Terahertz (THz)-band communications are a key enabler for future-generation wireless communication systems that promise to integrate a wide range of data-demanding applications. Recent advancements in photonic, electronic, and plasmonic technologies are closing the gap in THz transceiver design. Consequently, prospect THz signal generation, modulation, and radiation methods are converging, and the corresponding channel model, noise, and hardware-impairment notions are emerging. Such progress paves the way for well-grounded research into THz-specific signal processing techniques for wireless communications. This tutorial overviews these techniques with an emphasis on ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (UM-MIMO) systems and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, which are vital to overcoming the distance problem at very high frequencies. We focus on the classical problems of waveform design and modulation, beamforming and precoding, index modulation, channel estimation, channel coding, and data detection. We also motivate signal processing techniques for THz sensing and localization.

An Overview of Signal Processing Techniques for Terahertz Communications

Terahertz (THz)-band communications are a key enabler for future-generation wireless communication systems that promise to integrate a wide range of data-demanding applications. Recent advances in photonic, electronic, and plasmonic technologies are closing the gap in THz transceiver design. Consequently, prospect THz signal generation, modulation, and radiation methods are converging, and corresponding channel model, noise, and hardware-impairment notions are emerging. Such progress establishes a foundation for well-grounded research into THz-specific signal processing techniques for wireless communications. This tutorial overviews these techniques, emphasizing ultramassive multiple-input–multiple-output (UM-MIMO) systems and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, vital for overcoming the distance problem at very high frequencies. We focus on the classical problems of waveform design and modulation, beamforming and precoding, index modulation, channel estimation, channel coding, and data detection. We also motivate signal processing techniques for THz sensing and localization.

Content addressable parallel processors

In order to facilitate flexible network service virtualization and migration, network functions (NFs) are increasingly executed by software modules as so-called “softwarized NFs” on General-Purpose Computing (GPC) platforms and infrastructures. GPC platforms are not specifically designed to efficiently execute NFs with their typically intense Input/Output (I/O) demands. Recently, numerous hardware-based accelerations have been developed to augment GPC platforms and infrastructures, e.g., the central processing unit (CPU) and memory, to efficiently execute NFs. This article comprehensively surveys hardware-accelerated platforms and infrastructures for executing softwarized NFs. This survey covers both commercial products, which we consider to be enabling technologies, as well as relevant research studies. We have organized the survey into the main categories of enabling technologies and research studies on hardware accelerations for the CPU, the memory, and the interconnects (e.g., between CPU and memory), as well as custom and dedicated hardware accelerators (that are embedded on the platforms); furthermore, we survey hardware-accelerated infrastructures that connect GPC platforms to networks (e.g., smart network interface cards). We find that the CPU hardware accelerations have mainly focused on extended instruction sets and CPU clock adjustments, as well as cache coherency. Hardware accelerated interconnects have been developed for on-chip and chip-to-chip connections. Our comprehensive up-to-date survey identifies the main trade-offs and limitations of the existing hardware-accelerated platforms and infrastructures for NFs and outlines directions for future research.

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Hardware-Accelerated Platforms and Infrastructures for Network Functions: A Survey of Enabling Technologies and Research Studies

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication in combination with massive multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) enables high-bandwidth data transmission to multiple users in the same time-frequency resource. The strong path loss of wave propagation at such high frequencies necessitates accurate channel state information to ensure reliable data transmission. We propose a novel channel estimation algorithm called BEAmspace CHannel EStimation (BEACHES), which leverages the fact that wave propagation at mmWave frequencies is predominantly directional. BEACHES adaptively denoises the channel vectors in the beamspace domain using an adaptive shrinkage procedure that relies on Stein’s unbiased risk estimator (SURE). Simulation results for line-of-sight (LoS) and non-LoS mmWave channels reveal that BEACHES performs on par with state-of-the-art channel estimation methods while requiring orders-of-magnitude lower complexity. To demonstrate the effectiveness of BEACHES in practice, we develop a very large-scale integration (VLSI) architecture and provide field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation results. Our results show that adaptive channel denoising can be performed at high throughput and in a hardware-friendly manner for massive MU-MIMO mmWave systems with hundreds of antennas.

