Physical Layer Network Research Articles

A Novel Linear Physical-Layer Network Coding Scheme for Y-Channel Without Transmitter CSI

We propose a novel linear physical-layer network coding (NC) scheme for a fading Y-channel without channel state information at transmitters. In this three-user scheme, each user intends to realize a full data exchange with the other two users via a relay. Instead of directly decoding the users’ messages from the received signal, the relay determines NC generator matrices and reconstructs linear NC codewords from its received signals to facilitate the information exchange. We present an explicit solution for NC generator matrices that minimize the NC error probability at high SNRs. We also present and prove an approximation of the NC error probability of the proposed scheme at high SNRs. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme outperforms existing ones, and its performance can be well characterized by the approximation.

Noncoherent Detection for Physical-Layer Network Coding

This paper investigates the noncoherent detection in a two-way relay channel operated with physical-layer network coding (PNC), assuming FSK modulation and short-packet transmissions. For noncoherent detection, the detector has access to the magnitude but not the phase of the received signal. For conventional communication in which a receiver receives the signal from a transmitter only, the phase does not affect the magnitude, and hence the performance of the noncoherent detector is independent of the phase. PNC, on the other hand, is a multiuser system in which a receiver receives signals from multiple transmitters simultaneously. The relative phase of the signals from different transmitters affects the received signal magnitude through constructive-destructive interference. In particular, for good performance, the noncoherent detector of a multiuser system such as PNC must take into account the influence of the relative phase on the signal magnitude. Building on this observation, this paper delves into the fundamentals of PNC noncoherent detector design. To avoid excessive overhead, we assume a set-up in which the short packets in the PNC system do not have preambles. We show how the relative phase can be deduced directly from the magnitudes of the received data symbols, and that the knowledge of the relative phase thus deduced can in turn be used to enhance performance of noncoherent detection. Our overall detector design consists of two components: 1) a channel gains estimator that estimates channel gains without preambles; and 2) a detector that builds on top of the estimated channel gains to jointly estimate relative phase and detect data using a belief propagation algorithm. Numerical results show that our detector performs nearly as well as a “fictitious” optimal detector that has perfect knowledge of the channel gains and relative phase. Although this paper focuses on PNC with FSK modulation, we believe that the insight of this paper applies generally to noncoherent detection in other multiuser systems with other modulations. Specifically, our insight is that the relative phase of overlapped signals affects the signal magnitude in multiuser systems, but fortunately the relative phase can be deduced from the magnitudes and this knowledge can be used to improve the detection performance.

A Design of Overlapped Chunked Code over Compute-and-Forward for Multi-Source Multi-Relay Networks.

This paper investigates the design of overlapped chunked codes (OCC) for multi-source multi-relay networks where a physical-layer network coding approach, compute-and-forward (CF) based on nested lattice codes (NLC), is applied for the simultaneous transmissions from the sources to the relays. This code is called OCC/CF. In this paper, OCC is applied before NLC before transmitting for each source. Random linear network coding is applied within each chunk. A decodability condition to design OCC/CF is provided. In addition, an OCC with a contiguously overlapping, but non-rounded-end fashion is employed for the design, which is done by using the probability distributions of the number of innovative codeword combinations and the probability distribution of the participation factor of each source to the codeword combinations received for a chunk transmission. An estimation is done to select an allocation, i.e., the number of innovative blocks per chunk and the number of blocks taken from the previous chunk for all sources, that is expected to provide the desired performance. From the numerical results, the design overhead of OCC/CF is low when the probability distribution of the participation factor of each source is dense at the chunk size for each source.

Source compression in two-way two-relay network using compute-and-forward relaying

In this paper, the performance of relaying network that employs vector quantization with Compute-and-Forward (CF) relaying technique in AWGN and Rayleigh fading channel is analyzed. Radio relaying is needed when the source and destination cannot directly communicate with each other. Source compression techniques of optimum vector quantization and lattice quantization is employed at source nodes. Physical layer network coding (PNC) with compute and forward relaying is an ingenious relaying scheme that exploits the broadcast nature of wireless channel and forwards the linear combination of signals received from multiple nodes. On the reception of linear combination of messages from the relay nodes, source nodes are capable of extracting the data intended for them. The end-to-end error performance at the source nodes is analyzed. As the performance of CF relaying is sensitive to channel estimation error, we estimate the channel using Least Square Estimation (LSE) and Minimum Mean Square Estimation (MMSE) channel estimation algorithms. The sum-rate of nearly 7 bits/s/Hz for AWGN channel at 20 dB SNR in compute-and-forward relaying is achieved which is only 3.75 bits/s/Hz for decode-and-forward relaying (DF). Thus source compression techniques with efficient CF relaying in PNC is a promising technique to improve the efficiency in wireless relaying networks.

