Design, analysis, and performance evaluation for BICM-ID withsquare QAM constellations in Rayleigh fading channels

We consider bit-interleaved coded modulation with iterative decoding (BICM-ID) for bandwidth-efficient transmission over Rayleigh fading channels. We propose the design criteria that utilize a large Hamming distance inherited in a low-rate code and a new labeling technique designed specifically for fading channels. This results in a large coding gain over noniterative coded modulation and performance close to that of “turbo” coded modulation with less complexity. We also show that BICM-ID designed for fading channels usually has a very good performance over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel while the converse is difficult to achieve. When combined with signal space diversity, diversity order can be improved to twice the diversity order of conventional BICM-ID; therefore, the code complexity can further be reduced while maintaining the same level of performance. Specifically, with the bandwidth efficiency of 2 bits/s/Hz over Rayleigh fading channels, a bit error rate (BER) of 10^-6 can be achieved with 16-QAM, a four-state rate 1/2 code at E_b/N₀ of about seven dB. We also derive performance bounds for BICM-ID with and without signal space diversity over Rayleigh fading channels, which can be easily extended for other types of fading channels     

Iterative Channel Estimators in V-BLAST OFDM Systems

An iterative pilot-symbol aided modulation (PSAM) channel estimation approach is proposed for vertical Bell Laboratories layered space-time (V-BLAST) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems operating on frequency-selective fading channels. Since the signals at the receive antennas are the superposition of signals from multiple transmit antennas, accurate channel estimates are crucial for good error performance. Furthermore, the time selectivity of the fading channels leads to inter-carrier interference (ICI). While ICI can be ignored for slow fading channels, it should be mitigated for fast fading channels. This paper proposes an ICI mitigation scheme for time-varying channels. We also propose an iterative channel estimator with low-complexity. Simulation results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed algorithm on frequency-selective fading channels.     

Fading channels: information-theoretic and communications aspects

In this paper we review the most peculiar and interesting information-theoretic and communications features of fading channels. We first describe the statistical models of fading channels which are frequently used in the analysis and design of communication systems. Next, we focus on the information theory of fading channels, by emphasizing capacity as the most important performance measure. Both single-user and multiuser transmission are examined. Further, we describe how the structure of fading channels impacts code design, and finally overview equalization of fading multipath channels     

Markov error structure for throughput analysis of adaptive modulation systems combined with ARQ over correlated fading channels

We introduce an analytical method that uses a finite-state Markov chain (FSMC) as an error model, for estimating the performance of adaptive modulation systems (AMSs) combined with automatic repeat request (ARQ) schemes in correlated slow fading channels. For the throughput performance evaluation of wireless packet networks, conventionally, we have assumed independent block fading, which may also be suitable to represent fast fading channels. However, in slow fading channels, error rates of consecutive packets are highly correlated and we cannot simply assume independent error structure in performance evaluations. We propose a multistate Markov error structure for AMS in correlated fading channels, which is also described by a finite-state Markov chain (FSMC) and we also present throughput-estimation methods for AMS combined with ARQ, using the proposed Markov error structure.     

Simplified eIRA code design and performance analysis for correlated Rayleigh fading channels

We present a simple design technique for extended irregular repeat-accumulate (eIRA) codes for flat Rayleigh fading channels, using simple channels as surrogates in the design. We show that eIRA codes designed for the burst-erasure channel (BuEC) or the burst-erasure channel with AWGN (BuEC-G) achieve essentially the same performance over Rayleigh fading channels as codes designed for the fading channel. Thus, to design good codes for Rayleigh fading channels, instead of implementing the complex design procedures targeted, specifically for this channel, we propose the simple approach of designing codes over surrogate channels, the BuEC or the BuEC-G. We also show that eIRA codes designed for the BuEC enjoy the advantage of efficient encodability and a lower error-rate floor. Finally, we demonstrate that it is the distribution of the number of faded bits per codeword which determines the difference between correlated and uncorrelated fading channel performance. Perfect channel state information is assumed in this paper.     

Interleaved TC 8DPSK/OFDM with decision-directed channel estimationon frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels

Trellis-coded modulation (TCM) is a power and bandwidth efficient signaling scheme. In this letter, we propose interleaved trellis-coded (TC) 8DPSK/OFDM combined with decision-directed (DD) channel estimation on frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels. We use a subchannel block interleaver in an OFDM symbol interval to randomize the burst errors due to the correlated dispersive fading channel. We also use DD channel estimation using the previous detected 8DPSK symbols in the temporal direction to improve the performance at fast fading. Computer simulations show that the proposed technique has good performance at fast fading     

一种新颖的基于子矩阵交织的差分酉空时调制

差分酉空时调制(DUSTM)是一种应用于时变衰落信道下的多天线调制方法。该方法在慢衰落信道下无需知道信道状态信息而能获得全发送分集增益。但是,在快速衰落信道下,其性能明显恶化并且呈现出较高的误码平层。该文通过在差分酉空时调制中引入矩阵分割和子矩阵交织等操作提出了一种基于子矩阵交织的差分酉空时调制(SMI-DUSTM)方案,并对其性能进行了分析。性能分析和相应的计算机仿真证明了SMI-DUSTM 不仅能够继承DUSTM在慢衰落信道下的优点,而且在快速衰落信道下能够保持良好的系统性能。     

