Joint Power Control and Fronthaul Rate Allocation for Throughput Maximization in OFDMA-based Cloud Radio Access Network

The performance of cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is constrained by the limited fronthaul link capacity under future heavy data traffic. To tackle this problem, extensive efforts have been devoted to design efficient signal quantization/compression techniques in the fronthaul to maximize the network throughput. However, most of the previous results are based on information-theoretical quantization methods, which are hard to implement due to the extremely high complexity. In this paper, we consider using practical uniform scalar quantization in the uplink communication of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based C-RAN system, where the mobile users are assigned with orthogonal sub-carriers for multiple access. In particular, we consider joint wireless power control and fronthaul quantization design over the sub-carriers to maximize the system end-to-end throughput. Efficient algorithms are proposed to solve the joint optimization problem when either information-theoretical or practical fronthaul quantization method is applied. Interestingly, we find that the fronthaul capacity constraints have significant impact to the optimal wireless power control policy. As a result, the joint optimization shows significant performance gain compared with either optimizing wireless power control or fronthaul quantization alone. Besides, we also show that the proposed simple uniform quantization scheme performs very close to the throughput performance upper bound, and in fact overlaps with the upper bound when the fronthaul capacity is sufficiently large. Overall, our results would help reveal practically achievable throughput performance of C-RAN, and lead to more efficient deployment of C-RAN in the next-generation wireless communication systems.Comment: submitted for possible publicatio

Video transmission over a relay channel with a compress-forward code design

There is an increasing demand to support high data rate multimedia applications over the current day wireless networks which are highly prone to errors. Relay channels, by virtue of their spatial diversity, play a vital role in meeting this demand without much change to the current day systems. A compress-forward relaying scheme is one of the exciting prospects in this regard owing to its ability to always outperform direct transmission. With regards to video transmission, there is a serious need to ensure higher protection for the source bits that are more important and sensitive. The objective of this thesis is to develop a practical scheme for transmitting video data over a relay channel using a compress-forward relaying scheme and compare it to direct and multi-hop transmissions. We also develop a novel scheme whereby the relay channel can be used as a means to provide the required unequal error protection among the MPEG-2 bit stream. The area of compress-forward (CF) relaying has not been developed much to date, with most of the research directed towards the decode-forward scheme. The fact that compress-forward relaying always ensures better results than direct transmission is an added advantage. This has motivated us to employ CF relaying in our implementation. Video transmission and streaming applications are being increasingly sought after in the current generation wireless systems. The fact that video applications are bandwidth demanding and error prone, and the wireless systems are band-limited and unreliable, makes this a challenging task. CF relaying, by virtue of their path diversity, can be considered to be a new means for video transmission. To exploit the above advantages, we propose an implementation for video transmission over relay channels using a CF relaying scheme. Practical gains in peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) have been observed for our implementation compared to the simple binary-input additive white Gaussian noise (BIAWGN) and two-hop transmission scenarios

Energy and Spectral Efficient Wireless Communications

Energy and spectrum are two precious commodities for wireless communications. How to improve the energy and spectrum efficiency has become two critical issues for the designs of wireless communication systems. This dissertation is devoted to the development of energy and spectral efficient wireless communications. The developed techniques can be applied to a wide range of wireless communication systems, such as wireless sensor network (WSN) designed for structure health monitoring (SHM), medium access control (MAC) for multi-user systems, and cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio systems. First, to improve the energy efficiency in SHM WSN, a new ultra low power (ULP) WSN is proposed to monitor the vibration properties of structures such as buildings, bridges, and the wings and bodies of aircrafts. The new scheme integrates energy harvesting, data sensing, and wireless communication into a unified process, and it achieves significant energy savings compared to existing WSNs. Second, a cross-layer collision tolerant (CT) MAC scheme is proposed to improve energy and spectral efficiency in a multi-user system with shared medium. When two users transmit simultaneously over a shared medium, a collision happens at the receiver. Conventional MAC schemes will discard the collided signals, which result in a waste of the precious energy and spectrum resources. In our proposed CT-MAC scheme, each user transmits multiple weighted replicas of a packet at randomly selected data slots in a frame, and the indices of the selected slots are transmitted in a special collision-free position slot at the beginning of each frame. Collisions of the data slots in the MAC layer are resolved by using multiuser detection (MUD) in the PHY layer. Compared to existing schemes, the proposed CT-MAC scheme can support more simultaneous users with a higher throughput. Third, a new cooperative spectrum sensing scheme is proposed to improve the energy and spectral efficiency of a cognitive radio network. A new Slepian-Wolf coded cooperation scheme is proposed for a cognitive radio network with two secondary users (SUs) performing cooperative spectrum sensing through a fusion center (FC). The proposed scheme can achieve significant performance gains compared to existing schemes

