Scheduling Algorithms for Packet-Oriented MAC Protocols in Wireless Multimedia Systems

Future generation wireless multimediacommunications will require efficient Medium AccessControl (MAC) protocols able to guarantee suitable Qualityof Service (QoS) levels for different traffic classes whileachieving a high utilization of radio resources. This paperproposes a new scheduling technique to be adopted at the MAClevel in wireless access systems, named Dynamic Scheduling-Time DivisionDuplexing (DS-TDD), that efficiently managesvideo, voice, Web and background traffics. A theoretical approachis proposed in this paper to evaluate the DS-TDD performance withvoice and Web traffics. Simulation results have permitted tohighlight the following promising characteristics of the DS-TDDscheme: (i) a high capacity of real-time traffics isattained with a QoS insensitive to Web and background trafficloads; (ii) a high throughput can be guaranteed whilepreserving the QoS levels of the different traffic classes;(iii) heavier downlink traffic loads do not modify the QoSof uplink traffics. Finally, extensive comparisons with differentscheduling schemes proposed in the literature have permitted tohighlight the better performanceof DS-TDD.     

A rate adaptive bit-loading algorithm for in-building power-line communications based on DMT-modulated systems

This paper deals with a variable rate discrete multitone modulation system for broadband power-line communications, based on the bit-loading algorithm proposed by Leke and Cioffi. In the proposed system a suitable least mean square channel estimator is considered, which is based on the insertion of a training sequence (TS). The proposed approach will be compared with the ideal channel estimates, showing its effectiveness. Moreover, different TS lengths will be compared. The system performance, expressed in terms of bit rate and bit-error rate, is derived by simulation with and without estimation errors. The propagation environment has been assumed as a frequency-selective multipath fading channel with additive colored Gaussian noise, according to the in-building networks model.     

A Low-Complexity Multiuser Detector for Asynchronous CDMA QPSK Adaptive Antenna Array Systems

This paper proposes a low complexity joint space-time multiuser detection algorithm for asynchronous DS/CDMA antenna array systems. The proposed multiuser detector is composed of an adaptive antenna array, used as a linear beamformer, and a sliding window decorrelator. A QPSK modulation scheme is used in order to increase bandwidth efficiency. Numerical results are given in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) under the assumption of a frequency-selective Rayleigh slow fading channel. In particular, the proposed receiver is shown to be near-far resistant, even in worst fading cases, and to exploit completely array introduction while maintaining acceptable computational complexity. The proposed architecture avoids linear filter realization of the decorrelator, which is impractical in the case of a large number of users, and operates with relatively short data frames instead of the complete information sequence. Finally, this receiver is very flexible to changes in timing configuration.     

An efficient HARQ scheme for applications in multicast communication systems

This paper deals with the performance evaluation and optimization of an efficient hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) scheme suitable for applications delivered over lossy multicast communication channels. In particular, different from previously investigated strategies, this paper proposes a modified HARQ scheme based on the symbol combining principle (MHARQ‐SC) where multiple copies of a same packet are consecutively transmitted at each transmission opportunity. By considering as the performance metrics, the mean packet delivery delay, and the energy consumption per information packet, this paper presents suitable performance evaluation and optimization strategies tailored for multicast communications. For the sake of comparisons, it has been also analyzed, under the same operational conditions, the performance of different HARQ schemes optimized for multicast communications. Numerical results have been provided to validate the proposed performance evaluation and optimization approaches in the case of the MHARQ‐SC scheme. An important result devised here is that the reported analytical results clearly highlight the performance gain of the proposed strategy in comparison with all the other considered alternatives. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel link adaptation for TETRA cellular systems

One of the main challenges for future wireless systems is to enhance the effective data throughput by exploiting the allocated bandwidth as much as possible. Among several approaches at different layers, one of the most important is constituted by the so‐called link adaptation (LA) techniques. They are characterized by the adaptation of a set of transmission parameters to the channel state in order to improve performance. In this context, this paper is focused on the analysis of a particular class of LA techniques called adaptive modulation and coding, where the modulation and coding rate of transmission can vary according to the channel behavior. In particular, a novel LA algorithm, namely the timed window (TW) method, suitable for time‐division Duplex systems is proposed here. The performance of the TW algorithm is evaluated by taking actual user mobility conditions, communication channel behavior, as well as the physical layer effects into account. Finally, it is important to stress that, even if the wireless bearer considered in this study is TETRA (TErrestrial Trunked RAdio), the approach is quite general and it can be of interest for other wireless networks and can be optimized for different channel models (e.g. TU50, HT200, etc.). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A low‐complexity multiuser detector for up‐link CDMA QPSK mobile radio communications

This paper deals with a multiuser detector based on a new decorrelating approach for asynchronous uplink DS/CDMA communications in which the QPSK modulation scheme is used in transmission. It is shown here that the receiver proposed is near–far resistant and exhibits a low complexity which allows realtime operation. Performance is expressed in terms of bit error rate (BER) which has been derived by simulations under the assumption of a slowly frequencyselective Rayleigh fading channel.     

A CDMA wireless packet network for voice-data transmissions

This letter investigates the possibility of integrating voice and data communications in a CDMA wireless packet network to provide access to a base station over a common short-range radio uplink channel for many spatially dispersed voice and data user terminals. Speech activity detection is assumed for voice communications to temporarily devote codes unused by voice user terminals during silence periods to data transmissions. The network proposed exhibits a good performance both in terms of quality of voice communications which is independent of data transmissions and maximum data traffic load supported with bounded delay     

A low complexity pilot aided channel estimation method for WCDMA communication systems

This letter deals with the performance evaluation of a pilot aided method for estimating channel parameters in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) communication systems. Unlike previous approaches, a successive interference cancellation algorithm is used to reduce multipath and multiuser interference caused by pilot signal replicas on the channel parameter estimation, and on the detection of the information bearing signals. Comparisons with the ideal case of perfect knowledge of the channel parameters and the classical channel parameter estimation algorithm have highlighted the good performance of the proposed approach.     

Generalised stop-and-wait ARQ scheme with soft error detection

In the letter a generalised stop-and-wait ARQ technique with soft error detection is proposed which achieves a higher throughput efficiency with respect to other modified ARQ schemes recently described in the literature. An optimisation of the throughput efficiency is carried out to obtain a better performance.     

Stability and performance analysis of a MAC protocol for a time-code air interface in LEO mobile satellite systems

The paper deals with low Earth orbit mobile satellite systems (LEO-MSSs) belonging to third-generation mobile networks and proposes a novel packet-access scheme suitable for a hybrid time-code wideband air interface. This medium-access control (MAC) protocol is a modification of the packet-reservation multiple-access scheme with hindering states (PRMA-HS) and is called code-division PRMA-HS (CD-PRMA-HS). Each mobile terminal that needs to transmit makes random accesses on available time-code resources until it receives a positive acknowledgment from the satellite. Both real-time voice and Web-traffic sources have been considered in our LEO-MSS scenario. An in-depth analysis of the random-access phase has been carried out, thus identifying the conditions that allow a good CD-PRMA-HS behavior. Finally, a performance analysis has been developed in order to evaluate the quality of service parameters for both voice and Web-traffic sources.