Improved Multiplierless Architecture for Header Detection in DVB-S2 Standard

International audienceOne of the first processing steps in a DVB-S2 signal receiver is the detection of frame's header. Recently, an architecture using only the phase information of the received samples was proposed. In this paper several optimization in algo-rithm/architecture are proposed, leading to better performance and reduced hardware complexity. For an SNR of-3 dB, the probability of miss detection of the header detector is reduced from 0.7 down to 0.52 for a constant false alarm probability of 10 −6

Efficient Multiplierless Architecture for Frame Synchronization in DVB-S2 Standard

International audienceThe most challenging step of the demodulation of the DVB-S2 signal with function of VCM (Variable Coding and Modulation)/ACM (Adaptive Coding and Modulation) is the detection of the PL (Physical Layer) header. PL header is transmitted using ¼=2-BPSK modulation and is composed of a fixed part (26 bits of Start Of Frame (SOF)) and a variable part (64 bits codeword of PL Signaling (PLS) code that defines the structure of the PL frame). Since the 90 bits corresponding to the PL header are affected by noise, the carrier frequency offset and the phase noise, the synchronization task in a DVB-S2 receiver is thus a critical task. In this paper, we present a properties of the Hadamard code used to encode the information of the PLS code to reinforce frame detection before knowing the actual value of the MODCOD/TYPE. Moreover, we propose to perform the computation in the polar domain in order to avoid the need of multiplier and thus, to obtain a very low cost implementation. The associated decoder architecture is presented together with the measured performance at the worst case SNR (i.e -3 dB)

Spectrum Monitoring Algorithms for Wireless and Satellite Communications

Nowadays, there is an increasing demand for more efficient utilization of the radio frequency spectrum as new terrestrial and space services are deployed resulting in the congestion of the already crowded frequency bands. In this context, spectrum monitoring is a necessity. Spectrum monitoring techniques can be applied in a cognitive radio network, exploiting the spectrum holes and allowing the secondary users to have access in an unlicensed frequency band for them, when it is not occupied by the primary user. Furthermore, spectrum monitoring techniques can be used for interference detection in wireless and satellite communications. These two topics are addressed in this thesis. In the beginning, a detailed survey of the existing spectrum monitoring techniques according to the way that cognitive radio users 1) can detect the presence or absence of the primary user; and 2) can access the licensed spectrum is provided. Subsequently, an overview of the problem of satellite interference and existing methods for its detection are discussed, while the contributions of this thesis are presented as well. Moreover, this thesis discusses some issues in a cognitive radio system such as the reduction of the secondary user's throughput of the conventional \listen before talk" access method in the spectrum. Then, the idea of simultaneous spectrum sensing and data transmission through the collaboration of the secondary transmitter with receiver is proposed to address these concerns. First, the secondary receiver decodes the signal from the secondary transmitter, then, removes it from the total received signal and finally, applies spectrum sensing in the remaining signal in order to decide if the primary user is active or idle. The effects of the imperfect signal cancellation due to decoding errors, which are ignored in the existing literature, are considered in our analysis. The analytical expressions for the probabilities of false alarm and detection are derived and numerical results through simulations are also presented to validate the proposed study. Furthermore, the threat of interference for the satellite communications services is studied in this thesis. It proposes the detection of interference on-board the satellite by introducing a spectrum monitoring unit within the satellite transponder. This development will bring several benefits such as faster reaction time and simplification of the ground stations in multi-beam satellite systems. Then, two algorithms for the detection of interference are provided. The first detection scheme is based on energy detector with signal cancellation exploiting the pilot symbols. The second detection scheme considers a two-stage detector, where first, the energy detector with signal cancellation in the pilot domain is performed, and if required, an energy detector with signal cancellation in the data domain is carried out in the second stage. Moreover, the analytical expressions for the probabilities of false alarm and detection are derived and numerical results through simulations are provided to verify the accuracy of the proposed analysis. Finally, this thesis goes one step further and the developed algorithms are evaluated experimentally using software defined radios, particularly universal software radio peripherals (USRPs), while it concludes discussing some open research topics

Advanced constellation and demapper schemes for next generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting systems

206 p.Esta tesis presenta un nuevo tipo de constelaciones llamadas no uniformes. Estos esquemas presentan una eficacia de hasta 1,8 dB superior a las utilizadas en los últimos sistemas de comunicaciones de televisión digital terrestre y son extrapolables a cualquier otro sistema de comunicaciones (satélite, móvil, cable¿). Además, este trabajo contribuye al diseño de constelaciones con una nueva metodología que reduce el tiempo de optimización de días/horas (metodologías actuales) a horas/minutos con la misma eficiencia. Todas las constelaciones diseñadas se testean bajo una plataforma creada en esta tesis que simula el estándar de radiodifusión terrestre más avanzado hasta la fecha (ATSC 3.0) bajo condiciones reales de funcionamiento.Por otro lado, para disminuir la latencia de decodificación de estas constelaciones esta tesis propone dos técnicas de detección/demapeo. Una es para constelaciones no uniformes de dos dimensiones la cual disminuye hasta en un 99,7% la complejidad del demapeo sin empeorar el funcionamiento del sistema. La segunda técnica de detección se centra en las constelaciones no uniformes de una dimensión y presenta hasta un 87,5% de reducción de la complejidad del receptor sin pérdidas en el rendimiento.Por último, este trabajo expone un completo estado del arte sobre tipos de constelaciones, modelos de sistema, y diseño/demapeo de constelaciones. Este estudio es el primero realizado en este campo

