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Next-generation cellular systems are anticipated to support 100 times higher data rates (ultra-high rate) compared with the fourth generation (4G) of cellular systems. It is, therefore, necessary to develop novel spectrally efficient uplink/downlink techniques. Multiple techniques have been proposed, including the so-called non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique. However, the spectral efficiency gains achieved by NOMA over OMA techniques have been shown to be modest. Recently, we proposed a spectrally efficient technique for the downlink channel, which involves exploiting similarities among users’ short bit blocks, where we showed that spectral efficiency gains of up to three times that of OMA schemes can be achieved. However, the technique cannot be extended to the uplink scenario because users are not aware of each other’s bit block. To this end, we propose in this paper a spectrally efficient scheme for the uplink channel, where we exploit the similarity between the short bit blocks of the uplink and downlink sequences corresponding to one user. The downlink bit sequences are those received by a user from the base station (BS). It is assumed that the BS keeps track of the bit sequences transmitted on the downlink channel to different users. The uplink and downlink bit sequences, which are assumed to be uncorrelated, are divided into bit blocks of short lengths, and then, the similarity between those blocks is extracted. Once each user determines its similarity index (i.e., the number of similar bit blocks) between its own bit sequence and its respective downlink bit sequence, this information is communicated with the BS, which will, in turn, select the user with the largest similarity index to transmit during that resource block. The same process repeats every resource block where the user with the maximum similarity index is always selected. We propose a simple overhead exchange algorithm that facilitates the exchange of the information on the similarity indexes between the users and the BS, where we assume that this exchange of information is done through a control channel. The performance of the proposed scheme and the overhead exchange algorithm is investigated analytically and by Monte Carlo simulations. Among the parameters that we incorporate into the analysis are the user density, the length of bit blocks used to check the similarity index, and the channel correlation. We show that spectral efficiency gains of approximately two times that of OMA schemes can be achieved.

In this paper, we tackle the problem of joint angle and delays estimation (JADE) of multiple reflections of a known signal impinging on multiple receiving antennae. Based on the importance sampling (IS) concept, we propose a new non-iterative maximum likelihood (ML) estimator that enjoys guaranteed global optimality and enhanced high-resolution capabilities for both single- and multi-carrier models. The new ML approach succeeds in transforming the original multi-dimensional optimization problem into multiple two-dimensional ones thereby resulting in huge computational savings. Moreover, it does not suffer from the off-grid problems that are inherent to most existing JADE techniques. By exploiting the sparsity feature of a carefully designed pseudo-pdf that is intrinsic to the new estimator, we also propose a novel approach that enables the accurate detection of the unknown number of paths over a wide range of practical signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Computer simulations show the distinct advantage of the new ML estimator over state-of-the art JADE techniques both in the single- and multi-carrier scenarios. Most remarkably, they suggest that the proposed IS-based ML JADE is statistically efficient as it almost reaches the Camer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) even in the adverse conditions of low SNR levels. Using real-world channel measurements collected from four access points (APs) with IEEE 802.11ac standard’s setup parameters in an indoor environment, we also show that the proposed ML estimator achieves a localization performance below 15 cm accuracy.

This paper investigates the secrecy performance of the multiple-input single-output visible light communication (VLC) wiretap channel. The considered system model comprises three nodes: a transmitter (Alice) equipped with multiple fixtures of LEDs, a legitimate receiver (Bob), and an eavesdropper (Eve), each equipped with one photo-diode. The VLC channel is modeled as a real-valued amplitude-constrained Gaussian channel. Eve is assumed to be randomly located in the same area as Bob. Due to this, artificial noise-based beamforming is adopted as a transmission strategy in order to degrade Eve’s signal-to-noise ratio. Assuming discrete input signaling, we derive an achievable secrecy rate in a closed-form expression as a function of the beamforming vectors and the input distribution. We investigate the average secrecy performance of the system using stochastic geometry to account for the location randomness of Eve. We also adopt the truncated discrete generalized normal (TDGN) as a discrete input distribution. We present several examples through which we confirm the accuracy of the analytical results via Monte Carlo simulations. The results also demonstrate that the TDGN distribution, albeit being not optimal, yields performance close to the secrecy capacity.

We study, in this paper, the secrecy performance of a multi-user (MU) multiple-input single-output visible light communication broadcast channel with confidential messages. The underlying system model comprises $K +1$ nodes: a transmitter (Alice) equipped with $N$ fixtures of LEDs and $K$ spatially dispersed users, each equipped with a single photo-diode. The MU channel is modeled as deterministic and real-valued and assumed to be perfectly known to Alice, since all users are assumed to be active. We consider typical secrecy performance measures, namely, the max–min fairness, the harmonic mean, the proportional fairness, and the weighted fairness. For each performance measure, we derive an achievable secrecy rate for the system as a function of the precoding matrix. As such, we propose algorithms that yield the best precoding matrix for the derived secrecy rates, where we analyze their convergence and computational complexity. In contrast, what has been considered in the literature so far is zero-forcing (ZF) precoding, which is suboptimal. We present several numerical examples through which we demonstrate the substantial improvements in the secrecy performance achieved by the proposed techniques compared with those achieved by the conventional ZF. However, this comes at a slight increase in the complexity of the proposed techniques compared with ZF.

The notion of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) for 5G essentially relies on the availability of the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). Such knowledge is used to judiciously allocate power among users to make their signals separable at their respective receivers while employing successive interference cancellation (SIC). Feeding back the CSI from the users to the BS (transmitter) is obviously bandwidth consuming. Reducing such an overhead is of great importance and has been of interest in recent years. Furthermore, existing NOMA techniques become inapplicable when the CSI is unavailable at the BS. In this case, the BS has only the option of allocating power among users blindly, including equal power splitting, which has been shown to yield poor performance in terms of outage probability and error probability. This motivates us to develop a NOMA scheme that does not require CSI knowledge at the BS. We make use of a nonlinear interference alignment technique that we have proposed recently, namely, interference dissolution, to develop the proposed NOMA scheme, which allows the BS to communicate with two users simultaneously while keeping signals perfectly separable at their respective receivers. We develop the proposed scheme for multiple-input single-output and single-input single-output downlink channels. We analyze the proposed technique analytically in terms of the achievable degrees-of-freedom and achievable rate per user. We show that the proposed NOMA scheme outperforms existing NOMA techniques in terms of the outage probability and error probability.

Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) is deemed to be an essential service in 5G systems and beyond to accommodate a wide range of emerging applications with stringent latency and reliability requirements. Coexistence of URLLC alongside other service categories calls for developing spectrally efficient multiplexing techniques. Specifically, coupling URLLC and conventional enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB) through superposition/puncturing naturally arises as a promising option due to the tolerance of the latter in terms of latency and reliability. The idea here is to transmit URLLC packets over resources occupied by ongoing eMBB transmissions while minimizing the impact on the eMBB transmissions. In this paper, we propose a novel downlink URLLC-eMBB multiplexing technique that exploits possible similarities among URLLC and eMBB symbols, with the objective of reducing the size of the punctured eMBB symbols. We propose that the base station scans the eMBB traffic' symbol sequences and punctures those that have the highest symbol similarity with that of the URLLC users to be served. As the eMBB and URLLC may use different constellation sizes, we introduce the concept of symbol region similarity to accommodate the different constellations. We assess the performance of the proposed scheme analytically, where we derive closed-form expressions for the symbol error rate (SER) of the eMBB and URLLC services. {We also derive an expression for the eMBB loss function due to puncturing in terms of the eMBB SER}. We demonstrate through numerical and simulation results the efficacy of the proposed scheme where we show that 1) the eMBB spectral efficiency is improved by puncturing fewer symbols, 2) the SER and reliability performance of eMBB are improved, and 3) the URLLC data is accommodated within the specified delay constraint while maintaining its reliability.

Light-fidelity (LiFi) is a fully-networked bidirectional optical wireless communication (OWC) technology that is considered as a promising solution for high-speed indoor connectivity. In this paper, the joint estimation of user 3D position and user equipment (UE) orientation in indoor LiFi systems with unknown emission power is investigated. Existing solutions for this problem assume either ideal LiFi system settings or perfect knowledge of the UE states, rendering them unsuitable for realistic LiFi systems. In addition, these solutions consider the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) links of the LiFi channel gain as a source of deterioration for the estimation performance instead of harnessing these components in improving the position and the orientation estimation performance. This is mainly due to the lack of appropriate estimation techniques that can extract the position and orientation information hidden in these components. In this paper, and against the above limitations, the UE is assumed to be connected with at least one access point (AP), i.e., at least one active LiFi link. Fingerprinting is employed as an estimation technique and the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is used as an estimation metric, where both the line-of-sight (LOS) and NLOS components of the LiFi channel are considered. Motivated by the success of deep learning techniques in solving several complex estimation and prediction problems, we employ two deep artificial neural network (ANN) models, one based on the multilayer perceptron (MLP) and the second on the convolutional neural network (CNN), that can map efficiently the instantaneous received SNR with the user 3D position and the UE orientation. Through numerous examples, we investigate the performance of the proposed schemes in terms of the average estimation error, precision, computational time, and the bit error rate. We also compare this performance to that of the k-nearest neighbours (KNN) scheme, which is widely used in solving wireless localization problems. It is demonstrated that the proposed schemes achieve significant gains and are superior to the KNN scheme.

In this paper, we address the problem of time delay estimation (TDE) from single-carrier (SC) or multi-carrier (MC) direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) multipath transmissions in the presence of multiple transmit and/or receive antennas that will characterize future 5G radio interface technologies (RITs), such as coded-domain nonorthogonal multiple access. We derive for the first time a closed-form expression for the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) and develop two maximum likelihood (ML) multipath TDEs for SC DSSS single-input multiple-output (SIMO) in the non-data-aided (NDA) case. The first TDE, based on iterative expectation maximization (EM), provides accurate estimates whenever a good initial guess of the parameters is available at the receiver. The second TDE implements the ML criterion in a non-iterative way and finds the global maximum of the compressed likelihood function using the importance sampling (IS) technique without requiring any initialization. We also extend both the SC DSSS SIMO CRLB and the two new SC DSSS SIMO ML NDA TDEs to MC DSSS RITs and to multiple-input multiple-output structures with any diversity versus multiplexing pre-coding type before generalizing them all to the data-aided (DA) case. Simulations suggest that the EM TDE is suitable for large observation in space, time, and/or frequency, whereas the IS TDE is preferred in the opposite case of very short data records. Moreover, we show in the NDA case, both analytically and by simulations, that spatial (transmit and receive), temporal, and frequency samples interchangeably have the same impact on estimation accuracy and performance bound regardless of the channel correlation type and amount present in each dimension. Furthermore, we are able to properly cope with such channel correlations that do indeed arise in practice and, hence, become very challenging both in estimation and CRLB derivation in the DA case, but that have been so far overlooked in previous works.

We consider physical layer security in a multi-input multi-output multi-eavesdropper wiretap channel and present an exact solution to the problem of secrecy rate maximization. A system model with multiple multi-antenna eavesdroppers and multiple multi-antenna full-duplex receivers is considered, which is general enough such that models existing in the literature may be considered as special cases. In particular, we perform joint beamforming and artificial noise optimization in an effort to maximize the achievable secrecy rate. The optimization is performed in the presence of artificial noise generated by both transmitter and legitimate receivers. The resulting optimization problem is non-convex and difficult to solve. We develop a minorization-maximization algorithm to solve the problem exactly and the results can therefore be used to benchmark existing methods. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach. This work was made possible by NPRP grant NPRP 8-052-2-029 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). Scopus