Soft information based protocols in network coded relay networks

Future wireless networks aim at providing higher quality of service (QoS) to mobile users. The emergence of relay technologies has shed light on new methodologies through which the system capacity can be dramatically increased with low deployment cost. In this thesis, novel relay technologies have been proposed in two practical scenarios: wireless sensor networks (WSN) and cellular networks. In practical WSN designs, energy conservation is the single most important requirement. This thesis draws attention to a multiple access relay channels model in the WSN. The network coded symbol for the received signals from correlated sources has been derived; the network coded symbol vector is then converted into a sparse vector, after which a compressive sensing (CS) technique is applied over the sparse signals. A theoretical proof analysis is derived regarding the reliability of the network coded symbol formed in the proposed protocol. The proposed protocol results in a better bit error rate (BER) performance in comparison to the direct implementation of CS on the EF protocol. Simulation results validate our analyses. Another hot topic is the application of relay technologies to the cellular networks. In this thesis, a practical two-way transmission scheme is proposed based on the EF protocol and the network coding technique. A trellis coded quantization/modulation (TCQ/M) scheme is used in the network coding process. The soft network coded symbols are quantized into only one bit thus requiring the same transmission bandwidth as the simplest decode-and-forward protocol. The probability density function of the network coded symbol is derived to help to form the quantization codebook for the TCQ. Simulations show that the proposed soft forwarding protocol can achieve full diversity with only a transmission rate of 1, and its BER performance is equivalent to that of an unquantized EF protocol

Novel Physical Layer Authentication Techniques for Secure Wireless Communications

Due to the open nature of radio propagation, information security in wireless communications has been facing more challenges compared to its counterpart in wired networks. Authentication, defined as an important aspect of information security, is the process of verifying the identity of transmitters to prevent against spoofing attacks. Traditionally, secure wireless communications is achieved by relying solely upon higher layer cryptographic mechanisms. However, cryptographic approaches based on complex mathematical calculations are inefficient and vulnerable to various types of attacks. Recently, researchers have shown that the unique properties of wireless channels can be exploited for authentication enhancement by providing additional security protection against spoofing attacks. Motivated by the vulnerability of existing higher-layer security techniques and the security advantages provided by exploring the physical link properties, five novel physical layer authentication techniques to enhance the security performance of wireless systems are proposed. The first technique exploits the inherent properties of CIR to achieve robust channel-based authentication. The second and third techniques utilize a long-range channel predictor and additional multipath delay characteristics, respectively, to enhance the CIR-based authentication. The fourth technique exploits the advantages of AF cooperative relaying to improve traditional channel-based authentication. The last technique employs an embedded confidential signaling link to secure the legitimate transmissions in OFDM systems

Soft information based protocols in network coded relay networks

Future wireless networks aim at providing higher quality of service (QoS) to mobile users. The emergence of relay technologies has shed light on new methodologies through which the system capacity can be dramatically increased with low deployment cost. In this thesis, novel relay technologies have been proposed in two practical scenarios: wireless sensor networks (WSN) and cellular networks. In practical WSN designs, energy conservation is the single most important requirement. This thesis draws attention to a multiple access relay channels model in the WSN. The network coded symbol for the received signals from correlated sources has been derived; the network coded symbol vector is then converted into a sparse vector, after which a compressive sensing (CS) technique is applied over the sparse signals. A theoretical proof analysis is derived regarding the reliability of the network coded symbol formed in the proposed protocol. The proposed protocol results in a better bit error rate (BER) performance in comparison to the direct implementation of CS on the EF protocol. Simulation results validate our analyses. Another hot topic is the application of relay technologies to the cellular networks. In this thesis, a practical two-way transmission scheme is proposed based on the EF protocol and the network coding technique. A trellis coded quantization/modulation (TCQ/M) scheme is used in the network coding process. The soft network coded symbols are quantized into only one bit thus requiring the same transmission bandwidth as the simplest decode-and-forward protocol. The probability density function of the network coded symbol is derived to help to form the quantization codebook for the TCQ. Simulations show that the proposed soft forwarding protocol can achieve full diversity with only a transmission rate of 1, and its BER performance is equivalent to that of an unquantized EF protocol

Multiple Access Techniques for Next Generation Wireless: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

The advances in multiple access techniques has been one of the key drivers in moving from one cellular generation to another. Starting from the first generation, several multiple access techniques have been explored in different generations and various emerging multiplexing/multiple access techniques are being investigated for the next generation of cellular networks. In this context, this paper first provides a detailed review on the existing Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) related works. Subsequently, it highlights the main features and the drawbacks of various existing and emerging multiplexing/multiple access techniques. Finally, we propose a novel concept of clustered orthogonal signature division multiple access for the next generation of cellular networks. The proposed concept envisions to employ joint antenna coding in order to enhance the orthogonality of SDMA beams with the objective of enhancing the spectral efficiency of future cellular networks

