Cognitive Radio Communications for Vehicular Technology – Wavelet Applications

Wireless communications are nowadays a dominant part of our lives: from domotics, through industrial applications and up to infomobility services. The key to the co-existence of wireless systems operating in closely located or even overlapping areas, is sharing of the spectral resource. The optimization of this resource is the main driving force behind the emerging changes in the policies for radio resources allocation. The current approach in spectrum usage specifies fixed frequency bands and transmission power limits for each radio transmitting system. This approach leads to a very low medium utilization factor for some frequency bands, caused by inefficient service allocation over vast geographical areas (radiomobile, radio and TV broadcasting, WiMAX) and also by the usage of large guard bands, obsolete now due to technological progress. A more flexible use of the spectral resource implies that the radio transceivers have the ability to monitor their radio environment and to adapt at specific transmission conditions. If this concept is supplemented with learning and decision capabilities, we refer to the Cognitive Radio (CR) paradigm. Some of the characteristics of a CR include localization, monitoring of the spectrum usage, frequency changing, transmission power control and, finally, the capacity of dynamically altering all these parameters (Haykin, 2005). This new cognitive approach is expected to have an important impact on the future regulations and spectrum policies. The dynamic access at the spectral resource is of extreme interest both for the scientific community as, considering the continuous request for wideband services, for the development of wireless technologies. From this point of view, a fundamental role is played by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) which in 2007 formed the Standards Coordinating Committee (SCC) 41 on Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySPAN) having as main objective a standard for dynamic access wireless networks. Still within the IEEE frame, the 802.22 initiative defines a new WRAN (Wireless Regional Area Network) interface for wideband access based on cognitive radio techniques in the TV guard bands (the so-called “white spaces”). Coupled with the advantages and flexibility of CR systems and technologies, there is an ever-growing interest around the world in exploiting CR-enabled communications in vehicular and transportation environments. The integration of CR devices and cognitive radio networks into vehicles and associated infrastructures can lead to intelligent interactions with the transportation system, among vehicles, and even among radios within vehicles. Thus, improvements can be achieved in radio resource management and energy efficiency, road traffic management, network management, vehicular diagnostics, road traffic awareness for applications such as route planning, mobile commerce, and much more. Still open within the framework of dynamic and distributed access to the radio resource are the methods for monitoring the radio environment (the so-called “spectrum sensing”) and the transceiver technology to be used on the radio channels. A CR system works on a opportunistic basis searching for unused frequency bands called “white spaces” within the radio frequency spectrum with the intent to operate invisibly and without disturbing the primary users (PU) holding a license for one or more frequency bands. Spectrum sensing, that is, the fast and reliable detection of the PU’s even in the presence of in-band noise, is still a very complex problem with a decisive impact on the functionalities and capabilities of the CRs. The spectrum sensing techniques can be classified in two types: local and cooperative (distributed). The local techniques are performed by single devices exploiting the spectrum occupancy information in their spatial neighbourhood and can be divided into three categories (Budiarjo et al., 2008): "matched filter" (detection of pilot signals, preambles, etc.), "energy detection” (signal strength analysis) and “feature detection" (classification of signals according to their characteristics). Also, a combination of local techniques in a multi-stage design can be used to improve the sensing accuracy (Maleki et al., 2010). Nevertheless, the above-mentioned techniques are mostly inefficient for signals with reduced power or affected by phenomena typical for vehicular technology applications, such as shadowing and multi-path fading. To overcome such problems, cooperatives techniques can be used. Cooperative sensing is based on the aggregation of the spectrum data detected by multiple nodes using cognitive convergence algorithms in order to avoid the channel impairment problems that can lead to false detections. (Sanna et al., 2009). Within the energy detection method, a particular attention needs to be paid to the properties of the packets wavelet transformation for subband analysis, which, according to the literature, seems to be a feasible alternative to the classical FFT-based energy detection. Vehicular applications are in most cases characterized by the need of coping with fast changes in the radio environment, which lead, in this specific case of cognitive communication, to constrains in terms of short execution time of the spectrum sensing operations. From this point of view, the computational complexity of the wavelet packets method is of the same order of the state-of-the-art FFT algorithms, but the number of mathematical operations is lower using IIR polyphase filters (Murroni et al., 2010). In our work we are investigating the use of the wavelet packets for energy detection spectrum sensing operations based on the consideration that they have a finite duration and are self- and mutually-orthogonal at integer multiples of dyadic intervals. Hence, they are suitable for subband division and analysis: a generic signal can be then decomposed on the wavelet packet basis and represented as a collection of coefficients belonging to orthogonal subbands. Therefore, the total power of the signal can be evaluated as sum of the contributions of each subband, which can be separately computed in the wavelet domain. Furthermore, the wavelet packets can be used also for the feature detection spectrum sensing, using statistical parameters such as moments and medians. We concentrate in our research on both applications of the wavelet packets to the spectrum sensing operations, investigating their efficiency in terms of reliability and execution time, applied specifically to the needs of vehicular technology and transportation environments. The other key issue for the development of the previously mentioned standard is the choice of an adaptive/multicarrier modulation as basic candidate for data transmission, having as the most known representative the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. OFDM-like schemes are mature enough to be chosen as a core technology for dynamic access wireless networks. At the same time, the potentialities in terms of optimization for this specific purpose are not yet thoroughly investigated. Particularly, the Wavelet Packet Division Multiplexing (WPDM) modulation method, already known for about ten years to the scientific community, is a suitable candidate to satisfy the requirements on physical level for a dynamic access network (Wong et al., 1997): WPDM has already proven to be able to overcome some of the OFDM limits (limited spectral efficiency, problems with temporal synchronization especially in channels affected by fading) and is at the same time based on use of the same wavelet packets employed for subband analysis used for spectrum sensing operations . Our research investigates the use of the WPDM for cognitive radio purposes, combined with the wavelet approach for spectrum sensing, for offering a complete, wavelet-based solution for cognitive application focused on the problematic of vehicular communication (channel impairments, high relative velocity of the communication peers etc.)

