Showing papers in "IEEE Transactions on Communications in 1998"

Spatio-temporal coding for wireless communication

Abstract: Multipath signal propagation has long been viewed as an impairment to reliable communication in wireless channels. This paper shows that the presence of multipath greatly improves achievable data rate if the appropriate communication structure is employed. A compact model is developed for the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) dispersive spatially selective wireless communication channel. The multivariate information capacity is analyzed. For high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions, the MIMO channel can exhibit a capacity slope in bits per decibel of power increase that is proportional to the minimum of the number multipath components, the number of input antennas, or the number of output antennas. This desirable result is contrasted with the lower capacity slope of the well-studied case with multiple antennas at only one side of the radio link. A spatio-temporal vector-coding (STVC) communication structure is suggested as a means for achieving MIMO channel capacity. The complexity of STVC motivates a more practical reduced-complexity discrete matrix multitone (DMMT) space-frequency coding approach. Both of these structures are shown to be asymptotically optimum. An adaptive-lattice trellis-coding technique is suggested as a method for coding across the space and frequency dimensions that exist in the DMMT channel. Experimental examples that support the theoretical results are presented.

Robust channel estimation for OFDM systems with rapid dispersive fading channels

Abstract: Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation is a promising technique for achieving the high bit rates required for a wireless multimedia service. Without channel estimation and tracking, OFDM systems have to use differential phase-shift keying (DPSK), which has a 3-dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss compared with coherent phase-shift keying (PSK). To improve the performance of OFDM systems by using coherent PSK, we investigate robust channel estimation for OFDM systems. We derive a minimum mean-square-error (MMSE) channel estimator, which makes full use of the time- and frequency-domain correlations of the frequency response of time-varying dispersive fading channels. Since the channel statistics are usually unknown, we also analyze the mismatch of the estimator-to-channel statistics and propose a robust channel estimator that is insensitive to the channel statistics. The robust channel estimator can significantly improve the performance of OFDM systems in a rapid dispersive fading channel.

Near-optimum decoding of product codes: block turbo codes

Abstract: This paper describes an iterative decoding algorithm for any product code built using linear block codes. It is based on soft-input/soft-output decoders for decoding the component codes so that near-optimum performance is obtained at each iteration. This soft-input/soft-output decoder is a Chase decoder which delivers soft outputs instead of binary decisions. The soft output of the decoder is an estimation of the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) of the binary decisions given by the Chase decoder. The theoretical justifications of this algorithm are developed and the method used for computing the soft output is fully described. The iterative decoding of product codes is also known as the block turbo code (BTC) because the concept is quite similar to turbo codes based on iterative decoding of concatenated recursive convolutional codes. The performance of different Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH)-BTCs are given for the Gaussian and the Rayleigh channel. Performance on the Gaussian channel indicates that data transmission at 0.8 dB of Shannon's limit or more than 98% (R/C>0.98) of channel capacity can be achieved with high-code-rate BTC using only four iterations. For the Rayleigh channel, the slope of the bit-error rate (BER) curve is as steep as for the Gaussian channel without using channel state information.

Adaptive coded modulation for fading channels

Abstract: We apply coset codes to adaptive modulation in fading channels. Adaptive modulation is a powerful technique to improve the energy efficiency and increase the data rate over a fading channel. Coset codes are a natural choice to use with adaptive modulation since the channel coding and modulation designs are separable. Therefore, trellis and lattice codes designed for additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels can be superimposed on adaptive modulation for fading channels, with the same approximate coding gains. We first describe the methodology for combining coset codes with a general class of adaptive modulation techniques. We then apply this methodology to a spectrally efficient adaptive M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) to obtain trellis-coded adaptive MQAM. We present analytical and simulation results for this design which show an effective coding gain of 3 dB relative to uncoded adaptive MQAM for a simple four-state trellis code, and an effective 3.6-dB coding gain for an eight-state trellis code. More complex trellis codes are shown to achieve higher gains. We also compare the performance of trellis-coded adaptive MQAM to that of coded modulation with built-in time diversity and fixed-rate modulation. The adaptive method exhibits a power savings of up to 20 dB.

