258 research outputs found
The kindest cut: Enhancing the user experience of mobile tv through adequate zooming
The growing market of Mobile TV requires automated adaptation of standard TV footage to small size displays. Especially extreme long shots (XLS) depicting distant objects can spoil the user experience, e.g. in soccer content. Automated zooming schemes can improve the visual experience if the resulting footage meets user expectations in terms of the visual detail and quality but does not omit valuable context information. Current zooming schemes are ignorant of beneficial zoom ranges for a given target size when applied to standard definition TV footage. In two experiments 84 participants were able to switch between original and zoom enhanced soccer footage at three sizes - from 320x240 (QVGA) down to 176x144 (QCIF). Eye tracking and subjective ratings showed that zoom factors between 1.14 and 1.33 were preferred for all sizes. Interviews revealed that a zoom factor of 1.6 was too high for QVGA content due to low perceived video quality, but beneficial for QCIF size. The optimal zoom depended on the target display size. We include a function to compute the optimal zoom for XLS depending on the target device size. It can be applied in automatic content adaptation schemes and should stimulate further research on the requirements of different shot types in video coding
Adaptive Network Coding Schemes for Satellite Communications
In this paper, we propose two novel physical layer aware adaptive network
coding and coded modulation schemes for time variant channels. The proposed
schemes have been applied to different satellite communications scenarios with
different Round Trip Times (RTT). Compared to adaptive network coding, and
classical non-adaptive network coding schemes for time variant channels, as
benchmarks, the proposed schemes demonstrate that adaptation of packet
transmission based on the channel variation and corresponding erasures allows
for significant gains in terms of throughput, delay and energy efficiency. We
shed light on the trade-off between energy efficiency and delay-throughput
gains, demonstrating that conservative adaptive approaches that favors less
transmission under high erasures, might cause higher delay and less throughput
gains in comparison to non-conservative approaches that favor more transmission
to account for high erasures.Comment: IEEE Advanced Satellite Multimedia Systems Conference and the 14th
Signal Processing for Space Communications Workshop (ASMS/SPSC), 201
Network Coding Channel Virtualization Schemes for Satellite Multicast Communications
In this paper, we propose two novel schemes to solve the problem of finding a
quasi-optimal number of coded packets to multicast to a set of independent
wireless receivers suffering different channel conditions. In particular, we
propose two network channel virtualization schemes that allow for representing
the set of intended receivers in a multicast group to be virtualized as one
receiver. Such approach allows for a transmission scheme not only adapted to
per-receiver channel variation over time, but to the network-virtualized
channel representing all receivers in the multicast group. The first scheme
capitalizes on a maximum erasure criterion introduced via the creation of a
virtual worst per receiver per slot reference channel of the network. The
second scheme capitalizes on a maximum completion time criterion by the use of
the worst performing receiver channel as a virtual reference to the network. We
apply such schemes to a GEO satellite scenario. We demonstrate the benefits of
the proposed schemes comparing them to a per-receiver point-to-point adaptive
strategy
Energy Efficient Adaptive Network Coding Schemes for Satellite Communications
In this paper, we propose novel energy efficient adaptive network coding and
modulation schemes for time variant channels. We evaluate such schemes under a
realistic channel model for open area environments and Geostationary Earth
Orbit (GEO) satellites. Compared to non-adaptive network coding and adaptive
rate efficient network-coded schemes for time variant channels, we show that
our proposed schemes, through physical layer awareness can be designed to
transmit only if a target quality of service (QoS) is achieved. As a result,
such schemes can provide remarkable energy savings.Comment: Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social
Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 24 March 201
Satellite Communications [Editorial]
YesWe are delighted to bring to you this special issue on satellite
communications, which we have prepared as part of the
spreading of excellence remit of the satellite communications
network of excellence (SatNEx). The SatNEx project,
which began in 2004, is funded for five years under the European
UnionÂżs Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) Information
Society Technologies (IST) Thematic Area. Led by the
German Aerospace Center, SatNEx brings together a network
of 24 partners, distributed throughout Europe, with membership
drawn from ten countries.
The philosophy underlying the SatNEx approach revolves
around the selection of focused actions under Joint
Programmes of Activities, which are carried out collectively
by the partners and include research, integration, and dissemination
activities. Training represents an important part
of the SatNEx remit and is supported through a number of
initiatives including the hosting of internship projects and an
annual summer school.
