Iterative receivers and multichannel equalisation for time division multiple access systems

The thesis introduces receiver algorithms improving the performance of TDMA mobile radio systems. Particularly, we consider receivers utilising side information, which can be obtained from the error control coding or by having a priori knowledge of interference sources. Iterative methods can be applied in the former case and interference suppression techniques in the latter. Convolutional coding adds redundant information into the signal and thereby protects messages transmitted over a radio channel. In the coded systems the receiver is usually comprised of separate channel estimation, detection and channel decoding tasks due to complexity restrictions. This suboptimal solution suffers from performance degradation compared to the optimal solution achieved by optimising the joint probability of information bits, transmitted symbols and channel impulse response. Conventional receiver utilises estimated channel state information in the detection and detected symbols in the channel decoding to finally obtain information bits. However, the channel decoder provides also extrinsic information on the bit probabilities, which is independent of the received information at the equaliser input. Therefore it is beneficial to re-perform channel estimation and detection using this new extrinsic information together with the original input signal. We apply iterative receiver techniques mainly to Enhanced General Packet Radio System (EGPRS) using GMSK modulation for iterative channel estimation and 8-PSK modulation for iterative detection scheme. Typical gain for iterative detection is around 2 dB and for iterative channel estimation around 1 dB. Furthermore, we suggest two iteration rounds as a reasonable complexity/performance trade-off. To obtain further complexity reduction we introduce the soft trellis decoding technique that reduces the decoder complexity significantly in the iterative schemes. Cochannel interference (CCI) originates from the nearby cells that are reusing the same transmission frequency. In this thesis we consider CCI suppression by joint detection (JD) technique, which detects simultaneously desired and interfering signals. Because of the complexity limitations we only consider JD for two binary modulated signals. Therefore it is important to find the dominant interfering signal (DI) to achieve the best performance. In the presence of one strong DI, the JD provides major improvement in the receiver performance. The JD requires joint channel estimation (JCE) for the two signals. However, the JCE makes the implementation of the JD more difficult, since it requires synchronised network and unique training sequences with low cross-correlation for the two signals.reviewe

Interference-Mitigating Waveform Design for Next-Generation Wireless Systems

A brief historical perspective of the evolution of waveform designs employed in consecutive generations of wireless communications systems is provided, highlighting the range of often conflicting demands on the various waveform characteristics. As the culmination of recent advances in the field the underlying benefits of various Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) schemes are highlighted and exemplified. As an integral part of the appropriate waveform design, cognizance is given to the particular choice of the duplexing scheme used for supporting full-duplex communications and it is demonstrated that Time Division Duplexing (TDD) is substantially outperformed by Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD), unless the TDD scheme is combined with further sophisticated scheduling, MIMOs and/or adaptive modulation/coding. It is also argued that the specific choice of the Direct-Sequence (DS) spreading codes invoked in DS-CDMA predetermines the properties of the system. It is demonstrated that a specifically designed family of spreading codes exhibits a so-called interference-free window (IFW) and hence the resultant system is capable of outperforming its standardised counterpart employing classic Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) codes under realistic dispersive channel conditions, provided that the interfering multi-user and multipath components arrive within this IFW. This condition may be ensured with the aid of quasisynchronous adaptive timing advance control. However, a limitation of the system is that the number of spreading codes exhibiting a certain IFW is limited, although this problem may be mitigated with the aid of novel code design principles, employing a combination of several spreading sequences in the time-frequency and spatial-domain. The paper is concluded by quantifying the achievable user load of a UTRA-like TDD Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system employing Loosely Synchronized (LS) spreading codes exhibiting an IFW in comparison to that of its counterpart using OVSF codes. Both system's performance is enhanced using beamforming MIMOs

Applying Spatial Diversity to Mitigate Partial Band Interference in Undersea Networks

Many acoustic channels suffer from interference which is neither narrowband nor impulsive. This relatively long duration partial band interference can be particularly detrimental to system performance. We survey recent work in interference mitigation and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as background motivation to develop a spatial diversity receiver for use in underwater networks. The network consists of multiple distributed cabled hydrophones that receive data transmitted over a time-varying multipath channel in the presence of partial band interference produced by interfering active sonar signals as well as marine mammal vocalizations. In operational networks, many “dropped” messages are lost due to partial band interference which corrupts different portions of the received signal depending on the relative position of the interferers, information source and receivers due to the slow speed of propagation

Turbo Decoding and Detection for Wireless Applications

A historical perspective of turbo coding and turbo transceivers inspired by the generic turbo principles is provided, as it evolved from Shannon’s visionary predictions. More specifically, we commence by discussing the turbo principles, which have been shown to be capable of performing close to Shannon’s capacity limit. We continue by reviewing the classic maximum a posteriori probability decoder. These discussions are followed by studying the effect of a range of system parameters in a systematic fashion, in order to gauge their performance ramifications. In the second part of this treatise, we focus our attention on the family of iterative receivers designed for wireless communication systems, which were partly inspired by the invention of turbo codes. More specifically, the family of iteratively detected joint coding and modulation schemes, turbo equalization, concatenated spacetime and channel coding arrangements, as well as multi-user detection and three-stage multimedia systems are highlighted

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