Link level performance evaluation and link abstraction for LTE/LTE-advanced downlink

Els objectius principals d'aquesta tesis són l'avaluació del rendiment a nivell d'enllaç i l'estudi de l'abstracció de l'enllaç pel LTE/LTE-Advanced DL. S’ha desenvolupat un simulador del nivell d'enllaç E-UTRA DL basat en la tecnologia MIMO-OFDM. Es simulen els errors d'estimació de canal amb un model d'error de soroll additiu Gaussià anomenat CEEM. El resultat d'aquest simulador serveix per avaluar el rendiment a nivell d'enllaç del LTE/LTE-Advanced DL en diferents entorns . La idea bàsica dels mètodes d'abstracció de l'enllaç és mapejar el vector de SNRs de les subportadores a un valor escalar, l'anomenada ESNR, la qual és usada per a predir la BLER. Proposem un innovador mètode d'abstracció de l'enllaç que pot predir la BLER amb bona precisió en esvaïments multicamí i que inclouen els efectes de les retransmissions HARQ. El mètode proposat es basa amb l'estimació de la informació mútua entre els bits transmesos i els LLRs rebuts.The main objectives of this dissertation are the evaluation of the link level performance and the study of link abstraction for LTE/LTE-Advanced DL. An E-UTRA DL link level simulator has been developed based on MIMO-OFDM technology. We simulate channel estimation errors by a Gaussian additive noise error model called CEEM. The result of this simulator serves to evaluate the MIMO-OFDM LTE/LTE-Advanced DL link level performance in different environments. The basic idea of link abstraction methods is to map the vector of the subcarrier SNRs to a single scalar, the ESNR, which is then used to predict the BLER. We propose a novel link abstraction method that can predict the BLER with good accuracy in multipath fading and including the effects of HARQ retransmissions. The proposed method is based on estimating the mutual information between the transmitted bits and the received LLRs.Postprint (published version

