complexity and performance.
In chapter 4, a downlink MU M-MIMO scenario is considered with Matched Filter
(MF) precoding. Two novel AS algorithms are proposed where the antennas are
selected without any vector multiplications, which resulted in a dramatic complexity
reduction. The proposed algorithms outperform the case where all antennas are
activated, in terms of both energy and spectral efficiencies.
In chapter 5, three AS algorithms are designed and utilized to enhance the performance
of cell-edge users, alongside Max-Min power allocation control. The
algorithms aim to either maximize the channel gain, or minimize the interference
for the worst-case user only.
The proposed methods in this thesis are compared with other low complexity AS
schemes and showed a great performance-complexity trade-off
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Radio network management in cognitive LTE-Femtocell Systems
This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.There is a strong uptake of femtocell deployment as small cell application
platforms in the upcoming LTE networks. In such two-tier networks of LTEfemtocell
base stations, a large portion of the assigned spectrum is used
sporadically leading to underutilisation of valuable frequency resources.
Novel spectrum access techniques are necessary to solve these current spectrum
inefficiency problems. Therefore, spectrum management solutions should have
the features to improve spectrum access in both temporal and spatial manner.
Cognitive Radio (CR) with the Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) is considered
to be the key technology in this research in order to increase the spectrum
efficiency. This is an effective solution to allow a group of Secondary Users
(SUs) to share the radio spectrum initially allocated to the Primary User (PUs) at
no interference.
The core aim of this thesis is to develop new cognitive LTE-femtocell systems
that offer a 4G vision, to facilitate the radio network management in order to
increase the network capacity and further improve spectrum access probabilities.
In this thesis, a new spectrum management model for cognitive radio networks is
considered to enable a seamless integration of multi-access technology with
existing networks. This involves the design of efficient resource allocation
algorithms that are able to respond to the rapid changes in the dynamic wireless
environment and primary users activities. Throughout this thesis a variety of
network upgraded functions are developed using application simulation
scenarios. Therefore, the proposed algorithms, mechanisms, methods, and system
models are not restricted in the considered networks, but rather have a wider
applicability to be used in other technologies.
This thesis mainly investigates three aspects of research issues relating to the
efficient management of cognitive networks: First, novel spectrum resource
management modules are proposed to maximise the spectrum access by rapidly
detecting the available transmission opportunities. Secondly, a developed pilot
power controlling algorithm is introduced to minimise the power consumption by
considering mobile position and application requirements. Also, there is
investigation on the impact of deploying different numbers of femtocell base
stations in LTE domain to identify the optimum cell size for future networks.
Finally, a novel call admission control mechanism for mobility management is
proposed to support seamless handover between LTE and femtocell domains.
This is performed by assigning high speed mobile users to the LTE system to
avoid unnecessary handovers.
The proposed solutions were examined by simulation and numerical analysis to
show the strength of cognitive femtocell deployment for the required
applications. The results show that the new system design based on cognitive
radio configuration enable an efficient resource management in terms of
spectrum allocation, adaptive pilot power control, and mobile handover. The
proposed framework and algorithms offer a novel spectrum management for self organised LTE-femtocell architecture.
Eventually, this research shows that certain architectures fulfilling spectrum
management requirements are implementable in practice and display good
performance in dynamic wireless environments which recommends the
consideration of CR systems in LTE and femtocell networks
Cooperative Radio Communications for Green Smart Environments
The demand for mobile connectivity is continuously increasing, and by 2020 Mobile and Wireless Communications will serve not only very dense populations of mobile phones and nomadic computers, but also the expected multiplicity of devices and sensors located in machines, vehicles, health systems and city infrastructures. Future Mobile Networks are then faced with many new scenarios and use cases, which will load the networks with different data traffic patterns, in new or shared spectrum bands, creating new specific requirements. This book addresses both the techniques to model, analyse and optimise the radio links and transmission systems in such scenarios, together with the most advanced radio access, resource management and mobile networking technologies. This text summarises the work performed by more than 500 researchers from more than 120 institutions in Europe, America and Asia, from both academia and industries, within the framework of the COST IC1004 Action on "Cooperative Radio Communications for Green and Smart Environments". The book will have appeal to graduates and researchers in the Radio Communications area, and also to engineers working in the Wireless industry. Topics discussed in this book include: ⢠Radio waves propagation phenomena in diverse urban, indoor, vehicular and body environments⢠Measurements, characterization, and modelling of radio channels beyond 4G networks⢠Key issues in Vehicle (V2X) communication⢠Wireless Body Area Networks, including specific Radio Channel Models for WBANs⢠Energy efficiency and resource management enhancements in Radio Access Networks⢠Definitions and models for the virtualised and cloud RAN architectures⢠Advances on feasible indoor localization and tracking techniques⢠Recent findings and innovations in antenna systems for communications⢠Physical Layer Network Coding for next generation wireless systems⢠Methods and techniques for MIMO Over the Air (OTA) testin
5G Backhaul Challenges and Emerging Research Directions: A Survey
5G is the next cellular generation and is expected to quench the growing thirst for taxing data rates and to enable the Internet of Things. Focused research and standardization work have been addressing the corresponding challenges from the radio perspective while employing advanced features, such as network densi cation, massive multiple-input-multiple-output antennae, coordinated multi-point processing, intercell interference mitigation techniques, carrier aggregation, and new spectrum exploration. Nevertheless, a new bottleneck has emerged: the backhaul. The ultra-dense and heavy traf c cells should be connected to the core network through the backhaul, often with extreme requirements in terms of capacity, latency, availability, energy, and cost ef ciency. This pioneering survey explains the 5G backhaul paradigm, presents a critical analysis of legacy, cutting-edge solutions, and new trends in backhauling, and proposes a novel consolidated 5G backhaul framework. A new joint radio access and backhaul perspective is proposed for the evaluation of backhaul technologies which reinforces the belief that no single solution can solve the holistic 5G backhaul problem. This paper also reveals hidden advantages and shortcomings of backhaul solutions, which are not evident when backhaul technologies are inspected as an independent part of the 5G network. This survey is key in identifying essential catalysts that are believed to jointly pave the way to solving the beyond-2020 backhauling challenge. Lessons learned, unsolved challenges, and a new consolidated 5G backhaul vision are thus presented