Gaussian Broadcast Channels With Intermittent Connectivity and Hybrid State Information at the Transmitter

In wireless networks, the link connectivity may be intermittent due to shadowing, burstiness of data arrival, or uncoordinated resource allocation. In this paper, we model the intermittence of links as Bernoulli distributed random channel states, termed intermittence channel states , and study the impact of the corresponding channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) in a two-user Gaussian broadcast channel (BC). Moreover, due to the heterogeneous timeliness of intermittence channel states, the CSIT considered in this paper is hybrid . More specifically, the CSIT of each link can be perfectly (causally or non-causally) available, delayed, or not available. When the links are connected, we adopt a general setting that the received signal-to-noise ratios can be different. Our contribution is the characterization of the capacity regions of intermittent Gaussian BC to within bounded gaps for all combinations of hybrid CSIT, except for scenario DN (delayed CSIT of receiver 1, no CSIT of receiver 2). For scenario DN, we propose an opportunistic physical layer network coding scheme that achieves a strictly larger degree-of-freedom (DoF) region than the no-CSIT DoF region. As a corollary, single-user CSIT is able to increase the sum DoF for intermittent Gaussian BC (also the capacity region for the erasure BC, as a by-product). This result is in sharp contrast to the recent negative result by Davoodi and Jafar, where it is shown that for fast-fading multiple-input single-output BC with continuous channel states, single-user CSIT does not help at all in terms of sum DoF.

Near-Maximum-Likelihood Decoding for Convolutionally Coded Physical-Layer Network Coding Over the Full-Duplex Two-Way Relay Channel

The full duplex (FD) two-way relay channel (TWRC) has recently been shown to be a feasible way to improve the network throughput in practical communications. In this correspondence, we consider the convolutionally coded physical-layer network coding over the TWRC in which two sources work in the FD mode and there exists a direct link between them. Every source receives two packets, one packet from the other source and one network coded packet from the relay. A near-maximum-likelihood decoding algorithm for the sources is proposed. A salient feature of the proposed algorithm is that it exploits the code structure to mitigate the error propagation induced by the relay. Furthermore, we derive the near maximum-likelihood decoding bound on end-to-end BER for the system. Simulation results indicate that the performance of the proposed algorithm matches well the bound.

Network-Coded Multiple Access on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

This paper presents the first network-coded multiple access (NCMA) downlink system on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The use of UAV as a mobile aerial base station has received much attention in the 5G community in the context of highly mobile and flexible-configurable communication systems. As UAVs are limited by their flight time in the air, achieving high spectral and power efficiency while they are inflight is of great importance. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising technique to increase the spectral and power efficiency. Conventional NOMA downlink that makes use of superposition coding in combination with successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding does not work well in scenarios where the channel conditions of different downlink users are not readily available at the transmitter side. This is the case, for example, in the UAV scenario in which the UAV transmitter moves quickly, causing the channel conditions to vary in a very dynamic manner. This paper investigates a new NOMA downlink architecture, referred to as network-coded multiple access . In the absence of channel information, an NCMA transmitter allocates equal power to the superposed signals of different downlink users. A key challenge is how to achieve high NOMA throughput under such equal power allocation. Toward this end, NCMA makes joint use of physical-layer network coding (PNC) and multiuser decoding (MUD) together with a new superposition coding scheme, referred to as NCMA-based superposition coding . In NCMA-based superposition coding, equal powers are allocated to the signals of different users, but a relative phase offset between the signals is introduced to optimize PNC and MUD decodings. To demonstrate the feasibility and advantage of the NCMA downlink, we implemented our designs on a software-defined radio and UAV. Our experimental results show that NCMA is robust against varying channel conditions. Moreover, the throughput of NCMA can outperform the state-of-the-art SIC-based superposition coding system and the time-division multiple access system by 50% and 80%, respectively, demonstrating that NCMA is a practical solution to boost throughput in UAV NOMA.

