Separable Implementation of L2-Orthogonal STC CPM with Fast Decoding

In this paper we present an alternative separable implementation of L2-orthogonal space-time codes (STC) for continuous phase modulation (CPM). In this approach, we split the STC CPM transmitter into a single conventional CPM modulator and a correction filter bank. While the CPM modulator is common to all transmit antennas, the correction filter bank applies different correction units to each antenna. Thereby desirable code properties as orthogonality and full diversity are achievable with just a slightly larger bandwidth demand. This new representation has three main advantages. First, it allows to easily generalize the orthogonality condition to any arbitrary number of transmit antennas. Second, for a quite general set of correction functions that we detail, it can be proved that full diversity is achieved. Third, by separating the modulation and correction steps inside the receiver, a simpler receiver can be designed as a bank of data independent inverse correction filters followed by a single CPM demodulator. Therefore, in this implementation, only one correlation filter bank for the detection of all transmitted signals is necessary. The decoding effort grows only linearly with the number of transmit antennas

L2 OSTC-CPM: Theory and design

The combination of space-time coding (STC) and continuous phase modulation (CPM) is an attractive field of research because both STC and CPM bring many advantages for wireless communications. Zhang and Fitz [1] were the first to apply this idea by constructing a trellis based scheme. But for these codes the decoding effort grows exponentially with the number of transmitting antennas. This was circumvented by orthogonal codes introduced by Wang and Xia [2]. Unfortunately, based on Alamouti code [3], this design is restricted to two antennas. However, by relaxing the orthogonality condition, we prove here that it is possible to design L2-orthogonal space-time codes which achieve full rate and full diversity with low decoding effort. In part one, we generalize the two-antenna code proposed by Wang and Xia [2] from pointwise to L2-orthogonality and in part two we present the first L2-orthogonal code for CPM with three antennas. In this report, we detail these results and focus on the properties of these codes. Of special interest is the optimization of the bit error rate which depends on the initial phase of the system. Our simulation results illustrate the systemic behavior of these conditions

Joint Detection and Decoding of High-Order Modulation Schemes for CDMA and OFDM Wireless Communications

Wireless communications call for high data rate, power and bandwidth efficient transmissions. High-order modulation schemes are suitable candidates for this purpose as the potential to reduce the symbol period is often limited by the multipath-induced intersymbol interference. In order to reduce the power consumption, and at the same time, to estimate time-variant wireless channels, we propose low-complexity, joint detection and decoding schemes for high-order modulation signals in this dissertation. We start with the iterative demodulation and decoding of high-order CPM signals for mobile communications. A low complexity, pilot symbol-assisted coherent modulation scheme is proposed that can significantly improve the bit error rate performance by efficiently exploiting the inherent memory structure of the CPM modulation. A noncoherent scheme based on multiple symbol differential detection is also proposed and the performances of the two schemes are simulated and compared. Second, two iterative demodulation and decoding schemes are proposed for quadrature amplitude modulated signals in flat fading channels. Both of them make use of the iterative channel estimation based on the data signal reconstructed from decoder output. The difference is that one of them has a threshold controller that only allows the data reconstructed with high reliability values to be used for iterative channel estimation, while the other one directly uses all reconstructed data. As the second scheme has much lower complexity with a performance similar to the best of the first one, we further apply it to the space-time coded CDMA Rake receiver in frequency-selective multipath channels. We will compare it to the pilot-aided demodulation scheme that uses a dedicated pilot signal for channel estimation. In the third part of the dissertation, we design anti-jamming multicarrier communication systems. Two types of jamming signals are considered - the partial-band tone jamming and the partial-time pulse jamming. We propose various iterative schemes to detect, estimate, and cancel the jamming signal in both AWGN and fading channels. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed systems can provide reliable communications over a wide range of jamming-to-signal power ratios. Last, we study the problem of maximizing the throughput of a cellular multicarrier communication network with transmit or receive diversity. The total throughput of the network is maximized subject to power constraints on each mobile. We first extend the distributed water-pouring power control algorithm from single transmit and receive antenna to multiple transmit and receive antennas. Both equal power diversity and selective diversity are considered. We also propose a centralized power control algorithm based on the active set strategy and the gradient projection method. The performances of the two algorithms are assessed with simulation and compared with the equal power allocation algorithm

Development of a Nanosatellite Software Defined Radio Communications System

Communications systems designed with application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology suffer from one very significant disadvantage - the integrated circuits do not possess the ability of programmability. However, Software Defined Radio’s (SDR’s) integrated with Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) provide an opportunity to update the communication system on nanosatellites (which are physically difficult to access) due to their capability of performing signal processing in software. SDR signal processing is performed in software on reprogrammable elements such as FPGA’s. Applying this technique to nanosatellite communications systems will optimize the operations of the hardware, and increase the flexibility of the system. In this research a transceiver algorithm for a nanosatellite software defined radio communications is designed. The developed design is capable of modulation of data to transmit information and demodulation of data to receive information. The transceiver algorithm also works at different baud rates. The design implementation was successfully tested with FPGA-based hardware to demonstrate feasibility of the transceiver design with a hardware platform suitable for SDR implementation

