Enhancing diversity and multiplexing gains in multi-user wireless relay systems

The demand for higher transmission rates and better quality of service in modern wireless communications is endless. The use of multiple transmit or /and receive antennas has been considered as one of the most powerful approaches to facilitate high -speed and high -quality communications. However, in practical cellular systems, mobile terminals may not be able to support a multiple- antenna setup. Thus an emerging technique called cooperative diversity is under consideration to utilize the multi -hop relay concept to realize the advantages of multiple - antenna systems in multi -user single- antenna networks. Cooperative diversity has attracted much interest in recent years as a very promising direction for future wireless communication evolution.Due to the fact that in practice terminals cannot transmit and receive simultaneously (i.e. the half -duplex limitation), the diversity improvement brought by the standard cooperative diversity transmission protocols is in general accompanied by a multiplexing loss (equivalent to a reduction in transmission data rate in high signal -to -nose ratio (SNR)). The purpose of this thesis is to use advanced transmission protocols to provide both good diversity and multiplexing performance when using the practical repetition -coded decode - and -forward (DF) relaying strategy in uplink mobile -to -base station transmission of cellular systems.The task is fulfilled by relaxing the orthogonal channel allocation requirement of the standard protocols and by using two relays to take turns forwarding source information to destination. We start our analysis from an M- source two -relay one -destination network. Through diversity -multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) analysis, we prove that for an isolated -relay scenario and a strong -interference scenario, the considered approach effectively recovers the multiplexing loss induced by the standard protocols while still obtaining diversity improvement over direct source -destination transmission without considering relaying.In addition, since the optimal multiplexing gain of the considered system can be achieved by the above approach, we study further improving diversity performance for a two -source network. We analyze taking full advantage of the multiple- source structure, multiple -relay structure, and the capability of affording complex signal processing at the destination (base station). For all three cases, we prove that the diversity performance of the above approach can be enhanced without a significant loss of multiplexing performance or using complex coding strategies at relays. Since the good DMT performance is not affected by source -relay channel conditions, the protocols discussed in this thesis make relaying more beneficial

Interference Cancellation at the Relay for Multi-User Wireless Cooperative Networks

We study multi-user transmission and detection schemes for a multi-access relay network (MARN) with linear constraints at all nodes. In a $(J, J_a, R_a, M)$ MARN, $J$ sources, each equipped with $J_a$ antennas, communicate to one $M$-antenna destination through one $R_a$-antenna relay. A new protocol called IC-Relay-TDMA is proposed which takes two phases. During the first phase, symbols of different sources are transmitted concurrently to the relay. At the relay, interference cancellation (IC) techniques, previously proposed for systems with direct transmission, are applied to decouple the information of different sources without decoding. During the second phase, symbols of different sources are forwarded to the destination in a time division multi-access (TDMA) fashion. At the destination, the maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding is performed source-by-source. The protocol of IC-Relay-TDMA requires the number of relay antennas no less than the number of sources, i.e., $R_a\ge J$. Through outage analysis, the achievable diversity gain of the proposed scheme is shown to be $\min\{J_a(R_a-J+1),R_aM\}$. When {\small$M\le J_a\left(1-\frac{J-1}{R_a}\right)$}, the proposed scheme achieves the maximum interference-free (int-free) diversity gain $R_aM$. Since concurrent transmission is allowed during the first phase, compared to full TDMA transmission, the proposed scheme achieves the same diversity, but with a higher symbol rate.Comment: submitted to IEEE Transaction on Wireless Communicatio

Virtual full-duplex multiple-input multiple-output relaying in the presence of inter-relay interference

