Transmit and Receive Signal Processing for MIMO Terrestrial Broadcast Systems

[EN] Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology in Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) networks has the potential to increase the spectral efficiency and improve network coverage to cope with the competition of limited spectrum use (e.g., assignment of digital dividend and spectrum demands of mobile broadband), the appearance of new high data rate services (e.g., ultra-high definition TV - UHDTV), and the ubiquity of the content (e.g., fixed, portable, and mobile). It is widely recognised that MIMO can provide multiple benefits such as additional receive power due to array gain, higher resilience against signal outages due to spatial diversity, and higher data rates due to the spatial multiplexing gain of the MIMO channel. These benefits can be achieved without additional transmit power nor additional bandwidth, but normally come at the expense of a higher system complexity at the transmitter and receiver ends. The final system performance gains due to the use of MIMO directly depend on physical characteristics of the propagation environment such as spatial correlation, antenna orientation, and/or power imbalances experienced at the transmit aerials. Additionally, due to complexity constraints and finite-precision arithmetic at the receivers, it is crucial for the overall system performance to carefully design specific signal processing algorithms. This dissertation focuses on transmit and received signal processing for DTT systems using MIMO-BICM (Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation) without feedback channel to the transmitter from the receiver terminals. At the transmitter side, this thesis presents investigations on MIMO precoding in DTT systems to overcome system degradations due to different channel conditions. At the receiver side, the focus is given on design and evaluation of practical MIMO-BICM receivers based on quantized information and its impact in both the in-chip memory size and system performance. These investigations are carried within the standardization process of DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld) the handheld evolution of DVB-T2 (Terrestrial - Second Generation), and ATSC 3.0 (Advanced Television Systems Committee - Third Generation), which incorporate MIMO-BICM as key technology to overcome the Shannon limit of single antenna communications. Nonetheless, this dissertation employs a generic approach in the design, analysis and evaluations, hence, the results and ideas can be applied to other wireless broadcast communication systems using MIMO-BICM.[ES] La tecnología de múltiples entradas y múltiples salidas (MIMO) en redes de Televisión Digital Terrestre (TDT) tiene el potencial de incrementar la eficiencia espectral y mejorar la cobertura de red para afrontar las demandas de uso del escaso espectro electromagnético (e.g., designación del dividendo digital y la demanda de espectro por parte de las redes de comunicaciones móviles), la aparición de nuevos contenidos de alta tasa de datos (e.g., ultra-high definition TV - UHDTV) y la ubicuidad del contenido (e.g., fijo, portable y móvil). Es ampliamente reconocido que MIMO puede proporcionar múltiples beneficios como: potencia recibida adicional gracias a las ganancias de array, mayor robustez contra desvanecimientos de la señal gracias a la diversidad espacial y mayores tasas de transmisión gracias a la ganancia por multiplexado del canal MIMO. Estos beneficios se pueden conseguir sin incrementar la potencia transmitida ni el ancho de banda, pero normalmente se obtienen a expensas de una mayor complejidad del sistema tanto en el transmisor como en el receptor. Las ganancias de rendimiento finales debido al uso de MIMO dependen directamente de las características físicas del entorno de propagación como: la correlación entre los canales espaciales, la orientación de las antenas y/o los desbalances de potencia sufridos en las antenas transmisoras. Adicionalmente, debido a restricciones en la complejidad y aritmética de precisión finita en los receptores, es fundamental para el rendimiento global del sistema un diseño cuidadoso de algoritmos específicos de procesado