在频率选择性相关信道中的空频分组编码技术

本文提出了频率选择性瑞利衰落信道中的对角空频分组码(DSF)，研究了码的性能。分析表明，在各天线对间的信道相互独立，系统有NT个发射天线，NR个接收天线和信道冲击响应长度是L时，DSF码可实现分集增益NRNTL。此外，相关的发射天线阵列会使DSF码分集增益下降，但是对码的性能影响不大，特别是在较长的多路径信道上。因此，DSF码对于相关的衰落信道显示出优越的鲁棒性能。最终仿真结果证实了本文的分析。     

The union bound for turbo-coded modulation systems over fadingchannels

We derive performance bounds for turbo-coded modulation systems over fading channels. We consider a Ricean fading channel model both with and without channel-state information (CSI). This model obviously includes Rayleigh fading channel as a special case. The bounds are extensions of similar bounds derived for additive white Gaussian noise channels. For the special case of a Rayleigh fading channel with CSI, we also derive a tighter version of the bound. We illustrate the use of the new bounds via some numerical examples     

Robust space-time codes for correlated Rayleigh fading channels

Space-time (ST) coding has emerged as an effective strategy to enhance performance of wireless communications in fading environments. Many different ST coding schemes have been proposed to achieve reliable communications in independent fading channels. However, a design of robust ST codes for correlated fading channels has not been addressed. We propose a simple robust ST coding scheme that achieves robust performance over a wide range of fading conditions. The key to achieve robust performance is to formulate code design criteria that are not dependent on the channel correlation statistics. A provably robust scheme can be formulated by concatenating a full-rank ST block code with an outer encoder. We derive several robust code examples via the concatenated orthogonal ST block code and TCM construction. The simulation results show that some traditional ST codes perform poorly, whereas the proposed codes achieve robust performance over a broad range of fading conditions.     

Performance of parallel and serial concatenated codes on fading channels

The performance of parallel and serial concatenated codes on frequency-nonselective fading channels is considered. The analytical average upper bounds of the code performance over Rician channels with independent fading are derived. Furthermore, the log-likelihood ratios and extrinsic information for maximum a posteriori (MAP) probability and soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) decoding methods on fading channels are developed. The derived upper bounds are evaluated and compared to the simulated bit-error rates over independent fading channels. The performance of parallel and serial codes with MAP and SOVA iterative decoding methods, with and without channel state information, is evaluated by simulation over independent and correlated fading channels. It is shown that, on correlated fading channels, the serial concatenated codes perform better than parallel concatenated codes. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the SOVA decoder has almost the same performance as the MAP decoder if ideal channel state information is used on correlated Rayleigh fading channels.     

Bit-interleaved coded modulation with iterative decoding and 8 PSK signaling

We have suggested bit-interleaved coded modulation with soft decision iterative decoding (BICM-ID) for bandwidth-efficient transmission over Gaussian and fading channels. Unlike trellis coded modulation, BICM-ID has a small free Euclidean distance but large diversity order due to bit interleaving. With iterative decoding, soft bit decisions can be employed to significantly improve the conditional intersignal Euclidean distance. This leads to a large coding gain, comparable to that of turbo TCM, over both Gaussian and Rayleigh fading channels with much less system complexity. We address critical design issues to enhance the decoding performance and provide the analytical bounds on the performance with an ideal feedback assumption. We investigate the performance characteristics of BICM-ID through extensive simulations and show that at high signal to noise ratios, the performance of BICM-ID converges to the performance assuming error-free feedback.     

Low-density parity-check codes for space-time wireless transmission

Irregular low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have shown exceptionally good performance for single antenna systems over a wide class of channels. In this paper, we investigate their application to multiple antenna systems in flat Rayleigh fading channels. For small transmit arrays, we focus mainly on space-time coding with 2/sup p/-ary LDPC codes, where p equals the number of encoded bits transmitted by the transmit antenna array during each signaling interval. For large transmit arrays, we study a layered space-time architecture using binary LDPC codes as component codes of each layer: We show through simulation that, when applied to multiple antenna systems with high diversity order, LDPC codes of quasi-regular construction are able to achieve higher coding gain and/or diversity gain than previously proposed space-time trellis codes, space-time turbo codes, and convolutional codes in a number of fading conditions. Extending the work of density evolution with Gaussian approximation, we study 2/sup p/-ary LDPC codes on multiple antenna fading channels, and search for the optimum 2/sup p/-ary quasi-regular codes in quasi-static fading. We also show that on fast fading channels, 2/sup p/-ary irregular LDPC codes, though designed for static channels, have superior performance to nonbinary quasiregular codes and binary irregular codes specifically designed for fast fading channels.     

