Bandwidth-efficient frequency-domain equalization for single carrier multiple-input multiple-output underwater acoustic communications

This paper proposes a single carrier (SC) receiver scheme with bandwidth-efficient frequency-domain equalization (FDE) for underwater acoustic (UWA) communications employing multiple transducers and multiple hydrophones. Different from the FDE methods that perform FDE on a whole data block, the proposed algorithm implements an overlapped-window FDE by partitioning a large block into small subblocks. A decision-directed channel estimation scheme is incorporated with the overlapped-window FDE to track channel variations and improve the error performance. The proposed algorithm significantly increases the length of each block and keeps the same number of training symbols per block, hence achieving better data efficiency without performance degradation. The proposed scheme is tested by the undersea data collected in the Rescheduled Acoustic Communications Experiment (RACE) in March 2008. Without coding, the 2-by-12 MIMO overlapped-window FDE reduces the average bit error rate (BER) over traditional SC-FDE schemes by 74.4% and 84.6% for the 400 m and 1000 m range systems, respectively, at the same data efficiency. If the same BER performance is required, the proposed algorithm has only 8.4% transmission overhead, comparing to over 20% overhead in other existing UWA OFDM and SC-FDE systems. The improved data efficiency and/or error performance of the proposed FDE scheme is achieved by slightly increased computational complexity over traditional SC-FDE schemes.     

单载波频域均衡中的水声信道频域响应与噪声估计

本文对单载波频域均衡(SC-FDE)中的信道和噪声估计进行研究,理论分析了形成误码率平台的可能原因,提出了基于Chu序列的联合信道时频域响应和噪声功率估计算法.利用水声信道响应的稀疏特性和门限确定信道能量集中区域,进行信道估计的去噪处理和噪声功率计算.借助于水声射线模型对所提出的算法进行了仿真,分析了噪声估计对SC-FDE性能的重要影响.仿真结果表明,所提出的信道和噪声估计算法可以有效减缓或消除SC-FDE中的误码率平台.     

An embedded pilot power based channel estimation and low-complexity feedback equalization scheme for OTFS system

Orthogonal Time Frequency Space modulation (OTFS) has evolved as an astounding modulation technique for high-speed communication in a doubly dispersive channel. In any wireless communication system, channel estimation and equalization are essential at the receiver to recover the transmitted data. To accomplish this for the emerging OTFS based systems, a modified embedded pilot-based channel estimation technique and low complexity feedback equalization algorithm for integer Doppler shifts in the delay-Doppler domain are proposed in this paper. Our channel estimation scheme exploits embedded-pilot arrangement, and the symbol equalization relies on the Interference calculation and its mitigation iteratively. To achieve this we contemplate a prudent arrangement of symbols in the OTFS frame in such a way that the Guard symbols prevent the interference between data symbols and the pilot symbol at the receiver. Two distinct lumps of received data of the same OTFS frame will be engaged in channel estimation and data detection. An analytical expression of the theoretical Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) is derived and plotted for the proposed channel estimation scheme. The attained simulation results for Bit-Error-Rate (BER) under the proposed scheme show a significant error rate improvement over the Minimum Mean Squared Error (MMSE) equalization algorithm. Further, a lower computational complexity is also achieved in comparison with modified MMSE detection and MP detection algorithms.     

Delay-Doppler domain decision feedback turbo equalization for OTFS modulation

Emerging evidence indicates that orthogonal time–frequency space (OTFS) modulation is a potential candidate modulation scheme for high mobility wireless communications. However, OTFS may experience significant inter-symbol interference (ISI) and inter-Doppler interference (IDI) in the receiver. In this paper, we propose a soft decision feedback turbo equalization for OTFS transmission over delay-Doppler channels to jointly combat both interferences. A novel block decision feedback equalization (BDFE) algorithm is constructed using the band feature of the channels in the delay-Doppler domain. The feedforward and feedback filters are designed by the delay-time channels coefficients. According to the designed filter, an equivalent system model is employed to allow turbo equalization. The posterior probability is established using the soft prior information and feedback filter, and then fed back to the channel decoder as external information. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in improving the bit error rate (BER) performance and combat various interference. Numerical simulations are finally provided to justify the validity of the proposed scheme in improving the bit error rate (BER) performance and combating various interference.     

