Unambiguous S‐curve shaping technique for multipath mitigation in Global Navigation Satellite Systems alternative binary offset carrier signals

Global Navigation Satellite Systems positioning accuracy indoor and urban canyons environments are greatly affected by multipath because of distortions in its autocorrelation function. In this paper, we propose a new multipath mitigation technique based on the concept of S‐curve shaping for the new alternative binary offset carrier (AltBOC)‐modulated signals, which will most likely be used in both European Galileo system and Chinese Compass system. The definition of an optimum S‐curve is employed to reduce the false lock points and to improve the multipath mitigation capability via determining the shape of the local code tracking reference function. The structure of the proposed code tracking loop for AltBOC signals is quite simple and only requires one complex correlator. Results demonstrate that the proposed technique provides superior multipath mitigation performance compared with the conventional receiver correlation techniques and removes the ambiguity completely. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low complexity estimation of carrier and sampling frequency offsets in burst‐mode OFDM systems

We study communications under slowly varying channels, and consider three cases of knowledge of the channel impulse response (CIR): full knowledge, no knowledge, and partial knowledge of the CIR. By partial knowledge, we refer to knowing only either the CIR magnitudes or the CIR phases. It is known that obtaining the exact joint maximum‐likelihood estimate (MLE) of the CFO and the SFO requires a two‐dimensional search. Here, we present a new estimation method which uses the Taylor expansion of the MLE cost function, combined with the best linear unbiased estimator, to obtain a method which does not require such a search. The computational complexity of the new method is evaluated. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the new method approaches the corresponding Cramér‐Rao bound for a wide range of signal‐to‐noise ratios, and has superior performance compared to all other existing methods for approximating the solution for the joint MLE, while maintaining a low computational complexity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carrier phase recovery for turbo‐coded systems with pre‐coded GMSK modulation

A carrier phase recovery scheme suited for turbo‐coded systems with pre‐coded Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK) modulation is proposed and evaluated in terms of bit‐error‐rate (BER) performance. This scheme involves utilizing the extrinsic information obtained from the turbo‐decoder to aid an iterative carrier phase estimation process, based on a maximum‐likelihood (ML) strategy. The phase estimator works jointly with the turbo‐decoder, using the updated extrinsic information from the turbo‐decoder in every iterative decoding. A pre‐coder is used to remove the inherent differential encoding of the GMSK modulation. Two bandwidths of GMSK signals are considered: BT=0.5 and 0.25, which are recommended by the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). It is shown that the performance of this technique is quite close to the perfect synchronized system within a wide range of phase errors. This technique is further developed to recover nearly any phase error in [?π,+π] by increasing the number of phase estimators and joint decoding units. This, however, will increase the complexity of the system. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the inclusion of geographic information systems (GIS) in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)

The latest innovation of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) technologies plays an important role in improving the quality and safety of modern life. Most of the applications evolved from the integration between GNSS, geographical information systems (GIS) and wireless communications and networking (WCN) systems. The wide spread applications that are using these technologies include: the automatic vehicle location (AVL), tracking systems, navigation systems, pedestrian navigation systems, intelligent transportation systems, precise positioning, and emergency callers, among others. The location‐based services (LBS) are possible only by the combination of GNSS, GIS and WCN. The growing need for commercial LBS has forced cellular‐phone and network manufacturers to concentrate on positioning solutions, which are even more precise than the regulatory mandates for positioning of emergency callers and other user services and applications. In this paper, we will present a literature review of the GNSS, the three satellite systems GPS, GLONASS and Galileo, which are aimed to support GNSS services, and a comparison between them and their role in creating a GIS. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Co‐channel interference cancelation at the user terminal in multibeam satellite systems

We study the applicability of soft interference cancelation in the forward link of multibeam satellite systems with focus on mobile terminals. We adopt a standard currently used in commercial satellite systems as a reference. The multibeam satellite antenna radiation diagram has been generated using a physical optics reflector model while a widely adopted channel model has been used for the land mobile satellite channel. The interference pattern has been derived using a system simulator developed by the European Space Agency. Starting from the analysis of the interference pattern, we study the application of a low‐complexity soft interference cancelation scheme for commercial applications. Our results show that, under realistic conditions, a two‐colors frequency reuse scheme can be employed while guaranteeing service availability across the coverage and keeping the complexity at the user terminals relatively low. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Per‐antenna power minimization in symbol‐level precoding for the multibeam satellite downlink

This paper addresses the problem of multiuser interference in the forward downlink channel of a multibeam satellite system. A symbol‐level precoding scheme is considered, to exploit the multiuser interference and transform it into useful power at the receiver side, through a joint utilization of the data information and the channel state information. In this context, a per‐antenna power minimization scheme is proposed, under quality‐of‐service constraints, for multilevel modulation schemes. The consideration of the power limitations individually for each transmitting radio frequency chain is a central aspect of this work, and it allows to deal with systems using separate per‐antenna amplifiers. Moreover, this feature is also particularly relevant for systems suffering nonlinear effects of the channel. This is the case of satellite systems, where the nonlinear amplifiers should be properly driven to reduce the detrimental saturation effect. In the proposed scheme, the transmitted signals are designed to reduce the power peaks, while guaranteeing some specific target signal‐to‐noise ratios at the receivers. Numerical results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, which is compared both with the state of the art in symbol‐level precoding and with the conventional minimum mean square error precoding approach.     

A tradeoff resource allocation based on MF‐TDMA scheme in the multibeam data relay satellite systems

A tremendous increase in the number of distributed satellite constellations with the unscheduled burst data traffic will impose addition and diverse requirements on the DRS (data relay satellite) systems, which increases the complexity for beam management and affects a real‐time data return and acquisition. In this paper, we suggested that a large capacity can be achieved by a multibeam DRS system based on multifrequency time division multiple access scheme providing multiaccess for the distributed satellite constellations. Because the space‐based information network is characterized by the limited on‐board resources, a highly dynamic topology and time‐varying intersatellite links, we designed a 2‐stage dynamic optimization approach to separate the multiobjective optimization for frequency/time blocks and power, aiming at the rapidly converging to the optimal solution and at the same time meeting the fairness resource allocation. In particular, a capacity‐fairness tradeoff algorithm is proposed based on hybrid the enhanced genetic algorithm and the particle swarm optimization. Simulation results show that the tradeoff between maximizing total capacity and providing proportional fairness allocation is well balanced. The proposed algorithm can rapidly converge to adapt to the highly dynamic topology in data relay satellite systems.     

Terminal location method with NLOS exclusion based on unsupervised learning in 5G‐LEO satellite communication systems

We investigate the terminal location method in 5G‐Low Earth Orbit (5G‐LEO) satellite communication systems. To overcome the dependence on the external Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), we propose to use a single LEO satellite in 5G‐LEO satellite communication systems for terminal location and utilize the downlink synchronization detection for pseudorange differential measurement. Then, a data clustering method of unsupervised machine learning is proposed to classify the measured data into line‐of‐sight (LOS) and non‐line‐of‐sight (NLOS) signals. Furthermore, the NLOS data are excluded, and the Taylor series expansion iteration method is used to calculate the terminal coordinates. Simulation results show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the influence of NLOS error on measurement results and improve the accuracy of terminal location. In simulated urban scenario, the average location accuracy is improved from 10 km by traditional methods to 0.7 km and the convergence time is reduced from 400 to 250s.     

Six‐element circuit for maximum power point tracking in photovoltaic‐motor systems with variable‐frequency drives

A low‐cost circuit was developed for stable and efficient maximum power point (MPP) tracking in autonomous photovoltaic‐motor systems with variable‐frequency drives (VFDs). The circuit is made of two resistors, two capacitors, and two Zener diodes. Its input is the photovoltaic (PV) array voltage and its output feeds the proportional‐integral‐derivative (PID) controller usually integrated into the drive. The steady‐state frequency–voltage oscillations induced by the circuit were treated in a simplified mathematical model, which was validated by widely characterizing a PV‐powered centrifugal pump. General procedures for circuit and controller tuning were recommended based on model equations. The tracking circuit presented here is widely applicable to PV‐motor system with VFDs, offering an efficient open‐access technology of unique simplicity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi‐carrier platform for wireless communications. Part 2: OFDM and MC‐CDMA systems with high‐performance,high‐throughput via innovations in spreading

Multi‐carrier technologies in general, and OFDM and MC‐CDMA in particular, are an integral part of the wireless landscape. In this second part of a two‐part survey, the authors present an innovative set of spreading codes known as CI codes, and demonstrate how these significantly increase performance and capacity in OFDM and MC‐CDMA systems, all the while eliminating PAPR concerns. Regarding OFDM: the spreading of each symbol over all N carriers using CI spreading codes (replacing the current one symbol per carrier strategy) are presented. CI codes are ideally suited for spreading OFDM since, when compared to traditional OFDM, CI‐based OFDM systems achieve the performance of coded OFDM (COFDM) while maintaining the throughput of uncoded OFDM, and, at the same time, eliminate PAPR concerns. When applied to MC‐CDMA, CI codes provide a simple means of supporting 2N users on N carriers while maintaining the performance of an N‐user Hadamard Walsh code MC‐CDMA system, i.e., CI codes double MC‐CDMA network capacity without loss in performance. The CI codes used in OFDM and MC‐CDMA systems are directly related to the CI pulse (chip) shapes used to enhance TDMA and DS‐CDMA (see part 1): hence, the CI approach provides a common hardware platform for today's multi‐carrier/multiple‐access technologies, enabling software radio applications. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel wideband space‐time channel simulator based on the geometrical one‐ring model with applications in MIMO‐OFDM systems

In this paper, we extend the geometrical one‐ring multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) channel model with respect to frequency selectivity. Our approach enables the design of efficient and accurate simulation models for wideband space‐time MIMO channels under isotropic scattering conditions. Two methods will be provided to compute the parameters of the simulation model. Especially, the temporal, frequency and spatial correlation properties of the proposed wideband space‐time MIMO channel simulator are studied analytically. It is shown that any given specified or measured discrete power delay profile (PDP) can be incorporated into the simulation model. The high accuracy of the simulation model is demonstrated by comparing its statistical properties with those of the underlying reference model with specified correlation properties in the time, frequency and spatial domain. As an application example of the new MIMO frequency‐selective fading channel model, we study the influence of various channel model parameters on the system performance of a space‐time coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. For example, we investigate the influence of the antenna element spacings of the base station (BS) antenna as well as the mobile station (MS) antenna. It turns out that an increasing of the antenna element spacing at the BS side results in a higher diversity gain than an increasing of the antenna element spacing at the MS side. Furthermore, the diversity gain brought in by space‐time block coding schemes is investigated by simulation. Our results show that transmitter diversity can significantly reduce the symbol error rate (SER) of multiple antenna systems. Finally, the influence of the Doppler effect and the impact of imperfect channel state information (CSI) on the system performance is also investigated. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.