Advances in Multi-User Scheduling and Turbo Equalization for Wireless MIMO Systems

Nach einer Einleitung behandelt Teil 2 Mehrbenutzer-Scheduling für die Abwärtsstrecke von drahtlosen MIMO Systemen mit einer Sendestation und kanaladaptivem precoding: In jeder Zeit- oder Frequenzressource kann eine andere Nutzergruppe gleichzeitig bedient werden, räumlich getrennt durch unterschiedliche Antennengewichte. Nutzer mit korrelierten Kanälen sollten nicht gleichzeitig bedient werden, da dies die räumliche Trennbarkeit erschwert. Die Summenrate einer Nutzermenge hängt von den Antennengewichten ab, die wiederum von der Nutzerauswahl abhängen. Zur Entkopplung des Problems schlägt diese Arbeit Metriken vor basierend auf einer geschätzten Rate mit ZF precoding. Diese lässt sich mit Hilfe von wiederholten orthogonalen Projektionen abschätzen, wodurch die Berechnung von Antennengewichten beim Scheduling entfällt. Die Ratenschätzung kann basierend auf momentanen Kanalmessungen oder auf gemittelter Kanalkenntnis berechnet werden und es können Datenraten- und Fairness-Kriterien berücksichtig werden. Effiziente Suchalgorithmen werden vorgestellt, die die gesamte Systembandbreite auf einmal bearbeiten können und zur Komplexitätsreduktion die Lösung in Zeit- und Frequenz nachführen können. Teil 3 zeigt wie mehrere Sendestationen koordiniertes Scheduling und kooperative Signalverarbeitung einsetzen können. Mittels orthogonalen Projektionen ist es möglich, Inter-Site Interferenz zu schätzen, ohne Antennengewichte berechnen zu müssen. Durch ein Konzept virtueller Nutzer kann der obige Scheduling-Ansatz auf mehrere Sendestationen und sogar Relays mit SDMA erweitert werden. Auf den benötigten Signalisierungsaufwand wird kurz eingegangen und eine Methode zur Schätzung der Summenrate eines Systems ohne Koordination besprochen. Teil4 entwickelt Optimierungen für Turbo Entzerrer. Diese Nutzen Signalkorrelation als Quelle von Redundanz. Trotzdem kann eine Kombination mit MIMO precoding sinnvoll sein, da bei Annahme realistischer Fehler in der Kanalkenntnis am Sender keine optimale Interferenzunterdrückung möglich ist. Mit Hilfe von EXIT Charts wird eine neuartige Methode zur adaptiven Nutzung von a-priori-Information zwischen Iterationen entwickelt, die die Konvergenz verbessert. Dabei wird gezeigt, wie man semi-blinde Kanalschätzung im EXIT chart berücksichtigen kann. In Computersimulationen werden alle Verfahren basierend auf 4G-Systemparametern überprüft.After an introduction, part 2 of this thesis deals with downlink multi-user scheduling for wireless MIMO systems with one transmitting station performing channel adaptive precoding:Different user subsets can be served in each time or frequency resource by separating them in space with different antenna weight vectors. Users with correlated channel matrices should not be served jointly since correlation impairs the spatial separability.The resulting sum rate for each user subset depends on the precoding weights, which in turn depend on the user subset. This thesis manages to decouple this problem by proposing a scheduling metric based on the rate with ZF precoding such as BD, written with the help of orthogonal projection matrices. It allows estimating rates without computing any antenna weights by using a repeated projection approximation.This rate estimate allows considering user rate requirements and fairness criteria and can work with either instantaneous or long term averaged channel knowledge.Search algorithms are presented to efficiently solve user grouping or selection problems jointly for the entire system bandwidth while being able to track the solution in time and frequency for complexity reduction. Part 3 shows how multiple transmitting stations can benefit from cooperative scheduling or joint signal processing. An orthogonal projection based estimate of the inter-site interference power, again without computing any antenna weights, and a virtual user concept extends the scheduling approach to cooperative base stations and finally included SDMA half-duplex relays in the scheduling.Signalling overhead is discussed and a method to estimate the sum rate without coordination. Part 4 presents optimizations for Turbo Equalizers. There, correlation between user signals can be exploited as a source of redundancy. Nevertheless a combination with transmit precoding which aims at reducing correlation can be beneficial when the channel knowledge at the transmitter contains a realistic error, leading to increased correlation. A novel method for adaptive re-use of a-priori information between is developed to increase convergence by tracking the iterations online with EXIT charts.A method is proposed to model semi-blind channel estimation updates in an EXIT chart. Computer simulations with 4G system parameters illustrate the methods using realistic channel models.Im Buchhandel erhältlich: Advances in Multi-User Scheduling and Turbo Equalization for Wireless MIMO Systems / Fuchs-Lautensack,Martin Ilmenau: ISLE, 2009,116 S. ISBN 978-3-938843-43-

