Channel Related Optimization of Wireless Communication Systems

This thesis deals with different optimization problems in the design of wireless communication systems. It is mainly directed to the design of systems based on multicarrier techniques and orthogonal frequency division multiplex, OFDM, but some of the problems apply to single carrier systems as well. The influence of different pilot patterns is analyzed when pilot symbol assisted modulation, PSAM, is used in OFDM systems. It is desirable to decrease the number of required pilot symbols and it is shown that the pilot pattern used plays a major role to enable reliable channel estimates from a small amount of pilot symbols. Rearrangement of the pilot pattern enables a reduction in the number of needed pilot symbols up to a factor 10, still retaining the same bit error performance. The effect of the number of sub-channels used in an OFDM system is analyzed with respect to resulting bit error rate. An analytical expression for the bit error rate on Rayleigh fading channels when interchannel interference, ICI, caused by channel changes during a symbol and energy loss due to the cyclic prefix are regarded. This expression is used to optimize the number of sub-channels, and thereby the sub-channel bandwidth (sub-channel spacing) in the system. It is argued that the system can be optimized neglecting the effect of imperfect channel estimation and on a worst case assumption for the Doppler frequency and signal to noise ratio. The benefits of using pre-compensation (precoding) in wireless time division duplex, TDD, systems are also investigated. The uplink channel estimate is used to compensate the channel impact on the downlink symbols. This enables less complex receiver structures in the mobile terminal since channel equalization is performed in the base station. Three different methods where amplitude and/or phase are adjusted are analyzed in terms of performance limits. Closed-form expressions for the QPSK bit error rate are given assuming a fully known channel. It is shown that pre-compensation is an attractive alternative to differential decoding. Phase-only compensation is preferred at low signal to noise ratios, while at high signal to noise ratios an order of magnitude improvement in the bit error rate can be obtained by including amplitude pre-compensation. All the analyses and optimizations are general and can be applied to any OFDM system

Artificial neural networks for location estimation and co-cannel interference suppression in cellular networks

This thesis reports on the application of artificial neural networks to two important problems encountered in cellular communications, namely, location estimation and co-channel interference suppression. The prediction of a mobile location using propagation path loss (signal strength) is a very difficult and complex task. Several techniques have been proposed recently mostly based on linearized, geometrical and maximum likelihood methods. An alternative approach based on artificial neural networks is proposed in this thesis which offers the advantages of increased flexibility to adapt to different environments and high speed parallel processing. Location estimation provides users of cellular telephones with information about their location. Some of the existing location estimation techniques such as those used in GPS satellite navigation systems require non-standard features, either from the cellular phone or the cellular network. However, it is possible to use the existing GSM technology for location estimation by taking advantage of the signals transmitted between the phone and the network. This thesis proposes the application of neural networks to predict the location coordinates from signal strength data. New multi-layered perceptron and radial basis function based neural networks are employed for the prediction of mobile locations using signal strength measurements in a simulated COST-231 metropolitan environment. In addition, initial preliminary results using limited available real signal-strength measurements in a metropolitan environment are also reported comparing the performance of the neural predictors with a conventional linear technique. The results indicate that the neural predictors can be trained to provide a near perfect mapping using signal strength measurements from two or more base stations. The second application of neural networks addressed in this thesis, is concerned with adaptive equalization, which is known to be an important technique for combating distortion and Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) in digital communication channels. However, many communication systems are also impaired by what is known as co-channel interference (CCI). Many digital communications systems such as digital cellular radio (DCR) and dual polarized micro-wave radio, for example, employ frequency re-usage and often exhibit performance limitation due to co-channel interference. The degradation in performance due to CCI is more severe than due to ISI. Therefore, simple and effective interference suppression techniques are required to mitigate the interference for a high-quality signal reception. The current work briefly reviews the application of neural network based non-linear adaptive equalizers to the problem of combating co-channel interference, without a priori knowledge of the channel or co-channel orders. A realistic co-channel system is used as a case study to demonstrate the superior equalization capability of the functional-link neural network based Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) compared to other conventional linear and neural network based non-linear adaptive equalizers.This project was funded by Solectron (Scotland) Ltd

On the modeling of WCDMA system performance with propagation data

The aim of this study was to develop calculation methods for estimating the most important system level performance characteristics of the WCDMA radio network (i.e. network capacity and coverage) in the presence of interference from various sources. The calculation methods described in this work enable the fast design of radio systems with a reasonable degree of accuracy, where different system parameters, propagation conditions and networks as well as frequency scenarios can be easily tested. The work also includes the development and verification of a propagation model for a microcellular environment. Traditionally, system level performance figures have been retrieved using system simulations where the radio network has been modeled as accurately as possible. This has included base stations and mobile stations, propagation models, traffic models and mobility models. Various radio resource management (RRM) algorithms, such as power controls and handovers have also been modeled. However, these system simulations are very complex and time consuming and typically the models are difficult to modify. The idea behind this work is to use the main statistical parameters retrieved from accurate, case specific propagation models and to use these statistics as input for the developed analytical radio network models. When used as output from these analytical models we are able to obtain the performance measures of the network. The specific application area for the developed methods is the evaluation of the effect of the interference from the adjacent frequency channels. Adjacent channel interference decreases the efficiency of the usage of the electromagnetic spectrum i.e. the spectral efficiency. The aim of a radio system design is to ensure that the reduction in the spectral efficiency is as low as possible. This interference may originate from the same or a different radio system and from the same or another operator's network. The strength of this interference is dependent on the system parameters and the network layout. The standard questions regarding adjacent system interference between different operators' network are what guard band is needed between the radio carriers in order to maintain the quality of the network or what are the main mobile and network parameters, such as adjacent channel emission levels or adjacent channel selectivity, required in order to achieve satisfactory network performance. With the developed method proposed here it is possible to answer these questions with reasonable accuracy. One important aspect of network performance is the radio wave propagation environment for which the radio systems are designed. This thesis presents methods evaluating radio wave propagation, especially for cases where the base station antenna is below the rooftops, i.e. in the case of microcellular network environments. The developed microcellular propagation model has been developed for network planning purposes and it has been verified using numerous field propagation measurements. The model can be used in cases where the mobile station is located either indoors or outdoors.reviewe

Realizing mobile multimedia systems over emerging fourth-generation wireless technologies

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (p. [161]-167) and index.by Pei-Jeng Kuo.M.Eng