In this paper, we study the performance of single carrier (SC) modulation with frequency-domain equalization (FDE) over underwater acoustic (UWA) channels. The underlying channels are time-varying intersymbol interference (ISI) channels, where time variation arises from the relative motion between the transceivers, which induces one or more Doppler scaling factors. We study two scenarios: a point-to-point (P2P) system, where each cluster of paths has its own distinct Doppler scaling factor, and a multiple access (MAC) system, where $M$ users communicate with a multiple-antenna common receiver in which each user has its own Doppler scaling factor. First, the maximum likelihood (ML) receiver is derived for both scenarios, and it is shown that a preprocessing stage is necessary to reduce the time variation; this is referred to as multiple resampling (MR). The proposed receiver consists of multiple branches where each branch corresponds to a cluster/user and performs frequency shifting and resampling followed by an integrator. Since the output of the MR stage is contaminated by ISI for P2P systems and ISI and interuser interference for MAC systems, an additional equalization stage is necessary, which is ideally the ML sequence detector (MLSD). Since the complexity of MLSD exponentially grows with the number of symbols per block, the alphabet size, and the number of users, a linear minimum-mean-square-error FDE equalizer is used instead. To further reduce the complexity, instead of resampling the received signal multiple times by different scaling factors, it is resampled only by one scaling factor, which is a function of all Doppler scaling factors. The resulting suboptimal preprocessing scheme is called single resampling (SR). Simulation results for uncoded systems show that MR outperforms its SR counterpart at the expense of some additional hardware complexity. Moreover, it is shown that SC-FDE is more resilient than orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) to the Doppler scaling effect in UWA channels at lower overall complexity for the MR case, whereas both have the same overall complexity for the SR case.

This paper presents two new implementations of the maximum likelihood (ML) time delay estimation (TDE) from multi-carrier (MC) Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) in multipath MIMO transmissions that will characterize future 5G radio interface technologies (RITs). The first TDE, based on expectation maximization (EM), provides accurate estimates of the delays when a good initialisation of the parameters is available. The second TDE returns the global maximum of the compressed likelihood function (CLF) using the importance sampling (IS) technique without requiring any initialization. Interestingly, in the non-data-aided (NDA) case, temporal, spatial (transmit and receive), and frequency samples have the same impact on estimation accuracy and performance bound which depends on the product of these dimensions regardless of the channel correlation type. Furthermore, we cope with such channel correlations that arise in practice and, hence, become very challenging both in estimation and CRLB derivation in the data-aided (DA) case, but that have been so far overlooked in previous works.

This paper addresses the problem of DOA estimation using uniform linear array (ULA) antenna configurations. We propose a new low-cost method of multiple DOA estimation from very short data snapshots. The new estimator is based on the annihilating filter (AF) technique. It is non-data-aided (NDA) and does not impinge therefore on the whole throughput of the system. The noise components are assumed temporally and spatially white across the receiving antenna elements. The transmitted signals are also temporally and spatially white across the transmitting sources. The new method is compared in performance to the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB), the root-MUSIC algorithm, the deterministic maximum likelihood estimator and another Bayesian method developed precisely for the single snapshot case. Simulations show that the new estimator performs well over a wide SNR range. Prominently, the main advantage of the new AF-based method is that it succeeds in accurately estimating the DOAs from short data snapshots and even from a single snapshot outperforming by far the state-of-the-art techniques both in DOA estimation accuracy and computational cost.

We consider the problem of secrecy rate maximization in a multi-input multi-output multi-eavesdropper (MIMOME) wiretap channel and present an exact solution. A general system model with a multi-antenna eavesdropper and a multi-antenna full-duplex receiver is considered. In particular, we perform joint beamforming and artificial noise optimization in an effort to maximize the achievable secrecy rate. The optimization is performed in the presence of artificial noise generated by both transmitter and legitimate receiver. The resulting optimization problem is non-convex and difficult to solve. We develop a minorization-maximization algorithm to solve the problem. It is iterative in nature and guaranteed to converge to a locally optimal solution. The results can therefore be used to benchmark existing methods. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach. This work was made possible by NPRP grant NPRP 8-052-2-029 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. Scopus

In this paper, we use joint distributed beamforming and cooperative relaying in cognitive radio relay networks in an effort to enhance the spectrum efficiency and improve the performance of the cognitive (secondary) system. In particular, we consider a spectrum sharing system where a set of potential relays are employed to help a pair of secondary users in the presence of a licensed (primary) user. Among the available relays, only the reliable ones participate in the beamforming process, where the beamformer weights are obtained based on a linear optimization method. We investigate two well-known strategies, namely, selection decode-and-forward (SDF) and amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying in conjunction with distributed optimal beamforming. However, given the complexity of the performance analysis with optimal beamforming, we use zero forcing beamforming (ZFB), and compare both approaches through simulations. In this context, for SDF, we derive expressions for the probability density function (PDF) of the received signal-to-interference noise ratio (SINR) at the relays as well as at the secondary destination. As for the AF scheme, we obtain the exact expression for the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and the moment generating function (MGF) of the equivalent end-to-end SNR at the secondary destination. For both schemes, we derive closed-form expressions for the outage probability and bit error rate (BER) over independent and identically distributed Rayleigh fading channels for binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) schemes. Numerical results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme in improving the outage and BER performance of the secondary system while limiting the interference to the primary system. In addition, the results show the effectiveness of the combination of the cooperative diversity and distributed beamforming in compensating for the loss in the secondary system's performance due to the primary user's co-channel interference (CCI).

We investigate in this paper the achievable secrecy rate of the multiple-input single-output (MISO) visible light communication (VLC) Gaussian wiretap channel with single user and single eavesdropper. We consider the cases when the location of eavesdropper is known or unknown to the transmitter. In the former case, we derive the optimal beamforming in closed form, subject to constrained inputs. In the latter case, we apply robust beamforming. Furthermore, we study the achievable secrecy rate when the input follows the truncated generalized normal (TGN) distribution. We present several examples which demonstrate the substantial improvements in the secrecy rates achieved by the proposed techniques.

