Optimal Power Allocation for Multiuser Secure Communication in Cooperative Relaying Networks

We consider a cooperative relaying network in which a source communicates with a group of users in the presence of one eavesdropper. We assume that there are no source-user links and the group of users receive only retransmitted signal from the relay. Whereas, the eavesdropper receives both the original and retransmitted signals. Under these assumptions, we exploit the user selection technique to enhance the secure performance. We first find the optimal power allocation strategy when the source has the full channel state information (CSI) of all links. We then evaluate the security level through: i) ergodic secrecy rate and ii) secrecy outage probability when having only the statistical knowledge of CSIs.

Beamforming and interference cancellation in D2D communication underlaying cellular networks

This paper presents an analytical performance investigation of both beamforming (BF) and interference cancellation (IC) strategies for a device-to-device (D2D) communication system underlaying a cellular network with an M-antenna base station (BS). We first derive new closed-form expressions for the ergodic achievable rate for BF and IC precoding strategies with quantized channel state information (CSI), as well as, perfect CSI. Then, novel lower and upper bounds are derived which apply for an arbitrary number of antennas and are shown to be sufficiently tight to the Monte-Carlo results. Based on these results, we examine in detail three important special cases including: high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), weak interference between cellular link and D2D link, and BS equipped with a large number of antennas. We also derive asymptotic expressions for the ergodic achievable rate for these scenarios. Based on these results, we obtain valuable insights into the impact of the system parameters, such as the number of antennas, SNR and the interference for each link. In particular, we show that an irreducible saturation point exists in the high SNR regime, while the ergodic rate under IC strategy is verified to be always better than that under BF strategy. We also reveal that the ergodic achievable rate under perfect CSI scales as log2M, whilst it reaches a ceiling with quantized CSI.

Beamforming and interference cancellation schemes for D2D communications

We investigate device-to-device (D2D) communication underlaying cellular networks with M-antenna base stations. We consider both beamforming (BF) and interference cancellation (IC) strategies under quantized channel state information (CSI), as well as, perfect CSI. We derive tight closed-form approximations of the ergodic achievable rate which hold for arbitrary transmit power, location of users and number of antennas. Based on these approximations, we derive insightful asymptotic expressions for three special cases namely high signal-to-noise (SNR), weak interference, and large M. In particular, we show that in the high SNR regime a ceiling effect exists which depends on the received signal-to-interference ratio and the number of antennas. Moreover, the achievable rate scales logarithmically with M. The ergodic achievable rate is shown to scale logarithmically with SNR and the antenna number in the weak interference case. When the BS is equipped with large number of antennas, we find that the ergodic achievable rate under quantized CSI reaches a saturated value, whilst it scales as log2M under perfect CSI.

Massive MIMO with I/Q imbalance: Performance analysis and compensation

In this paper, we consider the uplink of a single-cell massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system with inphase and quadrature-phase imbalance (IQI). This scenario is of particular importance in massive MIMO systems, where the deployment of lower-cost, lower-quality components is desirable to make massive MIMO a viable technology. Particularly, we investigate the effect of IQI on the performance of massive MIMO employing maximum-ratio combining (MRC) receivers. In order to study how IQI affects channel estimation, we derive a new channel estimator for the IQI-impaired model and show that IQI can substantially downgrade the performance of MRC receivers. Moreover, a low-complexity IQI compensation scheme, suitable for massive MIMO, is proposed which is based on the IQI coefficients' estimation and it is independent of the channel gain. The performance of the proposed compensation scheme is analytically evaluated by deriving a tractable approximation of the ergodic achievable rate and providing the asymptotic power scaling laws assuming transmission over Rayleigh fading channels with log-normal large-scale fading. Finally, we show that massive MIMO effectively suppresses the residual IQI effects, as long as, the compensation scheme is applied.

