Power allocation strategies for distributed precoded multicell based systems

Multicell cooperation is a promising solution for cellular wireless systems to mitigate intercell interference, improve system fairness, and increase capacity. In this article, we propose power allocation techniques for the downlink of distributed, precoded, multicell cellular-based systems. The precoder is designed in two phases: first the intercell interference is removed by applying a set of distributed precoding vectors; then the system is further optimized through power allocation. Three centralized power allocation algorithms with per-BS power constraint and diferente complexity trade-offs are proposed: one optimal in terms of minimization of the instantaneous average bit error rate (BER), and two suboptimal. In this latter approach, the powers are computed in two phases. First, the powers are derived under total power constraint (TPC) and two criterions are considered, namely, minimization of the instantaneous average BER and minimization of the sum of inverse of signal-to-noise ratio. Then, the final powers are computed to satisfy the individual per-BS power constraint. The performance of the proposed schemes is evaluated, considering typical pedestrian scenarios based on LTE specifications. The numerical results show that the proposed suboptimal schemes achieve a performance very close to the optimal but with lower computational complexity. Moreover, the performance of the proposed per-BS precoding schemes is close to the one obtained considering TPC over a supercell.Portuguese CADWIN - PTDC/ EEA TEL/099241/200

Greenland ice sheet surface mass loss: recent developments in observation and modeling

Surface processes currently dominate Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) mass loss. We review recent developments in the observation and modelling of GrIS surface mass balance (SMB), published after the July 2012 deadline for the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5). Since IPCC AR5 our understanding of GrIS SMB has further improved, but new observational and model studies have also revealed that temporal and spatial variability of many processes are still poorly quantified and understood, e.g. bio-albedo, the formation of ice lenses and their impact on lateral meltwater transport, heterogeneous vertical meltwater transport (‘piping’), the impact of atmospheric circulation changes and mixed-phase clouds on the surface energy balance and the magnitude of turbulent heat exchange over rough ice surfaces. As a result, these processes are only schematically or not at all included in models that are currently used to assess and predict future GrIS surface mass loss

Can climate models represent the precipitation associated with extratropical cyclones?

Extratropical cyclones produce the majority of precipitation in many regions of the extratropics. This study evaluates the ability of a climate model, HiGEM, to reproduce the precipitation associated with extratropical cyclones. The model is evaluated using the ERA-Interim reanalysis and GPCP dataset. The analysis employs a cyclone centred compositing technique, evaluates composites across a range of geographical areas and cyclone intensities and also investigates the ability of the model to reproduce the climatological distribution of cyclone associated precipitation across the Northern Hemisphere. Using this phenomena centred approach provides an ability to identify the processes which are responsible for climatological biases in the model. Composite precipitation intensities are found to be comparable when all cyclones across the Northern Hemisphere are included. When the cyclones are filtered by region or intensity, differences are found, in particular, HiGEM produces too much precipitation in its most intense cyclones relative to ERA-Interim and GPCP. Biases in the climatological distribution of cyclone associated precipitation are also found, with biases around the storm track regions associated with both the number of cyclones in HiGEM and also their average precipitation intensity. These results have implications for the reliability of future projections of extratropical precipitation from the model