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A primary objective of the forthcoming sixth generation (6G) of wireless networking is to support demanding applications, while ensuring energy efficiency. Programmable wireless environments (PWEs) have emerged as a promising solution, leveraging reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs), to control wireless propagation and deliver exceptional quality-ofservice. In this paper, we analyze the performance of a network supported by zero-energy RISs (zeRISs), which harvest energy for their operation and contribute to the realization of PWEs. Specifically, we investigate joint energy-data rate outage probability and the energy efficiency of a zeRIS-assisted communication system by employing three harvest-and-reflect (HaR) methods, i) power splitting, ii) time switching, and iii) element splitting. Furthermore, we consider two zeRIS deployment strategies, namely BS-side zeRIS and UE-side zeRIS. Simulation results validate the provided analysis and examine which HaR method performs better depending on the zeRIS placement. Finally, valuable insights and conclusions for the performance of zeRISassisted wireless networks are drawn from the presented results.

This paper investigates the usage of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocols for power-efficient and reliable communications over free space optical (FSO) links. By exploiting the large coherence time of the FSO channel, the proposed transmission schemes combat turbulence-induced fading by retransmitting the failed packets in the same coherence interval. To assess the performance of the presented HARQ technique, we extract a theoretical framework for the outage performance. In more detail, a closed-form expression for the outage probability (OP) is reported and an approximation for the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region is extracted. Building upon the theoretical framework, we formulate a transmission power allocation problem throughout the retransmission rounds. This optimization problem is solved numerically through the use of an iterative algorithm. In addition, the average throughput of the HARQ schemes under consideration is examined. Simulation results validate the theoretical analysis under different turbulence conditions and demonstrate the performance improvement, in terms of both OP and throughput, of the proposed HARQ schemes compared to fixed transmit power HARQ benchmarks., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) 2023 WS-19: 5th Workshop on ULMC6GN - Ultra-high speed, Low latency and Massive Communication for futuristic 6G Networks

Massive IoT deployments in smart cities pose a significant challenge to the data collection due to the harsh wireless channel conditions of dense urban environments. Aerial reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) carried by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can improve the communication thanks to their high mobility that provides line-of-sight propagation. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the aerial RIS in the data collection by deriving the outage probability of the randomly deployed devices, while taking into account the imperfect channel state and the UAV fluctuations. Furthermore, we study the effects on the network reliability of two hybrid automatic repeat request protocol types, i.e., incremental redundancy and code combining, as well as on the average throughput. Finally, we provide useful insights regarding the RIS characteristics that guarantee the optimal network performance.

Distributed optimization is ubiquitous in emerging applications, such as robust sensor network control, smart grid management, machine learning, resource slicing, and localization. However, the extensive data exchange among local and central nodes may cause a severe communication bottleneck. To overcome this challenge, over-the-air computing (AirComp) is a promising medium access technology, which exploits the superposition property of the wireless multiple access channel (MAC) and offers significant bandwidth savings. In this work, we propose an AirComp framework for general distributed convex optimization problems. Specifically, a distributed primaldual (DPD) subgradient method is utilized for the optimization procedure. Under general assumptions, we prove that DPDAirComp can asymptotically achieve zero expected constraint violation. Therefore, DPD-AirComp ensures the feasibility of the original problem, despite the presence of channel fading and additive noise. Moreover, with proper power control of the users' signals, the expected non-zero optimality gap can also be mitigated. Two practical applications of the proposed framework are presented, namely, smart grid management and wireless resource allocation. Finally, numerical results reconfirm DPDAirComp's excellent performance, while it is also shown that DPD-AirComp converges an order of magnitude faster compared to a digital orthogonal multiple access scheme, specifically, time division multiple access (TDMA).

As it has been discussed in the first part of this work, the utilization of advanced multiple access protocols and the joint optimization of the communication and computing resources can facilitate the reduction of delay for wireless federated learning (WFL), which is of paramount importance for the efficient integration of WFL in the sixth generation of wireless networks (6G). To this end, in this second part we introduce and optimize a novel communication protocol for WFL networks, that is based on non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). More specifically, the Compute-then-Transmit NOMA (CT-NOMA) protocol is introduced, where users terminate concurrently the local model training and then simultaneously transmit the trained parameters to the central server. Moreover, two different detection schemes for the mitigation of inter-user interference in NOMA are considered and evaluated, which correspond to fixed and variable decoding order during the successive interference cancellation process. Furthermore, the computation and communication resources are jointly optimized for both considered schemes, with the aim to minimize the total delay during a WFL communication round. Finally, the simulation results verify the effectiveness of CT-NOMA in terms of delay reduction, compared to the considered benchmark that is based on time-division multiple access.