Improved parallel interference cancellation for CDMA

Abstract: This paper introduces an improved nonlinear parallel interference cancellation scheme for code-division multiple access (CDMA) that significantly reduces the degrading effect on the desired user of interference from the other users that share the channel. The implementation complexity of the scheme is linear in the number of users and operates on the fact that parallel processing simultaneously removes from each user a part of the interference produced by the remaining users accessing the channel the amount being proportional to their reliability. The parallel processing can be done in multiple stages. The proposed scheme uses tentative decision devices at the multiple stages to produce the most reliably estimated received data for generation and cancellation of user interference. Simulation results are given for a multitude of different situations, in particular, those cases for which the analysis is too complex.

Algorithms for automatic modulation recognition of communication signals

Abstract: This paper introduces two algorithms for analog and digital modulations recognition. The first algorithm utilizes the decision-theoretic approach in which a set of decision criteria for identifying different types of modulations is developed. In the second algorithm the artificial neural network (ANN) is used as a new approach for the modulation recognition process. Computer simulations of different types of band-limited analog and digitally modulated signals corrupted by band-limited Gaussian noise sequences have been carried out to measure the performance of the developed algorithms. In the decision-theoretic algorithm it is found that the overall success rate is over 94% at the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 15 dB, while in the ANN algorithm the overall success rate is over 96% at the SNR of 15 dB.

Joint optimal power control and beamforming in wireless networks using antenna arrays

Abstract: The interference reduction capability of antenna arrays and the power control algorithms have been considered separately as means to increase the capacity in wireless communication networks. The minimum variance distortionless response beamformer maximizes the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) when it is employed in the receiver of a wireless link. In a system with omnidirectional antennas, power control algorithms are used to maximize the SINR as well. We consider a system with beamforming capabilities in the receiver, and power control. An iterative algorithm is proposed to jointly update the transmission powers and the beamformer weights so that it converges to the jointly optimal beamforming and transmission power vector. The algorithm is distributed and uses only local interference measurements. In an uplink transmission scenario, it is shown how base assignment can be incorporated in addition to beamforming and power control, such that a globally optimum solution is obtained. The network capacity and the saving in mobile power are evaluated through numerical study.

Blind equalization and multiuser detection in dispersive CDMA channels

Abstract: The problem of blind demodulation of multiuser information symbols in a high-rate code-division multiple-access (CDMA) network in the presence of both multiple-access interference (MAI) and intersymbol interference (ISI) is considered. The dispersive CDMA channel is first cast into a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) signal model framework. By applying the theory of blind MIMO channel identification and equalization, it is then shown that under certain conditions the multiuser information symbols can be recovered without any prior knowledge of the channel or the users' signature waveforms (including the desired user's signature waveform), although the algorithmic complexity of such an approach is prohibitively high. However, in practice, the signature waveform of the user of interest is always available at the receiver. It is shown that by incorporating this knowledge, the impulse response of each user's dispersive channel can be identified using a subspace method. It is further shown that based on the identified signal subspace parameters and the channel response, two linear detectors that are capable of suppressing both MAI and ISI, i.e., a zero-forcing detector and a minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) detector, can be constructed in closed form, at almost no extra computational cost. Data detection can then be furnished by applying these linear detectors (obtained blindly) to the received signal. The major contribution of this paper is the development of these subspace-based blind techniques for joint suppression of MAI and ISI in the dispersive CDMA channels.

An iterative multiuser decoder for near-capacity communications

Abstract: The combination of forward error correction (FEC) coding and random interleaving is shown to overcome the limitations of multiuser detectors/decoders when the user cross correlations are high. In particular, one can asymptotically achieve single-user performance in a highly correlated multiuser system. In addition, an optimal iterative multiuser detector is derived from iterative techniques for cross-entropy minimization. A practical suboptimal implementation of this algorithm is presented, and simulations demonstrate that, even with highly correlated users, it achieves optimal asymptotic efficiency. The effects of the theoretical limits on channel capacity are evident in many of the simulation results. The complexity of the suboptimal algorithm is approximately (O(2/sup K/)+O(2/sup /spl kappa//)) per bit per iteration where K is the number of users and /spl kappa/ is the code constraint length.