We address in this paper the challenge of coping with asymmetric data rates in two-way relay channels. We consider a relay network comprising two sources and one relay. The sources communicate at different rates through the relay. That is, we assume that one source uses M 1 -QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) and the other uses M 1 /M 2 -QAM hierarchical modulation where M 1 ≠ M 2 . For the underlying network, we consider two decode-and-forward (DF) relaying schemes. One scheme combines hierarchical zero padding and network coding (HZPNC) at the relay. The novelty of this scheme lies in the way the two signals (that have different lengths) are network-coded at the relay. The other scheme is referred to as opportunistic user selection (OUS) where the user with a better end-to-end channel quality is given priority for transmission. We analyze both schemes where we derive closedform expressions for the end-to-end (E2E) bit error rate (BER). Since the two schemes offer a trade-off between performance and throughput, we analyze and compare both schemes in terms of channel access probability and average throughput. We show that HZPNC offers better throughput and fairness for both users, whereas OUS offers better performance. We also compare the performance of HZPNC with existing schemes including the original zero padding, nesting constellation modulation and superposition modulation. We show through examples the superiority of the proposed HZPNC scheme in terms of performance and/or reduced complexity. Scopus

We propose an iterative compressive channel estimation and decoding scheme for network-channel-coded two-way relay sparse intersymbol interference channels. The underlying system model comprises two source nodes and one relay node. In the first time slot, the two sources simultaneously transmit their independent training pilots along with the channel-coded data. In the second time slot, the relay applies analog network coding to the sum of the received signals and broadcasts the result to the two sources. Each source then uses iterative compressive sensing (CS) based estimation and decoding to estimate the composite channels and recover the transmitted signal. We analyze the performance of our proposed CS-based scheme and demonstrate its efficacy over existing ones Qatar Foundation; Qatar National Research Fund Scopus

In this paper we investigate the performance of distributed space-time block coding (D-STBC) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) over underwater acoustic (UWA) channels. In particular, we consider a relaying system consisting of one source, two relays, and one destination. The relays operate in amplify-and-forward (AF) mode. The underlying channels are assumed to be time-varying frequency selective channels, where the only source of time variation is the relative motion between transceivers. Alamouti D-STBC scheme is used in the second hop, and a two stage receiver is adopted at the destination: in the first stage, multiple resampling (MR) preprocessing of the received signals is performed to minimize the effect of intercarrier interference (ICI), and in the second stage ICI equalization is performed in the frequency domain to further reduce the effect of the residual ICI. To further boost the performance, successive interference cancellation (SIC) is used, where the estimates of the signals at the output of the ICI equalizer are used as tentative decisions. Compared to the single resampling (SR) front end preprocessing, simulation results show the superiority of MR front-end receiver. Also, SIC further boosts the performance, but still, there is a significant gap with respect to the ICI-free limit, when the receiver has perfect knowledge of ICI coefficients and eliminates them completely. Scopus

This paper proposes two detection schemes for cooperative networks comprising a source, a relay and a destination. The relay is assumed to operate in a half-duplex mode and it employs decode-and-forward (DF) relaying. The proposed schemes involve combining threshold-based relaying and maximum likelihood (ML) detection at the destination. We consider both signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-based and log-likelihood (LLR)-based thresholding. Assuming binary phase shift keying (BPSK), we first derive the ML detector as a function of the threshold used at the relay node. Then, we obtain the optimal thresholds by minimizing the end-to-end bit error rate performance. In deriving the ML performance, we follow an approach that is different from existing approaches and is more straightforward. We compare the performance of the proposed schemes and show that they significantly outperform all existing counterpart detection methods. Qatar Foundation; Qatar National Research Fund Scopus

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been proposed as an alternative to orthogonal multiple access (OMA) in an effort to enhance the spectral efficiency of 5G cellular systems. However, the NOMA throughput gain relative to that of OMA has been shown to be modest. In this paper, we propose a novel NOMA scheme that exploits the partial overlap (i.e., similarity) among users bit sequences at the base station (BS). Specifically, users bit sequences are divided into blocks of short lengths, i.e., short bit sequences. Then, one user is selected and served during a given transmission time interval (TTI). Users whose bit sequences partially overlap with the bit sequence of the served user are also (partially) served during the same TTI. At the receiving end, the receiver corresponding to the served user recovers its entire bit sequence, whereas the partially served users recover their corresponding overlapping bit blocks and ignore the rest of the sequence. The performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed in terms of the overall throughput. We show that a throughput gain of up to three times that of existing OMA schemes can be achieved. Moreover, we show that the average rate per user decreases slightly as the number of users increases, whereas it linearly decreases with the number of users in existing NOMA schemes. We stress here that the proposed scheme completely differs from existing NOMA schemes as the latter schemes are based on power allocation at the BS where successive interference cancellation is normally used. The implication of this is that the proposed scheme provides substantial throughput gains without causing interference among users and without adopting a specific power allocation at the BS.

In this paper, we propose a joint carrier frequency offset (CFO) and channel estimation method for the uplink channel of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems. The proposed method includes two steps. In the first step, the variable projection (VP) method based on the least squares (LS) criterion is used for CFO estimation. In each iteration of the VP method, the CFOs and channel coefficients are updated separately, which distinguishes the VP method from an existing non-separated minimum mean square error (MMSE) method in which the CFOs and channel coefficients are treated together as a whole. In the second step, the channel is estimated by employing the robust MMSE method. The simulation results show that, compared with the non-separated MMSE method, the proposed method has faster convergence rate in terms of CFO estimation and achieves better channel estimation performance in most of the cases. The computational complexity of the proposed scheme is also lower than that of the non-separated MMSE method for large number of users at high signal-to-noise ratios.

