Performance analysis and optimization of DCT-based multicarrier system on frequency-selective fading channels

Regarded as one of the most promising transmission techniques for future wireless communications, the discrete cosine transform (DCT) based multicarrier modulation (MCM) system employs cosine basis as orthogonal functions for real-modulated symbols multiplexing, by which the minimum orthogonal frequency spacing can be reduced by half compared to discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based one. With a time-reversed pre-filter employed at the front of the receiver, interference-free one-tap equalization is achievable for the DCT-based systems. However, due to the correlated pre-filtering operation in time domain, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is enhanced as a result at the output. This leads to reformulated detection criterion to compensate for such filtering effect, rendering minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) and maximum likelihood (ML) detections applicable to the DCT-based multicarrier system. In this paper, following on the pre-filtering based DCT-MCM model that build in the literature work, we extend the overall system by considering both transceiver perfections and imperfections, where frequency offset, time offset and insufficient guard sequence are included. In the presence of those imperfection errors, the DCT-MCM systems are analysed in terms of desired signal power, inter-carrier interference (ICI) and inter-symbol interference (ISI). Thereafter, new detection algorithms based on zero forcing (ZF) iterative results are proposed to mitigate the imperfection effect. Numerical results show that the theoretical analysis match the simulation results, and the proposed iterative detection algorithms are able to improve the overall system performance significantly

A novel scheme of multicarrier modulation with the discrete cosine transform

In this work, we derive a novel multicarrier modulation based on the Type-I even discrete cosine transform (DCT1e), which includes new procedures to carry out both the channel estimation and the signal reconstruction. By using a small number of training symbols, we achieve an accurate estimation of the channel's impulse response (CIR) using a novel mirror, replicate and add (MIRA) procedure. The proposed scheme does not require knowing the length of the CIR and is valid even in the presence of spectral nones. We provide the theoretical results that guarantee the validity of the developed technique. After the estimation process, the transmitted symbols are also reconstructed by means of the DCT1e using the same novel MIRA scheme. The conditions that ensure a perfect reconstruction in the absence of noise are also provided in this case. Numerical simulations illustrate the excellent behaviour of the proposed approach, both in terms of channel estimation and recovery of the transmitted information.Ministerio de Economía y Competitivida

Performance enhancement for LTE and beyond systems

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyWireless communication systems have undergone fast development in recent years. Based on GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specified the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard to cope with rapidly increasing demands, including capacity, coverage, and data rate. To achieve this goal, several key techniques have been adopted by LTE, such as Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and heterogeneous network (HetNet). However, there are some inherent drawbacks regarding these techniques. Direct conversion architecture is adopted to provide a simple, low cost transmitter solution. The problem of I/Q imbalance arises due to the imperfection of circuit components; the orthogonality of OFDM is vulnerable to carrier frequency offset (CFO) and sampling frequency offset (SFO). The doubly selective channel can also severely deteriorate the receiver performance. In addition, the deployment of Heterogeneous Network (HetNet), which permits the co-existence of macro and pico cells, incurs inter-cell interference for cell edge users. The impact of these factors then results in significant degradation in relation to system performance. This dissertation aims to investigate the key techniques which can be used to mitigate the above problems. First, I/Q imbalance for the wideband transmitter is studied and a self-IQ-demodulation based compensation scheme for frequencydependent (FD) I/Q imbalance is proposed. This combats the FD I/Q imbalance by using the internal diode of the transmitter and a specially designed test signal without any external calibration instruments or internal low-IF feedback path. The instrument test results show that the proposed scheme can enhance signal quality by 10 dB in terms of image rejection ratio (IRR). In addition to the I/Q imbalance, the system suffers from CFO, SFO and frequency-time selective channel. To mitigate this, a hybrid optimum OFDM receiver with decision feedback equalizer (DFE) to cope with the CFO, SFO and doubly selective channel. The algorithm firstly estimates the CFO and channel frequency response (CFR) in the coarse estimation, with the help of hybrid classical timing and frequency synchronization algorithms. Afterwards, a pilot-aided polynomial interpolation channel estimation, combined with a low complexity DFE scheme, based on minimum mean squared error (MMSE) criteria, is developed to alleviate the impact of the residual SFO, CFO, and Doppler effect. A subspace-based signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation algorithm is proposed to estimate the SNR in the doubly selective channel. This provides prior knowledge for MMSE-DFE and automatic modulation and coding (AMC). Simulation results show that this proposed estimation algorithm significantly improves the system performance. In order to speed up algorithm verification process, an FPGA based co-simulation is developed. Inter-cell interference caused by the co-existence of macro and pico cells has a big impact on system performance. Although an almost blank subframe (ABS) is proposed to mitigate this problem, the residual control signal in the ABS still inevitably causes interference. Hence, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference cancellation algorithm, utilizing the information in the ABS, is proposed. First, the timing and carrier frequency offset of the interference signal is compensated by utilizing the cross-correlation properties of the synchronization signal. Afterwards, the reference signal is generated locally and channel response is estimated by making use of channel statistics. Then, the interference signal is reconstructed based on the previous estimate of the channel, timing and carrier frequency offset. The interference is mitigated by subtracting the estimation of the interference signal and LLR puncturing. The block error rate (BLER) performance of the signal is notably improved by this algorithm, according to the simulation results of different channel scenarios. The proposed techniques provide low cost, low complexity solutions for LTE and beyond systems. The simulation and measurements show good overall system performance can be achieved