Broadband wireless communication systems for high mobility scenarios

Programa Oficial de Doutoramento en Tecnoloxías da Información e Comunicación en Redes Móbiles. 553V01[Resumen] A lo largo de los últimos años el uso de servicios multimedia y, en general, basados en el acceso a información “en la nube”, experimentó un auge sin precedentes. A diferencia respecto del pasado, los usuarios no solamente acceden a los servicios desde una ubicación estática; por contra, navegan libremente entre distintos lugares al tiempo que acceden, desde sus dispositivos móviles, a servicios en la nube. Debido al ritmo de vida actual, el tránsito entre zonas rurales y ciudades también se incrementó de modo notable, al ubicarse la mayor parte de los lugares de trabajo en ciudades o en sus respectivos entornos. Durante los períodos de transporte, cada vez más, los pasajeros emplean sus dispositivos móviles para trabajar, acceder a redes sociales o como dispositivos de entretenimiento. En la actualidad, GSM for Railways (GSM-R) es el sistema de comunicaciones más empleado entre los trenes y el resto de elementos involucrados en la infraestructura ferroviaria. Sin embargo, GSM-R no es adecuado para proporcionar servicios avanzados, tales como el control de piloto automático, así como para sustentar transmisiones de banda ancha a los operadores ferroviarios o proporcionar servicios de valor añadido a los pasajeros. Centrándonos en el mercado de dispositivos de comunicaciones de ámbito general, la explosión de usuarios y servicios multimedia de los últimos años motivó la migración, primero a las redes de tercera generación y, seguidamente, a las de cuarta, con Long Term Evolution (LTE) a la cabeza. Así, parece natural plantear a LTE como la tecnología candidata para la sustitución de GSM-R. En el presente trabajo se lleva a cabo un completo estudio de las prestaciones de sistemas de comunicaciones inalámbricas de banda ancha en vehículos de alta velocidad basado en campañas de medidas llevadas a cabo en entornos reales. Se estudió especialmente el caso de comunicaciones LTE en trenes de alta velocidad. Se proponen técnicas de reducción del coste y complejidad en relación a las evaluaciones en entornos de alta velocidad y se prueba su funcionamiento de modo analítico, mediante simulación y empíricamente. De cara a validar los desarrollos presentados en esta tesis en relación a los últimos avances en materia comunicaciones, se consideraron también las más novedosas propuestas para sistemas de quinta generación, actualmente aún en fase de definición. Es más, se evaluaron, tanto mediante simulación como vía medidas en entornos de alta velocidad, las prestaciones brindadas por las propuestas para sistemas de comunicaciones de quinta generación. El código fuente del GTEC Testbed y del GTEC 5G Simulator está disponible públicamente bajo la licencia GPLv3 en https://bitbucket.org/tomas_bolano/gtec_testbed_public.git.[Resumo] Ao longo dos últimos anos o uso de servizos multimedia e, en xeral, baseados no acceso a información contida “na nube”, experimentou un auxe sen precedentes. A diferencia respecto do pasado, os usuarios non soamente acceden aos servizos dende unha ubicación estática; pola contra, navegan libremente entre distintos lugares ao tempo que acceden, dende os seus dispositivos móbiles, a servizos na nube. Debido ao ritmo de vida actual, o tránsito entre zonas rurais e cidades tamén se incrementou de modo notable, ao ubicarse a maior parte dos lugares de traballo nas cidades ou nas súas respectivas contornas. Durante os períodos de transporte, cada vez máis, os pasaxeiros empregan os seus dispositivos móbiles para traballar, acceder a redes sociais ou como ferramenta de entretemento. O factor común da maior parte dos servizos típicamente empregados é a súa dependencia respecto do acceso á rede. Na actualidade, GSM for Railways (GSM-R), baseado no xa vetusto GSM, é o sistema de comunicacións máis empregado entre os trens e o resto dos elementos involucrados na infraestrutura ferroviaria. Sen embargo, GSM-R non é axeitado para proporcionar servizos avanzados, tales como o control de piloto automático, así como para sustentar transmisións de banda ancha aos operadores ferroviarios ou proporcionar servizos de valor engadido aos pasaxeiros. Botando unha ollada ao mercado de dispositivos de comunicacións de ámbito xeral, a explosión de usuarios e servizos multimedia dos últimos anos motivou a migración, primeiro ás redes de terceira xeración e, seguidamente, ás de cuarta, con Long Term Evolution (LTE) á cabeza. Así, parece natural plantexar LTE como o candidato para a substitución de GSM-R. No presente traballo lévase a cabo un completo estudo das prestacións de sistemas de comunicacións sen fíos de banda ancha en vehículos de alta velocidade baseado en campañas de medidas levadas a cabo en contornas reais de alta velocidade. Estudouse especialmente o caso de comunicacións LTE en trens de alta velocidade. Propóñense técnicas de redución de custo e complexidade en relación ás avaliacións en contornas de alta velocidade e valídase o seu funcionamento de xeito analítico, mediante simulación e empíricamente. Os desenvolvementos presentados nesta tese foron validados para os sistemas de quinta xeración, aínda en fase de definición. Avaliáronse, mediante simulación e experimentalmente en contornas de alta velocidade, as prestacións brindadas polas propostas para sistemas de comunicacións de quinta xeración. O código fonte do GTEC Testbed e do GTEC 5G Simulator está dispoñible públicamente baixo a licenza GPLv3 en https://bitbucket.org/tomas_bolano/gtec_testbed_public.git.[Abstract] Over the last few years multimedia and data-based services experienced a non-stopping growth. Unlike before, people do not use the services only from a static location, but they are continuously on the move between different scenarios, using their mobile devices to access data-based services. In parallel, commuter traffic from rural areas is also rising, since most of work places are in and around cities. During transportation, people intensively employ mobile devices to work, access to social networks, or as an entertainment means. Internet access is required for most of these services. Currently, GSM for Railways (GSM-R), which is based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), is the most widely used communication system between trains and the elements involved in operation, control, and intercommunication within the railway infrastructure. However, GSM-R is not well suited for supporting advanced services such as automatic pilot applications or provisioning broadband services to the train staff and passengers. Besides trains, the increasing number of broadband services available for mobile devices motivated the migration from third-generation mobile networks to fourth generation ones, mainly Long Term Evolution (LTE). Therefore, LTE seems to be a good candidate to substitute the GSM as the fundamental technology for railway communications. In this work a complete study on the performance of high capacity broadband wireless communication systems for high speed vehicles is presented, based on measurement campaigns in actual high speed environments. Special attention is devoted to the case of LTE in high speed trains. Techniques to greatly reduce the cost and complexity of measurement-based evaluations in high speed scenarios are proposed and proven to work analytically, by means of simulations and by measurements in actual high speed environments. With the aim of checking the validity of the findings of this work for the latest advances in wireless communication systems, proposals for fifth generation (5G) communication systems, currently still under definition, were also considered. Moreover, the performance of the proposals for 5G communication systems was also evaluated by means of simulations as well as by measuring in high speed environments. The source code of both the GTEC Testbed and the GTEC 5G Simulator is publicly available under the GPLv3 license at https://bitbucket.org/tomas_bolano/gtec_testbed_public.git