Analysis of Candidate Waveforms for 5G Cellular Systems

Choice of a suitable waveform is a key factor in the design of 5G physical layer. New waveform/s must be capable of supporting a greater density of users, higher data throughput and should provide more efficient utilization of available spectrum to support 5G vision of “everything everywhere and always connected” with “perception of infinite capacity”. Although orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been adopted as the transmission waveform in wired and wireless systems for years, it has several limitations that make it unsuitable for use in future 5G air interface. In this chapter, we investigate and analyse alternative waveforms that are promising candidate solutions to address the challenges of diverse applications and scenarios in 5G

Evaluation of Overlay/underlay Waveform via SD-SMSE Framework for Enhancing Spectrum Efficiency

Recent studies have suggested that spectrum congestion is mainly due to the inefficient use of spectrum rather than its unavailability. Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) and Cognitive Radio (CR) are two terminologies which are used in the context of improved spectrum efficiency and usage. The DSA concept has been around for quite some time while the advent of CR has created a paradigm shift in wireless communications and instigated a change in FCC policy towards spectrum regulations. DSA can be broadly categorized as using a 1) Dynamic Exclusive Use Model, 2) Spectrum Commons or Open sharing model or 3) Hierarchical Access model. The hierarchical access model envisions primary licensed bands, to be opened up for secondary users, while inducing a minimum acceptable interference to primary users. Spectrum overlay and spectrum underlay technologies fall within the hierarchical model, and allow primary and secondary users to coexist while improving spectrum efficiency. Spectrum overlay in conjunction with the present CR model considers only the unused (white) spectral regions while in spectrum underlay the underused (gray) spectral regions are utilized. The underlay approach is similar to ultra wide band (UWB) and spread spectrum (SS) techniques utilize much wider spectrum and operate below the noise floor of primary users. Software defined radio (SDR) is considered a key CR enabling technology. Spectrally modulated, Spectrally encoded (SMSE) multi-carrier signals such as Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexing (OFDM) and Multi-carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MCCDMA) are hailed as candidate CR waveforms. The SMSE structure supports and is well-suited for SDR based CR applications. This work began by developing a general soft decision (SD) CR framework, based on a previously developed SMSE framework that combines benefits of both the overlay and underlay techniques to improve spectrum efficiency and maximizing the channel capacity. The resultant SD-SMSE framework provides a user with considerable flexibility to choose overlay, underlay or hybrid overlay/underlay waveform depending on the scenario, situation or need. Overlay/Underlay SD-SMSE framework flexibility is demonstrated by applying it to a family of SMSE modulated signals such as OFDM, MCCDMA, Carrier Interferometry (CI) MCCDMA and Transform Domain Communication System (TDCS). Based on simulation results, a performance analysis of Overlay, Underlay and hybrid Overlay/Underlay waveforms are presented. Finally, the benefits of combining overlay/underlay techniques to improve spectrum efficiency and maximize channel capacity are addressed