Beam division multiple access for massive MIMO downlink transmission

We study a multiuser multicarrier downlink communication system in which the base station (BS) employs a large number of antennas. By assuming frequency-division duplex operation, we provide a beam domain channel model as the number of BS antennas grows asymptotically large. With this model, we first derive a closed-form upper bound on the achievable ergodic sum-rate before developing necessary conditions to asymptotically maximize the upper bound, with only statistical channel state information at the BS. Inspired by these conditions, we propose a beam division multiple access (BDMA) transmission scheme, where the BS communicates with users via different beams. For BDMA transmission, we design user scheduling to select users within non-overlapping beams, work out an optimal pilot design under a minimum mean square error criterion, and provide optimal pilot sequences by utilizing the Zadoff-Chu sequences. The proposed BDMA scheme reduces significantly the pilot overhead, as well as, the processing complexity at transceivers. Simulations demonstrate the high spectral efficiency of BDMA transmission and the advantages in the bit error rate performance of the proposed pilot sequences.

Achievable sum-rate of multiuser massive MIMO downlink in ricean fading channels

We investigate the achievable ergodic sum-rate of multi-user multiple-input multiple-output systems in Ricean fading channels. We first derive a lower bound on the average signal-to-leakage-and-noise ratio by utilizing the Mullen's inequality, which is then used to analyze the effect of channel mean information on the achievable sum-rate. With these results, a novel statistical-eigenmode space-division multipleaccess downlink transmission scheme is proposed. For this scheme, we derive an exact closed-form expression for the achievable ergodic sum-rate. Our results show that the achievable ergodic sum-rate converges to a saturation value in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region and reaches to a lower limit value in the lower Ricean K-factor range. In addition, we present tractable upper and lower bounds, which are shown to be tight for any SNR and Ricean K-factor value. Finally, the theoretical analysis is validated via numerical simulations.

Physical Layer Security with Threshold-Based Multiuser Scheduling in Multi-antenna Wireless Networks

In this paper, we consider a multiuser downlink wiretap network consisting of one base station (BS) equipped with AA antennas, NB single-antenna legitimate users, and NE single-antenna eavesdroppers over Nakagami-m fading channels. In particular, we introduce a joint secure transmission scheme that adopts transmit antenna selection (TAS) at the BS and explores threshold-based selection diversity (tSD) scheduling over legitimate users to achieve a good secrecy performance while maintaining low implementation complexity. More specifically, in an effort to quantify the secrecy performance of the considered system, two practical scenarios are investigated, i.e., Scenario I: the eavesdropper’s channel state information (CSI) is unavailable at the BS, and Scenario II: the eavesdropper’s CSI is available at the BS. For Scenario I, novel exact closed-form expressions of the secrecy outage probability are derived, which are valid for general networks with an arbitrary number of legitimate users, antenna configurations, number of eavesdroppers, and the switched threshold. For Scenario II, we take into account the ergodic secrecy rate as the principle performance metric, and derive novel closed-form expressions of the exact ergodic secrecy rate. Additionally, we also provide simple and asymptotic expressions for secrecy outage probability and ergodic secrecy rate under two distinct cases, i.e., Case I: the legitimate user is located close to the BS, and Case II: both the legitimate user and eavesdropper are located close to the BS. Our important findings reveal that the secrecy diversity order is AAmA and the slope of secrecy rate is one under Case I, while the secrecy diversity order and the slope of secrecy rate collapse to zero under Case II, where the secrecy performance floor occurs. Finally, when the switched threshold is carefully selected, the considered scheduling scheme outperforms other well known existing schemes in terms of the secrecy performance and complexity tradeoff

On Pauli pairs

The state of a system in classical mechanics can be uniquely reconstructed if we know the positions and the momenta of all its parts. In 1958 Pauli has conjectured that the same holds for quantum mechanical systems. The conjecture turned out to be wrong. In this paper we provide a new set of examples of Pauli pairs, being the pairs of quantum states indistinguishable by measuring the spatial location and momentum. In particular, we construct a new set of spatially localized Pauli pairs.

The Broader Impact of Disability Research: Aligning Public Policy with the Experiences of People with Disabilities and Healthcare Providers

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-07

Rethinking the Eclectic Paradigm: Explaining MNE E-Commerce Corporations' Activity in the Chinese Digital Sector

We use the eclectic paradigm as an analytical framework to explain the MNE e-commerce company’s activities in China. Grounded in the rich data, we argue that the dynamic interplay between the ownership advantage and local institutional context that have emerged—particularly in the information age—plays a significant role in explaining the trajectory of MNE e-commerce companies in China. We propose On, Ln and In by embedding network-based advantages within the OLI paradigm. With the acceleration of technological change and non-ergodic uncertainty, such a network-embedded eclectic paradigm will lead to MNE e-commerce companies’ sustainable development in the emerging economy.

