Bio-Radar

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e TelecomunicaçõesNesta dissertação é desenvolvido um protótipo de um bio-radar, cujo foco é a aquisição e processamento do sinal respiratório em tempo real. O sistema do bio-radar permite medir sinais vitais com precisão, baseando-se no princípio do efeito Doppler, que relaciona as propriedades do sinal recebido com a variação da distância percorrida desses sinais. Essa distância está compreendida entre as antenas do radar e a caixa torácica do paciente. No contexto deste projeto, é apresentado o modelo matemático do bio-radar e é também desenvolvido um algoritmo que visa extrair o sinal respiratório tendo em consideração a sensibilidade dos sinais envolvidos tal como o modo de operação do sistema. O protótipo em tempo real desenvolvido nesta dissertação usa um front-end baseado em Software Defined Radio (SDR) e os sinais por ele adquiridos são processados no software LabVIEW da National Instruments.In this dissertation, a prototype of a bio-radar was developed with focus in the real-time acquisition and processing of the respiratory signal. The bio-radar system can measure vital signals accurately by using the Doppler e ect principle that relates the received signal properties with the distance change between the radar antennas and the person's chest-wall. In this framework, a mathematical model of the bio-radar is presented. Also, an algorithm for respiratory rate extraction is proposed having in mind the acquired signal's sensitivity and the system's operation. The real-time acquisition system is developed using a front-end based in SDR and the acquired signals are processed using the LabVIEW software from National Instruments

Non-Orthogonal Signal and System Design for Wireless Communications

The thesis presents research in non-orthogonal multi-carrier signals, in which: (i) a new signal format termed truncated orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (TOFDM) is proposed to improve data rates in wireless communication systems, such as those used in mobile/cellular systems and wireless local area networks (LANs), and (ii) a new design and experimental implementation of a real-time spectrally efficient frequency division multiplexing (SEFDM) system are reported. This research proposes a modified version of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) format, obtained by truncating OFDM symbols in the time-domain. In TOFDM, subcarriers are no longer orthogonally packed in the frequency-domain as time samples are only partially transmitted, leading to improved spectral efficiency. In this work, (i) analytical expressions are derived for the newly proposed TOFDM signal, followed by (ii) interference analysis, (iii) systems design for uncoded and coded schemes, (iv) experimental implementation and (v) performance evaluation of the new proposed signal and system, with comparisons to conventional OFDM systems. Results indicate that signals can be recovered with truncated symbol transmission. Based on the TOFDM principle, a new receiving technique, termed partial symbol recovery (PSR), is designed and implemented in software de ned radio (SDR), that allows efficient operation of two users for overlapping data, in wireless communication systems operating with collisions. The PSR technique is based on recovery of collision-free partial OFDM symbols, followed by the reconstruction of complete symbols to recover progressively the frames of two users suffering collisions. The system is evaluated in a testbed of 12-nodes using SDR platforms. The thesis also proposes channel estimation and equalization technique for non-orthogonal signals in 5G scenarios, using an orthogonal demodulator and zero padding. Finally, the implementation of complete SEFDM systems in real-time is investigated and described in detail