Closed-form Approximations of the PAPR Distribution for Multi-Carrier Modulation Systems

International audienceThe theoretical analysis of the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) distribution for an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system, depends on the particular waveform considered in the modulation system. In this paper, we generalize this analysis by considering the Generalized Waveforms for Multi-Carrier (GWMC) modulation system based on any family of modulation functions, and we derive a general approximate expression for the Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of its continuous and discrete time PAPR. These equations allow us to directly find the expressions of the PAPR distribution for any particular family of modulation functions, and they can be applied to control the PAPR performance by choosing the appropriate functions

Performance Analysis of a Low-Interference N-Continuous OFDM Scheme

This paper investigates two issues of power spectrum density (PSD) and bit error rate (BER) of an N-continuous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (NC-OFDM) aided low-interference time-domain scheme, when the smooth signal is designed by the linear combination of basis signals truncated by a window. Based on the relationship between the continuity and sidelobe decaying, the PSD performance is first analyzed and compared, in terms of the highest derivative order (HDO) N and the length of the smooth signal L. Since the high-order derivative of the truncation window has the finite continuity, the N-continuous signal has two finite continuities, which may have different continuous derivative orders. In this case, we develop a close PSD expression by introducing another smooth signal, which is also linearly combined by other basis signals, to explain the sidelobe decaying related to N and L. Then, in the context of BER, considering the multipath Rayleigh fading channel, based on the effect of the delayed tail of the smooth signal to the received signal, we provide a procedure for calculating the BER expressed in the form of an asymptotic summation.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

A Necessary Condition for Waveforms with Better PAPR than OFDM

International audienceThis paper establishes a necessary condition that must be satisfied by the modulation waveforms of any generalized waveforms for multicarrier (GWMC) system with better peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) than conventional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). GWMC systems include in particular all classical multicarrier modulation systems. As a consequence, we show that OFDM has the best PAPR performance over all GWMC systems that do not satisfy this necessary condition. We also identify an infinite family of GWMC systems with the same PAPR performance as OFDM. To illustrate our results, we present simulations of the PAPR behaviour for different GWMC systems, including some with better PAPR performance than OFDM

Spectrally-Temporally Adapted Spectrally Modulated Spectrally Encoded (SMSE) Waveform Design for Coexistent CR-Based SDR Applications

This work expands the applicability of the Spectrally Modulated, Spectrally Encoded (SMSE) framework by developing a waveform optimization process that enables intelligent waveform design. The resultant waveforms are capable of adapting to a spectrally diverse transmission channel while meeting coexistent constraints. SMSE waveform design is investigated with respect to two different forms of coexisting signal constraints, including those based on resultant interference levels and those based on resultant power spectrum shape. As demonstrated, the SMSE framework is well-suited for waveform optimization given its ability to allow independent design of spectral parameters. This utility is greatly enhanced when soft decision selection and dynamic assignment of SMSE design parameters are incorporated. Results show that by exploiting statistical knowledge of primary user spectral and temporal behavior, the inherent flexibility of the SMSE framework is effectively leveraged such that SMSE throughput (Bits/Sec) is maximized while limiting mutual coexistent interference to manageable levels

Low-Complexity Multicarrier Waveform Processing Schemes fo Future Wireless Communications

