Linear Precoders for Non-Regenerative Asymmetric Two-way Relaying in Cellular Systems

Two-way relaying (TWR) reduces the spectral-efficiency loss caused in conventional half-duplex relaying. TWR is possible when two nodes exchange data simultaneously through a relay. In cellular systems, data exchange between base station (BS) and users is usually not simultaneous e.g., a user (TUE) has uplink data to transmit during multiple access (MAC) phase, but does not have downlink data to receive during broadcast (BC) phase. This non-simultaneous data exchange will reduce TWR to spectrally-inefficient conventional half-duplex relaying. With infrastructure relays, where multiple users communicate through a relay, a new transmission protocol is proposed to recover the spectral loss. The BC phase following the MAC phase of TUE is now used by the relay to transmit downlink data to another user (RUE). RUE will not be able to cancel the back-propagating interference. A structured precoder is designed at the multi-antenna relay to cancel this interference. With multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) nodes, the proposed precoder also triangulates the compound MAC and BC phase MIMO channels. The channel triangulation reduces the weighted sum-rate optimization to power allocation problem, which is then cast as a geometric program. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol over conventional solutions.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication

Hardware-Impaired Rician-Faded Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems With Channel Aging

We study the impact of channel aging on the uplink of a cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) system by considering i) spatially-correlated Rician-faded channels; ii) hardware impairments at the access points and user equipments (UEs); and iii) two-layer large-scale fading decoding (LSFD). We first derive a closed-form spectral efficiency (SE) expression for this system, and later propose two novel optimization techniques to optimize the non-convex SE metric by exploiting the minorization-maximization (MM) method. The first one requires a numerical optimization solver, and has a high computation complexity. The second one with closed-form transmit power updates, has a trivial computation complexity. We numerically show that i) the two-layer LSFD scheme effectively mitigates the interference due to channel aging for both low- and high-velocity UEs; and ii) increasing the number of AP antennas does not mitigate the SE deterioration due to channel aging. We numerically characterize the optimal pilot length required to maximize the SE for various UE speeds. We also numerically show that the proposed closed-form MM optimization yields the same SE as that of the first technique, which requires numerical solver, and that too with a much reduced time-complexity.Comment: This work has been submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Communications for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessible, 32 pages, 14 figure

Predictors of sleepiness in obstructive sleep apnoea at baseline and after 6 months of continuous positive airway pressure therapy

We evaluated factors associated with subjective and objective sleepiness at baseline and after 6 months of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).We analysed data from the Apnoea Positive Pressure Long-term Efficacy Study (APPLES), a prospective 6-month multicentre randomised controlled trial with 1105 subjects with OSA, 558 of who were randomised to active CPAP. Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) scores and the mean sleep latency (MSL) on the maintenance of wakefulness test at baseline and after 6 months of CPAP therapy were recorded.Excessive sleepiness (ESS score >10) was present in 543 (49.1%) participants. Younger age, presence of depression and higher apnoea-hypopnoea index were all associated with higher ESS scores and lower MSL. Randomisation to the CPAP group was associated with lower odds of sleepiness at 6 months. The prevalence of sleepiness was significantly lower in those using CPAP >4 h·night-1versus using CPAP ≤4 h·night-1 Among those with good CPAP adherence, those with ESS >10 at baseline had significantly higher odds (OR 8.2, p<0.001) of persistent subjective sleepiness.Lower average nightly CPAP use and presence of sleepiness at baseline were independently associated with excessive subjective and objective sleepiness after 6 months of CPAP therapy

Lack of impact of mild obstructive sleep apnea on sleepiness, mood and quality of life

Background and Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with sleepiness, depression and reduced quality of life. However, it is unclear whether mild OSA has these negative impacts. Using data from the Apnea Positive Pressure Long-term Efficacy Study (APPLES), this study determined whether participants with mild OSA had greater sleepiness, more depressive symptoms and poorer quality of life in comparison to those without OSA. Methods: 239 persons evaluated for participation in APPLES with a baseline apnea hypopnea index (AHI) < 15 /hour were assigned to 1 of 2 groups: No OSA (N=40, AHI < 5 /hour) or Mild OSA (N=199, 5 to <15 /hour) based on their screening polysomnogram. Scores on their Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), Profile of Mood States (POMS) and Sleep Apnea Quality of Life Index (SAQLI) were compared between groups. Results: There were no significant differences between the No OSA and Mild OSA groups on any of the 5 measures: ESS (No OSA, 9.8 + 3.5 vs Mild OSA, 10.6 + 4.3, p=0.26), SSS,(2.8 + 0.9 vs. 2.9 + 1.0, p=0.52), HAM-D (4.6 + 3.0 vs. 4.9 + 4.7, p=0.27), POMS (33.5 + 22.3 vs. 28.7 + 22.0, p=0.70), SAQLI (4.5 + 0.8 vs. 4.7 + 0.7, p=0.39). Conclusion: Individuals with mild OSA in this cohort do not have worse sleepiness, mood or quality of life in comparison to those without OSA