Mobile Lattice-Coded Physical-Layer Network Coding with Practical Channel Alignment

Physical-layer network coding (PNC) is a communications paradigm that exploits overlapped transmissions to boost the throughput of wireless relay networks. A high point of PNC research was a theoretical proof that PNC that makes use of nested lattice codes could approach the information-theoretic capacity of a two-way relay network (TWRN), where two end nodes communicate via a relay node. The capacity cannot be achieved by conventional methods of time-division or straightforward network coding. Many practical challenges, however, remain to be addressed before the full potential of lattice-coded PNC can be realized. Two major challenges are: (1) for good performance in lattice-coded PNC, channels of simultaneously transmitting nodes must be aligned; (2) for lattice-coded PNC to be practical, the complexity of lattice encoding at the transmitters and lattice decoding at the receiver must be reduced. We address these challenges and implement a first lattice-coded PNC system on a software-defined radio (SDR) platform. Specifically, we design and implement a low-overhead channel precoding system that accurately aligns the channels of distributed nodes. In our implementation, the nodes use low-cost temperature-compensated oscillators (TCXO) only—a consequent challenge is that the channel alignment must be done more frequently and more accurately compared with the use of expensive oscillators. The low overhead and accurate channel alignment are achieved by (1) a channel precoding system implemented over FPGA to realize fast feedback of channel state information; (2) a highly-accurate carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation method; and (3) a partial-feedback channel estimation method that significantly reduces the amount of feedback information from the receiver to the transmitters for channel precoding at the transmitters. To reduce lattice encoding and decoding complexities, we adapt the low-density lattice code (LDLC) for use in PNC systems. Experiments show that our implemented lattice-coded PNC achieves better bit error rate performance compared with time-division and straightforward network coding systems. It also has good throughput performance in mobile non-LoS scenarios.

Spatial modulation and physical layer network coding based bidirectional relay network with transmit antenna selection over Nakagami‐m fading channels

SummaryIn this paper, a high data rate bidirectional relay network is proposed by combining the merits of spatial modulation (SM) and physical layer network coding. All nodes in the network are equipped with multiple antennas. Spatial modulation technique is used to reduce hardware complexity and interchannel interference by activating only one antenna at any time during transmission. In the proposed bidirectional relay network, transmit antennas are selected at the source nodes and relay node on the basis of the order statistics of channel power. It increases received signal power and provides a significant improvement in the outage performance. Also, the data rate of the proposed network is improved by physical layer network coding at the relay node. A closed form analytical expression for the outage probability of the network over Nakagami‐m fading channel is derived and validated by Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, asymptotic analysis is investigated at high signal‐to‐noise ratio region.The outage performance of the proposed network is compared with SM and physical layer network coding bidirectional relay network without transmit antenna selection and point‐to‐point SM. With approximate SNR≈1 dB difference between the two networks, the same data rate is achieved.

New evolution in two-way relay networks based on physical layer network coding

In this paper, a physical-layer network coding (PNC) method is offered for a two-way relay network with spatial modulation (SM) for source node and relay node. For this purpose, we consider a two-way relay network consists of a single relay node and two source nodes both equipped with multiple antennas. It includes two source nods for transferring the data through SM and also, the relay node for decrypting coded packet network (through the XOR) of two packets received from the source node. In the proposed method, the signal detection approach with maximum-likelihood for the PNC with SM modulation is used for relay nodes. The simulation results show that the bit error rate (BER) in the relay node of the proposed method is significantly improved compared to the conventional method PNC; while the data rate is based on the same BER. It is worth mentioning that the performance of the proposed method, when the number of antenna nodes rises, is significant. And it leads to increase in the data rate which indicates that the proposed method will be much convenient for the next generation of wireless communication systems, especially the fifth generation. It should also be said that the suggested SM-based PNC method, does not need channel state information at transmitter. So it can be easily implemented in practice.

Spatially Modulated Bidirectional Cognitive Cross Network Design With Physical-Layer Coding

In this paper, a bidirectional cognitive cross network using spatial modulation (SM) along with physical-layer network coding (PLNC) is proposed. In our model, a primary user pair located far from each other, exchanges information in the lack of a direct link so that a relay is required for a reliable communication. A secondary user pair shares their relay with the primary user in return for access to the licensed spectrum. Both users exploit SM while the relay also applies PLNC. It is assumed that each user pair can eavesdrop the signal of the other user pair to use these signals as side information and cancel them from the PLNC mapped signal broadcasted by the relay. Optimum power allocation, in which two scenarios are considered, is proposed for sources and the relay. In Scenario 1 , the optimization is performed by minimizing the bit error probability (BEP) of the primary user due to its priority in the licensed band. Scenario 2 , which minimizes BEP of both users, provides the optimum results for the whole system. A theoretical BEP analysis is performed and the results are supported via computer simulation results, which are in perfect match with theoretical findings.