OFDM techniques for multimedia data transmission

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is an efficient parallel data transmission scheme that has relatively recently become popular in both wired and wireless communication systems for the transmission of multimedia data. OFDM can be found at the core of well known systems such as digital television/radio broadcasting, ADSL internet and wireless LANs. Research into the OFDM field continually looks at different techniques to attempt to make this type of transmission more efficient. More recent works in this area have considered the benefits of using wavelet transforms in place of the Fourier transforms traditionally used in OFDM systems and other works have looked at data compression as a method of increasing throughput in these types of transmission systems. The work presented in this thesis considers the transmission of image and video data in traditional OFDM transmission and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of this method. This thesis also proposes a new type of OFDM system that combines transmission and data compression into one block. By merging these two processes into one the complexity of the system is reduced, therefore promising to increase system efficiency. The results presented in this thesis show the novel compressive OFDM method performs well in channels with a low signal-to-noise ratio. Comparisons with traditional OFDM with lossy compression show a large improvement in the quality of the data received with the new system when used in these noisy channel environments. The results also show superior results are obtained when transmitting image and video data using the new method, the high correlative properties of images are ideal for effective transmission using the new technique. The new transmission technique proposed in this thesis also gives good results when considering computation time. When compared to MATLAB simulations of a traditional DFT-based OFDM system with a separate compression block, the proposed transmission method was able to reduce the computation time by between a half to three-quarters. This decrease in computational complexity also contributes to transmission efficiency when considering the new method

A Survey of Blind Modulation Classification Techniques for OFDM Signals

Blind modulation classification (MC) is an integral part of designing an adaptive or intelligent transceiver for future wireless communications. Blind MC has several applications in the adaptive and automated systems of sixth generation (6G) communications to improve spectral efficiency and power efficiency, and reduce latency. It will become a integral part of intelligent software-defined radios (SDR) for future communication. In this paper, we provide various MC techniques for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals in a systematic way. We focus on the most widely used statistical and machine learning (ML) models and emphasize their advantages and limitations. The statistical-based blind MC includes likelihood-based (LB), maximum a posteriori (MAP) and feature-based methods (FB). The ML-based automated MC includes k-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), decision trees (DTs), convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), and long short-term memory (LSTM) based MC methods. This survey will help the reader to understand the main characteristics of each technique, their advantages and disadvantages. We have also simulated some primary methods, i.e., statistical- and ML-based algorithms, under various constraints, which allows a fair comparison among different methodologies. The overall system performance in terms bit error rate (BER) in the presence of MC is also provided. We also provide a survey of some practical experiment works carried out through National Instrument hardware over an indoor propagation environment. In the end, open problems and possible directions for blind MC research are briefly discussed

Channel and frequency offset estimation schemes for multicarrier systems

Doutoramento em Engenharia ElectrotécnicaO presente trabalho aborda o problema da estimação de canal e da estimação de desvio de frequência em sistemas OFDM com múltiplas configurações de antenas no transmissor e no receptor. Nesta tese é apresentado o estudo teórico sobre o impacto da densidade de pilotos no desempenho da estimação de canal em sistemas OFDM e são propostos diversos algoritmos para estimação de canal e estimação de desvio de frequência em sistemas OFDM com antenas únicas no transmissor e receptor, com diversidade de transmissão e MIMO. O estudo teórico culmina com a formulação analítica do erro quadrático médio de um estimador de canal genérico num sistema OFDM que utilize pilotos dedicados, distribuidos no quadro transmitido em padrões bi-dimensionais. A formulação genérica é concretizada para o estimador bi-dimensional LS-DFT, permitindo aferir da exactidão da formulação analítica quando comparada com os valores obtidos por simulação do sistema abordado. Os algoritmos de estimação investigados tiram partido da presença de pilotos dedicados presentes nos quadros transmitidos para estimar com precisão os parâmetros pretendidos. Pela sua baixa complexidade, estes algoritmos revelam-se especialmente adequados para implementação em terminais móveis com capacidade computacional e consumo limitados. O desempenho dos algoritmos propostos foi avaliado por meio de simulação do sistema utilizado, recorrendo a modelos aceites de caracterização do canal móvel multipercurso. A comparação do seu desempenho com algoritmos de referência permitir aferir da sua validade. ABSTRACT: The present work focus on the problem of channel estimation and frequency offset estimation in OFDM systems, with different antenna configurations at both the transmitter and the receiver. This thesis presents the theoretical study of the impact of the pilot density in the performance of the channel estimation in OFDM systems and proposes several channel and frequency offset algorithms for OFDM systems with single antenna at both transmitter and receiver, with transmitter diversity and MIMO. The theoretical study results in the analytical formulation of the mean square error of a generic channel estimator for an OFDM system using dedicated pilots, distributed in the transmitted frame in two-dimensional patterns. The generic formulation is implemented for the two-dimensional LS-DFT estimator to verify the accuracy of the analytical formulation when compared with the values obtained by simulation of the discussed system. The investigated estimation algorithms take advantage of the presence of dedicated pilots present in the transmitted frames to accurately estimate the required parameters. Due to its low complexity, these algorithms are especially suited for implementation in mobile terminals with limited processing power and consumption. The performance of the proposed algorithms was evaluated by simulation of the used system, using accepted multipath mobile channel models. The comparison of its performance with the one of reference algorithms measures its validity