Optical Space Division Multiplexing in Short Reach Multi-Mode Fiber Systems

The application of space division multiplexing to fiber-optic communications is a promising approach to further increase the channel capacity of optical waveguides. In this work, short reach and low-cost optical space division multiplexing systems with intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) are in the focus of interest. Herein, different modes are utilized to generate spatial diversity in a multi-mode fiber. In such IM/DD systems, the process of square-law detection is inherently non-linear. In order to obtain an understanding of the channel characteristics, a system model is developed, which is able to show under which conditions the system can be considered linear in baseband. It is shown that linearity applies in scenarios with low mode cross-talk. This enables the use of linear multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) signal processing strategies for equalization purposes. In conditions with high mode cross-talk, significant interference occurs, and the transmitted information cannot be extracted at the receiver. Furthermore, a method to determine the power coupling coefficients between mode groups is presented that does not require the excitation of individual modes, and hence it can be realized with inexpensive components. In addition, different optical components are analyzed with respect for their suitability in MIMO setups with IM/DD. The conventional approach with single-mode fiber to multi-mode fiber offset launches and optical couplers as well as a configuration that utilizes multi-segment detection are feasible options for a (2x2) setup. It is further shown that conventional photonic lanterns are not suited for MIMO with IM/DD due to their low mode orthogonality during the multiplexing process. In order to enable higher order MIMO configurations, devices for mode multiplexing and demultiplexing need to be developed, which exhibit a high mode orthogonality on one hand and are low-cost on the other hand

D3.2 First performance results for multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies

This deliverable describes the current results of the multi-node/multi-antenna technologies investigated within METIS and analyses the interactions within and outside Work Package 3. Furthermore, it identifies the most promising technologies based on the current state of obtained results. This document provides a brief overview of the results in its first part. The second part, namely the Appendix, further details the results, describes the simulation alignment efforts conducted in the Work Package and the interaction of the Test Cases. The results described here show that the investigations conducted in Work Package 3 are maturing resulting in valuable innovative solutions for future 5G systems.Fantini. R.; Santos, A.; De Carvalho, E.; Rajatheva, N.; Popovski, P.; Baracca, P.; Aziz, D.... (2014). D3.2 First performance results for multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/7675

D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies

This document provides the most recent updates on the technical contributions and research challenges focused in WP3. Each Technology Component (TeC) has been evaluated under possible uniform assessment framework of WP3 which is based on the simulation guidelines of WP6. The performance assessment is supported by the simulation results which are in their mature and stable state. An update on the Most Promising Technology Approaches (MPTAs) and their associated TeCs is the main focus of this document. Based on the input of all the TeCs in WP3, a consolidated view of WP3 on the role of multinode/multi-antenna transmission technologies in 5G systems has also been provided. This consolidated view is further supported in this document by the presentation of the impact of MPTAs on METIS scenarios and the addressed METIS goals.Aziz, D.; Baracca, P.; De Carvalho, E.; Fantini, R.; Rajatheva, N.; Popovski, P.; Sørensen, JH.... (2015). D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/7675

