Achievable Information Rates for Coded Modulation with Hard Decision Decoding for Coherent Fiber-Optic Systems

We analyze the achievable information rates (AIRs) for coded modulation schemes with QAM constellations with both bit-wise and symbol-wise decoders, corresponding to the case where a binary code is used in combination with a higher-order modulation using the bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) paradigm and to the case where a nonbinary code over a field matched to the constellation size is used, respectively. In particular, we consider hard decision decoding, which is the preferable option for fiber-optic communication systems where decoding complexity is a concern. Recently, Liga \emph{et al.} analyzed the AIRs for bit-wise and symbol-wise decoders considering what the authors called \emph{hard decision decoder} which, however, exploits \emph{soft information} of the transition probabilities of discrete-input discrete-output channel resulting from the hard detection. As such, the complexity of the decoder is essentially the same as the complexity of a soft decision decoder. In this paper, we analyze instead the AIRs for the standard hard decision decoder, commonly used in practice, where the decoding is based on the Hamming distance metric. We show that if standard hard decision decoding is used, bit-wise decoders yield significantly higher AIRs than symbol-wise decoders. As a result, contrary to the conclusion by Liga \emph{et al.}, binary decoders together with the BICM paradigm are preferable for spectrally-efficient fiber-optic systems. We also design binary and nonbinary staircase codes and show that, in agreement with the AIRs, binary codes yield better performance.Comment: Published in IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, 201

Dispensing with channel estimation: differentially modulated cooperative wireless communications

As a benefit of bypassing the potentially excessive complexity and yet inaccurate channel estimation, differentially encoded modulation in conjunction with low-complexity noncoherent detection constitutes a viable candidate for user-cooperative systems, where estimating all the links by the relays is unrealistic. In order to stimulate further research on differentially modulated cooperative systems, a number of fundamental challenges encountered in their practical implementations are addressed, including the time-variant-channel-induced performance erosion, flexible cooperative protocol designs, resource allocation as well as its high-spectral-efficiency transceiver design. Our investigations demonstrate the quantitative benefits of cooperative wireless networks both from a pure capacity perspective as well as from a practical system design perspective

Spatially Coupled Codes and Optical Fiber Communications: An Ideal Match?

In this paper, we highlight the class of spatially coupled codes and discuss their applicability to long-haul and submarine optical communication systems. We first demonstrate how to optimize irregular spatially coupled LDPC codes for their use in optical communications with limited decoding hardware complexity and then present simulation results with an FPGA-based decoder where we show that very low error rates can be achieved and that conventional block-based LDPC codes can be outperformed. In the second part of the paper, we focus on the combination of spatially coupled LDPC codes with different demodulators and detectors, important for future systems with adaptive modulation and for varying channel characteristics. We demonstrate that SC codes can be employed as universal, channel-agnostic coding schemes.Comment: Invited paper to be presented in the special session on "Signal Processing, Coding, and Information Theory for Optical Communications" at IEEE SPAWC 201

Reduced-Complexity Noncoherently Detected Differential Space-Time Shift Keying

Motivated by the recent development of Spatial Modulation (SM) and Differential Space-Time Shift Keying (DSTSK), we propose a reduced-complexity Conventional Differential Detector (CDD) as well as its reduced-complexity Multiple-Symbol Differential Sphere Detector (MSDSD) counterpart for DSTSK. Both schemes operate on a symbol-by-symbol basis in order to reduce the complexity of the classic block-by-block-based CDD and MSDSD, whilst still approaching the optimum performance of the full-search-based Maximum Likelihood (ML) detector. More explicitly, we carefully consider the objective function to be used for decoding the index of the specific antenna activated by taking into account the particular modulation scheme employed. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed CDD and MSDSD designed for DSTSK guarantee a significant complexity reduction compared to the classic block-based decoders, especially for high-rate DSTSK schemes, which is achieved without a performance penalty

Iterative Detection of Diagonal Block Space Time Trellis Codes, TCM and Reversible Variable Length Codes for Transmission over Rayleigh Fading Channels

Iterative detection of Diagonal Block Space Time Trellis Codes (DBSTTCs), Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) and Reversible Variable Length Codes (RVLCs) is proposed. With the aid of efficient iterative decoding, the proposed scheme is capable of providing full transmit diversity and a near channel capacity performance. The performance of the proposed scheme was evaluated when communicating over uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channels. Explicitly, significant iteration gains were achieved by the proposed scheme, which was capable of performing within 2~dB from the channel capacity

Iterative Near-Maximum-Likelihood Detection in Rank-Deficient Downlink SDMA Systems

Abstract—In this paper, a precoded and iteratively detected downlink multiuser system is proposed, which is capable of operating in rankdeficient scenarios, when the number of transmitters exceeds the number of receivers. The literature of uplink space division multiple access (SDMA) systems is rich, but at the time of writing there is a paucity of information on the employment of SDMA techniques in the downlink. Hence, we propose a novel precoded downlink SDMA (DL-SDMA) multiuser communication system, which invokes a low-complexity nearmaximum-likelihood sphere decoder and is particularly suitable for the aforementioned rank-deficient scenario. Powerful iterative decoding is carried out by exchanging extrinsic information between the precoder’s decoder and the outer channel decoder. Furthermore, we demonstrate with the aid of extrinsic information transfer charts that our proposed precoded DL-SDMA system has a better convergence behavior than its nonprecoded DL-SDMA counterpart. Quantitatively, the proposed system having a normalized system load of Ls = 1.333, i.e., 1.333 times higher effective throughput facilitated by having 1.333 times more DL-SDMA transmitters than receivers, exhibits a “turbo cliff” at an Eb/N0 of 5 dB and hence results in an infinitesimally low bit error rate (BER). By contrast, at Eb/N0 = 5 dB, the equivalent system dispensing with precoding exhibits a BER in excess of 10%. Index Terms—Iterative decoding, maximum likelihood detection, space division multiple access (SDMA) downlink, sphere decoding

Successive DF relaying: MS-DIS aided interference suppression and three-stage concatenated architecture design

Conventional single-relay aided two-phase cooperative networks employing coherent detection algorithms incur a significant 50% throughput loss. Furthermore, it is unrealistic to expect that in addition to the task of relaying, the relay-station would dedicate further precious resources to the estimation of the source-relay channel in support of coherent detection. In order to circumvent these problems, we propose decode and-forward (DF) based successive relaying employing noncoherent detection schemes. A crucial challenge in this context is that of suppressing the successive relaying induced interference, despite dispensing with any channel state information (CSI). We overcome this challenge by introducing a novel adaptive Newton algorithm based multiple-symbol differential interference suppression (MS-DIS) scheme. Correspondingly, a three-stage concatenated transceiver architecture is devised. We demonstrate that our proposed system is capable of near-error-free transmissions at low signal-to-noise ratios

Turbo trellis-coded hierarchical modulation assisted decode-and-forward cooperation

Hierarchical modulation, which is also known as layered modulation, has been widely adopted across the telecommunication industry. Its strict backward compatibility with single-layer modems and its low complexity facilitate the seamless upgrading of wireless communication services. The potential employment of hierarchical modulation in cooperative communications has the promise of increasing the achievable throughput at a low power consumption. In this paper, we propose a single-relay aided hierarchical modulation based cooperative communication system. The source employs a pair of Turbo Trellis-Coded Modulation schemes relying on specially designed hierarchical modulation, while the relay invokes the Decode-and-Forward protocol. We have analysed the system’s achievable rate as well as its bit error ratio using Monte-Carlo simulations. The results demonstrate that the power consumption of the entire system is reduced to 3.62 dB per time slot by our scheme