Driven by the increasing demand for wireless broadband, low latency and power-efficient networks, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) full-duplex relaying (FDR) schemes have gained much attention in recent years. However, the performance of FDR schemes is impaired by sophisticated self-interference suppression techniques. As such, MIMO virtual FDR (VFDR) schemes have been considered as practical alternatives to recover spectral efficiency loss in half-duplex relays (HDR) without the need for sophisticated self-interference suppression algorithms. Successive relaying (SR) scheme is one of the VFDR techniques which uses a pair of HD relays that alternate between reception and retransmission of the source information to the destination. The performance of the SR based VFDR scheme is affected by inter-relay interference (IRI) due to the concurrent transmission of the source and relay nodes. The interference in VFDR schemes is conventionally treated as a degrading factor on the information decoding receivers resulting in the design of several interference avoidance and cancellation techniques. On the contrary, this thesis developed several VFDR schemes which exploit the interference to achieve performance improvement. In this study, interference management techniques, transmit/receive beamforming matrices, power allocation and joint optimisation algorithms were developed. First, a reliable MIMO VFDR scheme in the presence of IRI was designed, where the IRI was exploited for reliability improvements. The results showed significant reliability improvement over the existing schemes. Second, a joint power allocation for MIMO VFDR schemes under network power constraint was developed. The power allocation problem in the presence of IRI was formulated based on primal-dual algorithm. The results showed that the joint optimisation algorithm can efficiently utilise the network power when compared with the conventional approach. Third, simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in MIMO VFDR system was proposed, where the transmit beamforming matrices which optimise the achievable rate and harvested energy at the relays were jointly designed. The results showed that the interference energy can be harnessed to improve the SWIPT system throughput. Finally, a joint optimisation of the power split and relay position in SWIPT MIMO VFDR network were investigated. Results showed that the joint optimisation of the power split and distance factors can greatly improve the system outage performance. The analytical and numerical results in the research showed that IRI can be exploited to improve the throughput, reliability and energy harvesting of a wireless communication system. The results also showed a minimum achievable rate improvement of 80% over the HDR schemes and a reliability of 100% over the FDR schemes

Spectral-energy efficiency trade-off of relay-aided cellular networks

Wireless communication networks are traditionally designed to operate at high spectral e ciency with less emphasis on power consumption as it is assumed that endless power supply is available through the power grid where the cells are connected to. As new generations of mobile networks exhibit decreasing gains in spectral e ciency, the mobile industry is forced to consider energy reform policies in order to sustain the economic growth of itself and other industries relying on it. Consequently, the energy e ciency of conventional direct transmission cellular networks is being examined while alternative green network architectures are also explored. The relay-aided cellular network is being considered as one of the potential network architecture for energy e cient transmission. However, relaying transmission incurs multiplexing loss due to its multi-hop protocol. This, in turn, reduces network spectral e ciency. Furthermore, interference is also expected to increase with the deployment of Relay Stations (RSs) in the network. This thesis examines the power consumption of the conventional direct transmission cellular network and contributes to the development of the relay-aided cellular network. Firstly, the power consumption of the direct transmission cellular network is investigated. While most work considered transmitter side strategies, the impact of the receiver on the Base Station (BS) total power consumption is investigated here. Both the zero-forcing and minimum mean square error weight optimisation approaches are considered for both the conventional linear and successive interference cancellation receivers. The power consumption model which includes both the radio frequency transmit power and circuit power is described. The in uence of the receiver interference cancellation techniques, the number of transceiver antennas, circuit power consumption and inter-cell interference on the BS total power consumption is investigated. Secondly, the spectral-energy e ciency trade-o in the relay-aided cellular network is investigated. The signal forwarding and interference forwarding relaying paradigms are considered with the direct transmission cellular network taken as the baseline. This investigation serves to understand the dynamics in the performance trade-o . To select a suitable balance point in the trade-o , the economic e ciency metric is proposed whereby the spectral-energy e ciency pair which maximises the economic pro tability is found. Thus, the economic e ciency metric can be utilised as an alternative means to optimise the relay-aided cellular network while taking into account the inherent spectral-energy e ciency trade-o . Finally, the method of mitigating interference in the relay-aided cellular network is demonstrated by means of the proposed relay cooperation scheme. In the proposed scheme, both joint RS decoding and independent RS decoding approaches are considered during the broadcast phase while joint relay transmission is employed in the relay phase. Two user selection schemes requiring global Channel State Information (CSI) are considered. The partial semi-orthogonal user selection method with reduced CSI requirement is then proposed. As the cooperative cost limits the practicality of cooperative schemes, the cost incurred at the cooperative links between the RSs is investigated for varying degrees of RS cooperation. The performance of the relay cooperation scheme with di erent relay frequency reuse patterns is considered as well. In a nutshell, the research presented in this thesis reveals the impact of the receiver on the BS total power consumption in direct transmission cellular networks. The relayaided cellular network is then presented as an alternative architecture for energy e cient transmission. The economic e ciency metric is proposed to maximise the economic pro tability of the relay network while taking into account the existing spectral-energy e ciency trade-o . To mitigate the interference from the RSs, the relay cooperation scheme for advanced relay-aided cellular networks is proposed

Full-duplex wireless communications: challenges, solutions and future research directions