Adsorption Calorimetry for Energy Conversion Technologies: Applications in Organic Photovoltaics, Catalysis, and Atomic Layer Deposition

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-07

The Use of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis in Performing Alternatives Assessment and Comparative Risk Analysis: The Case Study of Codling Moth Pesticides

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Sediment Budget for Cane Land on the Lower Herbert River Floodplain, North Queensland, Australia

Land use in the river catchments of tropical North Queensland appears to have increased the export of sediment and nutrients to the coast. Although evidence of harmful effect of sediment on coastal and riverine ecosystems is limited, there is a growing concern about its possible negative impacts. Sugarcane cultivation on the floodplains of the tropical North Queensland river catchments is thought to be an important source of excess sediment in the river drainage systems. Minimum-tillage, trash blanket harvesting has been shown to reduce erosion from sloping sugarcane fields, but in the strongly modified floodplain landscape other elements (e.g. drains, water furrows and headlands) could still be important sediment sources. The main objectives of this thesis are to quantify the amount of sediment coming from low-lying cane land and identify the important sediment sources in the landscape. The results of this thesis enable sugarcane farmers to take targeted measures for further reduction of the export of sediment and nutrients. Sediment budgets provide a useful approach to identify and quantify potential sediment sources. For this study a sediment budget is calculated for a part of the Ripple Creek catchment, which is a sub-catchment of the Lower Herbert River. The input of sediment from all potential sources in cane land and the storage of sediment within the catchment have been quantified and compared with the output of sediment from the catchment. Input from, and storage on headlands, main drains, minor drains and water furrows, was estimated from erosion pin and surface profile measurements. Input from forested upland, input from fields and the output at the outlet of the catchment was estimated with discharge data from gauged streams and flumes. Data for the sediment budget were collected during two ‘wet’-seasons: 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. The results of the sediment budget indicate that this tropical floodplain area is a net source of sediment. Plant cane fields, which do not have a protective trash cover, were the largest net source of sediment during the 1999-2000 season. Sediment input from water furrows was higher, but there was also considerable storage of sediment in this landscape element. Headlands tend to act as sinks. The source or sink function of drains is less clear, but seems to depend on their shape and vegetation cover. An important problem in this study is the high uncertainty in the estimates of the sediment budget components and is, for example, likely to be the cause of the imbalance in the sediment budget. High uncertainties have particularly affected the results from the 20002001 season. The main source of uncertainty is spatial variation in the erosion and deposition processes. Uncertainty has to be taken into consideration when interpreting the budget results. The observation of a floodplain as sediment source contradicts the general understanding that floodplains are areas of sediment storage within river catchments. A second objective of this thesis was therefore to provide an answer to the question: how can floodplains in the tropical North Queensland catchments can be a source of sediment? In geomorphic literature various factors have been pointed out, that could control floodplain erosion processes. However, their importance is not 'uniquely identified'. Among the most apparent factors are the stream power of the floodwater and the resistance of the floodplain surface both through its sedimentary composition and the vegetation cover. If the cultivated floodplains of the North Queensland catchments are considered in the light of these factors, there is a justified reason to expect them to be a sediment source. Cultivation has lowered the resistance of their surface; increased drainage has increased the drainage velocity and flood control structures have altered flooding patterns. For the Ripple Creek floodplain four qualitative scenarios have been developed that describe erosion and deposition under different flow conditions. Two of these scenarios were experienced during the budget study, involving runoff from local hillslopes and heavy rainfall, which caused floodplain erosion. In the longer term larger flood events, involving floodwater from the Herbert River, may lead to different erosion and deposition processes. The present study has shown that the tropical floodplain of the Herbert River catchment can be a source of sediment under particular flow conditions. It has also shown which elements in the sugarcane landscape are the most important sediment sources under these conditions. This understanding will enable sugarcane farmers to further reduce sediment export from cane land and prevent the negative impact this may have on the North Queensland coastal ecosystems.

Assessing variation in personal health service delivery and workplace smoking ban enforcement by local health departments

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Saraswati Sings: The Slide-Guitar in India

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08