Real-Time Waveform Prototyping

Mobile Netzwerke der fünften Generation zeichen sich aus durch vielfältigen Anforderungen und Einsatzszenarien. Drei unterschiedliche Anwendungsfälle sind hierbei besonders relevant: 1) Industrie-Applikationen fordern Echtzeitfunkübertragungen mit besonders niedrigen Ausfallraten. 2) Internet-of-things-Anwendungen erfordern die Anbindung einer Vielzahl von verteilten Sensoren. 3) Die Datenraten für Anwendung wie z.B. der Übermittlung von Videoinhalten sind massiv gestiegen. Diese zum Teil gegensätzlichen Erwartungen veranlassen Forscher und Ingenieure dazu, neue Konzepte und Technologien für zukünftige drahtlose Kommunikationssysteme in Betracht zu ziehen. Ziel ist es, aus einer Vielzahl neuer Ideen vielversprechende Kandidatentechnologien zu identifizieren und zu entscheiden, welche für die Umsetzung in zukünftige Produkte geeignet sind. Die Herausforderungen, diese Anforderungen zu erreichen, liegen jedoch jenseits der Möglichkeiten, die eine einzelne Verarbeitungsschicht in einem drahtlosen Netzwerk bieten kann. Daher müssen mehrere Forschungsbereiche Forschungsideen gemeinsam nutzen. Diese Arbeit beschreibt daher eine Plattform als Basis für zukünftige experimentelle Erforschung von drahtlosen Netzwerken unter reellen Bedingungen. Es werden folgende drei Aspekte näher vorgestellt: Zunächst erfolgt ein Überblick über moderne Prototypen und Testbed-Lösungen, die auf großes Interesse, Nachfrage, aber auch Förderungsmöglichkeiten stoßen. Allerdings ist der Entwicklungsaufwand nicht unerheblich und richtet sich stark nach den gewählten Eigenschaften der Plattform. Der Auswahlprozess ist jedoch aufgrund der Menge der verfügbaren Optionen und ihrer jeweiligen (versteckten) Implikationen komplex. Daher wird ein Leitfaden anhand verschiedener Beispiele vorgestellt, mit dem Ziel Erwartungen im Vergleich zu den für den Prototyp erforderlichen Aufwänden zu bewerten. Zweitens wird ein flexibler, aber echtzeitfähiger Signalprozessor eingeführt, der auf einer software-programmierbaren Funkplattform läuft. Der Prozessor ermöglicht die Rekonfiguration wichtiger Parameter der physikalischen Schicht während der Laufzeit, um eine Vielzahl moderner Wellenformen zu erzeugen. Es werden vier Parametereinstellungen 'LLC', 'WiFi', 'eMBB' und 'IoT' vorgestellt, um die Anforderungen der verschiedenen drahtlosen Anwendungen widerzuspiegeln. Diese werden dann zur Evaluierung der die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellte Implementierung herangezogen. Drittens wird durch die Einführung einer generischen Testinfrastruktur die Einbeziehung externer Partner aus der Ferne ermöglicht. Das Testfeld kann hier für verschiedenste Experimente flexibel auf die Anforderungen drahtloser Technologien zugeschnitten werden. Mit Hilfe der Testinfrastruktur wird die Leistung des vorgestellten Transceivers hinsichtlich Latenz, erreichbarem Durchsatz und Paketfehlerraten bewertet. Die öffentliche Demonstration eines taktilen Internet-Prototypen, unter Verwendung von