High Mobility Wireless Communication Research Articles

Block-Wise Index Modulation and Receiver Design for High-Mobility OTFS Communications

As a promising technique for high-mobility wireless communications, orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) has been proved to enjoy excellent advantages with respect to traditional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Although multiple studies have considered index modulation (IM) based OTFS (IM-OTFS) schemes to further improve system performance, a challenging and open problem is the development of effective IM schemes and efficient receivers for practical OTFS systems that must operate in the presence of channel delays and Doppler shifts. In this paper, we propose two novel block-wise IM schemes for OTFS systems, named delay-IM with OTFS (DeIM-OTFS) and Doppler-IM with OTFS (DoIM-OTFS), where a block of delay/Doppler resource bins are activated simultaneously. Based on a maximum likelihood (ML) detector, we analyze upper bounds on the average bit error rates for the proposed DeIM-OTFS and DoIM-OTFS schemes, and verify their performance advantages over the existing IM-OTFS systems. We also develop a multi-layer joint symbol and activation pattern detection (MLJSAPD) algorithm and a customized message passing detection (CMPD) algorithm for our proposed DeIM-OTFS and DoIM-OTFS systems with low complexity. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed MLJSAPD and CMPD algorithms can achieve desired performance with robustness to the imperfect channel state information (CSI).

Chirp cyclic moment for chirp cyclostationary processes: Definitions and estimators

In high-mobility wireless communications and radar systems, a higher carrier frequency and higher moving speed/acceleration of terminals enhance the impact of the time-varying Doppler effect. This effect alters the cyclostationarity of the transmitted signal and characterizes the received signal as a chirp cyclostationary (CCS) signal. The generalized cyclic statistics of CCS signals are defined based on Fourier analysis, which is either zero-value or non-bandlimited, and is thus inefficient. In this study, the linear canonical transform (LCT), a generalized form of the Fourier transform, was used to address these issues. The moment function is a k-dimensional variable comprising a single time variable and k−1 lag variables. The chirp cyclic moment and the time-varying canonical spectrum were designed as the LCT of the moment with respect to the time and lag variables, respectively. Furthermore, an estimator of the chirp cyclic moment was defined, which is demonstrated to be asymptotic unbiased, asymptotic mean-square-consistent and asymptotic complex normal. Applications of the chirp cyclic moment in radar parameter estimation and electrocardiogram signal characterization were verified using simulated and real-life data.

2D Off-Grid Decomposition and SBL Combination for OTFS Channel Estimation

Orthogonal time-frequency space (OTFS) is a promising technique for high mobility wireless communications, as it approaches a sparse representation of doubly-selective fading channel and can obtain delay-Doppler (DD) diversity gain. However, in practical OTFS systems, fractional channel parameter is a great challenge and will seriously deteriorates the sparsity and the performance of channel estimation. In this paper, we propose a novel channel estimation scheme for doubly selective channel in the presence of both fractional Doppler and fractional delay. First, we analyze the input-output relationship of single-input single-output (SISO) OTFS system based on the integer sampling DD grid, then extend it to the fractional DD grid. Compared with the integer DD domain, the model in the fractional DD domain is sparser and more accurate. Based on our analysis, two kinds of off-grid models, i.e., doubly fractional model and mixed one- and two-dimensional (1&2D) fractional models are proposed and compared. The mixed 1&2D fractional model has an advantage of low complexity, but encounters a tandem off-grid distortion. To tackle this distortion problem, as well as to balance the accuracy and the computational workload, a novel two dimensional off-grid decomposition and combination scheme is proposed based on the doubly and mixed 1&2D fractional model. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed channel estimation schemes, compared with the existing work for OTFS systems under doubly selective channels.

Frequency-Modulated OFDM: A New Waveform for High-Mobility Wireless Communications

This paper introduces a novel waveform for wireless communication, denoted as Frequency-Modulated Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FM-OFDM). By frequency-modulating an OFDM signal and further defining a suitable cutoff subcarrier, the resulting constant-envelope waveform (ensuring a low Peak to Average Power Ratio) exhibits strong robustness not only to Doppler, but also to phase noise and carrier frequency offsets. These impairments introduce an additive error term at the information-bearing subcarriers that is mostly concentrated at the lowest part of the spectrum. No inter-carrier interference is thus present, and impairments can be easily overcome by mapping the information above a cutoff subcarrier. Theoretical expressions and numerical results prove the superiority of FM-OFDM over the state of the art, particularly in high-speed Rayleigh channels and/or high phase noise.