Algorithms for 5G physical layer

There is a great activity in the research community towards the investigations of the various aspects of 5G at different protocol layers and parts of the network. Among all, physical layer design plays a very important role to satisfy high demands in terms of data rates, latency, reliability and number of connected devices for 5G deployment. This thesis addresses he latest developments in the physical layer algorithms regarding the channel coding, signal detection, frame synchronization and multiple access technique in the light of 5G use cases. These developments are governed by the requirements of the different use case scenarios that are envisioned to be the driving force in 5G. All chapters from chapter 2 to 5 are developed around the need of physical layer algorithms dedicated to 5G use cases. In brief, this thesis focuses on design, analysis, simulation and he advancement of physical layer aspects such as 1. Reliability based decoding of short length Linear Block Codes (LBCs) with very good properties in terms of minimum hamming istance for very small latency requiring applications. In this context, we enlarge the grid of possible candidates by considering, in particular, short length LBCs (especially extended CH codes) with soft-decision decoding; 2. Efficient synchronization of preamble/postamble in a short bursty frame using modified Massey correlator; 3. Detection of Primary User activity using semiblind spectrum sensing algorithms and analysis of such algorithms under practical imperfections; 4. Design of optimal spreading matrix for a Low Density Spreading (LDS) technique in the context of non-orthogonal multiple access. In such spreading matrix, small number of elements in a spreading sequences are non zero allowing each user to spread its data over small number of chips (tones), thus simplifying the decoding procedure using Message Passing Algorithm (MPA)

GNSS-based passive radar techniques for maritime surveillance

The improvement of maritime traffic safety and security is a subject of growing interest, since the traffic is constantly increasing. In fact, a large number of human activities take place in maritime domain, varying from cruise and trading ships up to vessels involved in nefarious activities such as piracy, human smuggling or terrorist actions. The systems based on Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder cannot cope with non-cooperative or non-equipped vessels that instead can be detected, tracked and identified by means of radar system. In particular, passive bistatic radar (PBR) systems can perform these tasks without a dedicated transmitter, since they exploit illuminators of opportunity as transmitters. The lack of a dedicated transmitter makes such systems low cost and suitable to be employed in areas where active sensors cannot be placed such as, for example, marine protected areas. Innovative solutions based on terrestrial transmitters have been considered in order to increase maritime safety and security, but these kinds of sources cannot guarantee a global coverage, such as in open sea. To overcome this problem, the exploitation of global navigation satellites system (GNSS) as transmitters of opportunity is a prospective solution. The global, reliable and persistent nature of these sources makes them potentially able to guarantee the permanent monitoring of both coastal and open sea areas. To this aim, this thesis addresses the exploitation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) as transmitters of opportunity in passive bistatic radar (PBR) systems for maritime surveillance. The main limitation of this technology is the restricted power budget provided by navigation satellites, which makes it necessary to define innovative moving target detection techniques specifically tailored for the system under consideration. For this reason, this thesis puts forward long integration time techniques able to collect the signal energy over long time intervals (tens of seconds), allowing the retrieval of suitable levels of signal-to-disturbance ratios for detection purposes. The feasibility of this novel application is firstly investigated in a bistatic system configuration. A long integration time moving target detection technique working in bistatic range&Doppler plane is proposed and its effectiveness is proved against synthetic and experimental datasets. Subsequently the exploitation of multiple transmitters for the joint detection and localization of vessels at sea is also investigated. A single-stage approach to jointly detect and localize the ship targets by making use of long integration times (tens of seconds) and properly exploiting the spatial diversity offered by such a configuration is proposed. Furthermore, the potential of the system to extract information concerning the detected target characteristics for further target classification is assessed

Computationally-efficient iterative demodulation of coded PSK signals affected by phase noise

This paper considers two recently-proposed receivers, Tikh and DCT. Both receivers are computationally-efficient, iterative and designed to be robust against phase noise on the local oscillators of digital bandpass communication systems. The presented results build on our prior research. We discuss the initialization of the DCT receiver, explore reducing the computational complexity by simplifying the receiver scheduling and study the effect of a small frequency offset. Coded PSK signaling and additive white Gaussian noise are assumed