The family of conventional half-duplex (HD) wireless systems relied on transmitting and receiving in different time-slots or frequency sub-bands. Hence the wireless research community aspires to conceive full-duplex (FD) operation for supporting concurrent transmission and reception in a single time/frequency channel, which would improve the attainable spectral efficiency by a factor of two. The main challenge encountered in implementing an FD wireless device is the large power difference between the self-interference (SI) imposed by the device’s own transmissions and the signal of interest received from a remote source. In this survey, we present a comprehensive list of the potential FD techniques and highlight their pros and cons. We classify the SI cancellation techniques into three categories, namely passive suppression, analog cancellation and digital cancellation, with the advantages and disadvantages of each technique compared. Specifically, we analyse the main impairments (e.g. phase noise, power amplifier nonlinearity as well as in-phase and quadrature-phase (I/Q) imbalance, etc.) that degrading the SI cancellation. We then discuss the FD based Media Access Control (MAC)-layer protocol design for the sake of addressing some of the critical issues, such as the problem of hidden terminals, the resultant end-to-end delay and the high packet loss ratio (PLR) due to network congestion. After elaborating on a variety of physical/MAC-layer techniques, we discuss potential solutions conceived for meeting the challenges imposed by the aforementioned techniques. Furthermore, we also discuss a range of critical issues related to the implementation, performance enhancement and optimization of FD systems, including important topics such as hybrid FD/HD scheme, optimal relay selection and optimal power allocation, etc. Finally, a variety of new directions and open problems associated with FD technology are pointed out. Our hope is that this treatise will stimulate future research efforts in the emerging field of FD communication

New Achievable Sum Degrees of Freedom in Half-duplex Single-antenna Multi-user Multi-hop Networks

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this recordIEEE We investigate the achievable sum degrees of freedom (DoF) in a class of single-antenna multi-user multi-hop relay networks. The networks consist of multiple information sources and destinations, without direct signal propagation link between them, so that multiple layers of relays are deployed to assist in information delivery. We consider the situation that relays are unable to shield their receptions from the harmful selfinterference and from the interference generated by other relays. Hence ideal full-duplex relaying is not applicable. Utilizing halfduplex decode-and-forward relays, a cluster successive relaying (CSR) transmission scheme is adopted to conduct message transmission. The CSR scheme divides each layer of relays into two successively activated relay clusters to compensate the extra channel consumption demanded by the half-duplex operation. We propose two interference alignment strategies to deal with the interference issues. By properly clustering the relays in each layer, we find the asymptotically achievable sum DoF, subject to time-varying and frequency-selective fading respectively. These results can lead to new lower bounds for the available DoF in the considered class of multi-user multi-hop networks.This work was funded in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61771343 and 61331009), the EU Horizon 2020 Programme Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016-752979), and the EU PF7 QUICK project (PIRESES-GA-2013-612652)

Analysis and Design of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) Techniques for Next Generation Wireless Communication Systems

The current surge in wireless connectivity, anticipated to amplify significantly in future wireless technologies, brings a new wave of users. Given the impracticality of an endlessly expanding bandwidth, there’s a pressing need for communication techniques that efficiently serve this burgeoning user base with limited resources. Multiple Access (MA) techniques, notably Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA), have long addressed bandwidth constraints. However, with escalating user numbers, OMA’s orthogonality becomes limiting for emerging wireless technologies. Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), employing superposition coding, serves more users within the same bandwidth as OMA by allocating different power levels to users whose signals can then be detected using the gap between them, thus offering superior spectral efficiency and massive connectivity. This thesis examines the integration of NOMA techniques with cooperative relaying, EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart analysis, and deep learning for enhancing 6G and beyond communication systems. The adopted methodology aims to optimize the systems’ performance, spanning from bit-error rate (BER) versus signal to noise ratio (SNR) to overall system efficiency and data rates. The primary focus of this thesis is the investigation of the integration of NOMA with cooperative relaying, EXIT chart analysis, and deep learning techniques. In the cooperative relaying context, NOMA notably improved diversity gains, thereby proving the superiority of combining NOMA with cooperative relaying over just NOMA. With EXIT chart analysis, NOMA achieved low BER at mid-range SNR as well as achieved optimal user fairness in the power allocation stage. Additionally, employing a trained neural network enhanced signal detection for NOMA in the deep learning scenario, thereby producing a simpler signal detection for NOMA which addresses NOMAs’ complex receiver problem