Gerard J. Foschini

Bio: Gerard J. Foschini is an academic researcher from Bell Labs. The author has contributed to research in topics: Communication channel & MIMO. The author has an hindex of 43, co-authored 106 publications receiving 26244 citations. Previous affiliations of Gerard J. Foschini include Alcatel-Lucent.

Layered space-time architecture for wireless communication in a fading environment when using multi-element antennas

Abstract: This paper addresses digital communication in a Rayleigh fading environment when the channel characteristic is unknown at the transmitter but is known (tracked) at the receiver. Inventing a codec architecture that can realize a significant portion of the great capacity promised by information theory is essential to a standout long-term position in highly competitive arenas like fixed and indoor wireless. Use (n T , n R ) to express the number of antenna elements at the transmitter and receiver. An (n, n) analysis shows that despite the n received waves interfering randomly, capacity grows linearly with n and is enormous. With n = 8 at 1% outage and 21-dB average SNR at each receiving element, 42 b/s/Hz is achieved. The capacity is more than 40 times that of a (1, 1) system at the same total radiated transmitter power and bandwidth. Moreover, in some applications, n could be much larger than 8. In striving for significant fractions of such huge capacities, the question arises: Can one construct an (n, n) system whose capacity scales linearly with n, using as building blocks n separately coded one-dimensional (1-D) subsystems of equal capacity? With the aim of leveraging the already highly developed 1-D codec technology, this paper reports just such an invention. In this new architecture, signals are layered in space and time as suggested by a tight capacity bound.

V-BLAST: an architecture for realizing very high data rates over the rich-scattering wireless channel

Abstract: Information theory research has shown that the rich-scattering wireless channel is capable of enormous theoretical capacities if the multipath is properly exploited In this paper, we describe a wireless communication architecture known as vertical BLAST (Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time) or V-BLAST, which has been implemented in real-time in the laboratory Using our laboratory prototype, we have demonstrated spectral efficiencies of 20-40 bps/Hz in an indoor propagation environment at realistic SNRs and error rates To the best of our knowledge, wireless spectral efficiencies of this magnitude are unprecedented and are furthermore unattainable using traditional techniques

Fading correlation and its effect on the capacity of multielement antenna systems

Abstract: We investigate the effects of fading correlations in multielement antenna (MEA) communication systems. Pioneering studies showed that if the fades connecting pairs of transmit and receive antenna elements are independently, identically distributed, MEAs offer a large increase in capacity compared to single-antenna systems. An MEA system can be described in terms of spatial eigenmodes, which are single-input single-output subchannels. The channel capacity of an MEA is the sum of capacities of these subchannels. We show that the fading correlation affects the MEA capacity by modifying the distributions of the gains of these subchannels. The fading correlation depends on the physical parameters of MEA and the scatterer characteristics. In this paper, to characterize the fading correlation, we employ an abstract model, which is appropriate for modeling narrow-band Rayleigh fading in fixed wireless systems.

Capacity Limits of Optical Fiber Networks

Abstract: We describe a method to estimate the capacity limit of fiber-optic communication systems (or ?fiber channels?) based on information theory. This paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 reviews fundamental concepts of digital communications and information theory. We treat digitization and modulation followed by information theory for channels both without and with memory. We provide explicit relationships between the commonly used signal-to-noise ratio and the optical signal-to-noise ratio. We further evaluate the performance of modulation constellations such as quadrature-amplitude modulation, combinations of amplitude-shift keying and phase-shift keying, exotic constellations, and concentric rings for an additive white Gaussian noise channel using coherent detection. Part 2 is devoted specifically to the "fiber channel.'' We review the physical phenomena present in transmission over optical fiber networks, including sources of noise, the need for optical filtering in optically-routed networks, and, most critically, the presence of fiber Kerr nonlinearity. We describe various transmission scenarios and impairment mitigation techniques, and define a fiber channel deemed to be the most relevant for communication over optically-routed networks. We proceed to evaluate a capacity limit estimate for this fiber channel using ring constellations. Several scenarios are considered, including uniform and optimized ring constellations, different fiber dispersion maps, and varying transmission distances. We further present evidences that point to the physical origin of the fiber capacity limitations and provide a comparison of recent record experiments with our capacity limit estimation.

