Frequency-Domain Turbo Equalisation in Coded SC-FDMA Systems: EXIT Chart Analysis and Performance

In this paper, we investigate the achievable performance of channel coded single-carrier frequency division multiple-access (SC-FDMA) systems employing various detection schemes, when communicating over frequency-selective fading channels. Specifically, three types of minimum mean-square error (MMSE) based frequency-domain (FD) turbo equalisers are considered. The first one is the turbo FD linear equaliser (LE). The second one is a parallel interference cancellation (PIC)-assisted turbo FD decision-feedback equaliser (DFE). The final one is the proposed hybrid interference cancellation (HIC)-aided turboFD-DFE, which combines successive interference cancellation (SIC) with iterative PIC and decoding. The benefit of interference cancellation (IC) is analysed with the EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) charts. The performance of the coded SC-FDMA systems employing the above-mentioned detection schemes is investigated with the aid of simulations. Our studies show that the IC techniques achieve an attractive performance at a moderate complexity

Low-complexity iterative frequency domain decision feedback equalization

Single-carrier transmission with frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE) offers a viable design alternative to the classic orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technique. However, SC-FDE using a linear equalizer may suffer from serious performance deterioration for transmission over severely frequency-selective fading channels. An effective method of solving this problem is to introduce non-linear decision feedback equalization (DFE) to SC-FDE. In this contribution, a low complexity iterative decision feedback equalizer operating in the frequency domain of single-carrier systems is proposed. Based on the minimum mean square error criterion, a simplified parameter estimation method is introduced to calculate the coefficients of the feed-forward and feedback filters, which significantly reduces the implementation complexity of the equalizer. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed simplified design is similar to the traditional iterative block DFE under various multipath fading channels but it imposes a much lower complexity than the latter

A novel massive MIMO for 5G systems

The evolution from 4G to 5G wireless systems is driven by the expected huge growth in user bit rates and overall system throughput. This requires a substantial spectral efficiency increase, while maintaining or even improving power efficiency. To accomplish this, one needs new transmission techniques, with the most promising ones being millimeter Waves (mm-Waves) and massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (m-MIMO). Moreover, the small wavelength means small antennas, allowing small-sized transmitter and receivers with very high number antenna elements and, therefore, enabling m-MIMO implementations. However, these frequencies present considerable challenges both in terms of propagation (high propagation free-space path losses, small diffraction effects and almost total absorption losses due to obstacles) and implementation difficulties, both at the analog and digital domains design, efficient amplification, signal processing requirements for equalization and user separation, etc.), which can be particularly challenging for m-MIMO systems. It is considered the use of m-MIMO combined with single-carrier with frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE) modulations, which aims to reduce the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio, as compared to other block transmission techniques (e.g., OFDM). A low-complexity iterative frequency-domain receiver based on the equal gain combining approach is proposed. This receiver does not require matrix inversions and has excellent performance, which can be very close to the matched filter bound after just a few iterations, even when the number of receive antennas is not very high

Low complexity detection for SC-FDE massive MIMO systems

Nowadays we continue to observe a big and fast growth of wireless com-munication usage due to the increasing number of access points, and fields of application of this technology. Furthermore, these new usages can require higher speed and better quality of service in order to create market. As example we can have: live 4K video transmission, M2M (Machine to Machine communication), IoT (Internet of Things), Tactile Internet, between many others. As a consequence of all these factors, the spectrum is getting overloaded with communications, increasing the interference and affecting the system's per-formance. Therefore a different path of ideas has been followed and the commu-nication process has been taken to the next level in 5G by the usage of big arrays of antennas and multi-stream communication (MIMO systems) which in a greater scale are called massive MIMO schemes. These systems can be combined with an SC-FDE (Single-Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization) scheme to im-prove the power efficiency due to the low envelope fluctuations. This thesis focused on the equalization in massive MIMO systems, more specifically in the FDE (Frequency Domain Equalization), studying the perfor-mance of different approaches, namely ZF (Zero Forcing), EGD (Equal Gain De-tector), MRD (Maximum Ratio Detector), IB-DFE (Iterative Block Decision Feed-back Equalizer) and a proposed receiver combining MRD (or EGD) and IB-DFE.With this approach we want to minimize the ICI (Inter Carrier Interference) in order to have almost independent data streams and to produce a low complexity code, so that the receiver's performance doesn't affect the total system's perfor-mance, with a final objective of increasing the data throughput in a great scale

Reduced complexity detection in MIMO systems with SC-FDE modulations and iterative DFE receivers