Study and Analysis of OTFS and OFDM

High mobility wireless communication systems have been proposed to be robust to channel-induced Doppler shift using Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) modulation. The OTFS modulation technique is described in this paper. In addition to being in the delay-Doppler (DD) domain, OTFS has a unique and important feature. The OTFS modulation offers maximum diversity over frequency and time when coupled with an equalizer. This technique converts fading, time-varying wireless channels into time-independent, non-fading interactions that reveal their underlying geometry. Even in challenging 5G deployment settings, OTFS achieves Massive MIMO throughput gains by scaling throughput linearly with MIMO order. An analysis of peak to average power ratio (PAPR) of OFTS modulation wave forms is presented in this paper. OTFS with rectangular pulses is characterized analytically using the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF). The simulated CCDF for the PAPR of OTFS is compared with that for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) for different pulse shapes. The results show that OTFS has a better PAPR than OFDM.

Guest editorial: special issue on high mobility wirelesscommunications

Guest editorial: special issue on high mobility wirelesscommunications

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.

Multi-Block UAMP-Based Detection for OTFS With Rectangular Waveform

As a promising modulation scheme for high mobility wireless communications, orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) has received tremendous attention. In the case of bi-orthogonal waveforms, OTFS allows highly efficient detection in the delay-Doppler (DD) domain by exploiting the (circulant or sparsity) structures of the channel matrix. However, in the case of more practical waveforms, such as the rectangular waveform, the special structures do not exist. In the literature, to achieve low complexity detection, null symbols or cyclic prefixes (CPs) are frequently inserted to the OTFS signal block, which, however, leads to significant overhead. In this work, we partition the large channel matrix in the time domain into a number of small sub-matrices (blocks), and represent the system with a factor graph. Based on the graph representation, a message passing receiver is developed, where the unitary approximate message passing (UAMP) is used to handle the blocks. The proposed receiver does not require the frequent use of CPs or null symbols, while delivering promising performance.

Iterative Detection for Orthogonal Time Frequency Space Modulation With Unitary Approximate Message Passing

The orthogonal-time-frequency-space (OTFS) modulation has emerged as a promising modulation scheme for high mobility wireless communications. To harvest the time and frequency diversity promised by OTFS, some promising detectors, especially message passing based ones, have been developed by taking advantage of the sparsity of the channel in the delay-Doppler domain. However, when the number of channel paths is relatively large or fractional Doppler shifts have to be considered, the complexity of existing detectors is a concern, and the existing message passing based detectors suffer from performance loss. In this work, we investigate the design of OTFS detectors based on the approximate message passing (AMP). In particular, leveraging the unitary AMP (UAMP), we design new detectors that enjoy the structure of the channel matrix and allow efficient implementation. In addition, the estimation of noise variance is incorporated into the UAMP-based detectors. Thanks to the robustness of UAMP relative to AMP, the UAMP-based detectors deliver superior performance, and outperform state-of-the-art detectors significantly. We also investigate iterative joint detection and decoding in a coded OTFS system, where the OTFS detectors are integrated into a powerful turbo receiver, leading to considerable performance gains.

General I/O Relations and Low-Complexity Universal MRC Detection for All OTFS Variants

Orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) is a recently proposed modulation scheme which multiplexes information symbols in the delay-Doppler domain to combat severe Doppler shifts in high mobility wireless communications. In this paper, we classify all the OTFS variants depending on whether a cyclic prefix (CP) or zero padding (ZP) is added to each block or to the entire frame. We then present the general input-output relations for integer and fractional delays and Doppler shifts. Further, we present a low-complexity universal maximum ratio combining (MRC) detector for all OTFS variants, which has the lowest complexity among other known OTFS detection schemes at no loss of performance. Finally, we derive the input-output relation for overspread channels, where the channel delay spreads can exceed the OTFS block duration. Simulation results demonstrate that the MRC detection offers same performance for all OTFS variants and can also be effectively used for overspread channels.