Conventional machine learning techniques are conducted in a centralized manner. Recently, the massive volume of generated wireless data, the privacy concerns and the increasing computing capabilities of wireless end-devices have led to the emergence of a promising decentralized solution, termed as Wireless Federated Learning (WFL). In this first of the two parts paper, we present the application of WFL in the sixth generation of wireless networks (6G), which is envisioned to be an integrated communication and computing platform. After analyzing the key concepts of WFL, we discuss the core challenges of WFL imposed by the wireless (or mobile communication) environment. Finally, we shed light to the future directions of WFL, aiming to compose a constructive integration of FL into the future wireless networks.

This paper aims to devise a generalized maximum likelihood (ML) estimator to robustly detect signals with unknown noise statistics in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. In practice, there is little or even no statistical knowledge on the system noise, which in many cases is non-Gaussian, impulsive and not analyzable. Existing detection methods have mainly focused on specific noise models, which are not robust enough with unknown noise statistics. To tackle this issue, we propose a novel ML detection framework to effectively recover the desired signal. Our framework is a fully probabilistic one that can efficiently approximate the unknown noise distribution through a normalizing flow. Importantly, this framework is driven by an unsupervised learning approach, where only the noise samples are required. To reduce the computational complexity, we further present a low-complexity version of the framework, by utilizing an initial estimation to reduce the search space. Simulation results show that our framework outperforms other existing algorithms in terms of bit error rate (BER) in non-analytical noise environments, while it can reach the ML performance bound in analytical noise environments. The code of this paper is available at https://github.com/skypitcher/manfe.

This paper investigates the optimal signal detection problem with a particular interest in large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The problem is NP-hard and can be solved optimally by searching the shortest path on the decision tree. Unfortunately, the existing optimal search algorithms often involve prohibitively high complexities, which indicates that they are infeasible in large-scale MIMO systems. To address this issue, we propose a general heuristic search algorithm, namely, hyper-accelerated tree search (HATS) algorithm. The proposed algorithm employs a deep neural network (DNN) to estimate the optimal heuristic, and then use the estimated heuristic to speed up the underlying memory-bounded search algorithm. This idea is inspired by the fact that the underlying heuristic search algorithm reaches the optimal efficiency with the optimal heuristic function. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm reaches almost the optimal bit error rate (BER) performance in large-scale systems, while the memory size can be bounded. In the meanwhile, it visits nearly the fewest tree nodes. This indicates that the proposed algorithm reaches almost the optimal efficiency in practical scenarios, and thereby it is applicable for large-scale systems. Besides, the code for this paper is available at \url{https://github.com/skypitcher/hats}.

Mobile edge computing (MEC) can enhance the computing capability of mobile devices, and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) can provide high data rates. Combining these two technologies can effectively benefit the network with spectrum and energy efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the task completion time minimization in NOMA multiuser MEC networks, where multiple users can offload their tasks simultaneously via the same frequency band. We adopt the \emph{partial} offloading, in which each user can partition its computation task into offloading computing and locally computing parts. We aim to minimize the maximum task latency among users by optimizing their tasks partition ratios and offloading transmit power. By considering the energy consumption and transmitted power limitation of each user, the formulated problem is quasi-convex. Thus, a bisection search (BSS) iterative algorithm is proposed to obtain the minimum task completion time. To reduce the complexity of the BSS algorithm and evaluate its optimality, we further derive the closed-form expressions of the optimal task partition ratio and offloading power for two-user NOMA MEC networks based on the analysed results. Simulation results demonstrate the convergence and optimality of the proposed a BSS algorithm and the effectiveness of the proposed optimal derivation.