Roboterarmen in einer Mehrbenutzerumgebung, konnte erfolgreich durchgeführt und bei mehreren Gelegenheiten präsentiert werden.:List of figures List of tables Abbreviations Notations 1 Introduction 1.1 Wireless applications 1.2 Motivation 1.3 Software-Defined Radio 1.4 State of the art 1.5 Testbed 1.6 Summary 2 Background 2.1 System Model 2.2 PHY Layer Structure 2.3 Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing 2.4 Wireless Standards 2.4.1 IEEE 802.15.4 2.4.2 802.11 WLAN 2.4.3 LTE 2.4.4 Low Latency Industrial Wireless Communications 2.4.5 Summary 3 Wireless Prototyping 3.1 Testbed Examples 3.1.1 PHY - focused Testbeds 3.1.2 MAC - focused Testbeds 3.1.3 Network - focused testbeds 3.1.4 Generic testbeds 3.2 Considerations 3.3 Use cases and Scenarios 3.4 Requirements 3.5 Methodology 3.6 Hardware Platform 3.6.1 Host 3.6.2 FPGA 3.6.3 Hybrid 3.6.4 ASIC 3.7 Software Platform 3.7.1 Testbed Management Frameworks 3.7.2 Development Frameworks 3.7.3 Software Implementations 3.8 Deployment 3.9 Discussion 3.10 Conclusion 4 Flexible Transceiver 4.1 Signal Processing Modules 4.1.1 MAC interface 4.1.2 Encoding and Mapping 4.1.3 Modem 4.1.4 Post modem processing 4.1.5 Synchronization 4.1.6 Channel Estimation and Equalization 4.1.7 Demapping 4.1.8 Flexible Configuration 4.2 Analysis 4.2.1 Numerical Precision 4.2.2 Spectral analysis 4.2.3 Latency 4.2.4 Resource Consumption 4.3 Discussion 4.3.1 Extension to MIMO 4.4 Summary 5 Testbed 5.1 Infrastructure 5.2 Automation 5.3 Software Defined Radio Platform 5.4 Radio Frequency Front-end 5.4.1 Sub 6 GHz front-end 5.4.2 26 GHz mmWave front-end 5.5 Performance evaluation 5.6 Summary 6 Experiments 6.1 Single Link 6.1.1 Infrastructure 6.1.2 Single Link Experiments 6.1.3 End-to-End 6.2 Multi-User 6.3 26 GHz mmWave experimentation 6.4 Summary 7 Key lessons 7.1 Limitations Experienced During Development 7.2 Prototyping Future 7.3 Open points 7.4 Workflow 7.5 Summary 8 Conclusions 8.1 Future Work 8.1.1 Prototyping Workflow 8.1.2 Flexible Transceiver Core 8.1.3 Experimental Data-sets 8.1.4 Evolved Access Point Prototype For Industrial Networks 8.1.5 Testbed Standardization A Additional Resources A.1 Fourier Transform Blocks A.2 Resource Consumption A.3 Channel Sounding using Chirp sequences A.3.1 SNR Estimation A.3.2 Channel Estimation A.4 Hardware part listThe demand to achieve higher data rates for the Enhanced Mobile Broadband scenario and novel fifth generation use cases like Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency and Massive Machine-type Communications drive researchers and engineers to consider new concepts and technologies for future wireless communication systems. The goal is to identify promising candidate technologies among a vast number of new ideas and to decide, which are suitable for implementation in future products. However, the challenges to achieve those demands are beyond the capabilities a single processing layer in a wireless network can offer. Therefore, several research domains have to collaboratively exploit