Message Passing-Based Structured Sparse Signal Recovery for Estimation of OTFS Channels With Fractional Doppler Shifts

The orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation has emerged as a promising modulation scheme for high mobility wireless communications. To enable efficient OTFS detection in the delay-Doppler (DD) domain, the DD domain channels need to be acquired accurately. To achieve the low latency requirement in future wireless communications, the time duration of the OTFS block should be small, therefore fractional Doppler shifts have to be considered to avoid significant modelling errors due to the assumption of integer Doppler shifts. However there lack investigations on the estimation of OTFS channels with fractional Doppler shifts in the literature. In this work, we develop a channel estimator for OTFS with particular attention to fractional Doppler shifts, and both bi-orthogonal waveform and rectangular waveform are considered. Instead of estimating the DD domain channel directly, we estimate the channel gains and (fractional) Doppler shifts that parameterize the DD domain channel. The estimation is formulated as a structured sparse signal recovery problem with a Bayesian treatment. Based on a factor graph representation of the problem, an efficient message passing algorithm is developed to recover the structured sparse signal (thereby the OTFS channel). The Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) for the estimation is developed and the effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated through simulations.

Receiver Design for OTFS with a Fractionally Spaced Sampling Approach

The recent emergence of orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation as a novel PHY-layer mechanism is more suitable in high-mobility wireless communication scenarios than traditional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Although multiple studies have analyzed OTFS performance using theoretical and ideal baseband pulseshapes, a challenging and open problem is the development of effective receivers for practical OTFS systems that must rely on non-ideal pulseshapes for transmission. This work focuses on the design of practical receivers for OTFS. We consider a fractionally spaced sampling (FSS) receiver in which the sampling rate is an integer multiple of the symbol rate. For rectangular pulses used in OTFS transmission, we derive a general channel input-output relationship of OTFS in delay-Doppler domain without the common reliance on impractical assumptions such as ideal bi-orthogonal pulses and on-the-grid delay/Doppler shifts. We propose two equalization algorithms: iterative combining message passing (ICMP) and turbo message passing (TMP) for symbol detection by exploiting delay-Doppler channel sparsity and the channel diversity gain via FSS. We analyze the convergence performance of TMP receiver and propose simplified message passing (MP) receivers to further reduce complexity. Our FSS receivers demonstrate stronger performance than traditional receivers and robustness to the imperfect channel state information knowledge.

Derivation of OTFS Modulation From First Principles

Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) modulation has been recently proposed to be robust to channel induced Doppler shift in high mobility wireless communication systems. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of the prior works on OTFS have derived it from first principles. In this paper, using the ZAK representation of time-domain (TD) signals, we rigorously derive an orthonormal basis of approximately time and bandwidth limited signals which are also localized in the delay-Doppler (DD) domain. We then consider DD domain modulation based on this orthonormal basis, and derive OTFS modulation. We show that irrespective of the amount of Doppler shift, the received DD domain basis signals are localized in a small interval of size roughly equal to the inverse time duration along the Doppler domain and of size roughly equal to the inverse bandwidth along the delay domain (time duration refers to the length of the time-interval where the TD transmit signal has been limited). With sufficiently large time duration and bandwidth, there is little interference between information symbols modulated on different basis signals, which allows for joint DD domain equalization of all information symbols. This explains the inherent robustness of DD domain modulation to channel induced Doppler shift when compared with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).

Three-Dimensional MIMO Channel Model with High-Mobility Wireless Communication Systems Using Leaky Coaxial Cable in Rectangular Tunnel

With the rapid development of high-mobility wireless communication systems, e.g., high-speed train (HST) and metro wireless communication systems, more and more attention has been paid to the wireless communication technology in tunnel-like scenarios. In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) nonstationary multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel model with high-mobility wireless communication systems using leaky coaxial cable (LCX) inside a rectangular tunnel over the 1.8 GHz band. Taking into account single-bounce scattering under line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) propagations condition, the analytical expressions of the channel impulse response (CIR) and temporal correlation function (T-CF) are derived. In the proposed channel model, it is assumed that a large number of scatterers are randomly distributed on the sidewall of the tunnel and the roof of the tunnel. We analyze the impact of various model parameters, including LCX spacing, time separation, movement velocity of Rx, and K-factor, on the T-CF of the MIMO channel model. For HST, the results of some further studies on the maximum speed of 360 km/h are given. By comparing the T-CF between the dipole MIMO system and the LCX-MIMO system, we can see that the performance of the LCX-MIMO system is better than that of the dipole MIMO system.

A Beamforming Scheme With Doppler Suppression for High-Mobility Wireless Communications

In this letter, we consider the high-mobility wireless communications between a high speed train (HST) and a base station (BS) and propose a beamforming scheme with Doppler suppression for the stationary node BS. The typical Rician channel model is assumed, which occupies most of the HST communication scenarios. Based on the fact that the channel time-variation induces interference to the standard time-invariant signal model, the beamforming is then designed to maximize the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for both uplink and downlink transmissions. Simulation results are provided to verify that the channel time-variation can be effectively suppressed by the stationary BS through the proposed beamforming scheme.