A simple distributed autonomous power control algorithm and its convergence

Abstract: For wireless cellular communication systems, one seeks a simple effective means of power control of signals associated with randomly dispersed users that are reusing a single channel in different cells. By effecting the lowest interference environment, in meeting a required minimum signal-to-interference ratio of rho per user, channel reuse is maximized. Distributed procedures for doing this are of special interest, since the centrally administered alternative requires added infrastructure, latency, and network vulnerability. Successful distributed powering entails guiding the evolution of the transmitted power level of each of the signals, using only focal measurements, so that eventually all users meet the rho requirement. The local per channel power measurements include that of the intended signal as well as the undesired interference from other users (plus receiver noise). For a certain simple distributed type of algorithm, whenever power settings exist for which all users meet the rho requirement, the authors demonstrate exponentially fast convergence to these settings. >

An application-specific protocol architecture for wireless microsensor networks

Abstract: Networking together hundreds or thousands of cheap microsensor nodes allows users to accurately monitor a remote environment by intelligently combining the data from the individual nodes. These networks require robust wireless communication protocols that are energy efficient and provide low latency. We develop and analyze low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH), a protocol architecture for microsensor networks that combines the ideas of energy-efficient cluster-based routing and media access together with application-specific data aggregation to achieve good performance in terms of system lifetime, latency, and application-perceived quality. LEACH includes a new, distributed cluster formation technique that enables self-organization of large numbers of nodes, algorithms for adapting clusters and rotating cluster head positions to evenly distribute the energy load among all the nodes, and techniques to enable distributed signal processing to save communication resources. Our results show that LEACH can improve system lifetime by an order of magnitude compared with general-purpose multihop approaches.

Space-time block codes from orthogonal designs

Abstract: We introduce space-time block coding, a new paradigm for communication over Rayleigh fading channels using multiple transmit antennas. Data is encoded using a space-time block code and the encoded data is split into n streams which are simultaneously transmitted using n transmit antennas. The received signal at each receive antenna is a linear superposition of the n transmitted signals perturbed by noise. Maximum-likelihood decoding is achieved in a simple way through decoupling of the signals transmitted from different antennas rather than joint detection. This uses the orthogonal structure of the space-time block code and gives a maximum-likelihood decoding algorithm which is based only on linear processing at the receiver. Space-time block codes are designed to achieve the maximum diversity order for a given number of transmit and receive antennas subject to the constraint of having a simple decoding algorithm. The classical mathematical framework of orthogonal designs is applied to construct space-time block codes. It is shown that space-time block codes constructed in this way only exist for few sporadic values of n. Subsequently, a generalization of orthogonal designs is shown to provide space-time block codes for both real and complex constellations for any number of transmit antennas. These codes achieve the maximum possible transmission rate for any number of transmit antennas using any arbitrary real constellation such as PAM. For an arbitrary complex constellation such as PSK and QAM, space-time block codes are designed that achieve 1/2 of the maximum possible transmission rate for any number of transmit antennas. For the specific cases of two, three, and four transmit antennas, space-time block codes are designed that achieve, respectively, all, 3/4, and 3/4 of maximum possible transmission rate using arbitrary complex constellations. The best tradeoff between the decoding delay and the number of transmit antennas is also computed and it is shown that many of the codes presented here are optimal in this sense as well.

Noncooperative Cellular Wireless with Unlimited Numbers of Base Station Antennas

Abstract: A cellular base station serves a multiplicity of single-antenna terminals over the same time-frequency interval. Time-division duplex operation combined with reverse-link pilots enables the base station to estimate the reciprocal forward- and reverse-link channels. The conjugate-transpose of the channel estimates are used as a linear precoder and combiner respectively on the forward and reverse links. Propagation, unknown to both terminals and base station, comprises fast fading, log-normal shadow fading, and geometric attenuation. In the limit of an infinite number of antennas a complete multi-cellular analysis, which accounts for inter-cellular interference and the overhead and errors associated with channel-state information, yields a number of mathematically exact conclusions and points to a desirable direction towards which cellular wireless could evolve. In particular the effects of uncorrelated noise and fast fading vanish, throughput and the number of terminals are independent of the size of the cells, spectral efficiency is independent of bandwidth, and the required transmitted energy per bit vanishes. The only remaining impairment is inter-cellular interference caused by re-use of the pilot sequences in other cells (pilot contamination) which does not vanish with unlimited number of antennas.

Convergence of Probability Measures

Abstract: Convergence of Probability Measures. By P. Billingsley. Chichester, Sussex, Wiley, 1968. xii, 253 p. 9 1/4“. 117s.