In this paper, we consider a coded cooperation diversity scheme that is suitable for L-relay channels that operate in the decode-forward mode. The proposed scheme is based on convolutional coding, where each codeword of the source node is partitioned into two frames that are transmitted in two phases. In the first phase, the first frame is broadcast from the source to the relays and destination. In the second phase, the second frame is transmitted on orthogonal subchannels from the source and relay nodes to the destination. Each relay is assumed to be equipped with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code for error detection. Only these relays (whose CRCs check) transmit in the second phase. Otherwise, they keep silent. At the destination, the received replicas (of the second frame) are combined using maximal ratio combining. The entire codeword, which comprises the two frames, is decoded via the Viterbi algorithm. We analyze the proposed scheme in terms of its probability of bit error and outage probability. Explicit upper bounds are obtained, assuming M-ary phase-shift keying transmission. Our analytical results show that the full diversity order is achieved, provided that the source-relay link is more reliable than the other links. Otherwise, the diversity degrades. However, in both cases, it is shown that it is possible to achieve substantial performance improvements over noncooperative coded systems. Several numerical and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme.

This paper proposes two blind carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation schemes for differentially modulated orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The proposed schemes estimate the fractional part of the CFO with only two consecutive OFDM blocks, and they exploit two implicit properties associated with differentially modulated OFDM (DOFDM) systems, i.e., the channel keeps constant over two consecutive OFDM blocks, and the DOFDM systems employ an M-ary phase-shift keying constellation. One of the schemes is based on the finite alphabet (FA) constraint and the other one is based on the constant modulus (CM) constraint. They provide a trade-off between the performance and computational complexity. Furthermore, the FA based scheme can achieve better performance at high signal-to-noise ratios at the expense of some additional computational complexity as compared to the existing CM based subspace scheme. The constrained Cramer-Rao lower bound is also derived. Several numerical examples are presented to validate the efficacy of the proposed schemes.

This paper proposes a structure-oriented multidirectional Sigma filter for additive white Gaussian noise in digital TV signals. Filtering is restricted to homogeneous directions to reduce blurring by analyzing local structure using directional second derivatives. The proposed filter improves the Sigma estimate of denoised pixels by imposing a homogeneity constraint on the noise-adaptive selection of estimation pixels by the Sigma filter. It achieves noise-reduction gains of up to 4.8 dB Peak-Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) in real-time. The block size, shape and coefficients of the filter are adapted to both structure and noise level. The goal is to optimize the filter with regard to noise-reduction gain and structure preservation. A possible hardware-oriented design of the proposed filter is also presented. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method, comparisons between the proposed Sigma filter and referenced Sigma filters in terms of the PSNR gain and the modulation transfer function (MTF) are shown. Results show that the proposed method achieves a higher PSNR gain and contrast transfer ratio than referenced Sigma filters.

In this paper, we propose an adaptive network coding scheme for cognitive relay networks comprising multiple secondary sources communicating with a common destination in the presence of multiple primary users. Conventional network coding schemes developed for cognitive radio networks normally use global encoding kernels to achieve the minimum end-to-end outage probability. Finding the global kernel is computationally inefficient especially when the number of nodes in a network changes. To this end, we propose a network coding scheme that evenly groups the codewords into multiple subsets, linearly combines the network encoded codewords over the reduced subset, and dynamically adjusts the encoding set size to minimize the end-to-end outage probability. An advantage of the proposed network coding scheme is that it achieves lower end-to-end outage probability as compared to the conventional network coding scheme over the whole signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) range with a small additional overhead. We derive closed-form expressions for the link outage probability while taking the interference constraints into consideration. We also derive the exact end-to-end outage probability of the proposed scheme and compare its performance to that of conventional fixed network coding. We show that the proposed scheme provides a trade-off between the probability of relay cooperation and network coding gain. We demonstrate through numerical examples that the proposed adaptive network coding scheme achieves gains of more than 4 dB at a target outage probability of $10^{-2} $ as compared to conventional fixed network coding schemes.

In this paper, we study the performance of space-time trellis codes (STTCs) with receive antenna selection over fast fading channels. Specifically, we derive upper bounds on the pairwise-error probability (PEP) with antenna selection. In performing the selection, we adopt a criterion that is based on using L out of the available M receive antennas that result in maximizing the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver, where L les M. We show that the diversity order resulting from antenna selection deteriorates significantly and is actually dictated by the number of selected antennas. The implication of this result is that adding more receive antennas, while maintaining the same number of selected ones, will have no impact on the diversity order, but it does, however, provide some additional coding gain. This is unlike the case for quasi-static fading channels in which the diversity order is always preserved with antenna selection when the underlying STTC is full-rank. We present numerical examples that support our analysis

In this paper, we propose a novel and simple approach for dealing with the exaggerated extrinsic information produced by the soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA). The proposed remedy is based on mathematical analysis and it involves using two attenuators, one applied to the immediate output of the SOVA and another applied to the extrinsic information before it is passed to the other decoder (assuming iterative decoding). The use of these attenuators aims at reducing the inherent strong correlation between the intrinsic information (input to the SOVA) and extrinsic information (output of the SOVA). We examine the modified SOVA (MSOVA) on additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and flat fading channels for parallel concatenated codes (PCCs) and serial concatenated codes (SCCs). We show that the MSOVA provides substantial performance improvements over both channels. For example, it provides improvements of about 0.8 to 1.0 dB at P/sub b/ = 10/sup -5/ in AWGN, and about 1.4 to 2.0 dB at P/sub b/ = 10/sup -5/ on fading channels. We also show that there are cases where the MSOVA is superior to the a posteriori probability (APP) algorithm. With this motivation, we extend the proposed modification to the APP algorithm with favorable results. We demonstrate that the modified APP (MAPP) provides performance improvements between 0.3 to 0.6 dB at P/sub b/ = 10/sup -5/ relative to the APP. We lastly mention that the proposed modifications, while they provide considerable performance improvements, keep the complexity of these decoders almost the same, which is remarkable.