Sign-Compute-Resolve for Tree Splitting Random Access

We present a framework for random access that is based on three elements: physical-layer network coding (PLNC), signature codes, and tree splitting. In presence of a collision, physical-layer network coding enables the receiver to decode, i.e. , compute, the sum of the packets that were transmitted by the individual users. For each user, the packet consists of the user’s signature, as well as the data that the user wants to communicate. As long as no more than $K$ users collide, their identities can be recovered from the sum of their signatures. This framework for creating and transmitting packets can be used as a fundamental building block in random access algorithms, since it helps to deal efficiently with the uncertainty of the set of contending terminals. In this paper, we show how to apply the framework in conjunction with a tree-splitting algorithm, which is required to deal with the case that more than $K$ users collide. We demonstrate that our approach achieves throughput that tends to 1 rapidly as $K$ increases. We also present results on net data-rate of the system, showing the impact of the overheads of the constituent elements of the proposed protocol. We compare the performance of our scheme with an upper bound that is obtained under the assumption that the active users are a priori known. Also, we consider an upper bound on the net data-rate for any PLNC-based strategy in which one linear equation per slot is decoded. We show that already at modest packet lengths, the net data-rate of our scheme becomes close to the second upper bound, i.e. , the overhead of the contention resolution algorithm and the signature codes vanishes.

Identifying ECUs Using Inimitable Characteristics of Signals in Controller Area Networks

As the functions of vehicles are more computerized for the safety and convenience of drivers, attack surfaces of vehicle are accordingly increasing. Many attack results have shown that an attacker could intentionally control vehicles. Most of them exploit the vulnerability that controller area network (CAN) protocol, a de-facto standard for the in-vehicle networks, does not support message origin authentication. Although a number of methods to resolve this security vulnerability have been suggested, they have their each limitation to be applied into the current system. They have required either the modification of the CAN standard or dramatical communication load increase, which is infeasible in practice. In this paper, we propose a novel identification method, which works in the physical layer of the in-vehicle CAN network. Our method identifies electronic control units (ECUs) using inimitable characteristics of electrical CAN signals enabling detection of a malicious ECU. Unlike previous attempts to address the security problem in the in-vehicle CAN network, our method works by simply adding a monitoring unit to the existing network, making it deployable in current systems and compliant with required CAN standards. Our experimental results show that our method is able to correctly identify ECUs. In case of misclassfication rate for ECU idnetification, our method yields 0.36% in average which is approximate four times lower than the method proposed by P.-S. Murvay et al. This paper is also the first to identify potential attack models that systems should be able to detect.

Physical-Layer Network Coding for Fading Bidirectional Relay Channels with <i>M</i>-CPFSK

Physical-Layer Network Coding for Fading Bidirectional Relay Channels with <i>M</i>-CPFSK

Noncoherent LDPC-Coded Physical-Layer Network Coding Using Multitone FSK

A noncoherent two-way relaying system is developed using physical-layer network coding for improved throughput over conventional relaying in a fading channel. Energy-efficient noncoherent operation is achieved using multitone frequency shift keying (FSK). A novel soft-output demodulator is developed for the relay, and corresponding achievable exchange rates are found for Rayleigh fading and AWGN channels. Bit-error rate performance approaching the achievable rate is realized using a capacity-approaching channel code and a receiver architecture, which iterates between demodulation and channel decoding. Iterative decoding is performed feeding information back from the channel decoder to the demodulator. In addition, the error-rate performance is made to approach the achievable rate more closely by optimizing LDPC codes for this system. The energy efficiency improvement obtained by increasing the modulation order is more dramatic for the proposed physical-layer network coding scheme than it is for a conventional point-to-point system. Using optimized LDPC codes, the bit-error rate performance is improved by as much as 1.1 dB over a widely known standardized LDPC code, and comes to within 0.7 dB of the limit corresponding to the achievable rate. Throughout this paper, the performance for physical-layer network coding is compared with conventional network coding. When noncoherent FSK is used, physical-layer network coding enables higher achievable rates, and conventional network coding exhibits better energy efficiency at low rates.