Energy Harvesting in Cooperative Communications

Ühiskommunikatsioon on võimalik meetod lahendamaks informatsiooni levimist juhtmeta võrgus mitmikteekonna korral. See võimaldab laiendada võrgu katvust ning pakkuda võimendust kasutades olemasolevat taristut. Praktikas tehakse seda kasutades sõlmpunkte vahereleedena. Nii mitmese ligipääsuga releede süsteem kui paralleelsete releede süsteem on võimalikud kandidaadid tulevastes juhtmeta ühisvõrkudes nende ülekandekiiruse efektiivsuse ning parema energiatarbe tõttu.\n\r\n\rVõimenda-ja-edasta (AF) ning dekodeeri-ja-edasta (DF) on peamised ühisreleede protokollid, mida kasutatakse üle releekanalite. Me uurime käesolevas magistritöös paralleelseid releesid AF ühiskommunikatsiooni võrkudes kasutades QPSK signaliseerimist üle Rayleigh’ kiirelt hajuva kanali koos valge aditiivse Gaussi müraga. Sihtkohas vastuvõetud signaali detekteerimiseks kasutades võrgus olevaid tegevuseta kasutatakse maksimaalse suhte ühendamise (MRC) meetodit. Mõõtes sihtkohast vastu võetud ühendsignaali sümbolite veasuhet (SER) arvutusliku simulatsiooni abil, uurime me suhet releede arvu ning kommunikatsiooni kvaliteedi vahel.\n\r\n\rSüsteemi energeetiline efektiivsus määrab selle operatsioonilise jätkusuutlikkuse. Energiakogumise (EH) meetod on hädavajalik tehnoloogia juhtmeta süsteemides, kus on piiratud ligipääs usaldusväärsele elektritoitele ja laadimisvõimalustele. Käesolevas magistritöös uurime me mitmese ligipääsuga releede süsteeme kasutades EHtehnoloogiat. Me eeldame, et lähte- ja releesõlmedel pole ühendatud energiaallikat, kuid on taaslaetav energiatalletus. Seega, iga sõlme käivitatakse ligipääsupunkti (AP) edastatud raadiosignaalidelt kogutud energiast ning iga sõlm toimib salvesta-siis- koostööta (STC) režiimis. Me simuleerime arvutuslikult ühendusetaseme jõudlust kasutades füüsilise ühenduse võrgukodeerimist EHja DF protokolli olemasolul. Käesolev magistritöö esitab erinevaid energiakogumise meetodeid (EH ja STC) ning nende katkemistõenäosusi. Esitatud skeemid saavutavad SER jõudluse, mis läheneb püsiva toiteallikaga jõudlusele ning laiendab oluliselt süsteemi energiapüsivust, samas säilitades pidevat läbilaskejõudlust.Cooperative communications is a promising technique used to combat the multipath propagation in wireless networks. It can also extend the network coverage and provide the diversity gain by using the existing infrastructure. In practice, this is often achieved by using idle nodes in the network as relays. The multiple access relay system and parallel relay system are appealing candidates for emerging wireless cooperative networks due to bandwidth efficiency and improved power consumption.\n\r\n\rThe amplify and forward (AF) and decode and forwards (DF) protocols are basic cooperative relay protocols used over the relay channels. In this thesis, we study parallel relays in AF cooperative communication networks using QPSK signalling over the Rayleigh fast fading with additive Gaussian noise channels. The maximum ratio combining (MRC) method is employed to detect the received signals at the destination. By simulating the symbol error rate (SER) of the combined received signal at the destination, we study a trade-off between the number of relays and the quality of the communications. \n\r\n\rThe energy efficiency of a system determines its operational sustainability. Energy harvesting (EH) is a crucial technology for a variety of wireless systems that have limited access to a reliable electricity supply or recharging sources. In this thesis, the design of a multiple access relay system (MARS) using EH is considered. We assume that the sources and the relay have no embedded power supply but rechargeable energy storage devices. Thus, each node is powered by harvesting the energy from the RF signals broadcasted by an access point (AP), and it operates in store-then-cooperate (STC) mode. We simulate the link level performance by using the physical layer network coding in the presence of EH with DF protocol. The thesis presents energy harvesting schemes (EH and STC) and outage probability analysis. The schemes presented in this thesis achieve SER performance approaching that of a fixed power supply and contribute significantly to sustaining the energy in the system while maintaining a constant throughput