research ideas. This thesis presents a platform to provide a base for future applied research on wireless networks. Firstly, by giving an overview of state-of-the-art prototypes and testbed solutions. Secondly by introducing a flexible, yet real-time physical layer signal processor running on a software defined radio platform. The processor enables reconfiguring important parameters of the physical layer during run-time in order to create a multitude of modern waveforms. Thirdly, by introducing a generic test infrastructure, which can be tailored to prototype diverse wireless technology and which is remotely accessible in order to invite new ideas by third parties. Using the test infrastructure, the performance of the flexible transceiver is evaluated regarding latency, achievable throughput and packet error rates.:List of figures List of tables Abbreviations Notations 1 Introduction 1.1 Wireless applications 1.2 Motivation 1.3 Software-Defined Radio 1.4 State of the art 1.5 Testbed 1.6 Summary 2 Background 2.1 System Model 2.2 PHY Layer Structure 2.3 Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing 2.4 Wireless Standards 2.4.1 IEEE 802.15.4 2.4.2 802.11 WLAN 2.4.3 LTE 2.4.4 Low Latency Industrial Wireless Communications 2.4.5 Summary 3 Wireless Prototyping 3.1 Testbed Examples 3.1.1 PHY - focused Testbeds 3.1.2 MAC - focused Testbeds 3.1.3 Network - focused testbeds 3.1.4 Generic testbeds 3.2 Considerations 3.3 Use cases and Scenarios 3.4 Requirements 3.5 Methodology 3.6 Hardware Platform 3.6.1 Host 3.6.2 FPGA 3.6.3 Hybrid 3.6.4 ASIC 3.7 Software Platform 3.7.1 Testbed Management Frameworks 3.7.2 Development Frameworks 3.7.3 Software Implementations 3.8 Deployment 3.9 Discussion 3.10 Conclusion 4 Flexible Transceiver 4.1 Signal Processing Modules 4.1.1 MAC interface 4.1.2 Encoding and Mapping 4.1.3 Modem 4.1.4 Post modem processing 4.1.5 Synchronization 4.1.6 Channel Estimation and Equalization 4.1.7 Demapping 4.1.8 Flexible Configuration 4.2 Analysis 4.2.1 Numerical Precision 4.2.2 Spectral analysis 4.2.3 Latency 4.2.4 Resource Consumption 4.3 Discussion 4.3.1 Extension to MIMO 4.4 Summary 5 Testbed 5.1 Infrastructure 5.2 Automation 5.3 Software Defined Radio Platform 5.4 Radio Frequency Front-end 5.4.1 Sub 6 GHz front-end 5.4.2 26 GHz mmWave front-end 5.5 Performance evaluation 5.6 Summary 6 Experiments 6.1 Single Link 6.1.1 Infrastructure 6.1.2 Single Link Experiments 6.1.3 End-to-End 6.2 Multi-User 6.3 26 GHz mmWave experimentation 6.4 Summary 7 Key lessons 7.1 Limitations Experienced During Development 7.2 Prototyping Future 7.3 Open points 7.4 Workflow 7.5 Summary 8 Conclusions 8.1 Future Work 8.1.1 Prototyping Workflow 8.1.2 Flexible Transceiver Core 8.1.3 Experimental Data-sets 8.1.4 Evolved Access Point Prototype For Industrial Networks 8.1.5 Testbed Standardization A Additional Resources A.1 Fourier Transform Blocks A.2 Resource Consumption A.3 Channel Sounding using Chirp sequences A.3.1 SNR Estimation A.3.2 Channel Estimation A.4 Hardware part lis