Proceedings of the Mobile Satellite Conference

A satellite-based mobile communications system provides voice and data communications to mobile users over a vast geographic area. The technical and service characteristics of mobile satellite systems (MSSs) are presented and form an in-depth view of the current MSS status at the system and subsystem levels. Major emphasis is placed on developments, current and future, in the following critical MSS technology areas: vehicle antennas, networking, modulation and coding, speech compression, channel characterization, space segment technology and MSS experiments. Also, the mobile satellite communications needs of government agencies are addressed, as is the MSS potential to fulfill them

Soft-in soft-output detection in the presence of parametric uncertainty via the Bayesian EM algorithm

We investigate the application of the Bayesian expectation-maximization (BEM) technique to the design of soft-in soft-out (SISO) detection algorithms for wireless communication systems operating over channels affected by parametric uncertainty. First, the BEM algorithm is described in detail and its relationship with the well-known expectation-maximization (EM) technique is explained. Then, some of its applications are illustrated. In particular, the problems of SISO detection of spread spectrum, single-carrier and multicarrier space-time block coded signals are analyzed. Numerical results show that BEM-based detectors perform closely to the maximum likelihood (ML) receivers endowed with perfect channel state information as long as channel variations are not too fast

Oblique Sounding and HF Communication Techniques for Very Long Haul Ionospheric Links

El sistema de comunicació ràdio d’alta freqüència (HF, en anglès) és usat arreu del món per agències governamentals i no governamentals sempre que calgui una alternativa a les comunicacions via satèl•lit: vaixells a alta mar, avions fora de cobertura de xarxes ràdio amb visió directa, operacions militars, zones on la infraestructura ha estat destruïda per algun tipus de desastre o bé zones llunyanes sense cap altre tipus de comunicació. La ràdio HF representa una alternativa, o un sistema de backup al satèl•lit per a comunicacions de llarg abast i en redueix els costos, evita la vulnerabilitat i els problemes de sobirania. En aquesta tesi s’ha estudiat l’enllaç HF entre la base antàrtica espanyola Juan Carlos I, situada a l’illa Livingston a l’arxipèlag de les Shetland del Sud, i Espanya. L’objectiu d’aquest treball és estudiar els problemes que afecten la propagació; és a dir, la relació senyal a soroll i interferència, la dispersió multicamí i la dispersió per efecte Doppler, i dissenyar la capa física d’un enllaç HF de baixa velocitat, poca potència i llarg abast. Pel que fa aquest últim punt es fan un parell de propostes: espectre eixamplat per seqüència directa (DSSS, en anglès) i multiplexació per divisió en freqüència ortogonal (OFDM, en anglès). El repte que es planteja és el de la definició de les característiques dels símbols que millor encaixen en aquest canal per tal d’obtenir un benefici de la diversitat temporal i freqüencial que ofereix el canal. Des de l’any 2003 diverses campanyes han permès estudiar aquest canal HF, però no va ser fins la campanya 2009/2010 que s’obtingué un foto de les característiques, diürnes i nocturnes, de la ionosfera. En els articles que es presenten en aquesta tesi hem estès el rang freqüencial d’estudi respecte a investigacions prèvies i hem mostrat diferències de comportament entre el dia i la nit. Hem usat els resultats de la caracterització del canal per a dissenyar i comparar la bondat dels símbols DSSS i OFDM. Ambdues possibilitats han resultat ser candidates a implementar l’enllaç HF entre l’Antàrtida i Espanya. Tot i així, ambdues tècniques representen visions diferents de la implementació del mòdem: mentre que DSSS obté bons resultats a baixa velocitat en entorns amb baixa relació senyal a soroll, OFDM aconsegueix tasses de velocitat més elevades en canals més benignes.Los sistemas de radio de alta frecuencia (HF, en inglés) son usados por agencias gubernamentales y no gubernamentales en todo el mundo siempre que se necesite una alternativa a las comunicaciones por satélite: barcos en alta mar, aviones fuera del rango de cobertura de las redes radio de visión directa, operaciones militares, zonas donde la infraestructura ha sido destruida por algún desastre. Ésta ofrece una alternativa, o representa un sistema de backup, a las comunicaciones vía satélite, evitando los costes, la vulnerabilidad y los problemas de soberanía de las comunicaciones por satélite. En esta tesis se ha estudiado el enlace HF entre la base antártica española Juan Carlos I en la isla Livingston, en las Shetland del sur y España. El objetivo de este trabajo es el estudio de las limitaciones de la propagación ionosférica (como la relación señal a ruido e interferencia, la dispersión multicamino y la dispersión por efecto Doppler) y el diseño de la capa física de un enlace HF de baja velocidad, baja potencia y largo alcance. Se han estudiado un par de propuestas para este enlace, como son el espectro ensanchado por secuencia directa (DSSS, en inglés) y la multiplexación por división en frecuencia ortogonal (OFDM, en inglés). El reto ha sido definir las características que mejor se adecuan a este enlace para poder aprovechar la diversidad temporal y frecuencial que ofrece el canal HF. Desde el año 2003 diversas campañas de sondeo han permitido estudiar el canal HF pero no es hasta la campaña 2009/2010 que se consigue una fotografía de la actividad ionosférica tanto nocturna como diurna. En los artículos que se presentan en esta tesis hemos extendido los estudios previos a todo el rango de frecuencias HF y hemos mostrado las diferencias entre el día y la noche. Hemos usado estos resultados de caracterización del canal para diseñar y comparar símbolos DSSS y símbolos OFDM. Ambas posibilidades han resultado ser posibles candidatas para implementar un enlace HF de baja velocidad entre la Antártida y España. Sin embargo ambas técnicas representan dos aproximaciones distintas a la implementación del módem. Mientras que DSSS consigue un buen funcionamiento a baja velocidad en escenarios con baja relación señal a ruido, OFDM consigue tasas de transmisión más altas en escenarios más benignos.High Frequency (HF) radio is used by governmental and non nongovernmental agencies worldwide whenever an alternative to satellites for sky wave communication is needed: ships at sea, aircraft out of range of line-of-sight radio networks, military operations, disaster areas with communication infrastructure destroyed or distant regions lacking other communications. It offers an alternative to satellites, or a backup, for long-haul communications, thus avoiding the costs, vulnerabilities and sovereignty concerns of satellite communications. In this thesis the HF link between the Antarctic Spanish Station Juan Carlos I in Livingston Island, South Shetlands and Spain is studied. The aim of this study is to address the impairments that affect HF propagation (i.e., signal-to-noise plus interference ratio, multipath and Doppler shift and spread) and to design the physical layer of a low rate, low power and long-haul HF link. Some proposals regarding this last issue are addressed, i.e., direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The challenge is to define the symbol characteristics that best fit the link to benefit from time and frequency diversity that offers the HF channel. Since 2003 several transmission campaigns have allowed to study the HF channel but it is not until the 2009/2010 campaign that we have achieved a whole picture of both diurnal and nocturnal ionospheric activity. In the papers presented in this thesis we have extended the previous research to the whole range of HF frequencies and we have shown the differences on performance between day and night. We have used the results from channel characterization to design and compare the performance of DSSS and OFDM symbols. Both techniques have turned out to be possible candidates to implement a low rate HF link between Antarctica and Spain. However, both techniques stand for different approaches of the modem: DSSS achieves good performance at low data rate in low SNR scenarios, whereas OFDM achieves higher data rate in benign channel