This paper considers a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) system with P transmitting and R receiving antennas and different overall noise characteristics on the different receiver antennas (e.g., due to nonlinear effects at the receiver side). Each communication link employs a Single-Carrier with Frequency-Domain Equalization (SC-FDE) modulation scheme, and the receiver is based on robust iterative frequency-domain multi-user detectors based on the Iterative Block Decision Feedback Equalization (IB-DFE) concept. We present low complexity efficient receivers that can employ low resolution Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) and require the inversion of matrices with reduced dimension when the number of receive antennas is larger than the number of independent data streams. The advantages of the proposed techniques are particularly high for highly unbalanced MIMO systems, such as in the uplink of Base Station (BS) cooperation systems that aim for Single-Frequency Network (SFN) operation or massive MIMO systems with much more antennas at the receiver side.publishe

Uplink of base station cooperation systems with SC-FDE modulations and IB-DFE receivers

This paper considers the uplink transmission in BS (Base Station) cooperation schemes where users in adjacent cells share the same physical channel and the signals received by each BS are sent to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that combines the different received signals associated to a given user and/or performs the user separation. The signals are modulated through SC (Single-Carrier) schemes combined with FDE (Frequency- Domain Equalization) techniques and with iterative frequency-domain receivers based on the IB-DFE concept (Iterative Block Decision Feedback Equalization). Our performance results show performance results close to the MFB (Matched Filter Bound), where the proposed receivers allow enhancement in macro-diversity gains as well as an efficient user separation, making these techniques an excellent choice for the uplink transmission in future broadband wireless systems employing BS cooperation schemes

Time diversity solutions to cope with lost packets

A dissertation submitted to Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica of Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engenharia Electrotécnica e de ComputadoresModern broadband wireless systems require high throughputs and can also have very high Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements, namely small error rates and short delays. A high spectral efficiency is needed to meet these requirements. Lost packets, either due to errors or collisions, are usually discarded and need to be retransmitted, leading to performance degradation. An alternative to simple retransmission that can improve both power and spectral efficiency is to combine the signals associated to different transmission attempts. This thesis analyses two time diversity approaches to cope with lost packets that are relatively similar at physical layer but handle different packet loss causes. The first is a lowcomplexity Diversity-Combining (DC) Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) scheme employed in a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) architecture, adapted for channels dedicated to a single user. The second is a Network-assisted Diversity Multiple Access (NDMA) scheme, which is a multi-packet detection approach able to separate multiple mobile terminals transmitting simultaneously in one slot using temporal diversity. This thesis combines these techniques with Single Carrier with Frequency Division Equalizer (SC-FDE) systems, which are widely recognized as the best candidates for the uplink of future broadband wireless systems. It proposes a new NDMA scheme capable of handling more Mobile Terminals (MTs) than the user separation capacity of the receiver. This thesis also proposes a set of analytical tools that can be used to analyse and optimize the use of these two systems. These tools are then employed to compare both approaches in terms of error rate, throughput and delay performances, and taking the implementation complexity into consideration. Finally, it is shown that both approaches represent viable solutions for future broadband wireless communications complementing each other.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - PhD grant(SFRH/BD/41515/2007); CTS multi-annual funding project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0066/2011, IT pluri-annual funding project PEst-OE/EEI/LA0008/2011, U-BOAT project PTDC/EEATEL/ 67066/2006, MPSat project PTDC/EEA-TEL/099074/2008 and OPPORTUNISTICCR project PTDC/EEA-TEL/115981/200

Channel estimation in massive MIMO systems

Last years were characterized by a great demand for high data throughput, good quality and spectral efficiency in wireless communication systems. Consequently, a revolution in cellular networks has been set in motion towards to 5G. Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is one of the new concepts in 5G and the idea is to scale up the known MIMO systems in unprecedented proportions, by deploying hundreds of antennas at base stations. Although, perfect channel knowledge is crucial in these systems for user and data stream separation in order to cancel interference. The most common way to estimate the channel is based on pilots. However, problems such as interference and pilot contamination (PC) can arise due to the multiplicity of channels in the wireless link. Therefore, it is crucial to define techniques for channel estimation that together with pilot contamination mitigation allow best system performance and at same time low complexity. This work introduces a low-complexity channel estimation technique based on Zadoff-Chu training sequences. In addition, different approaches were studied towards pilot contamination mitigation and low complexity schemes, with resort to iterative channel estimation methods, semi-blind subspace tracking techniques and matrix inversion substitutes. System performance simulations were performed for the several proposed techniques in order to identify the best tradeoff between complexity, spectral efficiency and system performance