Design and implementation of an SDR-based multi-frequency ground-based SAR system

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has proven a valuable tool in the monitoring of the Earth, either at a global or local scales. SAR is a coherent radar system able to image extended areas with high resolution, and finds applications in many areas such as forestry, agriculture, mining, structure inspection or security operations. Although space-borne SAR systems can image extended areas, their main limitation is the long revisit times, which are not suitable for applications where the target experiments rapid changes, in the scale of minutes to few days. GBSAR systems have proven useful to fill this revisit time gap by imaging relatively small areas continuously, with extensions usually smaller than a few square kilometers. Ground Based SAR (GBSAR) systems have been used extensively for the monitoring of slope instability, and are a common tool in the mining sector. The development of the GBSAR is relatively recent, and various developments have taken place since the 2000s, transitioning from the usage of Vector Network Analyzers (VNAs) to custom radar cores tailored for this application. This transition is accompanied by a reduction in cost, but at the same time is accompanied by a loss of operational flexibility. Specifically, most GBSAR sensors now operate at a single frequency, losing the value of the multi-band operation that VNAs provided. This work is motivated by the idea that it is worth to use the value of multi-frequency GBSAR measurements, while maintaining a limited system cost. In order to implement a GBSAR with these characteristics, it is realized that Software Defined Radio (SDR) devices are a good option for fast and flexible implementation of broadband transceivers. This thesis details the design and implementation process of an SDR-based Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) GBSAR system from the ground up, presenting the main issues related with the usage of the most common SDR analog architecture, the Zero-IF transceiver. The main problem is determined to be the behavior of spurs related to IQ imbalances of the analog transceiver with the FMCW demodulation process. Two effective techniques to overcome these issues, the Super Spatial Variant Apodization (SSVA) and the Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) signal reconstruction techniques, are implemented and tested. The thesis also deals with the digital implementation of the signal generator and digital receiver, which are implemented on top of an RF Network-on-Chip (RFNoC) architecture in the SDR Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Another important aspect of this work is the development of an radiofrequency front-end that extends the capabilities of the SDR, implementing filtering, amplification, leakage mitigation and up-conversion to X-band. Finally, a set of test campaigns is described, in which the operation of the system is verified and the value of multi-frequency GBSAR observations is shown.El radar d'obertura sintètica (SAR) ha demostrat ser una eina valuosa en el monitoratge de la Terra, sigui a escala global o local. El SAR és un sistema de radar coherent capaç d’obtenir imatges de zones extenses amb alta resolució i té aplicacions en moltes àrees com la silvicultura, l’agricultura, la mineria, la inspecció d’estructures o les operacions de seguretat. Tot i que els sistemes SAR embarcats en plataformes orbitals poden obtenir imatges d'àrees extenses, la seva principal limitació és el temps de revisita, que no són adequats per a aplicacions on l'objectiu experimenta canvis ràpids, en una escala de minuts a pocs dies. Els sistemes GBSAR han demostrat ser útils per omplir aquesta bretxa de temps, obtenint imatges d'àrees relativament petites de manera contínua, amb extensions generalment inferiors a uns pocs quilòmetres quadrats. Els sistemes SAR terrestres (GBSAR) s’han utilitzat àmpliament per al control de la inestabilitat de talussos i esllavissades i són una eina comuna al sector miner. El desenvolupament del GBSAR és relativament recent i s’han produït diversos desenvolupaments des de la dècada de 2000, passant de l’ús d’analitzadors de xarxes vectorials (VNA) a nuclis de radar personalitzats i adaptats a aquesta aplicació. Aquesta transició s’acompanya d’una reducció del cost, però al mateix temps d’una pèrdua de flexibilitat operativa. Concretament, la majoria dels sensors GBSAR funcionen a una única freqüència, perdent el valor de l’operació en múltiples bandes que proporcionaven els VNA. Aquesta tesi està motivada per la idea de recuperar el valor de les mesures GBSAR multifreqüència, mantenint un cost del sistema limitat. Per tal d’implementar un GBSAR amb aquestes característiques, s’adona que els dispositius de ràdio definida per software (SDR) són una bona opció per a la implementació ràpida i flexible dels transceptors de banda ampla. Aquesta tesi detalla el procés de disseny i implementació d’un sistema GBSAR d’ona contínua modulada en freqüència (FMCW) basat en la tecnologia SDR, presentant els principals problemes relacionats amb l’ús de l’arquitectura analògica de SDR més comuna, el transceptor Zero-IF. Es determina que el problema principal és el comportament dels espuris relacionats amb el balanç de les cadenes de fase i quadratura del transceptor analògic amb el procés de desmodulació FMCW. S’implementen i comproven dues tècniques efectives per minimitzar aquests problemes basades en la reconstrucció de la senyal contaminada per espuris: la tècnica anomenada Super Spatial Variant Apodization (SSVA) i una tècnica basada en la transformada de Fourier amb finestra (STFT). La tesi també tracta la implementació digital del generador de senyal i del receptor digital, que s’implementen sobre una arquitectura RF Network-on-Chip (RFNoC). Un altre aspecte important d’aquesta tesi és el desenvolupament d’un front-end de radiofreqüència que amplia les capacitats de la SDR, implementant filtratge, amplificació, millora de l'aïllament entre transmissió i recepció i conversió a banda X. Finalment, es descriu un conjunt de campanyes de prova en què es verifica el funcionament del sistema i es mostra el valor de les observacions GBSAR multifreqüència