Iterative multiuser detection for CDMA with FEC: near-single-user performance

Abstract: This paper introduces an iterative multiuser receiver for direct sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) with forward error control (FEC) coding. The receiver is derived from the maximum a posteriori (MAP) criterion for the joint received signal, but uses only single-user decoders. Iterations of the system are used to improve performance, with dramatic effects. Single-user turbo code decoders are utilized as the FEC system and a complexity study is presented. Simulation results show that the performance approaches single-user performance even for moderate signal-to-noise ratios.

Measurements and models for radio path loss and penetration loss in and around homes and trees at 5.85 GHz

Abstract: This paper contains measured data and empirical models for 5.85-GHz radio propagation path loss in and around residential areas for the newly allocated U.S. National Information Infrastructure (NII) band. Three homes and two stands of trees were studied for outdoor path loss, tree loss, and house penetration loss in a narrow-band measurement campaign that included 270 local area path loss measurements and over 276000 instantaneous power measurements. Outdoor transmitters at a height of 5.5 m were placed at distances between 30 and 210 m from the homes, to simulate typical neighborhood base stations mounted atop utility poles. All path loss data are presented graphically and coupled with site-specific information. We develop measurement-based path loss models for propagation prediction. The measurements and models may aid the development of futuristic outdoor-to-indoor residential communication systems for wireless Internet access, wireless cable distribution, and wireless local loops.

Objective picture quality scale (PQS) for image coding

Abstract: A new methodology for the determination of an objective metric for still image coding is reported. This methodology is applied to obtain a picture quality scale (PQS) for the coding of achromatic images over the full range of image quality defined by the subjective mean opinion score (MOS). This PQS takes into account the properties of visual perception for both global features and localized disturbances. The PQS closely approximates the MOS, with a correlation coefficient of more than 0.92, as compared to 0.57 obtained using the conventional weighted mean-square error (WMSE). Extensions and applications of the methodology and of the resulting metric are discussed.

On the effect of Wiener phase noise in OFDM systems

Abstract: Multicarrier modulation exhibits a significant sensitivity to the phase noise of the oscillator used for frequency down-conversion at the portable receiver. For this reason, it is important to evaluate the impact of the phase noise on the system performance. We present an accurate method to determine the error probability of an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system in the presence of phase noise. In particular, four modulation schemes are analyzed and their performances are compared.

SNR mismatch and online estimation in turbo decoding

Abstract: Iterative decoding of turbo codes, as well as other concatenated coding schemes of similar nature, requires knowledge of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the channel so that proper blending of the a posteriori information of the separate decoders is achieved. We study the sensitivity of decoder performance to misestimation of the SNR, and propose a simple online scheme that estimates the unknown SNR from each code block, prior to decoding. We show that this scheme is sufficiently adequate in accuracy to not appreciably degrade the performance.

Theoretical reliability of MMSE linear diversity combining in Rayleigh-fading additive interference channels

Abstract: We derive an exact closed-form solution for the reliability of an ideal M-branch MMSE (minimum mean-squared error) diversity combiner operating in a Rayleigh-fading channel with N interferers, each having some specified average power. The reliability is defined as the probability, taken over fading of the desired and interfering signals, that the combiner's output signal-to-interference ratio (SINR) is greater than some specified threshold. This kind of metric is important in evaluating the potential capacity improvements of using diversity combining and adaptive array processing in interference-limited wireless systems. Our result is remarkably simple, fast, straightforward to compute, and numerically stable. We show a set of special cases, which relate to standard results and reveal valuable insights into how this type of array processing operates in interference-limited environments. We also present a set of numerical examples, which show that our calculated reliabilities agree with estimates from Monte Carlo simulation.