Alternative threshold-based channel estimation and message-passing-based symbol detection in MIMO-OTFS systems using superimposed pilots

In this work, we investigate the challenging problem of channel estimation in high-mobility environments for advanced mobile communication systems (5G and beyond). First, we propose an iterative algorithm for channel estimation and symbol detection in the delay-Doppler domain for multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal time–frequency space (OTFS) system. The proposed algorithm is based on a superimposed pilot pattern to improve the spectral efficiency of the system. It iterates between data-aided channel estimation and message-passing-aided data detection. The channel estimation step is based on a threshold method. This step considers interference-plus-noise caused by the data symbols and the additive noise to adapt the threshold at each iteration. The data detection step is based on an adapted version of the message-passing algorithm proposed in the literature for uncoded OTFS. Then, to improve the channel estimation efficiency, we suggest an interference cancellation scheme executed at each iteration of the proposed algorithm. Finally, we compare the computational complexity and the achieved performance in terms of normalized mean square error of channel estimation, bit error rate, and spectral efficiency against five state-of the-art methods.     

基于扩频码的单载波迭代频域均衡水声通信

单载波时域均衡在长时延扩展水声信道中计算量大,并对接收机参数的选择较为敏感,可靠性低,而正交频分复用信号峰均功率比高、对频率偏移敏感. 针对这些问题,提出基于扩频码的单载波块传输高速率水声通信方法和基于T/4分数间隔迭代频域均衡的接收机算法. 该接收机利用已知扩频码进行信道估计以及对由多普勒偏移引起的旋转相位进行估计,并通过一种低复杂度迭代频域均衡算法改善系统性能. 开展了湖上实验研究,结果表明在浅水1.8 km距离且复杂多径干扰条件下,利用BPSK/QPSK调制可实现10^-2–10^-4的误码率并达到1500–3000 bit/s的有效数据率. 关键词： 水声通信 单载波 频域均衡 迭代处理     

Cyclic feature suppression for physical layer security

Cyclic prefix (CP) deploying techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and single carrier frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE) offer considerable advantages in terms of equalizing time dispersive effect of wireless channel at the expense of a reasonable spectral redundancy. However, CP introduces cyclic features to the signal which can also be exploited for signal interception, blind parameter estimation and synchronization, and therefore, compromises the security of the signal against eavesdropping attacks. In order to provide a covert communication against such attacks, in this paper, we present two novel techniques that suppress the cyclic features of the CP utilizing signals while maintaining their advantages in equalization without reducing spectral efficiency. The first technique is built on a CP selection strategy while the second one is based on randomizing the symbol time. We also performed peak-to-average power ratio mitigation and out-of-band leakage suppression along with the cyclic feature concealing in the second technique at the expense of a reasonable complexity and signaling. Subsequent to the presentation of the proposed techniques, their performances are discussed and compared for OFDM and SC-FDE in terms of complexity and bit-error-rate along with cyclic feature suppression.¹     

Channel-combination method for phase-based |B1+| mapping techniques

PurposeThe aim of this study was to propose a channel combination method for |B₁⁺| mapping methods using phase difference to reconstruct |B₁⁺| map.Theory and methodsPhase-based |B₁⁺| mapping methods commonly consider the phase difference of two scans to measure |B₁⁺|. Multiple receiver coils acquire a number of images and the phase difference at each channel is theoretically the same in the absence of noise. Affected by noise, phase difference is approximately governed by Gaussian distribution. Considering data from all channels as samples, estimation can be achieved by maximum likelihood method. With this method, all phase differences at each channel are combined into one. In this study, the proposed method is applied with Bloch-Siegert shift |B₁⁺| mapping method. Simulations are performed to illustrate the phase difference distribution and demonstrate the feasibility and facility of the proposed method. Phantom and vivo experiments are carried out at 1.5 T scanner equipped with 8-channel receiver coil. In all experiments, the proposed method is compared with weighted averaging (WA) method.ResultsSimulations revealed appropriateness of approximating the distribution of phase difference to Gaussian distribution. Compared with WA method, the proposed method reduces errors of |B₁⁺| calculation. Phantom and vivo experiments provide further validation.ConclusionConsidering phase noise distribution, the proposed method achieves channel combination by finding the estimation from data acquired by multiple receivers coil. The proposed method reduces |B₁⁺| reconstruction errors caused by noise.     