A container-based architecture to provide services from SDR devices

Rádio Definido por Software (SDR) é um dispositivo de rádio programável que, conectado a um computador ou como uma solução embarcada, pode transmitir e receber informações usando ondas de rádio. A característica de programabilidade do SDR e sua largura de banda de rádio frequência (RF) estendem sua aplicação a diversas áreas que incluem aviação, satélite, radar e dispositivos móveis. O emprego do SDR tem despertado grande interesse na provisão de serviços de rede. Atuando como uma interface sem-fio multiprogramável na borda de redes cabeadas, o SDR é capaz de transmitir, receber e decodificar informações de rádio. Estas informações são usadas para fornecer serviços, como por exemplo uma página de internet contendo um mapa de rastreamento de aeronaves em tempo real, e gráficos de monitoramento de sensores. No entanto, para ser usado para esta finalidade, o SDR deve integrar-se às correntes tecnologias dos ambientes de rede, como NFV, SDN, containerização, e a computação em nuvem. Esta dissertação está focada na integração do SDR com a technologia de containerização. É proposta uma arquitetura para geração de serviços usando contâineres e o SDR como dispositivo de borda. Usando diferentes modelos de SDRs (USRP, LimeSDR e RTL-SDR), a plataforma GNURadio e Docker containers, dois cenários de aplicação da arquitetura são apresentados, nos quais a comunicação ADS-B e LoRa são implementadas. A avaliação da solução proposta é realizada comparando-se a geração de serviço com a arquitetura, (com dois níveis de isolação de rede), e sem a arquitetura. O tempo de lançamento e de resposta dos serviços, e a utilização dos recursos computacionais são comparados, mostrando que a arquitetura tem impacto nesses fatores. Este impacto aumenta conforme o nível de isolação de rede utilizado. Por outro lado a arquitetura aplica uma topologia que converte os componentes funcionais do serviço em blocos modulares, tornando possível sua aplicação em diferentes projetos de RF, e oferece benefícios não funcionais, como a capacidade de prover serviços em tempo real, emprego com diferentes modelos de SDR, e isolação de rede. Além disso, a arquitetura adiciona uma série de características de controle herdadas da tecnologia de virtualização.Software Defined Radio is a programmable radio device that, when connected to a computer or as an embedded solution, can transmit and receive data information using radio waves. The programming features of the SDR and its RF bandwidth range extends the application possibility to several areas, including aviation, satellite, radar, and mobile communication. SDR has drawn great attention to network service provision. Acting as a multi-programmable air interface at the edge of wired network environments, SDR can receive, decode and forward radio information, which is used to generate the services. Examples of services including real-time flight tracker web pages, and sensor monitoring data charts. However, to provide network services, SDR must integrate into complex network environments where recent technologies, such as NFV, SDN, containerization and cloud computing, are applied. This thesis addresses the integration of SDRs with containerization. It proposes an easy-to-deploy container-based architecture to provide network services from SDR devices. Using different types of SDR devices (USRP, LimeSDR and RTL-SDR), GNURadio platform and Docker Container, two use cases of the proposed architecture are presented, demonstrating scenarios where ADSB and LoRa communication are implemented in order to provide services to end-users. Evaluation of the proposed solution is performed comparing two models of service provision: with the proposed architecture (two levels of network isolation), and without the architecture. The overhead time added to launch the services, the time response and computational resource utilization are compared, showing that there is an overhead added by the architecture which impacts on the system performance. The overhead increases with the applied network isolation level. Conversely, the architecture converts the service functional components into modular components, its application can be extended to different RF projects and SDR types, and offers non-functional benefits such as, real-time capability, network isolation, fine setting of communication parameters, and a set of control and configuration features inherited from container virtualization platform