In this paper, we present a semi-analytical approach for analyzing the serial concatenation (SCC) of a high rate convolutional code and a precoded intersymbol interference (ISI) channel. The significance of the proposed approach is that it can be used to identify, for a given outer high rate code and fixed ISI channel, the precoder that results in the lowest error rate floor. In estimating the bit error performance in the floor region, we use analytical techniques developed for trellis codes to compute the overall system minimum squared Euclidean distance, and then use a semi-analytical approach to find the corresponding multiplicity. We also demonstrate via simulations that the proposed technique may be extended to fading ISI channels with favorable results. We give examples that support our analysis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We consider in this paper relay assignment for cooperative systems with mutiple source-destination pairs. The objective here is to assign relays to the source-destination pairs in such a way that all pairs achieve the maximum diversity. In networks with mutiple source-destination pairs, it is normally difficult for destinations to acquire the channel state information (CSI) of the entire network without feedback. To this end, we design a practical limited feedback strategy in conjunction with two relay assignment schemes, i.e., fullset selection and subset selection, which are based on maximizing the minimum end-to-end (E2E) signal to noise ratio (SNR) among all pairs. In this strategy, each destination acquires its SNR, quantizes it, and feeds it back to the relays. The relays then construct the E2E SNR table and select the relay assignment permutation from all possible relay assignment permutations or only a subset of these permutations. We analyze the performance of these schemes over independent Rayleigh fading channels in terms of the worst E2E SNR. We derive closed-form expressions for the E2E bit error rate (BER) and investigate the asymptotic performance at high SNR. We show that relay assignment with quantized CSI can achieve the same first-order diversity as that of the full CSI case, but there is a second-order diversity loss. We also demonstrate that increasing the quantization levels yields performance that is close to that of having full knowledge of the CSI. Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements (CGS-MSFSS) Program and in part by the NSF Award CCF-1218771 Scopus

In this paper, we propose a novel and simple approach for dealing with the exaggerated extrinsic information produced by the soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA). We first identify the reason behind these exaggerated values and then propose a simple remedy for it. We argue that what leads to this optimistic extrinsic information is the inherent strong correlation between the intrinsic information (input to the SOVA) and extrinsic information (output of the SOVA). Our proposed remedy is based on mathematical analysis, and it involves using two attenuators, one applied to the immediate output of the SOVA and another applied to the extrinsic information before it is passed to the other decoder (assuming iterative decoding). We examine the modified SOVA (MSOVA) on idealized partial response (PR) channels and the Lorentzian channel equalized to a PR target. We consider both parallel concatenated codes (PCCs) and serial concatenated codes (SCCs). We show that the MSOVA provides substantial performance improvements over both channels. For example, it provides improvements of about 0.8 to 1.6 dB at P/sub b/=10/sup -5/. Finally, we note that the proposed modifications, while they provide considerable performance improvements, introduce only two additional multipliers to the complexity of the SOVA algorithm, which is remarkable.

In this work, we study the performance of a serial concatenated scheme comprising a convolutional code (CC) and an orthogonal space-time block code (STBC) separated by an inter-leaver. Specifically, we derive performance bounds for this concatenated scheme, clearly quantify the impact of using a CC in conjunction with a STBC, and compare that to using a STBC code only. Furthermore, we examine the impact of performing antenna selection at the receiver on the diversity order and coding gain of the system. In performing antenna selection, we adopt a selection criterion that is based on maximizing the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver. That is, we select a subset of the available receive antennas that maximizes the received SNR. Two channel models are considered in this study: Fast fading and quasi-static fading. For both cases, our analyses show that substantial coding gains can be achieved, which is confirmed through Monte-Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that the spatial diversity is maintained for all cases, whereas the coding gain deteriorates by no more than 10 log 10 (M/L) dB, all relative to the full complexity multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system.

In this correspondence, we study cyclic codes of length n=2/sup e/ over the ring R/sub 4/=/spl Zopf//sub 4/[x]/(x/sup n/-1). In particular, we derive a closed-form expression for the number of these codes for a given length n. We also study the rank of these codes and derive an expression for that. Furthermore, we give an example in which we study all cyclic codes of length 8. We also study all self-dual codes of length 8 and 16 and classify them according to their type.

In this letter, we propose a new tracking scheme that is robust against multipath fading for pseudonoise (PN) code tracking in direct-sequence-spread spectrum systems. The proposed scheme employs an adaptive filter whose taps are adapted using a block least-mean square algorithm and it results in minimizing the effect of multipath interference on the tracking performance. We show that the mean-squared tracking error performance of the proposed scheme is not affected by the presence of closely spaced paths (e.g., one to three chips), unlike that of conventional delay locked loops. We also show that the tap-weight distribution of the filter provides accurate estimates of the multipath delays. For example, at E/sub b//N/sub 0/=5 dB, 98% of the time the path estimates lie within one sample (1/5 of a chip) from the actual delays. Furthermore, simulation results suggest that multipath delays over a wide range of terminal speeds can be tracked successfully. The proposed scheme is well suited for wideband code-division multiple-access systems where a large number of closely-spaced multipath components need to be tracked and used in RAKE combining.

In this paper, we investigate and compare the asymptotic performance of concatenated convolutional coding schemes over GF(4) over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. Both parallel concatenated codes (PCC) and serial concatenated codes (SCC) are considered. We construct such codes using optimal non-binary convolutional codes where optimality is in the sense of achieving the largest minimum distance for a fixed number of encoder states. Code rates of the form k0/(k0 + 1) for k0=1, 8, and 64 are considered, which suite a wide spectrum of communications applications. For all of these code rates, we find the minimum distance and the corresponding multiplicity for both concatenated code systems. This is accomplished by feeding the encoder with all possible weight-two and weight-three input information patterns and monitoring, at the output of the encoder, the weight of the corresponding codewords and their multiplicity. Our analytical results indicate that the SCC codes considerably outperform their counterpart PCC codes at a much lower complexity. Inspired by the superiority of SCC codes, we also discuss a mathematical approach for analysing such codes, leading to a more comprehensive analysis and allowing for further improvement in performance by giving insights on designing a proper interleaver that is capable of eliminating the dominant error patterns. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper, we extend the derivation of the iterative soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) for partial response (PR) channels, and modify its decoding process such that it works consistently for arbitrary high code rates, e.g., rate 64/65. We show that the modified SOVA always outperforms the conventional SOVA that appears in the literature with a significant difference for high code rates. It also offers a significant cut down in the trace-back computations. We further examine its performance for parallel and serial concatenated codes on a precoded Class IV partial response (PR4) channel. Code rates of the form k 0 /k 0 +1 (k 0 = 4, 8, and 64) are considered. Our simulations indicate that the loss suffered by the modified SOVA, relative to the APP algorithm, is consistent for all code rates and is at most 1.2 dB for parallel concatenations and at most 1.6 dB for serial concatenations at P b = 10−5.