The call for papers resulted in a high number of submissions,
from which we have been able to select 12 excellent
papers dealing with the different aspects of satellite communications
and navigation.European Unio
Graph-Based User Scheduling Algorithms for LEO-MIMO Non-Terrestrial Networks
In this paper, we study the user scheduling prob-lem in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Multi-User Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) system. We propose an iterative graph-based maximum clique scheduling approach, in which users are grouped together based on a dissimilarity measure and served by the satellite via space-division multiple access (SDMA) by means of Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) digital beamforming on a cluster basis. User groups are then served in different time slots via time-division multiple access (TDMA). As dissimilarity measure, we consider both the channel coefficient of correlation and the users' great circle distance. A heuristic optimization of the optimal cluster size is performed in order to maximize the system capacity. To further validate our analysis, we compare our proposed graph-based schedulers with the well-established algorithm known as Multiple Antenna Downlink Orthogonal clustering (MADOC). Results are presented in terms of achievable per-user capacity and show the superiority in performance of the proposed schedulers w.r.t. MADOC
Improved Graph-Based User Scheduling For Sum-Rate Maximization in LEO-NTN Systems
In this paper, we study the problem of user scheduling for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Multi-User (MU) Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) systems with the objective of maximizing the sum-rate capacity while minimizing the total number of clusters. We propose an iterative graph-based maximum clique scheduling approach with constant graph density. Users are grouped together based on the channel coefficient of correlation (CoC) as dissimilarity metric and served by the satellite via Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) by means of Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) digital beamforming on a cluster basis. Clusters are then served in different time slots via Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). The results, presented in terms of per-cluster sum-rate capacity and per-user throughput, show that the presented approach can significantly improve the system performance
Joint Graph-based User Scheduling and Beamforming in LEO-MIMO Satellite Communication Systems
In this paper, a Low earth orbit (LEO) High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) Multi-User multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system is considered. With the objective of minimizing inter-beam interference among users, we propose a joint graph-based user scheduling and feed space beamforming framework for the downlink. First, we construct a graph where the vertices are the users and edges are based on a dissimilarity measure of their channels. Secondly, we design a low complexity greedy user clustering strategy, in which we iteratively search for the maximum clique in the graph. Finally, a Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) beamforming matrix is applied on a cluster basis with different power normalization schemes. A heuristic optimization of the graph density, i.e., optimal cluster size, is performed in order to maximize the system capacity. The proposed scheduling algorithm is compared with a position-based scheduler, in which a beam lattice is generated on ground and one user per beam is randomly selected to form a cluster. Results are presented in terms of achievable per-user capacity and show the superiority in performance of the proposed scheduler w.r.t. to the position-based approach
Architectures and Key Technical Challenges for 5G Systems Incorporating Satellites
Satellite Communication systems are a promising solution to extend and
complement terrestrial networks in unserved or under-served areas. This aspect
is reflected by recent commercial and standardisation endeavours. In
particular, 3GPP recently initiated a Study Item for New Radio-based, i.e., 5G,
Non-Terrestrial Networks aimed at deploying satellite systems either as a
stand-alone solution or as an integration to terrestrial networks in mobile
broadband and machine-type communication scenarios. However, typical satellite
channel impairments, as large path losses, delays, and Doppler shifts, pose
severe challenges to the realisation of a satellite-based NR network. In this
paper, based on the architecture options currently being discussed in the
standardisation fora, we discuss and assess the impact of the satellite channel
characteristics on the physical and Medium Access Control layers, both in terms
of transmitted waveforms and procedures for enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB)
and NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) applications. The proposed analysis
shows that the main technical challenges are related to the PHY/MAC procedures,
in particular Random Access (RA), Timing Advance (TA), and Hybrid Automatic
Repeat reQuest (HARQ) and, depending on the considered service and
architecture, different solutions are proposed.Comment: Submitted to Transactions on Vehicular Technologies, April 201
Evaluation of MU-MIMO Digital Beamforming Algorithms in B5G/6G LEO Satellite Systems
Satellite Communication (SatCom) systems will be a key component of 5G and 6G networks to achieve the goal of providing unlimited and ubiquitous communications and deploying smart and sustainable networks. To meet the ever-increasing demand for higher throughput in 5G and beyond, aggressive frequency reuse schemes (i.e., full frequency reuse), combined with digital beamforming techniques to cope with the massive co-channel interference, are recognized as a key solution. Aimed at (i) eliminating the joint optimization problem among the beamforming vectors of all users, (ii) splitting it into distinct ones, and (iii) finding a closed-form solution, we propose a beamforming algorithm based on maximizing the users' Signal-to-Leakage-and-Noise Ratio (SLNR) served by a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. We investigate and assess the performance of several beamforming algorithms, including both those based on Channel State Information (CSI) at the transmitter, i.e., Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Zero-Forcing (ZF), and those only requiring the users' locations, i.e., Switchable Multi-Beam (MB). Through a detailed numerical analysis, we provide a thorough comparison of the performance in terms of per-user achievable spectral efficiency of the aforementioned beamforming schemes, and we show that the proposed SLNR beamforming technique is able to outperform both MMSE and ZF schemes in the presented SatCom scenario
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