Plataforma para projeto de sistemas de rádio definidos por software

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesEste trabalho tem como objetivos o projeto e a realização de uma plataforma para desenvolvimento de sistemas baseados em tecnologia Software Defined Radio (SDR). Num sistema SDR todas as tarefas de um rádio (ou pelo menos banda base e eventualmente Frequência Intermédia), anteriormente efetuadas por hardware especifico num contexto analógico, são efetuadas no domínio digital por software ou hardware reconfigurável. Esta característica confere a este tipo de rádio uma maior simplicidade, em termos de hardware bem como maior flexibilidade, pois o mesmo dispositivo pode executar diferentes funções apenas alterando o seu firmware/software. Existem diferentes abordagens relativas ao uso desta tecnologia, quer ao nível da arquitetura usada (varia consoante a frequência onde ocorre a digitalização do sinal), quer relativas á topologia de utilização (controlada por hardware reconfigurável, rotinas de software ou ambos). A motivação deste trabalho resulta na necessidade de concepção de uma plataforma para fins académicos baseada num hardware reprogramável, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), de baixo custo, flexível, com interfaces de comunicação digitais e analógicas e que faculte a possibilidade de ser usada em diferentes topologias de utilização. Efetuada a especificação e o estudo necessário ao projeto bem como a escolha apropriada de componentes, conseguiu-se uma plataforma baseada num módulo FPGA contendo um dispositivo Xilinx, da família Spartan-6, bem como outro hardware relevante. A comunicação com outros dispositivos é assegurada por interfaces USB e gigabit Ethernet. A plataforma concebida está também equipada com interfaces analógicas (conversores AD/DA) bem como algumas interfaces de integração com o utilizador consistindo em switches e LEDs. Em suma foi projetada e desenhada uma plataforma aberta e flexível, que pode ser usada com todas as ferramentas de desenvolvimento, programação e depuração, com fácil acesso a todos os sinais relevantes potenciando a sua utilização para efeitos de ensino e investigação em SDR.The main objective of this dissertation relies on projecting and designing a platform suitable for Software De ned Radio (SDR) system development. On an SDR system all, or at least base band and maybe Intermediate Frequency (IF) radio functions, before handled by analog speci c hardware, are now performed on the digital domain by software or an recon gurable hardware device. This feature provides to this type of radios a major simplicity regarding hardware as well as another exibility level since, through a rmware/software upgrade, the same equipment can perform di erent functions. There are some approaches related to the used of this technology, either regarding architecture implementation (they di er in which frequency the digitalization occurs) or utilization topologies (an SDR device can be controlled by a recon gurable hardware, software routines or both). This project's motivation results from the need of designing a exible, low-cost platform, to be used on academic purposes, in which the central component would be a recon gurable hardware, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). It must provide both analog and digital interfaces so that can be used on various utilization scenarios. Accomplished all the necessary study, design and hardware selection the result is a platform based on an FPGA module, containing an Xilinx device from the Spartan-6 family as well as other relevant hardware. The interaction with other devices is ensured by both gigabit Ethernet and 2.0 Universal Serial Bus (USB) connections. The platform also features analog interfaces (AD/DA converters) as well as some digital end-user interfaces performed by switches and Light Emiter Diodes (LED)s. Concluding, it was built an open and exible platform in which can be use with all provided development, programming and debugging tools and all the relevant signals have easy access enhancing its use for teaching and researching on SDR technology

Space-time-frequency methods for interference-limited communication systems

textTraditionally, noise in communication systems has been modeled as an additive, white Gaussian noise process with independent, identically distributed samples. Although this model accurately reflects thermal noise present in communication system electronics, it fails to capture the statistics of interference and other sources of noise, e.g. in unlicensed communication bands. Modern communication system designers must take into account interference and non-Gaussian noise to maximize efficiencies and capacities of current and future communication networks. In this work, I develop new multi-dimensional signal processing methods to improve performance of communication systems in three applications areas: (i) underwater acoustic, (ii) powerline, and (iii) multi-antenna cellular. In underwater acoustic communications, I address impairments caused by strong, time-varying and Doppler-spread reverberations (self-interference) using adaptive space-time signal processing methods. I apply these methods to array receivers with a large number of elements. In powerline communications, I address impairments caused by non-Gaussian noise arising from devices sharing the powerline. I develop and apply a cyclic adaptive modulation and coding scheme and a factor-graph-based impulsive noise mitigation method to improve signal quality and boost link throughput and robustness. In cellular communications, I develop a low-latency, high-throughput space-time-frequency processing framework used for large scale (up to 128 antenna) MIMO. This framework is used in the world's first 100-antenna MIMO system and processes up to 492 Gbps raw baseband samples in the uplink and downlink directions. My methods prove that multi-dimensional processing methods can be applied to increase communication system performance without sacrificing real-time requirements.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