The explosive growth of connected devices and the increasing number of broadband users have led to an unprecedented growth in traffic demand. To this effect, the next generation wireless systems are envisioned to meet this growth and offer a potential data rate of 10 Gbps or more. In this context, an attractive solution to the current spectrum crunch issue is to exploit the visible light spectrum for the realization of high-speed commutation systems. However, this requires solutions to certain challenges relating to visible light communications (VLC), such as the stringent requirements of VLC-based intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD), which require signals to be real and unipolar. The present work proposes a novel power-domain multiplexing based optical asymmetric modulation (OAM) scheme for indoor VLC systems, which is particularly adapted to transmit high-order modulation signals using linear real and unipolar constellations that fit into the restrictions of IM/DD systems. It is shown that the proposed scheme provides improved system performance that outperforms alternative modulation schemes, at no extra complexity.

The next generation wireless networks are envisioned to deal with the expected thousand-fold increase in total mobile broadband data and the hundred-fold increase in connected devices. In order to provide higher data rates, improved end-to-end performance, low latency, and low energy consumption at a low cost per transmission, the fifth generation (5G) systems are required to overcome various handicaps of current cellular networks and wireless links. One of the key handicaps of 5G systems is the performance degradation of the communication link, due to the use of low-cost transceiver in high data rate. Motivated by this in this paper, we discuss the impact of transceiver front-end hardware imperfections on the spectrum sensing performance of cognitive radios., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

In this letter, we study the ambient backscatter communication systems over frequency-selective channels. Specifically, we propose an interference-free transceiver design to facilitate signal detection at the reader. Our design utilizes the cyclic prefix (CP) of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) source symbols, which can cancel the signal interference and thus enhance the detection accuracy at the reader. Meanwhile, our design results in no interference on the existing OFDM communication systems. We also suggest a maximum likelihood (ML) detector for the reader and derive two detection thresholds. Simulations are then provided to corroborate our proposed studies., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1901.00368

The κ-μ / inverse gamma and η-μ / inverse gamma composite fading models are presented and extensively investigated in this paper. We derive closed-form expressions for the fundamental statistics of the κ-μ / inverse gamma composite fading model, such as the probability density function (PDF), cumulative distribution function (CDF), moment generating function (MGF), higher order moments and amount of fading (AF). Closed-form expressions for the PDF, higher order moments and AF are also obtained for the η-μ / inverse gamma composite fading model while infinite series expressions are obtained for the corresponding CDF and MGF. The suitability of the new models for characterizing composite fading channels is demonstrated through a series of extensive field measurements for wearable, cellular and vehicular communications. For all of the measurements, two propagation geometry problems with special relevance to the two new composite fading models, namely the line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) channel conditions, are considered. It is found that both the κ-μ / inverse gamma and η-μ / inverse gamma composite fading models provide an excellent fit to fading conditions encountered in the field. The goodness-of-fit of these two composite fading models is also evaluated and compared using the resistor-average distance. As a result, it is shown that the κ-μ / inverse gamma composite fading model provides a better fit compared to the η-μ / inverse gamma composite fading model when strong dominant signal components exist. On the contrary, the η-μ / inverse gamma composite fading model outperforms the κ-μ / inverse gamma composite fading model when there is no strong dominant signal component and/or the parameter η is not equal to unity, indicating that the scattered wave power of the in-phase and quadrature components of each cluster of multipath are not identical.

In-phase/quadrature-phase Imbalance (IQI) is considered a major performance-limiting impairment in direct-conversion transceivers. Its effects become even more pronounced at higher carrier frequencies such as the millimeter-wave frequency bands being considered for 5G systems. In this paper, we quantify the effects of IQI on the performance of different modulation schemes under multipath fading channels. This is realized by developing a general framework for the symbol error rate (SER) analysis of coherent phase shift keying, noncoherent differential phase shift keying and noncoherent frequency shift keying under IQI effects. In this context, the moment generating function of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio is first derived for both single-carrier and multi-carrier systems suffering from transmitter (TX) IQI only, receiver (RX) IQI only and joint TX/RX IQI. Capitalizing on this, we derive analytic expressions for the SER of the different modulation schemes. These expressions are corroborated by comparisons with corresponding results from computer simulations and they provide insights into the dependence of IQI on the system parameters. We demonstrate that the effects of IQI differ considerably depending on the considered system as some cases of single-carrier transmission appear robust to IQI, whereas multi-carrier systems experiencing IQI at the RX require compensation in order to achieve a reliable communication link.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is an essential enabling technology for the fifth generation (5G) wireless networks to meet the heterogeneous demands on low latency, high reliability, massive connectivity, improved fairness, and high throughput. The key idea behind NOMA is to serve multiple users in the same resource block, such as a time slot, subcarrier, or spreading code. The NOMA principle is a general framework, and several recently proposed 5G multiple access schemes can be viewed as special cases. This survey provides an overview of the latest NOMA research and innovations as well as their applications. Thereby, the papers published in this special issue are put into the content of the existing literature. Future research challenges regarding NOMA in 5G and beyond are also discussed.