Performance enhancement of spectral-amplitude-coding optical CDMA using pulse-position modulation

Abstract: Spectral-amplitude-coding optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) systems are limited by interference between incoherent sources. A detailed analysis of this limit for a system with a balanced receiver is presented. Additional pulse-position modulation (PPM) coding is proposed as a method to improve the system performance beyond this limit. A simple and robust PPM decoding structure is proposed, and the performance analysis of the whole PPM-OCDMA system is presented. The interference-limited performance of the PPM-OCDMA system is found to be superior to that of the original system when the number of simultaneous users is of the order of the PPM word length or larger. In particular, for a PPM word length of two, an increase in spectral efficiency of up to 100% is possible with no change in the signaling rate, data rate, or bit-error rate (BER).

Transmitter precoding in synchronous multiuser communications

Abstract: A synchronous multiuser system operating in an additive white Gaussian noise channel, with or without multipath fading, is considered. It is shown that when either a conventional single user receiver or the RAKE receiver is employed, both multiple access and intersymbol interference can be eliminated by means of a suitable transmitter precoding scheme. Transmitter precoding represents a linear transformation of transmitted signals, such that the mean squared errors at all receivers are minimized. Precoding, with both conventional single user receiver and with the RAKE receiver, results in near-far resistant performance and outperforms considerably the respective schemes without precoding. The crucial assumption, in the multipath case, is that the transmitter knows the multipath characteristics of all channels and that channel dynamics are sufficiently slow so that multipath profiles remain essentially constant over the block of precoded bits.

Stochastic power control for cellular radio systems

Abstract: For wireless communication systems, iterative power control algorithms have been proposed to minimize the transmitter power while maintaining reliable communication between mobiles and base stations. To derive deterministic convergence results, these algorithms require perfect measurements of one or more of the following parameters: (1) the mobile's signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) at the receiver; (2) the interference experienced by the mobile; and (3) the bit-error rate. However, these quantities are often difficult to measure and deterministic convergence results neglect the effect of stochastic measurements. We develop distributed iterative power control algorithms that use readily available measurements. Two classes of power control algorithms are proposed. Since the measurements are random, the proposed algorithms evolve stochastically and we define the convergence in terms of the mean-squared error (MSE) of the power vector from the optimal power vector that is the solution of a feasible deterministic power control problem. For the first class of power control algorithms using fixed step size sequences, we obtain finite lower and upper bounds for the MSE by appropriate selection of the step size. We also show that these bounds go to zero, implying convergence in the MSE sense, as the step size goes to zero. For the second class of power control algorithms, which are based on the stochastic approximations method and use time-varying step size sequences, we prove that the MSE goes to zero. Both classes of algorithms are distributed in the sense that each user needs only to know its own channel gain to its assigned base station and its own matched filter output at its assigned base station to update its power.

Error statistics in data transmission over fading channels

Abstract: We investigate the behavior of block errors which arise in data transmission on fading channels. Our approach takes into account the details of the specific coding/modulation scheme and tracks the fading process symbol by symbol. It is shown that a Markov approximation for the block error process (possibly degenerating into an identically distributed (i.i.d.) process for sufficiently fast fading) is a good model for a broad range of parameters. Also, it is observed that the relationship between the marginal error rate and the transition probability is largely insensitive to parameters such as block length, degree of forward error correction and modulation format, and depends essentially on an appropriately normalized version of the Doppler frequency. This relationship can therefore be computed in the simple case of a threshold model and then used more generally as an accurate approximation. This observation leads to a unified approach for the channel modeling, and to a simplified performance analysis of upper layer protocols.

Doppler characterization for LEO satellites

Abstract: Mobile ground-based terminals observe significant Doppler on the forward channel when communicating through low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. This paper deals with the analytic derivation of the Doppler shift measured by a user on the surface of Earth on a signal transmitted by a circular orbit LEO satellite. Two simplifications are performed to obtain the analytical expression of the Doppler shift as a function of time. First, during the visibility duration of the satellite at a terminal, the trajectory of the satellite with respect to the Earth is approximated by a great circle arc. Second, the angular velocity of the satellite with respect to the user is assumed to be constant. Numerical results validate the approximations. Another result of our analysis is an expression for the visibility window duration of a satellite at a terminal as a function of the maximum elevation angle. An algorithm for estimating the parameters of the Doppler curve based on a couple of Doppler and Doppler-rate measurements is also presented.

Some new twists to problems involving the Gaussian probability integral

Abstract: Using an alternate form of the Gaussian probability integral discovered a number of years ago, it is shown that the solution to a number of previously considered communication problems can be simplified and, in some cases, made more accurate (i.e. exact rather than bounded). These problems include the evaluation of: (1) the bit-error probability of uncoded phase shift keying (PSK) with Costas loop tracking; (2) word-error probability of antipodal modulation in the presence of fading; (3) bit-error probability of coded M-ary PSK (MPSK) over the memoryless fading channel with given channel-state information; (4) conditional symbol-error probability of MPSK in the presence of carrier synchronization error; and (5) the average error probability for the binary additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) intersymbol interference channel. Also obtained is a generalization of this new alternate form to the case of a two-dimensional Gaussian probability integral with arbitrary correlation which can be used to evaluate the symbol-error probability of MPSK with I-Q unbalance.

Successive interference cancellation for multiuser asynchronous DS/CDMA detectors in multipath fading links

Abstract: There has been an increasing interest in the use of code-division multiple access (CDMA) in cellular mobile and wireless personal communications. The choice of such multiaccess technique is attractive because of its potential capacity increases and other technical factors such as privacy and multipath rejection capabilities. However, it is well known that the performance of CDMA can be significantly degraded due to cochannel interference (CI) and the near-far effects. We consider the performance of direct-sequence (DS)-based CDMA over fading channels that are modeled as slowly varying Rayleigh-fading discrete multipath channels. Specifically, we propose and analyze an adaptive multistage interference cancellation strategy for the demodulation of asynchronous DS spread-spectrum multiple-access signals. Numerical results show that the proposed multistage detector, which alleviates the detrimental effects of the near-far problem, can significantly improve the system performance.

A unified approach to the probability of error for noncoherent and differentially coherent modulations over generalized fading channels

Abstract: We present a unified approach to determine the exact bit error rate (BER) of noncoherent and differentially coherent modulations with single and multichannel reception over additive white Gaussian noise and generalized fading channels. The multichannel reception results assume independent fading in the channels and are applicable to systems that employ post-detection equal gain combining. Our approach relies on an alternate form of the Marcum Q-function and leads to expressions of the BER involving a single finite-range integral which can be readily evaluated numerically. Aside from unifying the past results, the new approach also allows for a more general solution to the problem in that it includes many situations that in the past defied a simple solution. The best example of this occurs for multichannel reception where the fading on each channel need not be identically distributed nor even distributed according to the same family of distributions.

The modified Cramer-Rao bound in vector parameter estimation

Abstract: In this paper we extend the scalar modified Cramer-Rao bound (MCRB) to the estimation of a vector of nonrandom parameters in the presence of nuisance parameters. The resulting bound is denoted with the acronym MCRVB, where "V" stands for "vector". As with the scalar bound, the MCRVB is generally looser than the conventional CRVB, but the two bounds are shown to coincide in some situations of practical interest. The MCRVB is applied to the joint estimation of carrier frequency, phase, and symbol epoch of a linearly modulated waveform corrupted by correlated impulsive noise (encompassing white Gaussian noise as a particular case), wherein data symbols and noise power are regarded as nuisance parameters. In this situation, calculation of the conventional CRVB is infeasible, while application of the MCRVB leads to simple useful expressions with moderate analytical effort. When specialized to the case of white Gaussian noise, the MCRVB yields results already available in the literature in fragmentary form and simplified contexts.

Frequency offset and symbol timing recovery in flat-fading channels: a cyclostationary approach

Abstract: Two open-loop algorithms are developed for estimating jointly frequency offset and symbol timing of a linearly modulated waveform transmitted through a frequency-flat fading channel. The methods exploit the received signal's second-order cyclostationarity and, with respect to existing solutions: (1) they take into account the presence of time-selective fading effects; (2) they do not need training data; (3) they do not rely on the Gaussian assumption of the complex equivalent low-pass channel process; and (4) they are tolerant to additive stationary noise of any color or distribution. Performance analysis of the proposed methods using Monte Carlo simulations, unifications, and comparisons with existing approaches are also reported.

Error protection for progressive image transmission over memoryless and fading channels

Abstract: Product channel codes are proposed to protect progressively compressed and packetized images for noisy channels. Within packets, the product code uses the concatenation of a rate-compatible punctured convolutional code and an error detecting parity check code. Across packets, Reed-Solomon codes are used. Benefits include flexible choice of delay, adaptability of error protection level (i.e., unequal error protection), and scalable decoding complexity. The system outperforms the best known image coders for memoryless channels and performs well on fading channels.

A statistical basis for lognormal shadowing effects in multipath fading channels

Abstract: Empirical justifications for the lognormal, Rayleigh and Suzuki (1977) probability density functions in multipath fading channels are examined by quantifying the rates of convergence of the central limit theorem (CLT) for the addition and multiplication of random variables. The accuracy of modeling the distribution of rays which experience multiple reflections/diffractions between transmitter and receiver as lognormal is quantified. In addition, it is shown that the vector sum of lognormal rays, such as in a narrow-band signal envelope, may best be approximated as being either Rayleigh, lognormal or Suzuki distributed depending on the fading channel conditions. These conditions are defined statistically.

Performance enhancement through joint detection of cochannel signals using diversity arrays

Abstract: Joint detection based on exploiting differences among the channels employed by several users allows a receiver to distinguish cochannel signals without reliance on spectrum spreading. This paper makes a number of new contributions to the topic; it provides an analytical expression for the union bound on the average symbol-error rate for an arbitrary number of users and diversity antennas in a fading environment, for both perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI), and it compares the performance of joint detection with diversity antennas against classical minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) combining. The performance is remarkable. With accurate CSI, several users can experience good performance with only a single antenna; moreover, for perfect CSI, only a 2-dB penalty is incurred for each additional user. With several antennas, many more users than the number of antennas may be supported with a slow degradation in performance for each additional user. Furthermore, high accuracy is not required from the channel estimation process. In all cases, the performance of joint detection exceeds that of MMSE combining by orders of magnitude.

A search for good convolutional codes to be used in the construction of turbo codes

Abstract: Recursive systematic convolutional encoders have been shown to play a crucial role in the design of turbo codes. We recall some properties of binary convolutional encoders and apply them to a search for good constituent convolutional codes of turbo codes. Tables of the "best" recursive systematic convolutional encoders found are presented for various rates, together with the average bit-error probability performances of some turbo codes using them.

Document identification for copyright protection using centroid detection

Abstract: A way to discourage illicit reproduction of copyrighted or sensitive documents is to watermark each copy before distribution. A unique mark is embedded in the text whose recipient is registered. The mark can be extracted from a possibly noisy illicit copy, identifying the registered recipient. Most image marking techniques are vulnerable to binarization attack and, hence, not suitable for text marking. We propose a different approach where a text document is marked by shifting certain text lines slightly up or down or words slightly left or right from their original positions. The shifting pattern constitutes the mark and is different on different copies. In this paper we develop and evaluate a method to detect such minute shifts. We describe a marking and identification prototype that implements the proposed method. We present preliminary experimental results which suggest that centroid detection performs remarkably well on line shifts even in the presence of severe distortions introduced by printing, photocopying, scanning, and facsimile transmission.