High-Mobility CoMP Massive MIMO Uplink Transmissions: Channel PSD Analysis and Doppler Spread Suppression

Coordinated Multi-Point transmission/reception (CoMP) is one of the promising techniques for high-mobility wireless communications systems to increase cell edge user throughput in both uplink and downlink transmission. In this paper, we consider the high-mobility CoMP uplink transmission, where a high-speed terminal (HST) simultaneously transmits signals to multiple base stations (BSs) with angle-domain Doppler shifts compensation. We derive the exact channel power spectrum density (PSD) for uplink CoMP transmissions. The antenna weighting technique is then proposed to suppress the Doppler spread, where an optimization problem is formulated to minimize the maximum Doppler spread among all the BSs. Numerical results are provided to corroborate both the PSD analysis and the superiority of antenna weighting technique.

Radiation Efficiency Aware High-Mobility Massive MIMO With Antenna Selection

High-mobility wireless communications have received a lot of attentions in the past few years. In this paper, we consider angle-domain Doppler shifts compensation scheme to reduce the channel time variation for the high-mobility uplink from a high-speed terminal (HST) to a base station (BS). We propose to minimize Doppler spread by antenna weighting under the constraint of maintaining radiation efficiency. The sequential parametric convex approximation (SPCA) algorithm is exploited to solve the above non-convex problem. Moreover, in order to save the RF chains, we further exploit the idea of antenna selection for high-mobility wireless communications. Simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed studies.

Nonlinear channel tracking of a high mobility wireless communication system

Recently evolved wireless communication systems incorporate the use of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems to overcome the effects of channel fading. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is moreover used to overcome inter-symbol interference (ISI) to ensure effective signal transmission. The channel parameters in wireless communication systems are generally nonlinear. Channel estimation techniques for nonlinear systems include unscented Kalman filter (UKF), Kalman filter (KF) and extended Kalman filter (EKF). The Kalman filter is used for linear channel estimation whereas the EKF and UKF are applicable for nonlinear systems as well. Particle filter is a type of sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) method which uses sequential importance sampling (SIS) technique to effectively track a nonlinear system. Particle filter (PF) is an efficient method of tracking, which is able to deal with non-Gaussian and nonlinear systems. In this paper, we estimate the channel parameters of a fast time varying MIMO-OFDM system using particle filter. The proposed scheme considers a first order auto-regressive (AR) system model. A Rayleigh fading channel for mobile systems which incorporates the Doppler shift that occurs in a mobile environment is used. The performance of the particle filter is compared with the other estimation methods like Kalman filter and extended Kalman filter. The mean square error (MSE) as a function of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is plotted to compare the performance of the particle filter with other systems.

Nonlinear channel tracking of a high mobility wireless communication system

Recently evolved wireless communication systems incorporate the use of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems to overcome the effects of channel fading. Orthogonal frequency division multipl...

Accuracy-Complexity Tradeoff Analysis and Complexity Reduction Methods for Non-Stationary IMT-A MIMO Channel Models

High-mobility wireless communication systems have attracted growing interests in recent years. For the deployment of these systems, one fundamental work is to build accurate and efficient channel models. In high-mobility scenarios, it has been shown that the standardized channel models, e.g., IMT-Advanced (IMT-A) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel model, provide noticeable longer stationary intervals than measured results and the wide-sense stationary (WSS) assumption may be violated. Thus, the non-stationarity should be introduced to the IMT-A MIMO channel model to mimic the channel characteristics more accurately without losing too much efficiency. In this paper, we analyze and compare the computational complexity of the original WSS and non-stationary IMT-A MIMO channel models. Both the number of real operations and simulation time are used as complexity metrics. Since introducing the non-stationarity to the IMT-A MIMO channel model causes extra computational complexity, some computation reduction methods are proposed to simplify the non-stationary IMT-A MIMO channel model while retaining an acceptable accuracy. Statistical properties including the temporal autocorrelation function, spatial cross-correlation function, and stationary interval are chosen as the accuracy metrics for verifications. It is shown that the tradeoff between the computational complexity and modeling accuracy can be achieved by using these proposed complexity reduction methods.