We analyze the performance of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems with antenna selection over quasi-static fading channels. The basic idea is that, for a given number of receive antennas, M, the receiver uses the best L out of the available M antennas where, typically, L

This paper addresses the problem of Doppler spread and carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation under flat-fading Rayleigh channels. We develop a new low-cost and robust approximate maximum likelihood (ML) estimator for these two key parameters that builds upon an elegant two-ray approximation model of the channel’s covariance matrix. The latter is then inverted analytically thereby yielding a closed-form expression for the underlying log-likelihood function that is prone to easy evaluation by the fast Fourier transform. Computer simulations show that the new estimator is accurate over wide ranges of the Doppler spread and CFO parameters. Moreover, it outperforms many state-of-the-art techniques under the adverse conditions of short data records and/or low SNR thresholds. Most prominently, it exhibits an unprecedented robustness to the Doppler spectrum shape of the channel since it does not require its a priori knowledge.

Using spatial modulation (SM) jointly with adaptive modulation (AM), we propose a low-complexity and spectrally-efficient transmission scheme in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. While in the conventional SM technique a fixed data rate is achieved, the proposed adaptive spatial modulation (ASM) technique is throughput-optimized by taking advantage of the wireless channel variations in order to increase the spectral efficiency of SM. ASM has been previously studied in [1] in order to improve the average bit error rate (ABER) performance of SM while only providing a fixed data rate. On the other hand, the ASM technique is introduced in this paper in order to achieve high data rates while keeping the ABER below a certain threshold. We propose two variations of ASM compromising between the spectral efficiency and the error performance. The ABER and the average spectral performance results of both variations are presented via Monte-Carlo simulations and confirmed with analytical results including asymptotic performance bounds on the ABER. These results show that the proposed ASM techniques come with a considerable spectral efficiency gain compared to SM while only requiring a limited feedback from the receiver.

In this paper, we consider Doppler compensation for time varying underwater acoustic channels. The underlying system model comprises two sources, S1 and S2, communicating with each other through a relay, R. The transmission process goes through two phases. In the first phase, the two sources transmit simultaneously and the relay receives. In the second phase, the relay processes the received signals and broadcasts the combined signal to the destinations, i.e., sources. The underlying channels are considered to be time varying frequency selective channels, where the only source of time variation is the relative motion between the transceivers. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is used as a means to combat frequency selectivity. Two cases are considered, namely, when R uses multiple resampling (MR) preprocessing to reduce the effect of intercarrier interference (ICI) resulting from the time variation, and when R uses single resampling (SR) preprocessing. In both cases, in the second phase of transmission, each source performs MR preprocessing and after subtracting its own signal ICI equalization is performed to further reduce the effect of residual ICI. Simulation results show that performing MR at R outperforms the case when SR is used at R, however, this comes at the expense of more hardware complexity. Grant NPRP 09-126-2-054 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). Scopus

A number of papers have been published on the concatenation of an outer code with a partial response (PR) channel, where the outer code is a turbo code, a convolutional code, or a low-density parity-check code. This paper deals with the second case, assuming EPR4 and modified extended EPR4 (MEEPR4) partial response (PR) targets. The goals in this work include (1) the joint optimization of interleaver and precoder for a fixed outer convolutional code and PR target, (2) the choice of optimal code rate for both PR targets assuming a Lorentzian model, and (3) an assessment of the performance of these codes in the presence of thermal asperities. We introduce mathematical and algorithmic tools for accomplishing these goals and present simulation results that support our approach. Among the positive results is the ability to lower the well-known error rate floor of these concatenated schemes for arbitrary PR channels.

We discuss two algorithms for mitigating the deleterious effects of nonlinear intersymbol interference in PR4- and EPR4-equalized magnetic recording channels. We call these algorithms RAM-Search algorithm because they borrow the idea of employing random-access memory (RAM) from the RAM decision-feedback equalizer (DFE) and because they involve a search. The RAM-Search algorithms have been devised to mitigate the error propagation problem that arises in making feedforward decisions (for precursor terms) in intersymbol interference (ISI) cancellers used in combination with partial-response signaling. We adopt a simple partial-erasure model for the nonlinear write process and a third-order polynomial model for the nonlinear read process, and show that improvements of about 2.5 dB are possible. We also demonstrate the efficacy of the algorithms on captured spinstand signals that suffer from a significant amount of nonlinear ISI.

In this letter, we derive the optimal detector for the so-called spatial modulation (SM) system introduced by Mesleh et al. in (Mesleh, 2006). The new detector performs significantly better than the original (~ 4 dB gain), and we support our results by deriving a closed form expression for the average bit error probability. As well, we show that SM with the optimal detector achieves performance gains (~ 1.5 - 3 dB) over popular multiple antenna systems, making it an excellent candidate for future wireless communication standards.

In this paper, the asymptotic performance of multiuser opportunistic cooperative system over frequency selective fading channels is investigated. Specifically, we consider a system comprising multiple sources, multiple relays with best relay selection, and a single destination. At the selected relay, a decode-and-forward (DF) relaying with a combining scheme is employed to enhance the bandwidth efficiency. Minimum mean squared error (MMSE) single carrier frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE) is assumed at the receivers (the relays and the destination). For this system, we invoke the matched filter bound (MFB) to derive the asymptotic outage probability with the aim of revealing the maximum diversity order that can be achieved by such systems. We use this bound to derive a limit on the code rate that the transmitters should use to be able to achieve the maximum diversity possible for a given number of sources using MMSE SC-FDE. We provide numerical examples that validate the analytical results.