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Beamspace Channel Estimation for Massive MIMO mmWave Systems: Algorithm and VLSI Design

Processing in memory (PIM) moves computation into memories with the goal of improving throughput and energy-efficiency compared to traditional von Neumann-based architectures. Most existing PIM architectures are either general-purpose but only support atomistic operations, or are specialized to accelerate a single task. We propose the Parallel Processor in Associative Content-addressable memory (PPAC), a novel in-memory accelerator that supports a range of matrix-vector-product (MVP)-like operations that find use in traditional and emerging applications. PPAC is, for example, able to accelerate low-precision neural networks, exact/approximate hash lookups, cryptography, and forward error correction. The fully-digital nature of PPAC enables its implementation with standard-cell-based CMOS, which facilitates automated design and portability among technology nodes. To demonstrate the efficacy of PPAC, we provide post-layout implementation results in 28nm CMOS for different array sizes. A comparison with recent digital and mixed-signal PIM accelerators reveals that PPAC is competitive in terms of throughput and energy-efficiency, while accelerating a wide range of applications and simplifying development.

PPAC: A Versatile In-Memory Accelerator for Matrix-Vector-Product-Like Operations

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication in combination with massive multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) enables high-bandwidth data transmission to multiple users in the same time-frequency resource. The strong path loss of wave propagation at such high frequencies necessitates accurate channel state information to ensure reliable data transmission. We propose a novel channel estimation algorithm called BEAmspace CHannel EStimation (BEACHES), which leverages the fact that wave propagation at mmWave frequencies is predominantly directional. BEACHES adaptively denoises the channel vectors in the beamspace domain using an adaptive shrinkage procedure that relies on Stein's unbiased risk estimator (SURE). Simulation results for line-of-sight (LoS) and non-LoS mmWave channels reveal that BEACHES performs on par with state-of-the-art channel estimation methods while requiring orders-of-magnitude lower complexity. To demonstrate the effectiveness of BEACHES in practice, we develop a very large-scale integration (VLSI) architecture and provide field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation results. Our results show that adaptive channel denoising can be performed at high throughput and in a hardware-friendly manner for massive MU-MIMO mmWave systems with hundreds of antennas.

Massive multi-antenna millimeter wave (mmWave) and terahertz wireless systems promise high-bandwidth communication to multiple user equipments in the same time-frequency resource. The high path loss of wave propagation at such frequencies and the fine-grained nature of beamforming with massive antenna arrays necessitates accurate channel estimation to fully exploit the advantages of such systems. In this paper, we propose BEAmspace CHannel EStimation (BEACHES), a low-complexity channel estimation algorithm for multi-antenna mmWave systems and beyond. BEACHES leverages the fact that wave propagation at high frequencies is directional, which enables us to denoise the (approximately) sparse channel state information in the beamspace domain. To avoid tedious parameter selection, BEACHES includes a computationally-efficient tuning stage that provably minimizes the mean-square error of the channel estimate in the large-antenna limit. To demonstrate the efficacy of BEACHES, we provide simulation results for line-of-sight (LoS) and non-LoS mmWave channel models.

/pdf/beaches-beamspace-channel-estimation-for-multi-antenna-hil1sx6nws.pdf

BEACHES: Beamspace Channel Estimation for Multi-Antenna mmWave Systems and Beyond

We propose sparsity-adaptive beamspace channel estimation algorithms that improve accuracy for 1-bit data converters in all-digital millimeter-wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) basestations. Our algorithms include a tuning stage based on Stein’s unbiased risk estimate (SURE) that automatically selects optimal denoising parameters depending on the instantaneous channel conditions. Simulation results with line-of-sight (LoS) and non-LoS mmWave massive MIMO channel models show that our algorithms improve channel estimation accuracy with 1-bit measurements in a computationally-efficient manner.

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Alexandra Gallyas-Sanhueza

Papers

Beamspace Channel Estimation for Massive MIMO mmWave Systems: Algorithm and VLSI Design

PPAC: A Versatile In-Memory Accelerator for Matrix-Vector-Product-Like Operations

Beamspace Channel Estimation for Massive MIMO mmWave Systems: Algorithm and VLSI Design

BEACHES: Beamspace Channel Estimation for Multi-Antenna mmWave Systems and Beyond

Sparsity-Adaptive Beamspace Channel Estimation for 1-Bit mmWave Massive MIMO Systems