In this paper, we propose a network non-orthogonal multiple access (N-NOMA) technique for the downlink coordinated multipoint (CoMP) communication scenario of a cellular network, with randomly deployed users. In the considered N-NOMA scheme, superposition coding (SC) is employed to serve cell-edge users as well as users close to base stations (BSs) simultaneously, and distributed analog beamforming by the BSs to meet the cell-edge user's quality of service (QoS) requirements. The combination of SC and distributed analog beamforming significantly complicates the expressions for the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the reveiver, which makes the performance analysis particularly challenging. However, by using rational approximations, insightful analytical results are obtained in order to characterize the outage performance of the considered N-NOMA scheme. Computer simulation results are provided to show the superior performance of the proposed scheme as well as to demonstrate the accuracy of the analytical results.

We consider the use of the Fisher-Snedecor F distribution, which is defined as the ratio of two chi-squared variates, to model composite fading channels. In this context, the root mean square power of a Nakagami-m signal is assumed to be subject to variations induced by an inverse Nakagami- m random variable. Comparisons with physical channel data demonstrate that the proposed composite fading model provides as good, and in most cases better fit, to the data compared to the generalized-K composite fading model. Motivated by this result, simple novel expressions are derived for the key statistical metrics and performance measures.

The papers in this special issue represent the second one in the sequel of three special issues on spectrum sharing and aggregation for future wirelessn networks.

We study the problem of private key generation in a cooperative pairwise independent network (PIN), with M + 2 terminals (Alice, Bob, and M relays), M ≥ 2. In the PIN, the correlated source observed by every pair of terminals is independent of the sources observed by any other pairs of terminals. Moreover, all terminals can communicate with each other over a public channel, which is also observed by Eve, noiselessly. The objective is to generate a private key between Alice and Bob with the help of the M relays; such a private key needs to be protected not only from Eve but also from all relays. A single-letter expression for the private key capacity of this PIN model is obtained, where the achievability part is established by proposing a random binning (RB)-based key generation algorithm, and the converse part is established by deriving upper bounds of M enhanced source models. Next, we consider a cooperative wireless network and use the estimates of fading channels to generate private keys. It has been shown that the proposed RB key generation algorithm can achieve a multiplexing gain of M - 1, which is an improvement compared with the existing XOR algorithm, whose achievable multiplexing gain is IM/2J.

Visible light communications (VLC) have been recently proposed as a promising and efficient solution to indoor ubiquitous broadband connectivity. In this paper, non-orthogonal multiple access, which has been recently proposed as an effective scheme for fifth generation (5G) wireless networks, is considered in the context of VLC systems, under different channel uncertainty models. To this end, we first derive a novel closed-form expression for the bit-error-rate (BER) under perfect channel state information (CSI). Capitalizing on this, we quantify the effect of noisy and outdated CSI by deriving a simple approximated expression for the former and a tight upper bound for the latter. The offered results are corroborated by respective results from extensive Monte Carlo simulations and are used to provide useful insights on the effect of imperfect CSI knowledge on the system performance. It was shown that, while noisy CSI leads to slight degradation in the BER performance, outdated CSI can cause detrimental performance degradation if the order of the users' channel gains change as a result of mobility

Internet of things (IoT) changes significantly the requirements for connectivity, mainly with regards to long battery life, low device cost, low deployment cost, extended coverage and support for a massive number of devices. Driven from these requirements, several different cellular and non-cellular low power wide area network (LPWAN) solutions are emerging and competing for IoT business and the overall connectivity market. Motivated by this, in this paper, we review and compare the design specifications of different LPWAN solutions, as well as, we discuss their suitability for different IoT applications. Finally, we present the challenges, future trends, and potential research directions for LPWANs.

