Chien-Chun Cheng

Enhanced Spatial Modulation With Multiple Signal Constellations

In this paper, we introduce a new spatial modulation (SM) technique using one or two active antennas and multiple signal constellations. The proposed technique, which we refer to as Enhanced SM or ESM, conveys information bits not only by the index(es) of the active antenna(s), but also by the constellations transmitted from each of them. The main feature of ESM is that it uses a primary signal constellation during the single active antenna periods and some other secondary constellations during the periods with two active transmit antennas. The secondary signal constellations are derived from the primary constellation by means of geometric interpolation in the signal space. We give design examples using two and four transmit antennas and QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM as primary modulations. The proposed technique is compared to conventional SM as well as to spatial multiplexing (SMX), and the results indicate that in most cases, ESM provides a substantial performance gain over conventional SM and SMX while reducing the maximum-likelihood (ML) decoder complexity.

New Signal Designs for Enhanced Spatial Modulation

In this paper, we present three new signal designs for enhanced spatial modulation (ESM), which was recently introduced by the present authors. The basic idea of ESM is to convey information bits not only by the index(es) of the active transmit antenna(s) as in conventional SM, but also by the types of the signal constellations used. The original ESM schemes were designed with reference to single-stream SM and involved one or more secondary modulations in addition to the primary modulation. Compared with single-stream SM, they provided either higher throughput or improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, we focus on multi-stream SM (MSM) and present three new ESM designs leading to increasing SNR gains when they are operated at the same spectral efficiency. The secondary signal constellations used in the first two designs are derived through a single geometric interpolation step in the signal constellation plane, while the third design also makes use of additional constellations derived through a second interpolation step. The new ESM signal designs are described for MIMO systems with four transmit antennas out of which two are active, but we also briefly present extensions to higher numbers of antennas. Theoretical analysis and simulation results indicate that the proposed designs provide a significant SNR gain over MSM.

Enhanced spatial modulation with multiple constellations

Spatial modulation (SM) has recently drawn a great deal of attention, particularly due to the low complexity that it promises for both the transmitter and the receiver sides. However, this technique has a significant spectral efficiency loss with respect to spatial multiplexing (SMX) with the same number of transmit (Tx) antennas, and when the modulation order is increased to achieve the same spectral efficiency, it loses in terms of the bit error rate (BER). In this paper, a new type of SM (referred to as Enhanced SM) is proposed which increases the number of bits transmitted per channel use compared to conventional SM. Note that conventional MIσMO techniques including SMX and SM employ a fixed signal constellation. In our proposed technique, some information bits select not only the index(es) of the active antenna(s), but also the constellations to be transmitted from each of them. Both the closed-form analysis and the numerical results demonstrate that the proposed technique achieves better performance than conventional SM and that in most cases it also outperforms SMX.

Modelling and Estimation of Correlated MIMO-OFDM Fading Channels

This paper presents a general reduced-rank channel model and a corresponding low-complexity estimation scheme for wideband spatial-correlated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. We focus on orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) based systems. The proposed reduced-rank model is useful for many post-channel-estimation applications such as channel state information (CSI) feedback, precoder design and user/channel selection. Our work is an extension of an earlier investigation on narrowband MIMO channels. Like the narrowband case, the proposed wide channel estimator also offer the advantage of rendering both channel coefficients and mean angle of departure (AoD) simultaneously. BY exploiting the time, frequency, and spatial correlations of the channel and with continuous-type pilot symbols, we found that, even with as high as a compression ratio of 1\%, our channel estimator is capable of maintaining an acceptable mean squared errors (MSE) in highly correlated environments. Both mathematical analysis and computer simulation, based on some industry-approved standard channel models, indicate that our algorithm outperform the conventional least-square estimator within most range of interest.

Enhanced spatial multiplexing — A novel approach to MIMO signal design

In this paper, we present a new type of Spatial Multiplexing (SMX) schemes based on the multiple signal constellation concept, which was recently introduced in the context of Spatial Modulation (SM) by the present authors. The proposed technique, which we refer to as Enhanced SMX or E-SMX, conveys information not only by the transmitted symbols, but also by the antenna and constellation combinations used. In addition to the primary constellation, these schemes make use of one or more specifically-designed secondary constellations, obtained through geometric interpolation in the signal constellation plane. We present the general concept and describe specific schemes for different numbers of transmit antennas and using 16QAM as primary modulation. Our analysis and the simulation results indicate that the proposed schemes provide a significant performance gain over conventional SMX.