FPGA based technical solutions for high throughput data processing and encryption for 5G communication: A review

The field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices are ideal solutions for high-speed processing applications, given their flexibility, parallel processing capability, and power efficiency. In this review paper, at first, an overview of the key applications of FPGA-based platforms in 5G networks/systems is presented, exploiting the improved performances offered by such devices. FPGA-based implementations of cloud radio access network (C-RAN) accelerators, network function virtualization (NFV)-based network slicers, cognitive radio systems, and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channel characterizers are the main considered applications that can benefit from the high processing rate, power efficiency and flexibility of FPGAs. Furthermore, the implementations of encryption/decryption algorithms by employing the Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+MPSoC ZCU102 FPGA platform are discussed, and then we introduce our high-speed and lightweight implementation of the well-known AES-128 algorithm, developed on the same FPGA platform, and comparing it with similar solutions already published in the literature. The comparison results indicate that our AES-128 implementation enables efficient hardware usage for a given data-rate (up to 28.16 Gbit/s), resulting in higher efficiency (8.64 Mbps/slice) than other considered solutions. Finally, the applications of the ZCU102 platform for high-speed processing are explored, such as image and signal processing, visual recognition, and hardware resource management

4G/5G cellular networks metrology and management

La prolifération d'applications et de services sophistiqués s'accompagne de diverses exigences de performances, ainsi que d'une croissance exponentielle du trafic pour le lien montant (uplink) et descendant (downlink). Les réseaux cellulaires tels que 4G et 5G évoluent pour prendre en charge cette quantité diversifiée et énorme de données. Le travail de cette thèse vise le renforcement de techniques avancées de gestion et supervision des réseaux cellulaires prenant l'explosion du trafic et sa diversité comme deux des principaux défis dans ces réseaux. La première contribution aborde l'intégration de l'intelligence dans les réseaux cellulaires via l'estimation du débit instantané sur le lien montant pour de petites granularités temporelles. Un banc d'essai 4G temps réel est déployé dans ce but de fournir un benchmark exhaustif des métriques de l'eNB. Des estimations précises sont ainsi obtenues. La deuxième contribution renforce le découpage 5G en temps réel au niveau des ressources radio dans un système multicellulaire. Pour cela, deux modèles d'optimisation ont été proposés. Du fait de leurs temps d'exécution trop long, des heuristiques ont été développées et évaluées en comparaisons des modèles optimaux. Les résultats sont prometteurs, les deux heuristiques renforçant fortement le découpage du RAN en temps réel.The proliferation of sophisticated applications and services comes with diverse performance requirements as well as an exponential traffic growth for both upload and download. The cellular networks such as 4G and 5G are advocated to support this diverse and huge amount of data. This thesis work targets the enforcement of advanced cellular network supervision and management techniques taking the traffic explosion and diversity as two main challenges in these networks. The first contribution tackles the intelligence integration in cellular networks through the estimation of users uplink instantaneous throughput at small time granularities. A real time 4G testbed is deployed for such aim with an exhaustive metrics benchmark. Accurate estimations are achieved.The second contribution enforces the real time 5G slicing from radio resources perspective in a multi-cell system. For that, two exact optimization models are proposed. Due to their high convergence time, heuristics are developed and evaluated with the optimal models. Results are promising, as two heuristics are highly enforcing the real time RAN slicing