Multiuser Detection and Channel Estimation for Multibeam Satellite Communications

In this paper, iterative multi-user detection techniques for multi-beam communications are presented. The solutions are based on a successive interference cancellation architecture and a channel decoding to treat the co-channel interference. Beams forming and channels coefficients are estimated and updated iteratively. A developed technique of signals combining allows power improvement of the useful received signal; and then reduction of the bit error rates with low signal to noise ratios. The approach is applied to a synchronous multi-beam satellite link under an additive white Gaussian channel. Evaluation of the techniques is done with computer simulations, where a noised and multi-access environment is considered. The simulations results show the good performance of the proposed solutions.Comment: 12 page

NOMA and interference limited satellite scenarios

This paper deals with the problem of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in multibeam satellite systems, where the signals are jointly precoded. It is considered that the number of frames that are simultaneously transmitted is higher than the number of feeds, reducing the precoding interference mitigation capabilities as the system becomes overloaded. In order to solve this problem, we assume that the satellite user terminals are able to perform multi-user detection to mitigate the interference. In the current NOMA approach, it is assumed a successive interference cancellation (SIC) receiver. To increase the spectral efficiency, this paper investigates NOMA with simultaneous non-unique detection (SND). Compared to the case where user terminals perform single user detection (SUD), conventional scheduling heuristic rules do not longer apply in this scenario. Therefore, different scheduling algorithms are proposed considering both SIC and SND strategies. As the numerical evaluations show, SND yields larger average data rates than the SIC receiver. Concerning the scheduling, the best strategy is to pair users with highly correlated channels and the lowest channel gain difference. It is also shown that the sum-rate can be increased in overloaded satellite systems with respect to satellite scenarios, where the number of transmitted frames and feeds is the same.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Multiuser Detection in Asynchronous Multibeam Communications

This paper deals with multi-user detection techniques in asynchronous multibeam satellite communications. The proposed solutions are based on successive interference cancellation architecture (SIC) and channel decoding algorithms. The aim of these detection methods is to reduce the effect of cochannel interference due to co-frequency access, and consequently, improves the capacity of the mulitbeam communications systems, by improving frequency reuse. Channel estimation allows the determination of interference coefficients, which helps their effects compensation. The developed multiuser detections techniques are iterative. Therefore, detection quality is improved from a stage to another. Moreover, a signals combining method, which is integrated into these detection solutions, enhances their capability. The proposed solutions are evaluated through computer simulations, where an asynchronous multibeam satellite link is considered over an AWGN channel. The obtained simulation results showed the robustness of these multi-user detection techniques.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Symbol-asynchronous transmission in multibeam satellite user down-link : rate regions for novel superposition coding schemes

We consider the forward link of a multibeam satellite system with high spectral reuse and the novel low-complexity transmission and detection strategies from [1]. More specifically, we study the impact of a time offset between the antenna beams that cooperate to simultaneously serve a given user. Assuming Gaussian signaling, we provide closed-form expressions for the achievable rate region. It is demonstrated that, in the absence of timing information at the gateway, this region is not affected by a time offset. Our numerical results further show that, in case timing is known at the gateway, an offset of half a symbol period at both user terminals is optimal in terms of spectral efficiency.Grant numbers : Satellite Network of Experts IV. © 2018 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

Non-orthogonal transmission techniques for multibeam satellite systems

© 2019 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.Non-orthogonal transmission is a promising technology enabler to meet the requirements of 5G communication systems. Seminal papers demonstrated that non-orthogonal multiplexing techniques outperform orthogonal schemes in terms of capacity, latency, and user fairness. Since it is envisioned that satellites will be an integral component of the 5G infrastructure, it is worth studying how satellite communication systems can benefit from the application of non-orthogonal transmission schemes as well. Contrary to common perception, current communications through a satellite present a different architecture and face different impairments than those in the wireless terrestrial links. In particular, this work aims to describe different non-orthogonal schemes that are suitable for the forward link (i.e., satellite to user). In contrast with the return link of the satellite (i.e., user to satellite), where the use of non-orthogonal transmission schemes has been widely studied, less effort has been devoted to the forward link. In light of this, this article provides an overview and a novel taxonomy that is based on the forward link of different non-orthogonal multibeam transmission schemes. Finally, guidelines that open new avenues for research in this topic are provided.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft