Showing papers on "Beamforming published in 2022"

Refracting RIS-Aided Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Relay Networks: Joint Beamforming Design and Optimization

Abstract: Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has been viewed as a promising solution in constructing reconfigurable radio environment of the propagation channel and boosting the received signal power by smartly coordinating the passive elements’ phase shifts at the RIS. Inspired by this emerging technique, this article focuses on joint beamforming design and optimization for RIS-aided hybrid satellite-terrestrial relay networks, where the links from the satellite and base station (BS) to multiple users are blocked. Specifically, a refracting RIS cooperates with a BS, where the latter operates as a half-duplex decode-and-forward relay, in order to strengthen the desired satellite signals at the blocked users. Considering the limited onboard power resource, the design objective is to minimize the total transmit power of both the satellite and BS while guaranteeing the rate requirements of users. Since the optimized beamforming weight vectors at the satellite and BS, and phase shifters at the RIS are coupled, leading to a mathematically intractable optimization problem, we propose an alternating optimization scheme by utilizing singular value decomposition and uplink–downlink duality to optimize beamforming weight vectors, and using Taylor expansion and penalty function methods to optimize phase shifters iteratively. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the superiority of the proposed scheme compared to the benchmark schemes.

IRS-Assisted Secure UAV Transmission via Joint Trajectory and Beamforming Design

Abstract: Despite the wide utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), UAV communications are susceptible to eavesdropping due to air-ground line-of-sight channels. Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is capable of reconfiguring the propagation environment, and thus is an attractive solution for integrating with UAV to facilitate the security in wireless networks. In this paper, we investigate the secure transmission design for an IRS-assisted UAV network in the presence of an eavesdropper. With the aim at maximizing the average secrecy rate, the trajectory of UAV, the transmit beamforming, and the phase shift of IRS are jointly optimized. To address this sophisticated problem, we decompose it into three sub-problems and resort to an iterative algorithm to solve them alternately. First, we derive the closed-form solution to the active beamforming. Then, with the optimal transmit beamforming, the passive beamforming optimization problem of fractional programming is transformed into corresponding parametric sub-problems. Moreover, the successive convex approximation is applied to deal with the non-convex UAV trajectory optimization problem by reformulating a convex problem which serves as a lower bound for the original one. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme and the performance improvement achieved by the joint trajectory and beamforming design.

Simultaneously Transmitting and Reflecting (STAR) RIS Aided Wireless Communications

Abstract: The novel concept of simultaneously transmitting and reflecting (STAR) reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) is investigated, where the incident wireless signal is divided into transmitted and reflected signals passing into both sides of the space surrounding the surface, thus facilitating a full-space manipulation of signal propagation. Based on the introduced basic signal model of `STAR', three practical operating protocols for STAR-RISs are proposed, namely energy splitting (ES), mode switching (MS), and time switching (TS). Moreover, a STAR-RIS aided downlink communication system is considered for both unicast and multicast transmission, where a multi-antenna base station (BS) sends information to two users, i.e., one on each side of the STAR-RIS. A power consumption minimization problem for the joint optimization of the active beamforming at the BS and the passive transmission and reflection beamforming at the STAR-RIS is formulated for each of the proposed operating protocols, subject to communication rate constraints of the users. For ES, the resulting highly-coupled non-convex optimization problem is solved by an iterative algorithm, which exploits the penalty method and successive convex approximation. Then, the proposed penalty-based iterative algorithm is extended to solve the mixed-integer non-convex optimization problem for MS. For TS, the optimization problem is decomposed into two subproblems, which can be consecutively solved using state-of-the-art algorithms and convex optimization techniques. Finally, our numerical results reveal that: 1) the TS and ES operating protocols are generally preferable for unicast and multicast transmission, respectively; and 2) the required power consumption for both scenarios is significantly reduced by employing the proposed STAR-RIS instead of conventional reflecting/transmiting-only RISs.

A Survey on Millimeter-Wave Beamforming Enabled UAV Communications and Networking

Abstract: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have found widespread commercial, civilian, and military applications. Wireless communication has always been one of the core technologies for UAV. However, the communication capacity is becoming a bottleneck for UAV to support more challenging application scenarios. The heavily-occupied sub-6 GHz frequency band is not sufficient to meet the ultra high-data-traffic requirements. The utilization of the millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency bands is a promising direction for UAV communications, where large antenna arrays can be packed in a small area on the UAV to perform three-dimensional (3D) beamforming. On the other hand, UAVs serving as aerial access points or relays can significantly enhance the coverage and quality of service of the terrestrial mmWave cellular networks. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on mmWave beamforming enabled UAV communications and networking. The technical potential of and challenges for mmWave-UAV communications are presented first. Then, we provide an overview on relevant mmWave antenna structures and channel modeling. Subsequently, the technologies and solutions for UAV-connected mmWave cellular networks and mmWave-UAV ad hoc networks are reviewed, respectively. Finally, we present open issues and promising directions for future research in mmWave beamforming enabled UAV communications and networking.

Energy-Efficient Wireless Communications With Distributed Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

Abstract: This paper investigates the problem of resource allocation for a wireless communication network with distributed reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). In this network, multiple RISs are spatially distributed to serve wireless users and the energy efficiency of the network is maximized by dynamically controlling the on-off status of each RIS as well as optimizing the reflection coefficients matrix of the RISs. This problem is posed as a joint optimization problem of transmit beamforming and RIS control, whose goal is to maximize the energy efficiency under minimum rate constraints of the users. To solve this problem, two iterative algorithms are proposed for the single-user case and multi-user case. For the single-user case, the phase optimization problem is solved by using a successive convex approximation method, which admits a closed-form solution at each step. Moreover, the optimal RIS on-off status is obtained by using the dual method. For the multi-user case, a low-complexity greedy searching method is proposed to solve the RIS on-off optimization problem. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves up to 33% and 68% gains in terms of the energy efficiency in both single-user and multi-user cases compared to the conventional RIS scheme and amplify-and-forward relay scheme, respectively.

SLNR-based Secure Energy Efficient Beamforming in Multibeam Satellite Systems

Abstract: Motivated by the fact that both security and energy efficiency are the fundamental requirements and design targets of future satellite communications, this letter investigates secure energy efficient beamforming in multibeam satellite systems, where the satellite user in each beam is surrounded by an eavesdropper attempting to intercept the confidential information. To simultaneously improve the transmission security and reduce power consumption, our design objective is to maximize the system secrecy energy efficiency (SEE) under the constraint of total transmit power budget. Different from the existing schemes with high complexity, we propose an alternating optimization scheme to address the SEE problem by decomposing the original nonconvex problem into subproblems. Specifically, we first utilize the signal-to-leakage-plus-noise ratio (SLNR) metric to obtain closed-form normalized beamforming weight vectors, while the successive convex approximation (SCA) method is used to efficiently solve the power allocation subproblem. Then, an iterative algorithm is proposed to obtain the suboptimal solutions. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the superiority of the proposed scheme compared to the benchmark schemes.

Cramér-Rao Bound Optimization for Joint Radar-Communication Beamforming

Abstract: In this paper, we propose multi-input multi-output (MIMO) beamforming designs towards joint radar sensing and multi-user communications. We employ the Cram\'er-Rao bound (CRB) as a performance metric of target estimation, under both point and extended target scenarios. We then propose minimizing the CRB of radar sensing while guaranteeing a pre-defined level of signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for each communication user. For the single-user scenario, we derive a closed form for the optimal solution for both cases of point and extended targets. For the multi-user scenario, we show that both problems can be relaxed into semidefinite programming by using the semidefinite relaxation approach, and prove that the global optimum can always be obtained. Finally, we demonstrate numerically that the globally optimal solutions are reachable via the proposed methods, which provide significant gains in target estimation performance over state-of-the-art benchmarks.

Robust Max-Min Energy Efficiency for RIS-Aided HetNets With Distortion Noises

Abstract: The energy efficiency (EE) of femtocells is always limited by the surrounding radio environments in heterogeneous networks (HetNets), such as walls and obstacles. In this paper, we propose to deploy reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) to improve the EE of femtocells. However, perfect channel state information is more difficult to obtain due to the passive characteristics of RISs and non-cooperative relationship between different tiers. Besides, the low-cost transceivers and reflecting units suffer nontrivial hardware impairments (HWIs) due to the hardware limitations of practical systems. To this end, we investigate a realistic robust beamforming design based on max-min fairness for an RIS-aided HetNet under channel uncertainties and residual HWIs. The joint optimization of transmit beamforming vectors of femto base stations (FBSs) and the phase-shift matrices of RISs is formulated as a non-convex problem to maximize the minimum EE of the femtocell subject to the constraints of the maximum transmit power of FBSs, the quality of service of users, and unit modulus phase-shift constraints of RISs. We develop an iterative block coordinate descent-based algorithm which exploits the semi-definite relaxation, the S-procedure, and the singular value decomposition method. Simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing algorithms in terms of fairness, EE, and outage probability.

RIS-Assisted Communication Radar Coexistence: Joint Beamforming Design and Analysis

Abstract: Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has been regarded as one of the most promising technologies for future wireless communications. However, the mutual interference in the communication radar coexistence system cannot be ignored. Inspired by the studies of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), we propose a double-RIS-assisted coexistence system where two RISs are deployed for enhancing communication signals and suppressing mutual interference. We aim to jointly optimize the beamforming of RISs and radar to maximize communication performance while maintaining radar detection performance. The investigated problem is challenging, and thus we transform it into an equivalent but more tractable form by introducing auxiliary variables. Then, we propose a penalty dual decomposition (PDD)-based algorithm to solve the resultant problem. Moreover, we consider two special cases: the large radar transmit power scenario and the low radar transmit power scenario. For the former, we prove that the beamforming design is only determined by the communication channel and the corresponding optimal joint beamforming strategy can be obtained in closed-form. For the latter, we minimize the mutual interference via the block coordinate descent (BCD) method. By combining the solutions of these two cases, a low-complexity algorithm is also developed. Finally, simulation results show that both the PDD-based and low-complexity algorithms outperform benchmark algorithms.

A Survey on Channel Estimation and Practical Passive Beamforming Design for Intelligent Reflecting Surface Aided Wireless Communications

Abstract: Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) has emerged as a key enabling technology to realize smart and reconfigurable radio environment for wireless communications, by digitally controlling the signal reflection via a large number of passive reflecting elements in real time. Different from conventional wireless communication techniques that only adapt to but have no or limited control over dynamic wireless channels, IRS provides a new and cost-effective means to combat the wireless channel impairments in a proactive manner. However, despite its great potential, IRS faces new and unique challenges in its efficient integration into wireless communication systems, especially its channel estimation and passive beamforming design under various practical hardware constraints. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on the up-to-date research in IRS-aided wireless communications, with an emphasis on the promising solutions to tackle practical design issues. Furthermore, we discuss new and emerging IRS architectures and applications as well as their practical design problems to motivate future research.

Intelligent Omni-Surfaces: Ubiquitous Wireless Transmission by Reflective-Refractive Metasurfaces

Abstract: Intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs), which are capable of adjusting radio propagation conditions by controlling the phase shifts of the waves that impinge on the surface, have been widely analyzed for enhancing the performance of wireless systems. However, the reflective properties of widely studied IRSs restrict the service coverage to only one side of the surface. In this paper, to extend the wireless coverage of communication systems, we introduce the concept of intelligent omni-surface (IOS)-assisted communication. More precisely, an IOS is an important instance of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) that can provide service coverage to mobile users (MUs) in a reflective and a refractive manner. We consider a downlink IOS-assisted communication system, where a multi-antenna small base station (SBS) and an IOS jointly perform beamforming, for improving the received power of multiple MUs on both sides of the IOS, through different reflective/refractive channels. To maximize the sum-rate, we formulate a joint IOS phase shift design and SBS beamforming optimization problem, and propose an iterative algorithm to efficiently solve the resulting non-convex program. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results show that an IOS significantly extends the service coverage of the SBS when compared to an IRS.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted Secure Mobile Edge Computing Networks

Abstract: Mobile edge computing (MEC) has been recognized as a viable technology to satisfy low-delay computation requirements for resource-constrained Internet of things (IoT) devices. Nevertheless, the broadcast feature of wireless electromagnetic communications may lead to the security threats to IoT devices. In order to enhance the task offloading security, this paper proposes a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted secure MEC network framework. Furthermore, we investigate the max-min computation efficiency problem under the secure computation rate requirements, by jointly optimizing the local computing frequencies and transmission power of IoT devices, time-slot assignment, and phase beamforming of the RIS. To solve the formulated non-convex problem, we further develop an iterative algorithm, in which the Dinkelbach-type method and block coordinate descent (BCD) technique are utilized to tackle the fractional objective function and coupled optimization variables, respectively. In particular, the successive convex approximation (SCA) and penalty function-based methods are exploited to solve the transmit power control and reflecting beamforming optimization subproblems, respectively, and the closed-form expression for local computing frequencies optimization subproblem is derived. Numerical results quantify the performance gain achieved by the proposed RIS-assisted secure MEC networks, when compared to existing benchmark methods.

Intelligent Reflecting Surface-Assisted MU-MISO Systems With Imperfect Hardware: Channel Estimation and Beamforming Design

Abstract: Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), consisting of low-cost passive elements, is a promising technology for improving the spectral and energy efficiency of the fifth-generation (5G) and beyond networks. It is also noteworthy that an IRS can shape the reflected signal propagation. Most works in IRS-assisted systems have ignored the impact of the inevitable residual hardware impairments (HWIs) at both the transceiver hardware and the IRS while any relevant works have addressed only simple scenarios, e.g., with single-antenna network nodes and/or without taking the randomness of phase noise at the IRS into account. In this work, we aim at filling up this gap by considering a general IRS-assisted multi-user (MU) multiple-input single-output (MISO) system with imperfect channel state information (CSI) and correlated Rayleigh fading. In parallel, we present a general computationally efficient methodology for IRS reflecting beamforming (RB) optimization. Specifically, we introduce an advantageous channel estimation (CE) method for such systems accounting for the HWIs. Moreover, we derive the uplink achievable spectral efficiency (SE) with maximal-ratio combining (MRC) receiver, displaying three significant advantages being: 1) its closed-form expression, 2) its dependence only on large-scale statistics, and 3) its low training overhead. Notably, by exploiting the first two benefits, we achieve to perform optimization with respect to the RB that can take place only per several coherence intervals, and thus, reduces significantly the computational cost compared to other methods based on instantaneous CSI which require frequent phase optimization. Among the insightful observations, we highlight that the unrealistic assumption of uncorrelated Rayleigh fading does not allow optimization of the SE, which makes the application of an IRS ineffective. Also, in the case that the phase drifts, describing the distortion of the phases in the RBM, are uniformly distributed, the presence of an IRS provides no advantage. The analytical results outperform previous works and are verified by Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations.

Generalized Transceiver Beamforming for DFRC With MIMO Radar and MU-MIMO Communication

Abstract: Spatial beamforming is an efficient way to realize dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC). In this paper, we study the DFRC design for a general scenario, where the dual-functional base station (BS) simultaneously detects the target as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar while communicating with multiple multi-antenna communication users (CUs). This necessitates a joint transceiver beamforming design for both MIMO radar and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) communication. In order to characterize the performance tradeoff between MIMO radar and MU-MIMO communication, we first define the achievable performance region of the DFRC system. Then, both radar-centric and communication-centric optimizations are formulated to achieve the boundary of the performance region. For the radar-centric optimization, successive convex approximation (SCA) method is adopted to solve the non-convex constraint. For the communication-centric optimization, a solution based on weighted mean square error (MSE) criterion is obtained to solve the non-convex objective function. Furthermore, two low-complexity beamforming designs based on CU-selection and zero-forcing are proposed to avoid iteration, and the closed-form expressions of the low-complexity beamforming designs are derived. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of all proposed designs.

Joint Beamforming Design and Power Splitting Optimization in IRS-Assisted SWIPT NOMA Networks

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel network framework of intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-assisted simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) networks, where IRS is used to enhance the NOMA performance and the wireless power transfer (WPT) efficiency of SWIPT. We formulate a problem of minimizing base station (BS) transmit power by jointly optimizing successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding order, BS transmit beamforming vector, power splitting (PS) ratio and IRS phase shift while taking into account the quality-of-service (QoS) requirement and energy harvested threshold of each user. The formulated problem is non-convex optimization problem, which is difficult to solve it directly. Hence, a two-stage algorithm is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem by applying semidefinite relaxation (SDR), Gaussian randomization and successive convex approximation (SCA). Specifically, after determining SIC decoding order by designing IRS phase shift in the first stage, we alternately optimize BS transmit beamforming vector, PS ratio, and IRS phase shift to minimize the BS transmit power. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of our proposed optimization algorithm in reducing BS transmit power compared to other baseline algorithms. Meanwhile, compared with non-IRS-assisted network, the IRS-assisted SWIPT NOMA network can decrease BS transmit power by 51.13%.

Adaptive Fuzzy Tracking Control of Switched MIMO Nonlinear Systems With Full State Constraints and Unknown Control Directions

Abstract: In this brief, an adaptive fuzzy tracking control method is proposed for switched multi-input multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems with time-varying full state constrains (TFSCs) and unknown control directions. First, the fuzzy logic systems are utilized to approximate unknown dynamic functions. A tangent barrier Lyapunov function (BLF-Tan) is used to solve the problem of TFSCs, and the unknown control directions problem is addressed by applying Nussbaum-type function. Then, an adaptive tracking controller is constructed by the backstepping technique. Under the designed control scheme, all the systems signals are derived to be bounded, and the tracking error of the systems is converged to a neighborhood near zero. Finally, the simulation example illustrates the control design programme is reasonable and effective.

Active Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface: Fully-Connected or Sub-Connected?

Abstract: To overcome the “multiplicative fading effect” introduced by passive reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), the concept of active RIS has been recently proposed to amplify the radiated signals. However, the existing fully-connected architecture of active RIS consumes high power due to the additionally integrated active components. To address this issue, we propose the sub-connected architecture of active RIS. Different from fully-connected architecture, where each element integrates a dedicated power amplifier, in the sub-connected architecture, multiple elements control their phase shifts independently but share a same power amplifier, which significantly reduces the number of power amplifiers for power saving at the cost of fewer degrees of freedom (DoFs) for beamforming design. Fortunately, our analysis reveals that performance loss introduced by the sub-connected architecture is slight, indicating that it can achieve much higher energy efficiency (EE). Furthermore, we formulate the EE maximization problem in the active RIS-aided system for both architectures and develop a corresponding joint beamforming design. Simulation results verify the proposed sub-connected architecture as an energy-efficient realization of active RIS.

Intelligent Omni-Surfaces for Full-Dimensional Wireless Communications: Principles, Technology, and Implementation

Abstract: The recent development of metasurfaces has motivated their potential use for improving the performance of wireless communication networks by manipulating the propagation environment through nearly passive sub-wavelength scattering elements arranged on a surface. However, most studies of this technology focus on reflective metasurfaces, that is, the surface reflects the incident signals toward receivers located on the same side of the transmitter, which restricts the coverage to one side of the surface. In this article, we introduce the concept of an intelligent omni-surface (IOS), which is able to serve mobile users on both sides of the surface to achieve full-dimensional communications by jointly engineering its reflective and refractive properties. The working principle of the IOS is introduced, and a novel hybrid beamforming scheme is proposed for IOS-based wireless communications. Moreover, we present a prototype of IOS-based wireless communications and report experimental results. Furthermore, potential applications of IOSs to wireless communications together with relevant research challenges are discussed.

Integrating Terrestrial and Satellite Multibeam Systems Toward 6G: Techniques and Challenges for Interference Mitigation

Abstract: The integration of terrestrial and satellite multibeam systems has been regarded as a potential scheme for future communication networks aiming at high-rate, wide-coverage, and low-latency services. Relying on its ubiquitous coverage, integrated terrestrial and satellite multibeam systems (ITSMSs) will play a crucial role in the forthcoming 6G to increase coverage in unserved areas and support more mobile traffic in hotspots. However, the additional multibeam transmissions in an integrated system would introduce an increase of multidimensional interference, which turns the traditional noise-limited scenario into an interference-limited case. In this article, we investigate interference mitigation technologies in ITSMS toward the future 6G wireless communication scenario, where some practical applications and potential specifics are considered. Bearing this in mind, we provide an overview on current mitigation technologies with respect to three types of interference, namely inter-beam interference, intra-beam interference, and inter-system interference. We also discuss two coordinated beamforming transmission schemes to further mitigate the aforementioned three types of interference and increase the minimal user rate. Future challenges and directions for interference mitigation in the ITSMS toward 6G are also discussed.

Joint Design of Hybrid Beamforming and Reflection Coefficients in RIS-Aided mmWave MIMO Systems

Abstract: This paper considers a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided millimeter wave (mmWave) downlink communication system where hybrid analog-digital beamforming is employed at the base station (BS). We formulate a power minimization problem by jointly optimizing hybrid beamforming at the BS and the response matrix at the RIS, under the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraints at all users. The problem is highly challenging to solve due to the non-convex SINR constraints as well as the unit-modulus phase shift constraints for both the RIS reflection coefficients and the analog beamformer. A two-layer penalty-based algorithm is proposed to decouple variables in SINR constraints, and manifold optimization is adopted to handle the non-convex unit-modulus constraints. We also propose a low-complexity sequential optimization method, which optimizes the RIS reflection coefficients, the analog beamformer, and the digital beamformer sequentially without iteration. Furthermore, the relationship between the power minimization problem and the max-min fairness (MMF) problem is discussed. Simulation results show that the proposed penalty-based algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art semidefinite relaxation (SDR)-based algorithm. Results also demonstrate that the RIS plays an important role in the power reduction.

Intelligent Reflecting Surface Empowered Physical-Layer Security: Signal Cancellation or Jamming?

Abstract: This article pioneers an unprecedented strategy of secure transmission, in which intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is used as a backscatter device to form and scatter jamming signal while the transmitter (Alice) is regarded as a radio-frequency (RF) source. Specifically, Alice transmits confidential signal to a single-antenna legitimate user (Bob) while the transmission is overheard by multiple single-antenna illegitimate users (Eves). The beamformer at Alice is designed to align with the estimated channel vector from Alice to Bob, in order that the proposed strategy is completely compatible with the common communication system without respect to wiretap. To achieve secure transmission, IRS is deployed to modulate the received confidential signal to jamming signal and reflect it so as to deteriorate the reception at Eves. Based on this model, the reflection coefficient vector of IRS is optimized to minimize the eavesdropped information amount while guaranteeing the reliable communication at Bob. By comparing with the familiar IRS-based beamforming scheme and the cooperative jamming scheme in extensive simulations, the feasibility and secrecy performance gain are confirmed for the proposed strategy of IRS-based backscatter jamming.

Neural Spectrospatial Filtering

Abstract: As the most widely-used spatial filtering approach for multi-channel speech separation, beamforming extracts the target speech signal arriving from a specific direction. An emerging alternative approach is multi-channel complex spectral mapping, which trains a deep neural network (DNN) to directly estimate the real and imaginary spectrograms of the target speech signal from those of the multi-channel noisy mixture. In this all-neural approach, the trained DNN itself becomes a nonlinear, time-varying spectrospatial filter. However, it remains unclear how this approach performs relative to commonly-used beamforming techniques on different array configurations and acoustic environments. This paper is devoted to examining this issue in a systematic way. Comprehensive evaluations show that multi-channel complex spectral mapping achieves separation performance comparable to or better than beamforming for different array geometries and speech separation tasks and reduces to monaural complex spectral mapping in single-channel conditions, demonstrating the general utility of this approach on multi-channel and single-channel speech separation. In addition, such an approach is computationally more efficient than widely-used mask-based beamforming. We conclude that this neural spectrospatial filter provides a strong alternative to traditional and mask-based beamforming.

Resource Management for Transmit Power Minimization in UAV-Assisted RIS HetNets Supported by Dual Connectivity

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel approach to improve the performance of a heterogeneous network (HetNet) supported by dual connectivity (DC) by adopting multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as passive relays that carry reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). More specifically, RISs are deployed under the UAVs termed as UAVs-RISs that operate over the micro-wave ( $\mu \text{W}$ ) channel in the sky to sustain a strong line-of-sight (LoS) connection with the ground users. The macro-cell operates over the $\mu \text{W}$ channel based on orthogonal multiple access (OMA), while small base stations (SBSs) operate over the millimeter-wave (mmW) channel based on non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). We study the problem of total transmit power minimization by jointly optimizing the trajectory/velocity of each UAV, RISs’ phase shifts, subcarrier allocations, and active beamformers at each BS. The underlying problem is highly non-convex and the global optimal solution is intractable. To handle it, we decompose the original problem into two subproblems, i.e., a subproblem which deals with the UAVs’ trajectories/velocities, RISs’ phase shifts, and subcarrier allocations for $\mu \text{W}$ ; and a subproblem for active beamforming design and subcarrier allocation for mmW. In particular, we solve the first subproblem via the dueling deep Q-Network (DQN) learning approach by developing a distributed algorithm which leads to a better policy evaluation. Then, we solve the active beamforming design and subcarrier allocation for the mmW via the successive convex approximation (SCA) method. Simulation results exhibit the effectiveness of the proposed resource allocation scheme compared to other baseline schemes. In particular, it is revealed that by deploying UAVs-RISs, the transmit power can be reduced by 6 dBm while maintaining similar guaranteed QoS.

Energy-Efficient Cooperative Communication and Computation for Wireless Powered Mobile-Edge Computing

Abstract: In this article, we present a wireless powered mobile-edge computing system consisting of a hybrid access point and multiple cooperative fogs, where the users in each cooperative fog can share communication and computation resources to improve their computation performance. Based on the classic time-division-multiple-access protocol, we propose a harvest-and-offload protocol to jointly schedule wireless energy transfer and cooperative computation offloading. We minimize the total energy consumption of the system by jointly considering energy beamforming, time-slot assignment, computation-task allocation, and the optimization of central processing unit (CPU) frequencies for computing. We transform the original nonconvex problem to a convex model via utilizing the variable substitution and the semidefinite relaxation methods, and then derive the optimal solution in a semiclosed form via exploiting the Lagrangian method. The extensive numerical results show that the proposed joint communication and computation cooperation scheme can reduce the total energy consumption considerably compared to the state of the art. Moreover, we demonstrate that the dynamic CPU frequency has a positive impact on energy saving compared with the case of fixed CPU frequency.

Joint Transmit Waveform and Passive Beamforming Design for RIS-Aided DFRC Systems

Abstract: Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is a promising technology for 6 G networks owing to its superior ability to enhance the capacity and coverage of wireless communications by smartly creating a favorable propagation environment. In this paper, we investigate the potential of employing RIS in dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC) systems for improving both radar sensing and communication functionalities. In particular, we consider a RIS-assisted DFRC system in which the multi-antenna base station (BS) simultaneously performs both multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar sensing and multi-user multi-input single-output (MU-MISO) communications using the same hardware platform. We aim to jointly design the dual-functional transmit waveform and the passive beamforming of RIS to maximize the radar output signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) achieved by space-time adaptive processing (STAP), while satisfying the communication quality-of-service (QoS) requirement under one of three metrics, the constant-modulus constraint on the transmit waveform, and the unit-modulus constraint of RIS reflecting coefficients. An efficient algorithm framework based on the alternative direction method of multipliers (ADMM) and majorization-minimization (MM) methods is developed to solve the complicated non-convex optimization problem. Simulation results verify the advancement of the proposed RIS-assisted DRFC scheme and the effectiveness of the developed ADMM-MM-based joint transmit waveform and passive beamforming design algorithm.

NOMA Empowered Integrated Sensing and Communication

Abstract: A non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) empowered integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) framework is investigated. A dual-functional base station serves multiple communication users employing NOMA, while the superimposed NOMA communication signal is simultaneously exploited for target sensing. A beamforming design problem is formulated to maximize the weighted sum of the communication throughput and the effective sensing power. To solve this problem, an efficient double-layer penalty-based algorithm is proposed by invoking successive convex approximation. Numerical results show that the proposed NOMA-ISAC outperforms the conventional ISAC in the underloaded regime experiencing highly correlated channels and in the overloaded regime.

UAV-Assisted Physical Layer Security in Multi-Beam Satellite-Enabled Vehicle Communications

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted physical layer security in multi-beam satellite enabled vehicle communications. Particularly, the UAV is exploited as a relay to improve the secure satellite-to-vehicle link, and simultaneously serves as a jammer by deliberately generating artificial noise (AN) to confuse Eve. The satellite beamforming (BF) and UAV power allocation (PA) are jointly optimized to maximize the secrecy rate of the legitimate user within a target beam while guaranteeing the quality of service (QoS) of users within other beams. Since the problem is nonconvex, we first convert it into an equivalent two-stage problem. Then, the outer-stage problem is solved by using one-dimensional search, and the inner-stage problem is transformed to a bi-convex problem by using the semi-definite relaxation (SDR) and Charnes Cooper transformation. To solve the inner-stage bi-convex problem, we propose an iterative alternating optimization algorithm, where the optimal BF is obtained by semi-definite programming (SDP), and the optimal UAV PA is subsequently obtained by solving the reformulated fractional programming problem with an iterative Dinkelbach method. The tightness of SDR and the complexity of our proposed approach are analyzed, and extensive simulations are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.

Beamforming and Jamming Optimization for IRS-Aided Secure NOMA Networks

Abstract: The integration of intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) and multiple access provides a promising solution to improved coverage and massive connections at low cost. However, securing IRS-aided networks remains a challenge since the potential eavesdropper also has access to an additional IRS reflection link, especially when the eavesdropping channel state information is unknown. In this paper, we propose an IRS-assisted non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme to achieve secure communication via artificial jamming, where the multi-antenna base station sends the NOMA and jamming signals together to the legitimate users with the assistance of IRS, in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. The sum rate of legitimate users is maximized by optimizing the transmit beamforming, the jamming vector and the IRS reflecting vector, satisfying the quality of service requirement, the IRS reflecting constraint and the successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding condition. In addition, the received jamming power is adapted at the highest level at all legitimate users for successful cancellation via SIC. To tackle this non-convex optimization problem, we first decompose it into two subproblems, and then each subproblem is converted into a convex one using successive convex approximation. An alternate optimization algorithm is proposed to solve them iteratively. Numerical results show that the secure transmission in the proposed IRS-NOMA scheme can be effectively guaranteed with the assistance of artificial jamming.