Exploiting joint sparsity for underwater acoustic MIMO communications

MIMO communication has been recognized as a potential solution for high speed underwater acoustic communication, which unfortunately encounters significant difficulties posed by simultaneous presence of multipath and Co-channel interference (CoI). Sparsity contained in the multipath structure of underwater acoustic channels offers an effective way for improving channel estimation quality and thus enhancing the communication performance in the form of time reversal or channel estimation based equalization. However, for MIMO channels with extensive multipath and CoI, the performance gain achieved by classic sparsity exploitation channel estimation methods such as orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) is still not enough to yield satisfactory performance. Under quasi-stationary assumption, underwater acoustic channels of adjacent data blocks exhibit correlated multipath structure, namely, multipath arrivals with similar time delay but different magnitude, which has not been exploited. In this paper, a joint sparse recovery approach is proposed to exploit the sparse correlation among adjacent data blocks to improve the performance of channel estimation. Under the framework of distributed compressed sensing (DCS), a joint sparse model which treats the multipath arrivals as sparse solutions with common time support is adopted to derive a joint sparse recovery algorithm for efficient channel estimation, the results of which are used to initialize and periodly update a channel estimation based time reversal receiver. Finally, underwater MIMO communication experimental results obtained in a shallow water channel are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, compared to the same type of receiver that do not exploit the joint sparse.     

Phase Estimation and Compensation for Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution

Phase estimation and compensation is one of the enabling functionalities in continous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD). Recently, a novel CVQKD scheme has been independently proposed to combat the local oscillator (LO) side channel attacks. Furthermore, we have carried out a proof-of-principle experimental study on the feasibility of the CVQKD without sending a LO. However, this scheme contains a serious weakness: The phase noise caused by the two different lasers between the sender and the receiver would severely destroy the quantum signal and finally reduce the secure distance. In this paper, we investigate the optical phase noise and explore the optimal approach to estimate and compensate such kind of noise with appropriate data overhead. Numerical simulations show that our scheme can successfully reconstruct the phase drifts even at low signal-to-noise ratio conditions. We also suggest that a higher accuracy of phase estimation could be achieved by using the frequency division multiplexing scheme. This opens an opportunity to employ advanced pilot-aided phase estimation techniques in quantum communication system.

     

水声通信低复杂度最大似然联合均衡译码方法

现有Turbo均衡采用迭代联合均衡译码结构,这一迭代过程在信噪比高于某一门限后才能产生正向的迭代增益,当信道码间干扰较为严重或者采用高阶调制方式时,该信噪比门限较高;同时,现有Turbo均衡的性能还受限于其交织器长度,故当码块长度较短时,其性能并不理想。针对以上问题,提出了一种基于Spinal码的联合均衡译码方法。首先,该方法采用非迭代的最大似然联合均衡译码结构,有效避免了Turbo均衡迭代结构所带来的信噪比门限高问题;其次,该方法采用信息混合能力更强的Spinal码,有助于提高码块长度受限时的误码率性能;最后,该方法利用Spinal码可以有效增加相似信息序列间汉明距离的特点,将联合均衡译码时间复杂度降低为仅随信息序列长度与信道响应长度呈线性增长,解决了本方法难以实际应用于实时水声通信的难题。在抚仙湖湖试中,同样实现速率为3.34kbps数据通信,该方法的误码率优于Turbo均衡方法两个数量级以上。时变水声信道下的仿真以及湖试结果表明,该方法在码长受限的情况下仍在复杂水声信道中表现出更好性能,其所需的最低输入信噪比显著低于现有Turbo均衡方法。      