In this paper, we consider two relay assignment schemes for cooperative networks comprising multiple source-destination pairs. Both schemes are based on the max-min criterion and aim at achieving the maximum spatial diversity for all pairs. One scheme is used as a performance benchmark since it considers all possible relay assignment permutations and selects the best one. The other scheme, on the other hand, considers only a subset of those permutations and selects the best one. The advantages of the latter one is that it reduces the complexity of the assignment process, in addition to making the performance analysis tractable. We examine these schemes over asymmetric channels using M-ary phase shift keying signaling. We consider both amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) relaying where we derive expressions for the end-to-end (E2E) symbol error rate (SER). In both cases, we show that the full spatial diversity is achieved. To account for error propagation in DF relaying, we adopt a threshold-based relaying scheme whereby the relays forward only bits that are deemed reliable and remain silent otherwise. We compare this scheme to Genie-aided relaying where the relays forward only correctly decoded bits. We analyze these two schemes and derive expressions for the E2E SER performance. We present several numerical examples that validate the analytical results. Qatar Foundation; Qatar National Research Fund Scopus

In cooperative communications, error propagation at the relay nodes degrades the diversity order of the system. To combat that effect, we present a novel technique to control error propagation at the relays, which is implemented in the context of a distributed turbo code. In the presented technique, the relay calculates the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) values for the bits sent from the source. These values are subjected to a threshold to distinguish the reliable bits from the unreliable bits. The relay then forwards the bits that are deemed reliable and discards the bits that are not, resulting in fewer errors propagating to the destination. The assumption here is that the destination does not know the location of the discarded bits. We develop upper bounds on the end-to-end bit error rate, enabling us to optimize the threshold in terms of the minimum end-to-end bit error rate. We compare our technique with existing techniques that have been proposed to control error propagation, including using only a cyclic redundancy code check at the relay, forwarding analog LLR values, and by employing no error control at the relay at all. We demonstrate, through several numerical examples, that the proposed scheme outperforms all existing schemes Scopus

In relay networks, error propagation at the relay nodes degrades the performance of the system. To combat that effect, it has been suggested to implement a reliability threshold at the relay to control error propagation. Specifically, the relay calculates log-likelihood ratio (LLR) values for the bits sent from the source. These values are subjected to a threshold to selectively forward bits that are most reliable and discard bits that are less so, resulting in less errors propagating to the destination. We investigate the application of this technique to a network-coded two-way relay channel where the relay is assisting two sources simultaneously. We first consider network-coded systems without channel coding, and then consider network-channel coded systems. We examine two modes of thresholding, one based on the individual bits, and the other based on the combined bits. We provide the full analysis for the bit-error rate (BER) performance of both thresholding modes and optimize the thresholds accordingly. We demonstrate that the optimum thresholds based on both modes give similar performances and are far better than the case of no thresholding. We also consider the performance of the proposed thresholding techniques for network-channel coded systems. We present several numerical examples that illustrate the efficacy of employing thresholding at the relay nodes (for networks with and without channel coding). Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) Grant XP0034 and Qatar Telecom (Qtel) Grant XP0037 Scopus

In cooperative communications, error propagation at relays degrades the diversity order of the system. To combat that effect, it has been suggested to implement a reliability threshold at the relay to control error propagation. The relay calculates log-likelihood ratio (LLR) values for the bits sent from the source. These values are subjected to a threshold to selectively forward bits that are most reliable and discard bits that are less so, resulting in less errors propagating to the destination. We investigate the application of this technique to a network- coded two-way relay channel, where the relay is assisting two sources simultaneously. We investigate two modes of thresholding at the relay: at the individual-bit level and at the combined- bit level. We analyze the bit-error rates of both thresholding modes and optimize the threshold for both. We show significant gains using thresholding over an unthresholded network-coded system. Based on system simulations, we conclude that utilizing separate thresholds yields better results than utilizing a combined threshold scheme.

In cooperative communications, error propagation at relays reduces the diversity order of the system. To combat that effect, we present a novel technique to control error propagation at the relays, which is presented in the context of a relay cooperating with a source to communicate with a destination using a turbo code. The relay calculates log-likelihood ratio (LLR) values for the bits sent from the source. These value are subjected to a threshold to selectively forward bits that are most reliable and discard bits that are less so, resulting in less errors propagating to the destination. We derive upper bounds on the bit-error rates for our proposed system and use them to optimize the threshold at the relay, showing that our system provides a better trade off between prevented errors and blocked correct bits. We compare our scheme with controlling error propagation using only a cyclic redundancy code(CRC) check at the relay, forwarding analog LLR values, and employing no error control at the relay at all. Based on system simulations, we show that our proposed scheme provides a significant diversity gain compared to other techniques.

In this paper, we consider a coded cooperation diversity scheme suitable for relay channels. The proposed scheme is based on convolutional coding, where each codeword of the source node is partitioned into two parts. The first part is transmitted from the source to the relays and destination. The second part is transmitted simultaneously from the source and relay nodes to the destination. All the relay nodes are assumed to be operating in the decode-and-forward (DF) mode. At the destination, the two replicas of the second sub-codeword are combined using maximum ratio combining (MRC). The entire codeword is decoded via the Viterbi algorithm. We analyze the proposed scheme for L-relay channels in terms of its probability of symbol error and outage probability. In that, explicit upper bounds are obtained assuming M-ray phase shift keying (M-PSK) transmission. Our analytical results show that the maximum diversity order is achieved provided that the source-relay link is more reliable than the other links. Otherwise, the diversity degrades. However, in both cases, it is shown that substantial performance improvements are possible to achieve over noncooperative coded systems. Several numerical and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed scheme.