Direct-conversion radio (DCR) receivers can offer highly integrated low-cost hardware solutions for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio systems. However, DCR receivers are susceptible to radio frequency (RF) impairments, such as in-phase and quadrature-phase imbalance, low-noise amplifier nonlinearities and phase noise, which limit the spectrum sensing capabilities. In this paper, we investigate the joint effects of RF impairments on energy detection based spectrum sensing for cognitive radio (CR) systems in multi-channel environments. In particular, we provide closed-form expressions for the evaluation of the detection and false alarm probabilities, assuming Rayleigh fading. Furthermore, we extend the analysis to the case of CR networks with cooperative sensing, where the secondary users suffer from different levels of RF imperfections, considering both scenarios of error free and imperfect reporting channel. Numerical and simulation results demonstrate the accuracy of the analysis as well as the detrimental effects of RF imperfections on the spectrum sensing performance, which bring significant losses in the spectrum~utilization., 30 pages, 7 figures

Cooperative communication has been shown to provide significant increase of transmission reliability and network capacity while expanding coverage in cellular networks. The present work is devoted to the investigation of the end-to-end performance and power allocation of a maximum-ratio-combining based regenerative multi-relay cooperative network over non-homogeneous scattering environment, which is the case in realistic wireless communication scenarios. Novel analytic expressions are derived for the end-to-end symbol-error-rate of both $M-$ary Phase-Shift Keying and $M-$ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation over independent and non-identically distributed generalized fading channels. The offered results are expressed in closed-form involving the Lauricella function and can be readily evaluated with the aid of a proposed computational algorithm. Simple expressions are also derived for the corresponding symbol-error-rate at asymptotically high signal-to-noise ratios. The derived expressions are corroborated with respective results from computer simulations and are subsequently employed in formulating a power optimization problem that enhances the system performance under total power constraints within the multi-relay cooperative system. Furthermore, it is shown that optimum power allocation provides substantial performance gains over equal power allocation, particularly, when the source-relay and relay-destination paths are highly unbalanced., 32 pages, 10 figures

Energy efficiency and its optimization constitute critical tasks in the design of low-power wireless networks. The present work is devoted to the error rate analysis and energy-efficiency optimization of regenerative cooperative networks in the presence of multipath fading under spatial correlation. To this end, exact and asymptotic analytic expressions are firstly derived for the symbol-error-rate of $M{-}$ary quadrature amplitude and $M{-}$ary phase shift keying modulations assuming a dual-hop decode-and-forward relay system, spatially correlated Nakagami${-}m$ multipath fading and maximum ratio combining. The derived expressions are subsequently employed in quantifying the energy consumption of the considered system, incorporating both transmit energy and the energy consumed by the transceiver circuits, as well as in deriving the optimal power allocation formulation for minimizing energy consumption under certain quality-of-service requirements. A relatively harsh path-loss model, that also accounts for realistic device-to-device communications, is adopted in numerical evaluations and various useful insights are provided for the design of future low-energy wireless networks deployments. Indicatively, it is shown that depending on the degree of spatial correlation, severity of fading, transmission distance, relay location and power allocation strategy, target performance can be achieved with large overall energy reduction compared to direct transmission reference., 43 pages, 9 figures

The statistical properties of the multivariate Gamma-Gamma ($\Gamma \Gamma$) distribution with arbitrary correlation have remained unknown. In this paper, we provide analytical expressions for the joint probability density function (PDF), cumulative distribution function (CDF) and moment generation function of the multivariate $\Gamma \Gamma$ distribution with arbitrary correlation. Furthermore, we present novel approximating expressions for the PDF and CDF of the sum of $\Gamma \Gamma$ random variables with arbitrary correlation. Based on this statistical analysis, we investigate the performance of radio frequency and optical wireless communication systems. It is noteworthy that the presented expressions include several previous results in the literature as special cases., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted by IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology

Novel analytic solutions are derived for integrals that involve the generalized Marcum Q-function, exponential functions and arbitrary powers. Simple closed-form expressions are also derived for the specific cases of the generic integrals. The offered expressions are both convenient and versatile, which is particularly useful in applications relating to natural sciences and engineering, including wireless cpmmunications and signal processing. To this end, they are employed in the derivation of the channel capacity for fixed rate and channel inversion in the case of correlated multipath fading and switched diversity., 15 Pages, 2 Figures

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems have the potential to deliver higher system throughput, compared to contemporary orthogonal multiple access techniques. For a linearly precoded multiple-input multiple-output (MISO) system, we study the downlink sum rate maximization problem, when the NOMA principles are applied. Being a non-convex and intractable optimization problem,we resort to approximate it with a minorization-maximization algorithm (MMA), which is a widely used tool in statistics. In each step of the MMA, we solve a second-order cone program, such that the feasibility set in each step contains that of the previous one, and is always guaranteed to be a subset of the feasibility set of the original problem. It should be noted that the algorithm takes a few iterations to converge. Furthermore, we study the conditions under which the achievable rates maximization can be further simplified to a low complexity design problem, and we compute the probability of occurrence of this event. Numerical examples are conducted to show a comparison of the proposed approach against conventional multiple access systems. NOMA is reported to provide better spectral and power efficiency with a polynomial time computational complexity., Comment: Submitted for journal publication

Polar codes have been proven to be capacity achieving for any binary-input discrete memoryless channel, while at the same time they can reassure secure and reliable transmission over the single-input single-output wireless channel. However, the use of polar codes to secure multiple-antenna transmission and reception has not yet been reported in the open literature. In this paper, we assume a multiple-input multiple-output wiretap channel, where the legitimate receiver and the eavesdropper are equipped with the same number of antennas. We introduce a protocol that exploits the properties of both physical and media access control layer security by employing polar coding and encryption techniques in a hybrid manner in order to guarantee secure transmission. A novel security technique is also proposed, where a cryptographic key is generated based on the information transmitted and renewed every transmission block without the need for a separate key exchange method. Finally, to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol, we prove the weak and strong security conditions, and we provide a practical method to achieve computational security for the cases where these conditions cannot be established., Comment: This paper has been withdrawn by the authors due to unrealistic system model assumptions and other gaps in the theoretical reasoning of the achieved security

Modeling and analysis of cooperative spectrum sensing is an important aspect in cognitive radio systems. In this paper, the problem of energy detection (ED) of an unknown signal over Nakagami-$m$ fading is revisited. Specifically, an analytical expression for the local probability of detection is derived, while using the approach of ED at the individual secondary user (SU), a new fusion rule, based on the likelihood ratio test, is presented. The channels between the primary user to SUs and SUs to fusion center are considered to be independent Nakagami-$m$. The proposed fusion rule uses the channel statistics, instead of the instantaneous channel state information, and is based on the Neyman-Pearson criteria. Closed-form solutions for the system-level probability of detection and probability of false alarm are also derived. Furthermore, a closed-form expression for the optimal number of cooperative SUs, needed to minimize the total error rate, is presented. The usefulness of factor graph and sum-product-algorithm models for computing likelihoods, is also discussed to highlight its advantage, in terms of computational cost. The performance of the proposed schemes have been evaluated both by analysis and simulations. Results show that the proposed rules perform well over a wide range of the signal-to-noise ratio., Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures

We investigate transmission protocols for relay-assisted free-space optical (FSO) systems, when multiple parallel relays are employed and there is no direct link between the source and the destination. As alternatives to all-active FSO relaying, where all the available relays transmit concurrently, we propose schemes that select only a single relay to participate in the communication between the source and the destination in each transmission slot. This selection is based on the channel state information (CSI) obtained either from all or from some of the FSO links. Thus, the need for synchronizing the relays' transmissions is avoided and the slowly varying nature of the atmospheric channel is exploited. For both relay selection and all-active relaying, novel closed-form expressions for their outage performance are derived, assuming the versatile Gamma-Gamma channel model. Furthermore, based on the derived analytical results, the problem of allocating the optical power resources to the FSO links is addressed, and optimum and suboptimum solutions are proposed. Numerical results are provided for equal and non-equal length FSO links, which illustrate the outage behavior of the considered relaying protocols and demonstrate the significant performance gains offered by the proposed power allocation schemes., Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures

Wireless connectivity has truly become ubiquitous over the last few years, as can be concluded from the increasing number of electronic devices that are being equipped with wireless communication capabilities. Nowadays, the wireless application range has been extended to a wide variety of consumer lifestyle areas. This causes wireless systems to move towards the commodity markets, where price pressure is high. This creates a drive for low-cost solutions. On the other hand, there is a persistent demand for increasing performance of wireless solutions, since the same throughput and quality of service are demanded as that of the wired solutions they are replacing. To meet these requirements, wireless communication systems are continuously applying wider bandwidths, larger signal dynamics, and higher carrier frequencies. This results in an ever-increasing demand on the performance of radio frequency (RF) front-ends, which at the same time have to be low-cost and power-efficient. Since the RF technology is, consequently, pushed to its operation boundaries, the intrinsic imperfections of the RF IC technology are more and more governing the system performance of wireless modems. Direct-conversion transceivers can offer highly integrated low-cost hardware solutions for wireless communication networks. Sch transceivers, however, are also very sensitive to various radio frequency (RF) impairments, which can considerably limit the outage performance. The most prominent imperfections are the nonlinear distortion due to the mixer and power amplifier (PA) nonlinearities, image-frequency interference due to I/Q mismatch,non-constant group delay distortion in bandpass filters,and phase noise (PHN) and carrier frequency offset (CFO)in the oscillators. These impairments,if not properly understood and taken into account, will cause spectrum regrowth, which may violate the spectrum masks imposed by the regulatory bodies,as well as interference and noise, which degrade the transmitted or received signal qualities and thereby limit the performance of the whole communications system. Most of the existing studies in the open literature assume an ideal RF front-end and hence neglect the impact of such practical RF hardware limitations.

This thesis presents the design, setup and implementation of a low-cost prototype system to evaluate the performance of a transcutaneous optical link. More specifically, the architecture of the system as its design (hardware and software) are described in detail, where some preliminary results are presented about how the BER of the transmission varies depending on the misalignment and the thickness of the skin tissue. After summarizing the main applications of infrared radiation in the field of biomedicine, a simplified theoretical model of the channel is presented in order to correlate it with the numerical results of the experiments. The proposed work intends to evaluate the feasibility of using a prototype implemented with commercial hardware, thus conducting a market study as well as a study of the performance of transmission protocols. In this way, it is intended to lay a foundation for the validation of the theoretical frameworks proposed in the literature in a real scenario and for the estimation of their performance. En este trabajo de fin de grado se presenta el diseño, construcción e implementación de un prototipo de bajo coste para evaluar el rendimiento de un enlace óptico transcutáneo. Concretamente, se describe la arquitectura y el diseño detallado del sistema (hardware y software), donde son presentados algunos resultados acerca de como varía la BER de la transmisión en función de la desalineación y del grosor del tejido cutáneo. Después de resumir las principales aplicaciones de la radiación infraroja en el campo de la biomedicina, se describe un modelo teórico simplificado del canal para así correlacionarlo con los resultados numéricos de los experimentos. El trabajo propuesto, pretende evaluar la factibilidad del uso de un prototipo implementado con hardware comercial, realizando así un estudio de mercado y un estudio del rendimiento de los protocolos de transmisión. De este modo, se pretende sentar una base para posteriormente poder realizar los experimentos correspondiente que permitan probar todo el framework teórico propuesto en investigaciones previas. En aquest treball de fi de grau es presenta el disseny, construcció i implementació d'un prototip de baix cost per avaluar el rendiment d'un enllaç òptic transcutani. Concretament, es descriu l'arquitectura i el disseny detallat del sistema (hardware i software), on es presenten alguns resultats sobre com varia la BER de la transmissió en funció del desalineament i del gruix del teixit cutani. Després de resumir les principals aplicacions de la radiació infraroja en el camp de la biomedicina, es descriu un model teòric simplificat del canal per així correlacionar-lo amb els resultats numèrics dels experiments. El treball proposat, pretén avaluar la factibilitat de l'ús d'un prototip implementat amb hardware comercial, realitzant així un estudi de mercat i un estudi del rendiment dels protocols de transmissió. D'aquesta manera, es pretén establir una base per a posteriorment poder realitzar els experiments corresponent que permetin provar tot el framework teòric proposat en investigacions prèvies.