High diversity multi-block space-time code for broadcasting applications

International audienceWe propose a STBC that calls for a 2 times 2x2 matrix seen as a two-block matrix. It enjoys a flexible transmission rate and a diversity order of 8 for a 2x2 MIMO system by exploiting additional time diversity. Its decoding complexity is only proportional to the power of four of the constellation size. The STBC parameters have been optimized to suit fading channels with and without erasure events. These events are typical of single frequency networks that are becoming a popular topology thanks to their low bandwidth requirements. Unlike state-of-the art quasi-orthogonal structures, the proposed multi-block STBC can be jointly optimized for shaping and coding gain

The bit interleaved coded modulation module for DVB-NGH: enhanced features for mobile reception

International audienceThis paper describes the main features of the DVB-NGH Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation (BICM) module. This latter is derived from a sub-set of DVB-T2 BICM components with additional features intended to first lower receiver complexity and power consumption and then to increase receiver robustness over mobile reception. Therefore, the long code block size was removed, a different range of coding rates was chosen, non-uniform constellations were adopted in order to provide shaping gain, and the principle of signal space diversity was extended to four-dimensional rotated constellations. Moreover the structure of the time interleaver offers the possibility to significantly increase the interleaving depth, a feature required for mobility over terrestrial and satellite links

Multi-non-binary turbo codes

International audienceThis paper presents a new family of turbo codes called multi-non-binary turbo codes (MNBTCs) that generalizes the concept of turbo codes to multi-non-binary (MNB) parallel concatenated convolutional codes (PCCC). An MNBTC incorporates, as component encoders, recursive and systematic multi-non-binary convolutional encoders. The more compact data structure for these encoders confers some advantages on MNBTCs over other types of turbo codes, such as better asymptotic behavior, better convergence, and reduced latency. This paper presents in detail the structure and operation of an MNBTC: MNB encoding, trellis termination, Max-Log-MAP decoding adapted to the MNB case. It also shows an example of MNBTC whose performance is compared with the state-of-the-art turbo code adopted in the DVB-RCS2 standard

DVB-NGH: the Next Generation of Digital Broadcast Services to Handheld Devices

This paper reviews the main technical solutions adopted by the next-generation mobile broadcasting standard DVB-NGH, the handheld evolution of the second-generation digital terrestrial TV standard DVB-T2. The main new technical elements introduced with respect to DVB-T2 are: layered video coding with multiple physical layer pipes, time-frequency slicing, full support of an IP transport layer with a dedicated protocol stack, header compression mechanisms for both IP and MPEG-2 TS packets, new low-density parity check coding rates for the data path (down to 1/5), nonuniform constellations for 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and 256QAM, 4-D rotated constellations for Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), improved time interleaving in terms of zapping time, end-to-end latency and memory consumption, improved physical layer signaling in terms of robustness, capacity and overhead, a novel distributed multiple input single output transmit diversity scheme for single-frequency networks (SFNs), and efficient provisioning of local content in SFNs. All these technological solutions, together with the high performance of DVB-T2, make DVB-NGH a real next-generation mobile multimedia broadcasting technology. In fact, DVB-NGH can be regarded the first third-generation broadcasting system because it allows for the possibility of using multiple input multiple output antenna schemes to overcome the Shannon limit of single antenna wireless communications. Furthermore, DVB-NGH also allows the deployment of an optional satellite component forming a hybrid terrestrial-satellite network topology to improve the coverage in rural areas where the installation of terrestrial networks could be uneconomical.Gómez Barquero, D.; Douillard, C.; Moss, P.; Mignone, V. (2014). DVB-NGH: the Next Generation of Digital Broadcast Services to Handheld Devices. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 60(2):246-257. doi:10.1109/TBC.2014.2313073S24625760

Mutual Successive Interference Cancellation Strategies in NOMA for Enhancing the Spectral Efficiency of CoMP Systems

International audienceThe densification of mobile networks should enable the fifth generation (5G) mobile networks to cope with the ever increasing demand for higher rate traffic, reduced latency, and improved reliability. The large scale deployment of small cells and distributed antenna systems in heterogeneous environments will require more elaborate interference mitigating techniques to increase spectral efficiency and to help unlock the expected performance leaps from the new network topologies. Coordinated multi-point (CoMP) is the most advanced framework for interference management enabling the cooperation between base stations to mitigate inter-cell interference and boost cell-edge user performance. In this paper, we study the combination of CoMP with mutual SIC, an interference cancellation technique based on power-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) that enables multiplexed users to simultaneously cancel their corresponding interfering signals. A highly efficient inter-cell interference cancellation scheme is then devised, that can encompass several deployment configurations and coordination techniques. The obtained results prove the superiority of this approach compared to conventional NOMA-CoMP systems

Design of adaptive 2x2 space-time block codes for broadcasting applications

International audienceFuture broadcasting systems will call for multi-antenna (MIMO) transmission techniques. Space-time block codes (STBC) are conventionally designed according to rank-determinant criteria, efficient at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). However, broadcasting transmissions are protected by powerful forward error correcting (FEC) codes able to operate at low to moderate SNRs. The aim of this study is to design full-rate full-diversity STBCs with low detection complexity, optimized for a wide range of SNRs

A shuffled iterative bit-interleaved coded modulation receiver for the DVB-T2 standard: Design, implementation and FPGA prototyping

International audienceRotated QAM constellations improve Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation (BICM) performance over fading channels. Indeed, an increased diversity is obtained by coupling a constellation rotation with interleaving between the real and imaginary components of transmitted symbols either in time or frequency domain. Iterative processing at the receiver side can provide additional improvement in performance. In this paper, an efficient shuffled iterative receiver is investigated for the second generation of the terrestrial digital video broadcasting standard DVB-T2. Scheduling an efficient message passing algorithm with low latency between the demapper and the LDPC decoder represents the main contribution. The design and the FPGA prototyping of the resultant shuffled iterative BICM receiver are then described. Architecture complexity and measured performance validate the potential of iterative receiver as a practical and competitive solution for the DVB-T2 standard

A new approach to optimise Non-Binary LDPC codes for Coded Modulations

International audienceThis paper is dedicated to the optimisation of Non-Binary LDPC codes when associated to high-order modulations. To be specific, we propose to specify the values of the non-zero NB-LDPC parity matrix coefficients depending on the corresponding check node equation and the Euclidean distance of the coded modulation. In other words, we explore the joint optimisation of the modulation mapping and the non-binary matrix. The performance gains announced by a theoretical analysis based on the Union Bound are confirmed by simulations results. We obtain an 0.2-dB gain in the high SNR regime compared to other state-of-the-art matrices

Max-log demapper architecture design for DVB-T2 rotated QAM constellations

International audience— Rotated and cyclic-Q delayed (RCQD) quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) improve DVB-T2 system performance over highly time-frequency selective channels. However, when compared with conventional QAM demapper, the RCQD demapper requires a higher computational complexity. In this paper, a complexity-reduced max-log demapper is derived and implemented over a FPGA platform. The proposed demapper allows to find the maximum likelihood (ML) point with a search spanning only M signal constellation points and guarantees to obtain the same log-likelihood ratio (LLR) metrics as the optimum max-log soft decision demapper while spanning at most 2 M signal constellation points. The optimized hardware implementation introduces only a slight performance loss compared to the floating-point full complexity max-log performance. Index Terms — DVB-T2, Rotated and Cyclic Q Delayed (RCQD) Constellations, Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR), Max-Log Demapper