Performance evaluation of T-transform based OFDM in underwater acoustic channels

PhD ThesisRecently there has been an increasing trend towards the implementation of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based multicarrier communication systems in underwater acoustic communications. By dividing the available bandwidth into multiple sub-bands, OFDM systems enable reliable transmission over long range dispersive channels. However OFDM is prone to impairments such as severe frequency selective fading channels, motioned induced Doppler shift and high peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR). In order to fully exploit the potential of OFDM in UWA channels, those issues have received a great deal of attention in recent research. With the aim of improving OFDM's performance in UWA channels, a T-transformed based OFDM system is introduced using a low computational complexity T-transform that combines the Walsh-Hadamard transform (WHT) and the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) into a single fast orthonormal unitary transform. Through real-world experiment, performance comparison between the proposed T-OFDM system and conventional OFDM system revealed that T-OFDM performs better than OFDM with high code rate in frequency selective fading channels. Furthermore, investigation of different equalizer techniques have shown that the limitation of ZF equalizers affect the T-OFDM more (one bad equalizer coefficient affects all symbols) and so developed a modified ZF equalizer with outlier detection which provides major performance gain without excessive computation load. Lastly, investigation of PAPR reduction methods delineated that T-OFDM has inherently lower PAPR and it is also far more tolerant of distortions introduced by the simple clipping method. As a result, lower PAPR can be achieved with minimal overhead and so outperforming OFDM for a given power limit at the transmitter

An enhanced multicarrier modulation system for mobile communications

PhD ThesisThe recent revolution in mobile communications and the increased demand on more efficient transmission systems influence the research to enhance and invent new modulation techniques. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OFDM/OQAM) is one of the multicarrier modulations techniques that overcomes some of the weaknesses of the conventional OFDM in term of bandwidth and power efficiencies. This thesis presents a novel multicarrier modulation scheme with improved performance in mobile communications context. Initially, the theoretical principles behind OFDM and OFDM/OQAM are discussed and the advantages of OFDM/OQAM over OFDM are highlighted. The time-frequency localization of pulse shapes is examined over different types of pulses. The effect of the localization and the pulse choice on OFDM/OQAM performance is demonstrated. The first contribution is introducing a new variant of multicarrier modulation system based on the integration of the Walsh-Hadamard transform with the OFDM/OQAM modulator. The full analytical transmission model of the system is derived over flat fading and frequency selective channels. Next, because of the critical requirement of low implementation complexity in mobile systems, a new fast algorithm transform is developed to reduce the implementation complexity of the system. The introduced fast algorithm has demonstrated a remarkable 60 percent decrease in the hardware requirement compared to the cascaded configuration. Although, the problem of high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) is one of the main drawbacks that associated with most multicarrier modulation techniques, the new system achieved lower values compared to the conventional systems. Subsequently, three new algorithms to reduce PAPR named Walsh overlapped selective mapping (WOSLM) for a high PAPR reduction, simplified selective mapping (SSLM) for a very low implementation complexity and Walsh partial transmit sequence (WPTS), are developed. Finally, in order to assess the reliability of the presented system in this thesis at imperfect environments, the performance of the system is investigated in the presence of high power amplifier, channel estimation errors, and carrier frequency offset (CFO). Two channel estimations algorithms named enhanced pair of pilots (EPOP) and averaged enhanced pair of pilots (AEPOP), and one CFO estimator technique called frequency domain (FD) CFO estimator, are suggested to provide reliable performance.Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHSR) of Ira