New signal design for enhanced spatial modulation with multiple constellations

In this paper, we introduce a new signal design for the Enhanced Spatial Modulation (ESM) concept, which was recently proposed by the present authors. The basic idea of ESM is to convey information bits not only by the indexes of the active transmit antennas, but also by the types of the multiple constellations used. Design of the original ESM schemes involved one or more secondary modulations, which were derived using a single step of geometric interpolation in the signal constellation plane. In the new design, we go one step further in the interpolation process and derive additional modulations leading to a significant increase of the number of active antenna and modulation combinations used. A design example is given for 10 bits per channel use (bpcu) transmission using four transmit antennas two of which are active at a time. The new design is compared to conventional multi-stream spatial modulation (MSM) and to our previously proposed ESM scheme. The analysis and the simulation results confirm a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain of 2.2 dB over MSM and 0.4 dB over ESM when the three schemes are operated at the same spectral efficiency.

Frequency-domain spatial modulation

Spatial modulation (SM) is a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique, which was introduced for wireless communication systems in which the number of transmit RF chains is smaller than the number of antennas. The basic principle in this technique is to select transmit antennas using information bits and transmit data symbols from these antennas. Obviously, SM involves symbol-rate antenna switching, which leads to serious problems and degradations in practice due to the non-rectangular pulse shaping used. Combining SM with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) leads to what we call Frequency-Domain SM (FDSM). This technique avoids antenna switching and eliminates the related problems. However, the number of RF chains required to implement it is no longer smaller than the number of transmit antennas, but the power requirements are reduced as compared to conventional MIMO/OFDM. In this paper, we investigate the requirements in terms of high-power amplifiers and we introduce a Balanced FDSM scheme, which further reduces these requirements.

SINR Enhancement of Interference Rejection Combining for the MIMO Interference Channel

Interference rejection combining (IRC) is an effective technique to suppress the spatial interference in multiple input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. In general, more receive antennas result in better interference-suppression capability. However, as the number of receive antennas increases, the receiver becomes more complex and loses its scalability. Therefore, an increased attention was turned by industry to find efficient ways to enable the use of more receive antennas, e.g., scaling the number of receive antennas to increase interference rejection capability. In this paper, a baseband preprocessing scheme is proposed by maximizing the signal-to- interference-plus noise ratio (SINR). It involves minimum modification of the existing receiver structure when additional receive antennas become available. Substantial improvements are provided by exploiting the channel estimates or the SINR feedback from the original receiver. The main idea is to generate a new channel matrix for the original receiver such that the interference can be suppressed after the proposed processing. Since the proposed scheme does not rely on the receiver structure, it can be easily generalized to different kind of receivers.

Moving-Average Based Interference Suppression on Frequency Selective SIMO Channels

Co-channel interference suppression is a key design concern for next-generation communication systems. It is particularly challenging in the presence of frequency-selective fading as the covariance matrices of the interference plus noise vary across subcarriers. The moving average technique is an effective scheme for estimating the frequency- selective covariance matrices. But the problem of choosing the optimal window size is far from trivial. In this work, we propose a window selection scheme based on the mean square error (MSE) of the covariance estimate. It only requires information of the signalto-noise ratio (SNR) and signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) and is robust against variations of the interfering channels power delay profile. Moreover, the results can be applied to time-varying channels by simply replacing the frequency correlation function by the time correlation function.

Linear interference suppression with covariance mismatches in MIMO-OFDM downlink

Interference cancellation is a key design concern for next-generation communication systems. One practical approach is the so-called interference rejection combining (IRC) scheme which treat interference as a stationary Gaussian process to simplify interference suppression design. However, this stationary assumption does not hold in practice; in particular, the statistics of the pilot and the data parts from an interfering eNodeB (eNB) are quite different. This considerably impacts the possible improvements of interference-aware receivers. In this paper, novel interference suppression schemes are proposed, which handle separately the interfering pilot and data signals. The proposed schemes take into account channel estimation errors and also the errors in covariance estimation of interference plus noise.