Fast and Robust Parametric Estimation of Jointly Sparse Channels

We consider the joint estimation of multipath channels obtained with a set of receiving antennas and uniformly probed in the frequency domain. This scenario fits most of the modern outdoor communication protocols for mobile access or digital broadcasting among others. Such channels verify a Sparse Common Support property (SCS) which was used in a previous paper to propose a Finite Rate of Innovation (FRI) based sampling and estimation algorithm. In this contribution we improve the robustness and computational complexity aspects of this algorithm. The method is based on projection in Krylov subspaces to improve complexity and a new criterion called the Partial Effective Rank (PER) to estimate the level of sparsity to gain robustness. If P antennas measure a K-multipath channel with N uniformly sampled measurements per channel, the algorithm possesses an O(KPNlogN) complexity and an O(KPN) memory footprint instead of O(PN^3) and O(PN^2) for the direct implementation, making it suitable for K << N. The sparsity is estimated online based on the PER, and the algorithm therefore has a sense of introspection being able to relinquish sparsity if it is lacking. The estimation performances are tested on field measurements with synthetic AWGN, and the proposed algorithm outperforms non-sparse reconstruction in the medium to low SNR range (< 0dB), increasing the rate of successful symbol decodings by 1/10th in average, and 1/3rd in the best case. The experiments also show that the algorithm does not perform worse than a non-sparse estimation algorithm in non-sparse operating conditions, since it may fall-back to it if the PER criterion does not detect a sufficient level of sparsity. The algorithm is also tested against a method assuming a "discrete" sparsity model as in Compressed Sensing (CS). The conducted test indicates a trade-off between speed and accuracy.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, submitted to IEEE JETCAS special issue on Compressed Sensing, Sep. 201