de señal. Esta tesis doctoral se centra en el procesado de señal, tanto en el transmisor como en el receptor, para sistemas TDT que implementan MIMO-BICM (Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation) sin canal de retorno hacia el transmisor desde los receptores. En el transmisor esta tesis presenta investigaciones en precoding MIMO en sistemas TDT para superar las degradaciones del sistema debidas a diferentes condiciones del canal. En el receptor se presta especial atención al diseño y evaluación de receptores prácticos MIMO-BICM basados en información cuantificada y a su impacto tanto en la memoria del chip como en el rendimiento del sistema. Estas investigaciones se llevan a cabo en el contexto de estandarización de DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld), la evolución portátil de DVB-T2 (Second Generation Terrestrial), y ATSC 3.0 (Advanced Television Systems Commitee - Third Generation) que incorporan MIMO-BICM como clave tecnológica para superar el límite de Shannon para comunicaciones con una única antena. No obstante, esta tesis doctoral emplea un método genérico tanto para el diseño, análisis y evaluación, por lo que los resultados e ideas pueden ser aplicados a otros sistemas de comunicación inalámbricos que empleen MIMO-BICM.[CA] La tecnologia de múltiples entrades i múltiples eixides (MIMO) en xarxes de Televisió Digital Terrestre (TDT) té el potencial d'incrementar l'eficiència espectral i millorar la cobertura de xarxa per a afrontar les demandes d'ús de l'escàs espectre electromagnètic (e.g., designació del dividend digital i la demanda d'espectre per part de les xarxes de comunicacions mòbils), l'aparició de nous continguts d'alta taxa de dades (e.g., ultra-high deffinition TV - UHDTV) i la ubiqüitat del contingut (e.g., fix, portàtil i mòbil). És àmpliament reconegut que MIMO pot proporcionar múltiples beneficis com: potència rebuda addicional gràcies als guanys de array, major robustesa contra esvaïments del senyal gràcies a la diversitat espacial i majors taxes de transmissió gràcies al guany per multiplexat del canal MIMO. Aquests beneficis es poden aconseguir sense incrementar la potència transmesa ni l'ample de banda, però normalment s'obtenen a costa d'una major complexitat del sistema tant en el transmissor com en el receptor. Els guanys de rendiment finals a causa de l'ús de MIMO depenen directament de les característiques físiques de l'entorn de propagació com: la correlació entre els canals espacials, l'orientació de les antenes, i/o els desequilibris de potència patits en les antenes transmissores. Addicionalment, a causa de restriccions en la complexitat i aritmètica de precisió finita en els receptors, és fonamental per al rendiment global del sistema un disseny acurat d'algorismes específics de processament de senyal. Aquesta tesi doctoral se centra en el processament de senyal tant en el transmissor com en el receptor per a sistemes TDT que implementen MIMO-BICM (Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation) sense canal de tornada cap al transmissor des dels receptors. En el transmissor aquesta tesi presenta recerques en precoding MIMO en sistemes TDT per a superar les degradacions del sistema degudes a diferents condicions del canal. En el receptor es presta especial atenció al disseny i avaluació de receptors pràctics MIMO-BICM basats en informació quantificada i al seu impacte tant en la memòria del xip com en el rendiment del sistema. Aquestes recerques es duen a terme en el context d'estandardització de DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld), l'evolució portàtil de DVB-T2 (Second Generation Terrestrial), i ATSC 3.0 (Advanced Television Systems Commitee - Third Generation) que incorporen MIMO-BICM com a clau tecnològica per a superar el límit de Shannon per a comunicacions amb una única antena. No obstant açò, aquesta tesi doctoral empra un mètode genèric tant per al disseny, anàlisi i avaluació, per la qual cosa els resultats i idees poden ser aplicats a altres sistemes de comunicació sense fils que empren MIMO-BICM.Vargas Paredero, DE. (2016). Transmit and Receive Signal Processing for MIMO Terrestrial Broadcast Systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/66081TESISPremiad