Outage Capacity of the Fading Relay Channel in the Low-SNR Regime

In slow-fading scenarios, cooperation between nodes can increase the amount of diversity for communication. We study the performance limit in such scenarios by analyzing the outage capacity of slow fading relay channels. Our focus is on the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and low outage probability regime, where the adverse impact of fading is greatest but so are the potential gains from cooperation. We showed that while the standard Amplify-Forward protocol performs very poorly in this regime, a modified version we called the Bursty Amplify-Forward protocol is optimal and achieves the outage capacity of the network. Moreover, this performance can be achieved without a priori channel knowledge at the receivers. In contrast, the Decode-Forward protocol is strictly suboptimal in this regime. Our results directly yield the outage capacity per unit energy of fading relay channels     

On the error performance analysis of space-time trellis codes

We present analytical performance results for space-time trellis codes over spatially correlated Rayleigh fading channels. Bit-error-probability estimates are obtained based on the derivation of an exact pairwise error probability expression using a residue technique combined with a characteristic function approach. We investigate both quasi-static and interleaved channels and demonstrate how the spatial fading correlation affects the performance of space-time codes over these two different channel models. Simulation results are also included to confirm the accuracy of analytical estimates.     

Payload Length and Rate Adaptation for Multimedia Communications in Wireless LANs

We provide a theoretical framework for cross-layer design in multimedia communications to optimize single-user throughput by selecting the transmitted bit rate and payload size as a function of channel conditions for both additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and Nakagami-m fading channels. Numerical results reveal that careful payload length adaptation significantly improves the throughput performance at low signal to noise ratios (SNRs), while at higher SNRs, rate adaptation with higher payload lengths provides better throughput performance. Since we are interested in multimedia applications, we do not allow retransmissions in order to minimize latency and to reduce congestion on the wireless link and we assume that packet loss concealment will be used to compensate for lost packets. We also investigate the throughput and packet error rate performance over multipath frequency selective fading channels for typical payload sizes used in voice and video applications. We explore the difference in link adaptation thresholds for these payload sizes using the Nafteli Chayat multipath fading channel model, and we present a link adaptation scheme to maximize the throughput subject to a packet error rate constraint.     

Error Performance of Rotated Phase Shift Keying Modulation over Fading Channels

In this paper, the modulation diversity is used to improve the performance of M-PSK modulation over fading channels. Modulation diversity can be achieved by rotating the signal constellation and using component interleaving. We derive symbol error probability expressions for rotated uncoded M-PSK over Ricean fading channels and obtain optimal rotation angles for M-PSK (M = 2, 4, 8). We show that rotated signal constellations with component interleaving improve the performance of M-PSK significantly as compared to the unrotated one over Rayleigh and Ricean fading channels. For example, when the ratio of the direct path power to the multipath signal power, K is 0 and 10, 8 and 1.5 dB gains are obtained, respectively, at a symbol error probability of 10⁻³ for 8PSK modulation. We also show that as K gets larger, the gain obtained by the rotation rapidly decreases. We develop a new asymmetric 8PSK signal constellation obtained from two QPSK signal constellations that are optimally rotated by different angles. This asymmetric 8PSK and also the rotated 8PSK signal constellation together with component interleaving are applied to four-state trellis-coded schemes. Simulation results show that these new schemes provide good performance improvements over the original TCM schemes and previous relevant works over Rayleigh and Ricean fading channels.     

On the Performance of Golden Space-Time Trellis Coded Modulation over MIMO Block Fading Channels

The Golden space-time trellis coded modulation (GST-TCM) scheme was proposed in [1] for a high rate 2 × 2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system over slow fading channels. In this letter, we present the performance analysis of GST-TCM over block fading channels, where the channel matrix is constant over a fraction of the codeword length and varies from one fraction to another, independently. In practice, it is not useful to design such codes for specific block fading channel parameters and a robust solution is preferable. We then show both analytically and by simulation that the GST-TCM designed for slow fading channels are indeed robust to all block fading channel conditions.     

Performance and distance spectrum of space-time codes in fast rayleigh fading channels

In this paper, we analyze the performance of spacetime codes and propose a distance spectrum computation method in fast Rayleigh fading channels. We first derive a new FER upper bound using the union bound and the PEP upper bound in the fast fading environment. The derived FER upper bound is very accurate, requires only the distance spectrum of the spacetime code, and takes a closed-form expression. Then we propose a distance spectrum computation method of space-time codes in fast fading channels, which exploits the symmetric property of the error state diagram in space-time trellis coded MPSK modulation to reduce the computation complexity. Numerical results illustrate that the derived FER bound is tight enough to estimate the performance of space-time codes in fast fading channels with sufficient accuracy.     

SNR estimation in Nakagami-m fading with diversity combining and its application to turbo decoding

We propose an online signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation scheme for Nakagami-m (1960) fading channels with L branch equal gain combining (EGC) diversity. We derive the SNR estimate based on the statistical ratio of certain observables over a block of data, and use the SNR estimates in the iterative decoding of turbo codes on Nakagami-m fading channels with L branch EGC diversity. We evaluate the turbo decoder performance using the SNR estimate under various fading and diversity scenarios (m = 0.5, 1, 5 and L = 1, 2, 3) and compare it with the performance using perfect knowledge of the SNR and the fade amplitudes.