Taewon Hwang

OFDM and Its Wireless Applications: A Survey

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) effectively mitigates intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by the delay spread of wireless channels. Therefore, it has been used in many wireless systems and adopted by various standards. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on OFDM for wireless communications. We address basic OFDM and related modulations, as well as techniques to improve the performance of OFDM for wireless communications, including channel estimation and signal detection, time- and frequency-offset estimation and correction, peak-to-average power ratio reduction, and multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. We also describe the applications of OFDM in current systems and standards.

Iterative cyclic prefix reconstruction for coded single-carrier systems with frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE)

In this paper, a Turbo aided Cyclic Prefix (CP) reconstruction scheme, termed Turbo-CPR, is proposed for Single-Carrier systems with Frequency-Domain Equalization (SC-FDE) that employ insufficient CP in the transmitter. In Turbo-CPR, the decoder output is incorporated in the process of equalization, i.e. Turbo equalizer is employed. It is shown in the simulation results that Turbo-CPR not only recovers the performance loss due to insufficiency of CP, but also provides extra gains over the lower bound of performance for conventional CP reconstruction schemes.

Ionically crosslinked Ad/chitosan nanocomplexes processed by electrospinning for targeted cancer gene therapy.

For effective cancer gene therapy, systemic administration of tumor-targeting adenoviral (Ad) complexes is critical for delivery to both primary and metastatic lesions. Electrospinning was used to generate nanocomplexes of Ad, chitosan, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and folic acid (FA) for effective FA receptor-expressing tumor-specific transduction. The chemical structure of the Ad/chitosan-PEG-FA nanocomplexes was characterized by NMR and FT-IR, and the diameter and surface charge were analyzed by dynamic light scattering and zeta potentiometry, respectively. The average size of Ad/chitosan-PEG-FA nanocomplexes was approximately 140 nm, and the surface charge was 2.1 mV compared to -4.9 mV for naked Ad. Electron microscopy showed well-dispersed, individual Ad nanocomplexes without aggregation or degradation. Ad/chitosan nanocomplexes retained biological activity without impairment of the transduction efficiency of naked Ad. The transduction efficiency of Ad/chitosan-PEG-FA was increased as a function of FA ratio in FA receptor-expressing KB cells, but not in FA receptor-negative U343 cells, demonstrating FA receptor-targeted viral transduction. In addition, the transduction efficiency of Ad/chitosan-PEG-FA was 57.2% higher than chitosan-encapsulated Ad (Ad/chitosan), showing the superiority of FA receptor-mediated endocytosis for viral transduction. The production of inflammatory cytokine, IL-6 from macrophages was significantly reduced by Ad/chitosan-PEG-FA nanocomplexes, implying the potential for use in systemic administration. These results clearly demonstrate that cancer cell-targeted viral transduction by Ad/chitosan-PEG-FA nanocomplexes can be used effectively for metastatic tumor treatment with reduced immune reaction against Ad.

An adaptive pre-distorter for the compensation of HPA nonlinearity

A high power amplifier (HPA) is used for the amplification of transmitting communication signals. However, it produces distortions by creating AM/AM and AM/PM modulations in the transmitting signal, Accordingly, this nonlinearity results in bandwidth expansion and nonlinear distortion in the in-band signal. This paper proposes an algorithm for the operation of a pre-distorter, which is composed of a look-up table (LUT), that can compensate for the distortion produced by an HPA. For the fast initialization of the LUT, an estimation algorithm is also proposed for the HPA characteristics. Furthermore, an adaptive algorithm based on the minimization of the mean square error is proposed to compensate for the time-varying property of an HPA. The performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed by applying the algorithm to an 8-level vestigial sideband (VSB) modulation to be used in the ATSC terrestrial digital TV system.

Fabrication of cross-linked alginate beads using electrospraying for adenovirus delivery

Cross-linked alginate beads containing adenovirus (Ad) were successfully fabricated using an electrospraying method to achieve the protection and release of Ad in a controlled manner. An aqueous alginate solution containing Ad was electrosprayed into an aqueous phase containing a cross-linking agent (calcium chloride) at different process variables (voltages, alginate concentrations, and flow rates). Alginate beads containing Ad were used for transduction of U343 glioma cells and the transduction efficiency of the alginate beads was measured by quantification of gene expression using a fluorescence-activated cell sorter at different time points. In vitro results of gene expression revealed that the Ad encapsulated in the alginate beads with 0.5 wt% of alginate concentration exhibited a high activity for a long period (over 7 days) and was released in a sustained manner from the alginate beads. The Ad-encapsulating alginate beads could be promising materials for local delivery of Ad at a high concentration into target sites.

