It is shown that, particularly for terrestrial cellular telephony, the interference-suppression feature of CDMA (code division multiple access) can result in a many-fold increase in capacity over analog and even over competing digital techniques. A single-cell system, such as a hubbed satellite network, is addressed, and the basic expression for capacity is developed. The corresponding expressions for a multiple-cell system are derived. and the distribution on the number of users supportable per cell is determined. It is concluded that properly augmented and power-controlled multiple-cell CDMA promises a quantum increase in current cellular capacity. >

On the capacity of a cellular CDMA system

Advances in sensing and tracking technology enable location-based applications but they also create significant privacy risks. Anonymity can provide a high degree of privacy, save service users from dealing with service providers’ privacy policies, and reduce the service providers’ requirements for safeguarding private information. However, guaranteeing anonymous usage of location-based services requires that the precise location information transmitted by a user cannot be easily used to re-identify the subject. This paper presents a middleware architecture and algorithms that can be used by a centralized location broker service. The adaptive algorithms adjust the resolution of location information along spatial or temporal dimensions to meet specified anonymity constraints based on the entities who may be using location services within a given area. Using a model based on automotive traffic counts and cartographic material, we estimate the realistically expected spatial resolution for different anonymity constraints. The median resolution generated by our algorithms is 125 meters. Thus, anonymous location-based requests for urban areas would have the same accuracy currently needed for E-911 services; this would provide sufficient resolution for wayfinding, automated bus routing services and similar location-dependent services.

/pdf/anonymous-usage-of-location-based-services-through-spatial-4o8wvs27a8.pdf

Anonymous Usage of Location-Based Services Through Spatial and Temporal Cloaking

Space-time codes (STC) are a class of signaling techniques, offering coding and diversity gains along with improved spectral efficiency. These codes exploit both the spatial and the temporal diversity of the wireless link by combining the design of the error correction code, modulation scheme and array processing. STC are well suited for improving the downlink performance, which is the bottleneck in asymmetric applications such as downstream Internet. Three original contributions to the area of STC are presented in this dissertation. First, the development of analytic tools that determine the fundamental limits on the performance of STC in a variety of channel conditions. For trellis-type STC, transfer function based techniques are applied to derive performance bounds over Rayleigh, Rician and correlated fading environments. For block-type STC, an analytic framework that supports various complex orthogonal designs with arbitrary signal cardinalities and array configurations is developed. In the second part of the dissertation, the Virginia Tech Space-Time Advanced Radio (VT-STAR) is designed, introducing a multi-antenna hardware laboratory test bed, which facilitates characterization of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel and validation of various space-time approaches. In the third part of the dissertation, two novel space-time architectures paired with iterative processing principles are proposed. The first scheme extends the suitability of STC to outdoor wireless communications by employing iterative equalization/decoding for time dispersive channels and the second scheme employs iterative interference cancellation/decoding to solve the error propagation problem of Bell-Labs Layered Space-Time Architecture (BLAST). Results show that remarkable energy and spectral efficiencies are achievable by combining concepts drawn from space-time coding, multiuser detection, array processing and iterative decoding.

Space-Time Codes for High Data Rate Wireless Communications

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications refers to the idea equipping cellular base stations (BSs) with a very large number of antennas, and has been shown to potentially allow for orders of magnitude improvement in spectral and energy efficiency using relatively simple (linear) processing. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art research on the topic, which has recently attracted considerable attention. We begin with an information theoretic analysis to illustrate the conjectured advantages of massive MIMO, and then we address implementation issues related to channel estimation, detection and precoding schemes. We particularly focus on the potential impact of pilot contamination caused by the use of non-orthogonal pilot sequences by users in adjacent cells. We also analyze the energy efficiency achieved by massive MIMO systems, and demonstrate how the degrees of freedom provided by massive MIMO systems enable efficient single-carrier transmission. Finally, the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing massive MIMO in future wireless communications systems are discussed.

/pdf/an-overview-of-massive-mimo-benefits-and-challenges-5e3yrz2gcj.pdf

An Overview of Massive MIMO: Benefits and Challenges

In this paper we review the most peculiar and interesting information-theoretic and communications features of fading channels. We first describe the statistical models of fading channels which are frequently used in the analysis and design of communication systems. Next, we focus on the information theory of fading channels, by emphasizing capacity as the most important performance measure. Both single-user and multiuser transmission are examined. Further, we describe how the structure of fading channels impacts code design, and finally overview equalization of fading multipath channels.