Retournement temporel : application aux réseaux mobiles

This thesis studies the time reversal technique to improve the energy efficiency of future mobile networks and reduce the cost of future mobile devices. Time reversal technique consists in using the time inverse of the propagation channel impulse response (between a transceiver and a receiver) as a prefilter. Such pre-filtered signal is received with a stronger power (this is spatial focusing) and with a strong main echo, relatively to secondary echoes (this is time compression). During a previous learning phase, the transceiver estimates the channel by measuring the pilot signal emitted by the receiver. Space-time focusing is obtained only at the condition that the propagation remains identical between the learning phase and the data transmission phase: this is the ‘channel reciprocity’ condition. Numerous works show that spatial focusing allows for the reduction of the required transmit power for a given target received power, on the one hand, and that time compression allow for the reduction of the required complexity at the receiver side to handle multiple echoes, on the other hand. However, studies on complexity reduction are limited to ultra wideband. Some works of this thesis (based on simulations and experimental measurements) show that, for bands which are more typical for future networks (a carrier frequency of 1GHz and a spectrum of 30 MHz to 100 MHz), thanks to time reversal, a simple receiver and a mono-carrier signal are sufficient to reach high data rates. Moreover, the channel reciprocity condition is not verified in two scenarios which are typical from mobile networks. Firstly, in most European mobile networks, the frequency division duplex mode is used. This mode implies that the transceiver and the receiver communicate on distinct carriers, and therefore through different propagation channels. Secondly, when considering a receiver on a moving connected vehicle, the transceiver and the receiver communicate one with each other at distinct instants, corresponding to distinct positions of the vehicles, and therefore through different propagation channels. Some works of this thesis propose solutions to obtain space-time focusing for these two scenarios. Finally, some works of this thesis explore the combination of time reversal with other recent signal processing techniques (spatial modulation, on the one hand, a new multi-carrier waveform, on the other hand), or new deployment scenarios (millimeter waves and large antenna arrays to interconnect the nodes of an ultra dense network) or new applications (guidance and navigation) which can be envisaged for future mobile networks.Cette thèse étudie la technique dite de ‘Retournement Temporel’ afin d’améliorer l’efficacité énergétique des futurs réseaux mobiles d’une part, et réduire le coût des futurs terminaux mobiles, d’autre part. Le retournement temporel consiste à utiliser l’inverse temporel de la réponse impulsionnelle du canal de propagation entre un émetteur et un récepteur pour préfiltrer l’émission d’un signal de données. Avantageusement, le signal ainsi préfiltré est reçu avec une puissance renforcée (c’est la focalisation spatiale) et un écho principal qui est renforcé par rapport aux échos secondaires (c’est la compression temporelle). Lors d’une étape préalable d’apprentissage, l’émetteur estime le canal en mesurant un signal pilote provenant du récepteur. La focalisation spatiotemporelle n’est obtenue qu’à condition que la propagation demeure identique entre la phase d’apprentissage et la phase de transmission de données : c’est la condition de ‘réciprocité du canal’. De nombreux travaux montrent que la focalisation spatiale permet de réduire la puissance émise nécessaire pour atteindre une puissance cible au récepteur d’une part, et que la compression temporelle permet de réduire la complexité du récepteur nécessaire pour gérer l’effet des échos multiples, d’autre part. Cependant, les études sur la réduction de la complexité du récepteur se limitent à l’ultra large bande. Des travaux de cette thèse (basés sur des simulations et des mesures expérimentales) montrent que pour des bandes de fréquences plus typiques des futurs réseaux mobiles (fréquence porteuse à 1GHz et spectre de 30 MHz à 100 MHz), grâce au retournement temporel, un récepteur simple et un signal monoporteuse suffisent pour atteindre de hauts débits. En outre, la condition de réciprocité du canal n’est pas vérifiée dans deux scénarios typiques des réseaux mobiles. Tout d’abord, dans la plupart des réseaux mobiles européens, le mode de duplex en fréquence est utilisé. Ce mode implique que l’émetteur et le récepteur communiquent l’un avec l’autre sur des fréquences porteuses distinctes, et donc à travers des canaux de propagations différents. De plus, lorsqu’on considère un récepteur sur un véhicule connecté en mouvement, l’émetteur et le récepteur communiquent l’un avec l’autre à des instants distincts, correspondants à des positions distinctes du véhicule, et donc à travers des canaux de propagations différents. Des travaux de cette thèse proposent des solutions pour obtenir la focalisation spatio-temporelle dans ces deux scenarios. Enfin, des travaux de la thèse explorent la combinaison du retournement temporel avec d’autres techniques de traitement de signal récentes (la modulation spatiale, d’une part, et une nouvelle forme d’onde multiporteuse, d’autre part), ou des scenarios de déploiement nouveaux (ondes millimétriques et très grands réseaux d’antennes pour inter-connecter les noeuds d’un réseau ultra dense) ou de nouvelles applications (guidage et navigation) envisageables pour les futurs réseaux mobiles