Buffer-Aided Physical-Layer Network Coding With Optimal Linear Code Designs for Cooperative Networks

In this paper, we propose buffer-aided physical-layer network coding (PLNC) techniques for improving data transmission over cooperative networks. In particular, we develop buffer-aided PLNC schemes and relay pair selection algorithms for direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems. We devise PLNC techniques based on optimal linear network coding matrices according to the maximum likelihood and minimum mean-square error design criteria in order to generate the network coded symbols that are sent to the destination. In the proposed buffer-aided PLNC schemes, relay pair selection algorithms are developed to obtain the relay pair and the packets in the buffer entries with the best performance and the associated link combinations are used for the data transmission. An analysis of the computational complexity of the proposed techniques along with their sum-rate analysis is carried out. Simulation results show that the proposed techniques significantly outperform previously reported approaches.

An Algebraic Framework for End-to-End Physical-Layer Network Coding

We propose an algebraic framework for end-to-end physical-layer network coding based on submodules transmission. Our approach is motivated by nested-lattice-based network coding schemes, that naturally induce end-to-end channels where the ambient space has the structure of a module over a principal ideal ring. The setup is compatible with previously proposed approaches for finite chain rings, and extends them to arbitrary principal ideal rings. We introduce a distance function between modules, and describe how it relates to information loss and errors. We also show that computing the distance between modules reduces to computing the length of certain ideals in the base ring. We then propose a definition of submodule error-correcting code, and establish two upper bounds for the cardinality of these codes. Finally, we present some constructions of submodule codes, showing that they have asymptotically optimal cardinality for certain choices of the parameters.

Two-Way Full-Duplex Spatial Modulation Systems With Wireless Powered AF Relaying

This letter proposes a dual-hop two-way full-duplex cooperative system, where spatial modulation is used at the sources and energy harvesting is employed at the wireless powered relay. We combine the physical-layer network coding and the fixed-gain amplify-and-forward relaying techniques for two-way transmission. For the simultaneous information and wireless power transfer, the power-splitting protocol is employed at the relay, which has no external power supply. A new unified tight upper-bound bit error rate (BER) expression is derived in a closed-form for both full-duplex and half-duplex transmission schemes. The accuracy of our analyses is verified by various Monte Carlo type computer simulations. The numerical results reveal that the full-duplex scheme can provide considerably better BER performance compared to the conventional half-duplex scheme as the quality of loop-interference cancellation improves and/or the spectral efficiency requirement increases.

STTC design for vehicular communication systems employing fixed‐gain AF PLNC over cascaded fading channels

In this study, the authors combine physical layer network coding (PLNC) and space-time trellis coding (STTC) techniques to improve the error performance of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems where all fading channels are assumed to undergo double Rayleigh fading (DRF) which is worse than Rayleigh fading used in cellular communications. In the authors' analysis, they show that the DRF channels can be modelled by using the mixture gamma distribution. After that, pairwise error probability (PEP) analysis is performed for a fixed-gain amplify-and-forward PLNC V2V system employing STTC over the DRF channels, and an upper bound for the PEP is obtained. By examining the behaviour of the upper bound expression in the high SNR region, they derive a new design criterion for STTCs. Finally, using this criterion they propose novel STTCs with 4 and 8 states for V2V systems employing PLNC over the DRF channels.

New scheme for underwater acoustically wireless transmission using direct sequence code division multiple access in MIMO systems

This paper proposes a new technique based on Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access for underwater acoustically wireless transmission with excessive transmission rate. Environment of subsea is challenging for wireless communication because the medium in which waves are propagating is not air. In fact, it is propagated through fractions of water having different densities. Finding out various techniques for multipath access targeting the physical layer of Acoustic Sensor Networks is indeed necessary. The recent approaches have suggested that coded modulation techniques with exploited diversity are highly preferred in order to enhance the dependability of the acoustic link in different multipath channels. The proposed technique divides the channel into sub ones and transmits information via those sub channels. In variety-spectrum, a signal in a bandwidth is unfold within frequency domain and broad bandwidth. Experimental results show that Bit Error Rate (BER) of this method is better than that of channel equalization in the respective systems.