Wireless communication systems deliver enormous variety of services and applications. Nowa- days, wireless communications play a key-role in many fields, such as industry, social life, education, and home automation. The growing demand for wireless services and applications has motivated the development of the next generation cellular radio access technology called fifth-generation new radio (5G-NR). The future networks are required to magnify the delivered user data rates to gigabits per second, reduce the communication latency below 1 ms, and en- able communications for massive number of simple devices. Those main features of the future networks come with new demands for the wireless communication systems, such as enhancing the efficiency of the radio spectrum use at below 6 GHz frequency bands, while supporting various services with quite different requirements for the waveform related key parameters. The current wireless systems lack the capabilities to handle those requirements. For exam- ple, the long-term evolution (LTE) employs the cyclic-prefix orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform, which has critical drawbacks in the 5G-NR context. The basic drawback of CP-OFDM waveform is the lack of spectral localization. Therefore, spectrally enhanced variants of CP-OFDM or other multicarrier waveforms with well localized spectrum should be considered. This thesis investigates spectrally enhanced CP-OFDM (E-OFDM) schemes to suppress the out-of-band (OOB) emissions, which are normally produced by CP-OFDM. Commonly, the weighted overlap-and-add (WOLA) scheme applies smooth time-domain window on the CP- OFDM waveform, providing spectrally enhanced subcarriers and reducing the OOB emissions with very low additional computational complexity. Nevertheless, the suppression perfor- mance of WOLA-OFDM is not sufficient near the active subband. Another technique is based on filtering the CP-OFDM waveform, which is referred to as F-OFDM. F-OFDM is able to provide well-localized spectrum, however, with significant increase in the computational com- plexity in the basic scheme with time-domain filters. Also filter-bank multicarrier (FBMC) waveforms are included in this study. FBMC has been widely studied as a potential post- OFDM scheme with nearly ideal subcarrier spectrum localization. However, this scheme has quite high computational complexity while being limited to uniformly distributed sub- bands. Anyway, filter-bank based waveform processing is one of the main topics of this work. Instead of traditional polyphase network (PPN) based uniform filter banks, the focus is on fast-convolution filter banks (FC-FBs), which utilize fast Fourier transform (FFT) domain processing to realize effectively filter-banks with high flexibility in terms of subcarrier bandwidths and center frequencies. FC-FBs are applied for both FBMC and F-OFDM waveform genera- tion and processing with greatly increased flexibility and significantly reduced computational complexity. This study proposes novel structures for FC-FB processing based on decomposition of the FC-FB structure consisting of forward and inverse discrete Fourier transforms (DFT and IDFT). The decomposition of multirate FC provides means of reducing the computational complexity in some important specific scenarios. A generic FC decomposition model is proposed and analyzed. This scheme is mathematically equivalent to the corresponding direct FC imple- mentation, with exactly the same performance. The benefits of the optimized decomposition structure appear mainly in communication scenarios with relatively narrow active transmis- sion band, resulting in significantly reduced computational complexity compared to the direct FC structure. The narrowband scenarios find their places in the recent 3GPP specification of cellular low- power wide-area (LPWA) access technology called narrowband internet-of-things (NB-IoT). NB-IoT aims at introducing the IoT to LTE and GSM frequency bands in coexistence with those technologies. NB-IoT uses CP-OFDM based waveforms with parameters compatible with the LTE. However, additional means are needed also for NB-IoT transmitters to improve the spec- trum localization. For NB-IoT user devices, it is important to consider ultra-low complexity solutions, and a look-up table (LUT) based approach is proposed to implement NB-IoT uplink transmitters with filtered waveforms. This approach provides completely multiplication-free digital baseband implementations and the addition rates are similar or smaller than in the basic NB-IoT waveform generation without the needed elements for spectrum enhancement. The basic idea includes storing full or partial waveforms for all possible data symbol combinations. Then the transmitted waveform is composed through summation of needed stored partial waveforms and trivial phase rotations. The LUT based scheme is developed with different vari- ants tackling practical implementations issues of NB-IoT device transmitters, considering also the effects of nonlinear power amplifier. Moreover, a completely multiplication and addition- free LUT variant is proposed and found to be feasible for very narrowband transmission, with up to 3 subcarriers. The finite-wordlength performance of LUT variants is evaluated through simulations