From the conventional MIMO to massive MIMO systems: performance analysis and energy efficiency optimization

The main topic of this thesis is based on multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications, which is a novel technology that has attracted great interest in the last twenty years. Conventional MIMO systems using up to eight antennas play a vital role in the urban cellular network, where the deployment of multiple antennas have significantly enhanced the throughput without taking extra spectrum or power resources. The massive MIMO systems “scales” up the benefits that offered by the conventional MIMO systems. Using sixty four or more antennas at the BS not only improves the spectrum efficiency significantly, but also provides additional link robustness. It is considered as a key technology in the fifth generation of mobile communication technology standards network, and the design of new algorithms for these two systems is the basis of the research in this thesis. Firstly, at the receiver side of the conventional MIMO systems, a general framework of bit error rate (BER) approximation for the detection algorithms is proposed, which aims to support an adaptive modulation scheme. The main idea is to utilize a simplified BER approximation scheme, which is based on the union bound of the maximum-likelihood detector (MLD), whereby the bit error rate (BER) performance of the detector for the varying channel qualities can be efficiently predicted. The K-best detector is utilized in the thesis because its quasi- MLD performance and the parallel computational structure. The simulation results have clearly shown the adaptive K-best algorithm, by applying the simplified approximation method, has much reduced computational complexity while still maintaining a promising BER performance. Secondly, in terms of the uplink channel estimation for the massive MIMO systems with the time-division-duplex operation, the performance of the Grassmannian line packing (GLP) based uplink pilot codebook design is investigated. It aims to eliminate the pilot contamination effect in order to increase the downlink achievable rate. In the case of a limited channel coherence interval, the uplink codebook design can be treated as a line packing problem in a Grassmannian manifold. The closed-form analytical expressions of downlink achievable rate for both the single-cell and multi-cell systems are proposed, which are intended for performance analysis and optimization. The numerical results validate the proposed analytical expressions and the rate gains by using the GLP-based uplink codebook design. Finally, the study is extended to the energy efficiency (EE) of the massive MIMO system, as the reduction carbon emissions from the information and communication technology is a long-term target for the researchers. An effective framework of maximizing the EE for the massive MIMO systems is proposed in this thesis. The optimization starts from the maximization of the minimum user rate, which is aiming to increase the quality-of-service and provide a feasible constraint for the EE maximization problem. Secondly, the EE problem is a non-concave problem and can not be solved directly, so the combination of fractional programming and the successive concave approximation based algorithm are proposed to find a good suboptimal solution. It has been shown that the proposed optimization algorithm provides a significant EE improvement compared to a baseline case

MIMO Systems

In recent years, it was realized that the MIMO communication systems seems to be inevitable in accelerated evolution of high data rates applications due to their potential to dramatically increase the spectral efficiency and simultaneously sending individual information to the corresponding users in wireless systems. This book, intends to provide highlights of the current research topics in the field of MIMO system, to offer a snapshot of the recent advances and major issues faced today by the researchers in the MIMO related areas. The book is written by specialists working in universities and research centers all over the world to cover the fundamental principles and main advanced topics on high data rates wireless communications systems over MIMO channels. Moreover, the book has the advantage of providing a collection of applications that are completely independent and self-contained; thus, the interested reader can choose any chapter and skip to another without losing continuity