Advanced receivers for distributed cooperation in mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are rapidly deployable wireless communications systems, operating with minimal coordination in order to avoid spectral efficiency losses caused by overhead. Cooperative transmission schemes are attractive for MANETs, but the distributed nature of such protocols comes with an increased level of interference, whose impact is further amplified by the need to push the limits of energy and spectral efficiency. Hence, the impact of interference has to be mitigated through with the use PHY layer signal processing algorithms with reasonable computational complexity. Recent advances in iterative digital receiver design techniques exploit approximate Bayesian inference and derivative message passing techniques to improve the capabilities of well-established turbo detectors. In particular, expectation propagation (EP) is a flexible technique which offers attractive complexity-performance trade-offs in situations where conventional belief propagation is limited by computational complexity. Moreover, thanks to emerging techniques in deep learning, such iterative structures are cast into deep detection networks, where learning the algorithmic hyper-parameters further improves receiver performance. In this thesis, EP-based finite-impulse response decision feedback equalizers are designed, and they achieve significant improvements, especially in high spectral efficiency applications, over more conventional turbo-equalization techniques, while having the advantage of being asymptotically predictable. A framework for designing frequency-domain EP-based receivers is proposed, in order to obtain detection architectures with low computational complexity. This framework is theoretically and numerically analysed with a focus on channel equalization, and then it is also extended to handle detection for time-varying channels and multiple-antenna systems. The design of multiple-user detectors and the impact of channel estimation are also explored to understand the capabilities and limits of this framework. Finally, a finite-length performance prediction method is presented for carrying out link abstraction for the EP-based frequency domain equalizer. The impact of accurate physical layer modelling is evaluated in the context of cooperative broadcasting in tactical MANETs, thanks to a flexible MAC-level simulato

Adaptive Coded Modulation Classification and Spectrum Sensing for Cognitive Radio Systems. Adaptive Coded Modulation Techniques for Cognitive Radio Using Kalman Filter and Interacting Multiple Model Methods

The current and future trends of modern wireless communication systems place heavy demands on fast data transmissions in order to satisfy end users’ requirements anytime, anywhere. Such demands are obvious in recent applications such as smart phones, long term evolution (LTE), 4 & 5 Generations (4G & 5G), and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) platforms, where robust coding and modulations are essential especially in streaming on-line video material, social media and gaming. This eventually resulted in extreme exhaustion imposed on the frequency spectrum as a rare natural resource due to stagnation in current spectrum management policies. Since its advent in the late 1990s, cognitive radio (CR) has been conceived as an enabling technology aiming at the efficient utilisation of frequency spectrum that can lead to potential direct spectrum access (DSA) management. This is mainly attributed to its internal capabilities inherited from the concept of software defined radio (SDR) to sniff its surroundings, learn and adapt its operational parameters accordingly. CR systems (CRs) may commonly comprise one or all of the following core engines that characterise their architectures; namely, adaptive coded modulation (ACM), automatic modulation classification (AMC) and spectrum sensing (SS). Motivated by the above challenges, this programme of research is primarily aimed at the design and development of new paradigms to help improve the adaptability of CRs and thereby achieve the desirable signal processing tasks at the physical layer of the above core engines. Approximate modelling of Rayleigh and finite state Markov channels (FSMC) with a new concept borrowed from econometric studies have been approached. Then insightful channel estimation by using Kalman filter (KF) augmented with interacting multiple model (IMM) has been examined for the purpose of robust adaptability, which is applied for the first time in wireless communication systems. Such new IMM-KF combination has been facilitated in the feedback channel between wireless transmitter and receiver to adjust the transmitted power, by using a water-filling (WF) technique, and constellation pattern and rate in the ACM algorithm. The AMC has also benefited from such IMM-KF integration to boost the performance against conventional parametric estimation methods such as maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) for channel interrogation and the estimated parameters of both inserted into the ML classification algorithm. Expectation-maximisation (EM) has been applied to examine unknown transmitted modulation sequences and channel parameters in tandem. Finally, the non-parametric multitaper method (MTM) has been thoroughly examined for spectrum estimation (SE) and SS, by relying on Neyman-Pearson (NP) detection principle for hypothesis test, to allow licensed primary users (PUs) to coexist with opportunistic unlicensed secondary users (SUs) in the same frequency bands of interest without harmful effects. The performance of the above newly suggested paradigms have been simulated and assessed under various transmission settings and revealed substantial improvements

On the Performance of Sliding Window TD-LMMSE Channel Estimation for 5G Waveforms in High Mobility Scenario

The upcoming 5G era is considered as a critical answer to future railway communication needs. In this work, we analyze the performance of sliding window time domain LMMSE channel estimation technique where a generalized development is proposed and analyzed for 5G FBMC-(O)QAM waveform candidates. In order to enhance performance, the analytical model is extended to exploit multipaths and multiantennas correlation wherever they do exist e.g., tunnels. TD-LMMSE performance for 5G waveforms and achieved enhancements are verified by Monte Carlo simulations