Gregory W. Wornell

Distributed space-time-coded protocols for exploiting cooperative diversity in wireless networks

We develop and analyze space-time coded cooperative diversity protocols for combating multipath fading across multiple protocol layers in a wireless network. The protocols exploit spatial diversity available among a collection of distributed terminals that relay messages for one another in such a manner that the destination terminal can average the fading, even though it is unknown a priori which terminals will be involved. In particular, a source initiates transmission to its destination, and many relays potentially receive the transmission. Those terminals that can fully decode the transmission utilize a space-time code to cooperatively relay to the destination. We demonstrate that these protocols achieve full spatial diversity in the number of cooperating terminals, not just the number of decoding relays, and can be used effectively for higher spectral efficiencies than repetition-based schemes. We discuss issues related to space-time code design for these protocols, emphasizing codes that readily allow for appealing distributed versions.

Secure Transmission With Multiple Antennas—Part II: The MIMOME Wiretap Channel

The role of multiple antennas for secure communication is investigated within the framework of Wyners wiretap channel. We characterize the secrecy capacity in terms of generalized eigenvalues when the sender and eavesdropper have multiple antennas, the intended receiver has a single antenna, and the channel matrices are fixed and known to all the terminals, and show that a beamforming strategy is capacity-achieving. In addition, we study a masked beamforming scheme that radiates power isotropically in all directions and show that it attains near-optimal performance in the high SNR regime. Insights into the scaling behavior of the capacity in the large antenna regime as well as extensions to ergodic fading channels are also provided.

Efficient use of side information in multiple-antenna data transmission over fading channels

We derive performance limits for two closely related communication scenarios involving a wireless system with multiple-element transmitter antenna arrays: a point-to-point system with partial side information at the transmitter, and a broadcast system with multiple receivers. In both cases, ideal beamforming is impossible, leading to an inherently lower achievable performance as the quality of the side information degrades or as the number of receivers increases. Expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and mutual information are both considered as performance measures. In the point-to-point case, we determine when the transmission strategy should use some form of beamforming and when it should not. We also show that, when properly chosen, even a small amount of side information can be quite valuable. For the broadcast scenario with an SNR criterion, we find the efficient frontier of operating points and show that even when the number of receivers is larger than the number of antenna array elements, significant performance improvements can be obtained by tailoring the transmission strategy to the realized channel.

An efficient protocol for realizing cooperative diversity in wireless networks

We develop two variants of an energy-efficient cooperative diversity protocol that combats fading induced by multipath propagation in wireless networks, The underlying techniques build upon the classical relay channel and related work and exploit space diversity available at distributed antennas through coordinated transmission and processing by cooperating radios. While applicable to any wireless setting, these protocols are particularly attractive in ad-hoc or peer-to-peer wireless networks, in which radios are typically constrained to employ a single antenna. Substantial energy-savings resulting from these protocols can lead to reduced battery drain, longer network lifetime, and improved network performance in terms of, e.g., capacity.

Lattice-reduction-aided detectors for MIMO communication systems

Lattice-reduction (LR) techniques are developed for enhancing the performance of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) digital communication systems. When used in conjunction with traditional linear and nonlinear detectors, LR techniques substantially close the gap to fundamental performance limits with little additional system complexity. Results for individual channels and ensembles are developed, and illustrated in detail for the case of small (2 /spl times/ 2), uncoded, coherent systems. For example, we show that, relative to the maximum likelihood bound, LR techniques get us within 3dB for any Gaussian channel, and allow us to achieve the same diversity on the Rayleigh fading channel, when sufficiently large constellations are used.

Estimation of fractal signals from noisy measurements using wavelets

The role of the wavelet transformation as a whitening filter for 1/f processes is exploited to address problems of parameter and signal estimations for 1/f processes embedded in white background noise. Robust, computationally efficient, and consistent iterative parameter estimation algorithms are derived based on the method of maximum likelihood, and Cramer-Rao bounds are obtained. Included among these algorithms are optimal fractal dimension estimators for noisy data. Algorithms for obtaining Bayesian minimum-mean-square signal estimates are also derived together with an explicit formula for the resulting error. These smoothing algorithms find application in signal enhancement and restoration. The parameter estimation algorithms find application in signal enhancement and restoration. The parameter estimation algorithms, in addition to solving the spectrum estimation problem and to providing parameters for the smoothing process, are useful in problems of signal detection and classification. Results from simulations are presented to demonstrated the viability of the algorithms. >

Wavelet-based representations for the 1/f family of fractal processes

It is demonstrated that 1/f fractal processes are, in a broad sense, optimally represented in terms of orthonormal wavelet bases. Specifically, via a useful frequency-domain characterization for 1/f processes, the wavelet expansions role as a Karhunen-Loeve-type expansion for 1/f processes is developed. As an illustration of potential, it is shown that wavelet-based representations naturally lead to highly efficient solutions to some fundamental detection and estimation problems involving 1/f processes. >

Signal processing with fractals: a wavelet-based approach

Wavelet transmission statistically self-similar signals detection and estimation with 1/processes deterministically self-similar signals fractal modulation linear self-similar signals.

A Karhunen-Loeve-like expansion for 1/f processes via wavelets

While so-called 1/f or scaling processes emerge regularly in modeling a wide range of natural phenomena, as yet no entirely satisfactory framework has been described for the analysis of such processes. Orthonormal wavelet bases are used to provide a new construction for nearly 1/f processes from a set of uncorrelated random variables. >

Secure Broadcasting Over Fading Channels

We study a problem of broadcasting confidential messages to multiple receivers under an information-theoretic secrecy constraint. Two scenarios are considered: 1) all receivers are to obtain a common message; and 2) each receiver is to obtain an independent message. Moreover, two models are considered: parallel channels and fast-fading channels. For the case of reversely degraded parallel channels, one eavesdropper, and an arbitrary number of legitimate receivers, we determine the secrecy capacity for transmitting a common message, and the secrecy sum-capacity for transmitting independent messages. For the case of fast-fading channels, we assume that the channel state information of the legitimate receivers is known to all the terminals, while that of the eavesdropper is known only to itself. We show that, using a suitable binning strategy, a common message can be reliably and securely transmitted at a rate independent of the number of receivers. We also show that a simple opportunistic transmission strategy is optimal for the reliable and secure transmission of independent messages in the limit of large number of receivers.