Terahertz Communications and Sensing for 6G and Beyond: A Comprehensive View

The next-generation wireless technologies, commonly referred to as the sixth generation (6G), are envisioned to support extreme communications capacity and in particular disruption in the network sensing capabilities. The terahertz (THz) band is one potential enabler for those due to the enormous unused frequency bands and the high spatial resolution enabled by both short wavelengths and bandwidths. Different from earlier surveys, this paper presents a comprehensive treatment and technology survey on THz communications and sensing in terms of the advantages, applications, propagation characterization, channel modeling, measurement campaigns, antennas, transceiver devices, beamforming, networking, the integration of communications and sensing, and experimental testbeds. Starting from the motivation and use cases, we survey the development and historical perspective of THz communications and sensing with the anticipated 6G requirements. We explore the radio propagation, channel modeling, and measurements for THz band. The transceiver requirements, architectures, technological challenges, and approaches together with means to compensate for the high propagation losses by appropriate antenna and beamforming solutions. We survey also several system technologies required by or beneficial for THz systems. The synergistic design of sensing and communications is explored with depth. Practical trials, demonstrations, and experiments are also summarized. The paper gives a holistic view of the current state of the art and highlights the issues and challenges that are open for further research towards 6G.Comment: 55 pages, 10 figures, 8 tables, submitted to IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorial

Adaptive beamforming and switching in smart antenna systems

The ever increasing requirement for providing large bandwidth and seamless data access to commuters has prompted new challenges to wireless solution providers. The communication channel characteristics between mobile clients and base station change rapidly with the increasing traveling speed of vehicles. Smart antenna systems with adaptive beamforming and switching technology is the key component to tackle the challenges. As a spatial filter, beamformer has long been widely used in wireless communication, radar, acoustics, medical imaging systems to enhance the received signal from a particular looking direction while suppressing noise and interference from other directions. The adaptive beamforming algorithm provides the capability to track the varying nature of the communication channel characteristics. However, the conventional adaptive beamformer assumes that the Direction of Arrival (DOA) of the signal of interest changes slowly, although the interference direction could be changed dynamically. The proliferation of High Speed Rail (HSR) and seamless wireless communication between infrastructure ( roadside, trackside equipment) and the vehicles (train, car, boat etc.) brings a unique challenge for adaptive beamforming due to its rapid change of DOA. For a HSR train with 250km/h, the DOA change speed can be up to 4⁰ per millisecond. To address these unique challenges, faster algorithms to calculate the beamforming weight based on the rapid-changing DOA are needed. In this dissertation, two strategies are adopted to address the challenges. The first one is to improve the weight calculation speed. The second strategy is to improve the speed of DOA estimation for the impinging signal by leveraging on the predefined constrained route for the transportation market. Based on these concepts, various algorithms in beampattern generation and adaptive weight control are evaluated and investigated in this thesis. The well known Generalized Sidelobe Cancellation (GSC) architecture is adopted in this dissertation. But it faces serious signal cancellation problem when the estimated DOA deviates from the actual DOA which is severe in high mobility scenarios as in the transportation market. Algorithms to improve various parts of the GSC are proposed in this dissertation. Firstly, a Cyclic Variable Step Size (CVSS) algorithm for adjusting the Least Mean Square (LMS) step size with simplicity for implementation is proposed and evaluated. Secondly, a Kalman filter based solution to fuse different sensor information for a faster estimation and tracking of the DOA is investigated and proposed. Thirdly, to address the DOA mismatch issue caused by the rapid DOA change, a fast blocking matrix generation algorithm named Simplifized Zero Placement Algorithm (SZPA) is proposed to mitigate the signal cancellation in GSC. Fourthly, to make the beam pattern robust against DOA mismatch, a fast algorithm for the generation of at beam pattern named Zero Placement Flat Top (ZPFT) for the fixed beamforming path in GSC is proposed. Finally, to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of the beamforming algorithms, wireless channel simulation is needed. One of the challenging aspects for wireless simulation is the coupling between Probability Density Function (PDF) and Power Spectral Density (PSD) for a random variable. In this regard, a simplified solution to simulate Non Gaussian wireless channel is proposed, proved and evaluated for the effectiveness of the algorithm. With the above optimizations, the controlled simulation shows that the at top beampattern can be generated 380 times faster than iterative optimization method and blocking matrix can be generated 9 times faster than normal SVD method while the same overall optimum state performance can be achieved