Multifunctional Magnetic Nanoparticles Modified with Polyethylenimine and Folic Acid for Biomedical Theranostics

This paper describes the preparation of magnetic nanoparticles modified with polyethylenimine (PEI)-folic acid (PF) conjugate and their potential biomedical applications. Magnetic nanoparticles modified with (3-(2-aminoethylamino)propyltrimethoxysilane) (AEAPS) were first prepared using a ligand exchange method to provide biocompatibility and hydrophilicity, and further conjugated with PF to carry gene and enhance specific uptake into cancer cells. We demonstrated the feasibility of the multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and as gene carriers for gene delivery. In vitro results revealed that the cytotoxicity of the multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles was lower compared to that of pristine magnetic nanoparticles. Furthermore, we demonstrated the specific uptake of the magnetic nanoparticles modified with PF to KB cells using WI-38 cells as comparison by confocal microscopy. The PF-modified magnetic nanoparticles can potentially be employed as theranostic nanoplatforms for targeted gene delivery to cancer cells and simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging.

Energy Efficient Pilot and Link Adaptation for Mobile Users in TDD Multi-User MIMO Systems

In this paper, we develop an uplink pilot and downlink link adaptation approach to improve the energy efficiency (EE) of mobile users in time division duplexing (TDD) multi-user multiple input and multiple output (MU-MIMO) systems. Assuming reciprocity between uplink and downlink channels, the downlink transmission is based on uplink channel estimation. While more uplink pilot power ensures more accurate channel estimation and better downlink performance, it incurs higher energy consumption of mobile users. This paper reveals the relationship and tradeoff among pilot power, channel estimation, and downlink link adaptation that achieves the highest energy efficiency for mobile users. We show that the energy efficiency of different users can be decoupled because the downlink average throughput of each user is independent of the pilot powers of other users and energy-efficient design can be done on a per-user basis. Based on the analysis, we propose an uplink pilot and downlink link adaptation algorithm to improve the EE of mobile users. Simulation results are finally provided to demonstrate the significant gain in energy efficiency for mobile users.

Energy-Efficient Transmit Power Control for Multi-tier MIMO HetNets

In this paper, we study energy-efficient transmit power control for multi-tier multi-antenna (MIMO) heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets), where each tier operates in closed-access policy and base stations (BSs) in each tier are distributed as a stationary Poisson point process (PPP). Each BS serves multiple users at a fixed distance away from it. We first study noncooperative energy-efficient power control, where each tier selfishly chooses its transmit power to maximize its network energy efficiency (EE). This is modeled by a noncooperative power control game. We prove the existence and the uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium of the game. Moreover, we analyze the effects of circuit power and BS densities of the tiers on their transmit power at the Nash equilibrium. Then, we investigate cooperative energy-efficient power control, where all the tiers cooperatively choose their transmit power to optimize their network EE. This cooperative power control is formulated as a multiobjective problem. To obtain Pareto-optimal solutions of the problem, we develop an algorithm that alternately updates the transmit power of the tiers. In addition to the transmit power, the circuit power consumption of the operating BSs and their active antennas affects the network EE. Due to the circuit power, activating all the BSs and turning on all the antennas may not be optimal in maximizing the network EE. Motivated by this observation, we also develop energy-efficient BS activation control and antenna activation control schemes. Finally, we extend the analysis to the highest signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) association, where each user connects to the BS that offers the highest SINR among the BSs in its tier. Simulation results show that the proposed energy-efficient designs significantly improve the network EE at the cost of small spectral efficiency loss compared with the spectral-efficient designs.

Probabilistic evaluation of surface-enhanced localized surface plasmon resonance biosensing.

In this paper, we investigate detection characteristics of localized surface plasmon resonance biosensing based on a probabilistic Poisson distribution of target molecules. The model uses random nanoislands for localization of near-fields in three detection scenarios of non-specific, non-colocalized, and colocalized detection. Optical signatures were found to increase monotonically with target concentration and size regardless of the detection scenarios. The signatures were largest in colocalized detection of target interactions to localized fields, followed by non-colocalized and non-specific detection. The confidence interval was the narrowest in the colocalized detection due to the increased spatial certainty by localization. Based on the relative confidence interval, it was found that limit of detection can be enhanced by more than four orders of magnitude through colocalization.

Optimal Beamforming and Power Allocation for Sensing-Based Spectrum Sharing in Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, the optimal beamforming and power allocation strategy for the secondary transmitter based on the sensing result on the state of the primary user in a multiantenna cognitive radio (CR) network is proposed. Unlike the existing sensing-based spectrum sharing, where the secondary transmitter employs a single antenna and adjusts only its transmit power, in the proposed scheme, the secondary transmitter employs multiple transmit antennas and adjusts the beamforming vector as well as the transmit power. An iterative algorithm that can efficiently obtain the optimal beamforming vector and power allocation is developed. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a significant rate gain over the existing sensing-based spectrum sharing schemes.