DC artifact correction for arbitrary phase-cycling sequence

In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a non-zero offset in the receiver baseline signal during acquisition results in a bright spot or a line artifact in the center of the image known as a direct current (DC) artifact. Several methods have been suggested in the past for the removal or correction of DC artifacts in MR images, however, these methods cannot be applied directly when a specific phase-cycling technique is used in the imaging sequence. In this work, we proposed a new, simple technique that enables correction of DC artifacts for any arbitrary phase-cycling imaging sequences. The technique is composed of phase unification, DC offset estimation and correction, and phase restoration. The feasibility of the proposed method was demonstrated via phantom and in vivo experiments with a multiple phase-cycling balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) imaging sequence. Results showed successful removal of the DC artifacts in images acquired using bSSFP with phase-cycling angles of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°, indicating potential feasibility of the proposed method to any imaging sequence with arbitrary phase-cycling angles.     

正交频分复用无源时间反转信道均衡方法研究

针对水声信道多途信号引起的正交频分复用(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing,OFDM)水声通信系统符号间干扰的问题,提出了无源时间反转均衡的方法,将发送的探测信号时间反转与OFDM信号做卷积,利用无源时间反转镜的时间聚焦原理减小信道多途带来的符号间干扰,在OFDM符号中不使用导频的情况下实现信道均衡,简化了均衡步骤并提高了OFDM符号频带利用率。分析比较了无源时反均衡方法与最小平方信道均衡在水声多途信道下的误码性能。仿真研究和湖上实验表明,无源时反信道均衡算法可以有效的减小多途信道对OFDM水声通信系统带来的影响。      

Effect of multipath and antenna diversity in MIMO-OFDM systems with imperfect channel estimation and phase noise compensation

The effect of phase noise in multiple-input–multiple-output systems employing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is analyzed in a realistic scenario where channel estimation is not perfect, and the phase noise effects are only partially compensated. In particular, the degradation in terms of SNR is derived and the effects of the receiver and channel parameters are considered, showing that the penalty is different for different receiver schemes. Moreover it depends on the channel characteristics and on the channel estimation error. An analytical expression is used to evaluate the residual inter-channel interference variance and therefore the degradation. The effects of multipath and antenna diversity are shown to be different for the two types of linear receivers considered, the zero-forcing scheme and the minimum mean squared error receiver.     

Model and comparative analysis of reduced-complexity receiver designs for the LTE-advanced SC-FDMA uplink

Due to its favorable peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), a single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) scheme has been chosen for the 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) uplink, as opposed to the orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) scheme used in the downlink. SC-FDMA, however, is prone to suffer from the effects of inter-symbol interference. When combined with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission, the complexity of optimal detection for SC-FDMA grows exponentially with the product of the number of transmitting antennas and the channel length. A means to reduce the complexity is to equalize the channel in the frequency domain first, similar to OFDMA, followed by detection in the time domain, using well-developed standard receivers for flat fading MIMO channels. Apparently, these reduced-complexity two-stage receivers suffer from a rate loss as a consequence of their simplifying design assumptions. In this paper, we provide an extensive model of SC-FDMA transmission with frequency domain equalization (FDE). Based on this model, we derive the achievable rates of four reduced-complexity two-stage receivers within the mismatched receiver framework in terms of generalized mutual information (GMI). The rate expressions allow us to assess the rate loss as compared to the optimal receiver for varying channel parameters such as channel length and spatial correlation. It is shown, for instance, that a distributed subcarrier mapping which is beneficial from a frequency diversity point of view substantially deteriorates the achievable rates. It is also explained how this loss can be compensated for by combining time-domain detection with frequency-domain interference cancelation.     

Iterative joint data detection and channel estimation for uplink MC-CDMA systems in the presence of frequency selective channels

This paper is concerned with joint multiuser detection and multichannel estimation (JDE) for uplink multicarrier code-division multiple-access (MC-CDMA) systems in the presence of frequency selective channels. The detection and estimation, implemented at the receiver, are based on a version of the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm and the space-alternating generalized expectation–maximization (SAGE) which are very suitable for multicarrier signal formats. The EM-JDE receiver updates the data bit sequences in parallel, while the SAGE-JDE receiver reestimates them successively. The channel parameters are updated in parallel in both schemes. Application of the EM-based algorithm to the problem of iterative data detection and channel estimation leads to a receiver structure that also incorporates a partial interference cancelation. Computer simulations show that the proposed algorithms have excellent BER end estimation performance.     