/pdf/fading-channels-information-theoretic-and-communications-2ipqbail97.pdf

Fading channels: information-theoretic and communications aspects

With the advances in wireless communications and low-power electronics, accurate position location may now be accomplished by a number of techniques which involve commercial wireless services. Emerging position location systems, when used in conjunction with mobile communications services, will lead to enhanced public safety and revolutionary products and services. The fundamental technical challenges and business motivations behind wireless position location systems are described, and promising techniques for solving the practical position location problem are treated.

Position location using wireless communications on highways of the future

When the FCC created the rules for wireless Enhanced 911 (E-911) service, a flurry of research and development activities dedicated to locating the position of emergency callers followed. The current deadline for this capability is October 1, 2001. We review the unique challenges and some of the proposed approaches for each of the major wireless standards.

An overview of the challenges and progress in meeting the E-911 requirement for location service

A method for coherently detecting and decoding turbo-coded binary phase shift keying (BPSK) signals transmitted over frequency-flat fading channels is discussed. Estimates of the complex channel gain and variance of the additive noise are derived first from known pilot symbols and an estimation filter. After each iteration of turbo decoding, the channel estimates are refined using information fed back from the decoder. Both hard-decision and soft-decision feedback are considered and compared with three baseline turbo-coded systems: (1) a BPSK system that has perfect channel estimates; (2) a system that uses differential phase shift keying and hence needs no estimates; and (3) a system that performs channel estimation using pilot symbols but has no feedback path from decoder to estimator. Performance can be further improved by borrowing channel estimates from the previously decoded frame. Simulation results show the influence of pilot symbol spacing, estimation filter size and type, and fade rate. Performance within 0.49 and 1.16 dB of turbo-coded BPSK with perfect coherent detection is observed at a bit-error rate of 10/sup -4/ for normalized fade rates of f/sub d/T/sub s/=0.005 and f/sub d/T/sub s/=0.02, respectively.

/pdf/iterative-channel-estimation-and-decoding-of-pilot-symbol-2q4f8a41of.pdf

Iterative channel estimation and decoding of pilot symbol assisted turbo codes over flat-fading channels

This article proposes a simple stopping criterion for turbo decoding that extends the existing sign change ratio (SCR) technique. The new sign difference ratio (SDR) criterion counts the sign differences between the a priori information and the extrinsic information. Unlike the SCR, it requires no extra data storage. Simulations comparing the new technique with other well known stopping criteria show that the proposed SDR scheme achieves similar performance in terms of the bit error rate (BER), frame error rate (FER), and the average number of iterations, while requiring lower complexity. A GENIE scheme is included as the limit of all possible stopping criteria.

A simple stopping criterion for turbo decoding

Multiuser detection has gained significant notoriety as a potential advanced enabling technology for the next generation of CDMA systems. Due to the limitations of the conventional correlation receiver, the capacity of a single cell using CDMA is limited by self-interference and is subject to the near-far problem. To overcome these drawbacks, several advanced receiver structures have been proposed. Unlike the conventional receiver which treats multiple access interference (MAI) as if it were AWGN, multiuser receivers treat MAI as additional information to aid in detection. Although each of the multiuser types have been the subject of much literature, there is little published work comparing all structures on the basis of common assumptions. We present a comparison of five of the most discussed receiver structures: the decorrelator, the minimum mean square error (MMSE) receiver, the multistage parallel interference cancellation receiver, the successive interference cancellation receiver, and the decorrelating decision feedback receiver. Comparisons are based on both theoretical analysis and simulation results, examining bit error rate (BER) performance in AWGN, Rayleigh fading, and near/far channels. Additionally, receiver structures are compared on the basis of computational complexity as well as robustness to code phase misalignment. Finally, we present simulation results for noncoherent architectures of the aforementioned receivers.

Brian D. Woerner

Papers

Position location using wireless communications on highways of the future

An overview of the challenges and progress in meeting the E-911 requirement for location service

Iterative channel estimation and decoding of pilot symbol assisted turbo codes over flat-fading channels

A simple stopping criterion for turbo decoding

A simulation comparison of multiuser receivers for cellular CDMA