MIMO for DVB-NGH, the next generation mobile TV broadcasting

DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld) is the next generation technology for mobile TV broadcasting, which has been developed by the DVB project with the most advanced transmission technologies. DVB-NGH is the first broadcasting standard to incorporate multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) as the key technology to overcome the Shannon limit of single antenna communications. MIMO techniques can be used to improve the robustness of the transmitted signal by exploiting the spatial diversity of the MIMO channel, but also to achieve increased data rates through spatial multiplexing. This article describes the benefits of MIMO that motivated its incorporation in DVB-NGH, reviews the MIMO schemes adopted, and discusses some aspects related to the deployment of MIMO networks in DVB-NGH. The article also provides a feature comparison with the multi-antenna techniques for 3GGP's LTE/LTE-Advanced for cellular networks. Finally, physical layer simulation results calibrated within the DVB-NGH standardization process are provided to illustrate the gain of MIMO for the next generation of mobile TV broadcasting.Vargas Paredero, DE.; Gozálvez Serrano, D.; Gómez Barquero, D.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2013). MIMO for DVB-NGH, the next generation mobile TV broadcasting. IEEE Communications Magazine. 51(7):130-137. doi:10.1109/MCOM.2013.6553689S13013751

Combined time, frequency and space diversity in DVB-NGH

“© 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”In this paper, we investigate the combined use of time, frequency, and space diversity in DVB-NGH, the next generation mobile broadcasting standard. Compared to current standards like DVB-H or DVB-SH, the largest improvement in next generation systems is expected to be achieved by means of better diversity in the time, frequency, and space domains. In this sense, DVB-NGH is the first broadcasting system to exploit the use of diversity in the three domains by incorporating at the physical layer long time interleaving (TI), time-frequency slicing (TFS), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). This paper investigates the gains of using time, frequency, and space diversity in DVB-NGH, as well as the mutual influence between the different types of diversity. To this purpose, we employ an information-theoretic approach based on the outage capacity of the channel in addition to physical layer simulations.Gozálvez Serrano, D.; Gómez Barquero, D.; Vargas Paredero, DE.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2013). Combined time, frequency and space diversity in DVB-NGH. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 59(4):674-684. doi:10.1109/TBC.2013.2281665S67468459

Multi Antenna Techniques for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Systems

In this paper we describe the potential of multi-antenna techniques (MIMO) in the context of digital video broadcasting (DVB) systems. DVB standards have been challenged by the increasing demand of high data rate applications and larger indoor coverage area. MIMO is a key technology to increase the system capacity and link reliability without any additional bandwidth or transmit signal power. The Mobile Communications Group of iTEAM research institute has been actively participating in the standardization process of the next generation of mobile TV broadcasting DVB-NGH (digital video broadcasting – next generation handheld) for the validation of the various MIMO signaling techniques. In this paper, we describe the benefits in the utilization of MIMO and its application to DVB standards, i.e. DVB-NGH and DVB-T2 (Terrestrial 2nd generation). Following a description of the transmission techniques adopted for the DVB-NGH specification, we furthermore provide theoretical and physical layer simulation results to illustrate the performance gains of MIMO in various channel models.Vargas Paredero, DE.; Gozálvez Serrano, D.; Gómez Barquero, D.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2012). Multi Antenna Techniques for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Systems. Waves. (4):79-88. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/56484S7988

Low complexity iterative MIMO receivers for DVB-NGH using soft MMSE and quantized log-likelihood ratios

[ES] La tesina desarrolla un procesado de señal para receptores MIMO para el estándar TDT de nueva generación móvil DVB-NGH que explota las ganancias aportadas por la decodificación iterativa, pero además reduce considerablemente la complexidad mediante el uso de equalizadores MMSE con entradas a priori y log-likelihood ratios cuantificadas.[EN] DVB-NGH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Next Generation Handheld) is the next generation standard of mobile TV based on the second generation of terrestrial digital television DVB-T2 (Terrestrial 2nd Generation). The introduction of multi-antenna techniques (MIMO) is a key technology to provide a significant increase in system capacity and network coverage area. The gain obtained with MIMO can be further increased with the combination of iterative decoding (exchange of extrinsic information between channel decoder and MIMO demapper) but the combination of both techniques increases considerably the receiver complexity making in some cases its real implementation inaccessible. This thesis proposes a signal processing algorithm which exploits the benefits of iterative decoding for DVB-NGH MIMO receivers but moreover significantly reduces the receiver complexity. The signal processing is based on MMSE equalization with a priori inputs and quantized log-likelihood ratios. Finally, we provide performance simulation results under mobile vehicular NGH channel model with 60 km/h to show the potential of developed algorithm.Vargas Paredero, DE. (2012). Low complexity iterative MIMO receivers for DVB-NGH using soft MMSE and quantized log-likelihood ratios. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/27273.Archivo delegad