Utilization of balanced detection with optical hard-limiters in T/W OCDMA system

In this paper, we utilize optical hard-limiters to further enhance the system performance in balanced detection T/W optical CDMA system. In T/W optical CDMA systems, it had been investigated that the balanced detection scheme is not superior to the OOK scheme because of the adverse impact of beat noise. The employment of optical hard-limiter is an effective way to alleviate the deteriorating effect of beat noise. The carrier-hopping prime code is utilized as signature sequences whose out of phase autocorrelation is zero and the cross-correlation is at most one. Due to the orthogonality of signature sequence, the correlator of shifted version of carrier-hopping prime code is utilized in the receiver. The numerical results reveal that our proposed scheme can greatly reduce the error floor; also it is superior to that using OOK scheme with optical hard-limiter. Most important of all, our proposed scheme has fixed and optimum thresholds which do not vary with system parameters; and this will lead to dynamic estimation of optimal thresholds unnecessary in the receiver.     

用于单载波频域均衡水声通信的可分近似稀疏信道估计

针对单载波频域均衡水声通信中信道估计易受噪声干扰的问题,提出了一种低复杂度的信道估计方法。考虑水声信道的时域稀疏特性,导出频域输入、输出信号与信道冲激响应的关系式,并引入稀疏正则项,构造稀疏信道估计的目标函数。然后利用可分近似对目标函数进行迭代优化,再经过稀疏化与去偏处理,得到信道传递函数的最终估计。最后,利用数值仿真和海试数据对所提出方法的性能和运算效率进行评估。较之传统信道估计方法,所提出的方法在估计精度和计算复杂度方面具有一定的优势。      

Compressive sampling based differential detection for UWB impulse radio signals

Noncoherent detectors significantly contribute to the practical realization of the ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse-radio (IR) concept, in that they allow avoiding channel estimation and provide highly efficient reception capabilities. Complexity can be reduced even further by resorting to an all-digital implementation, but Nyquist-rate sampling of the received signal is still required. The current paper addresses this issue by proposing a novel differential detection (DD) scheme, which exploits the compressive sampling (CS) framework to reduce the sampling rate much below the Nyquist-rate. The optimization problem is formulated to jointly recover the sparse received signal as well as the differentially encoded data symbols, and is compared with both the separate approach and the scheme using the compressed received signal directly, i.e., without reconstruction. Finally, a maximum a posteriori based detector using the compressed symbols is developed for a Laplacian distributed channel, as a reference to compare the performance of the proposed approaches. Simulation results show that the proposed joint CS-based DD brings the considerable advantage of reducing the sampling rate without degrading the performance, compared with the optimal MAP detector.     

Optical access transmission with improved channel capacity using non-orthogonal frequency quadrature amplitude modulation

A new modulation scheme that improves the bandwidth efficiency of an optical access link is proposed in this paper. It is implemented using non-orthogonal frequency shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) simultaneously. We call the proposed technique non-orthogonal frequency quadrature amplitude modulation (NOFQAM). Especially, non-orthogonal FSK based on digital signal processing (DSP) is proposed for the first time. DSP-aided non-orthogonal FSK allows us to select RF carrier frequency irrespective of the channel bandwidth to allocate FSK symbols, unlike the existing orthogonal FSK. The non-orthogonality is implemented using a sequential correlation, where a received NOFQAM signal is correlated with only one RF carrier at a time by using DSP. After the sequential correlation is completed, both the FSK and the QAM symbols are recovered successfully and merged to generate the NOFQAM symbols. For experimental verification, a 20-km optical access link, which can transmit a 64-NOFQAM signal sampled at 10 Gsample/s, is implemented. We observed no increase in occupied channel bandwidth and a power penalty <0.5 dB compared to the 16-QAM scheme. A bit error rate lower than 10^?11 was obtained for the frequency spacing considered herein, which corresponds to 3% of the used RF carrier (1.5 GHz) when there are 50 sampling points per 64-NOFQAM symbol.