Single-Symbol ML Decodable Distributed STBCs for Partially-Coherent Cooperative Networks

A relay network with N relays and a single source-destination pair is called a partially-coherent relay channel (PCRC) if the destination has perfect channel state information (CSI) of all the channels and the relays have only the phase information of the source-to-relay channels. In this paper, first, a new set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a space-time block code (STBC) to be single-symbol decodable (SSD) for colocated multiple antenna communication is obtained. Then, this is extended to a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a distributed STBC (DSTBC) to be SSD for. a PCRC. Using this, several SSD DSTBCs for PCRC are identified. It is proved that even if a SSD STBC for a co-located MIMO channel does not satisfy the additional conditions for the code to be SSD for a PCRC, single-symbol decoding of it in a PCRC gives full-diversity and only coding gain is lost. It is shown that when a DSTBC is SSD for a PCRC, then arbitrary coordinate interleaving of the in-phase and quadrature-phase components of the variables does not disturb its SSD property for PCRC. Finally, it is shown that the possibility of channel phase compensation operation at the relay nodes using partial CSI at the relays increases the possible rate of SSD DSTBCs from (2)/(N) when the relays do not have CSI to(1)/(2), which is independent of N.

Three-dimensional corner reflector of arbitrary apex angle

A method of analysing a 3-dimensional corner reflector antenna of arbitrary apex angle is given. Expressions have been obtained for the far field of the 3-dimensional corner reflector fed by a dipole. The radiation resistance and the directive gain of the antenna have been calculated. The method described is applicable even when the feed dipole is arbitrarily oriented. It is found that the radiation along a prescribed direction can be circularly polarised (right or left) by suitably orienting the feed dipole.

The truncated dielectric-coated conducting sphere-radiation and gain characteristic

An exhaustive study of the radiation and gain characteristics of a truncated dielectric-coated conducting spherical antenna excited in the symmetric TM mode has been reported. The effect of the various structure parameters on the radiation and the gain characteristics for a few even and odd order TM., modes for different structures is shown. The theorctical radiation patterns and gain have been compared with experiment. It is found that there is good agreement between theory and experiment in the case of TM es and TM os,modes. A theoretical and experimental study of the radiation and gain characcteristics in the frequency range 8.0 to 12.0 GHz has been reported.

Three-dimensional corner reflector of arbitrary apex angle

A method of analysing a 3-dimensional corner reflector antenna of arbitrary apex angle is given. Expressions have been obtained for the far field of the 3-dimensional corner reflector fed by a dipole. The radiation resistance and the directive gain of the antenna have been calculated. The method described is applicable even when the feed dipole is arbitrarily oriented. It is found that the radiation along a prescribed direction can be circularly polarised (right or left) by suitably orienting the feed dipole.

Robust THP Transceiver Designs for Multiuser MIMO Downlink with Imperfect CSIT

We present robust joint nonlinear transceiver designs for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink in the presence of imperfections in the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The base station (BS) is equipped with multiple transmit antennas, and each user terminal is equipped with one or more receive antennas. The BS employs Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP) for interuser interference precancellation at the transmitter. We consider robust transceiver designs that jointly optimize the transmit THP filters and receive filter for two models of CSIT errors. The first model is a stochastic error (SE) model, where the CSIT error is Gaussian-distributed. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by channel estimation error. In this case, the proposed robust transceiver design seeks to minimize a stochastic function of the sum mean square error (SMSE) under a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We propose an iterative algorithm to solve this problem. The other model we consider is a norm-bounded error (NBE) model, where the CSIT error can be specified by an uncertainty set. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by quantization errors. In this case, we consider a worst-case design. For this model, we consider robust (i) minimum SMSE, (ii) MSE-constrained, and (iii) MSE-balancing transceiver designs. We propose iterative algorithms to solve these problems, wherein each iteration involves a pair of semidefinite programs (SDPs). Further, we consider an extension of the proposed algorithm to the case with per-antenna power constraints. We evaluate the robustness of the proposed algorithms to imperfections in CSIT through simulation, and show that the proposed robust designs outperform nonrobust designs as well as robust linear transceiver designs reported in the recent literature.

Low ML-Decoding Complexity, Large Coding Gain, Full-Rate, Full-Diversity STBCs for 2 x 2 and 4 x 2 MIMO Systems

This paper deals with low maximum-likelihood (ML)-decoding complexity, full-rate and full-diversity space-time block codes (STBCs), which also offer large coding gain, for the 2 transmit antenna, 2 receive antenna (2 x 2) and the 4 transmit antenna, 2 receive antenna (4 x 2) MIMO systems. Presently, the best known STBC for the 2 2 system is the Golden code and that for the 4 x 2 system is the DjABBA code. Following the approach by Biglieri, Hong, and Viterbo, a new STBC is presented in this paper for the 2 x 2 system. This code matches the Golden code in performance and ML-decoding complexity for square QAM constellations while it has lower ML-decoding complexity with the same performance for non-rectangular QAM constellations. This code is also shown to be information-lossless and diversity-multiplexing gain (DMG) tradeoff optimal. This design procedure is then extended to the 4 x 2 system and a code, which outperforms the DjABBA code for QAM constellations with lower ML-decoding complexity, is presented. So far, the Golden code has been reported to have an ML-decoding complexity of the order of for square QAM of size. In this paper, a scheme that reduces its ML-decoding complexity to M-2 root M is presented.

DMT of Multi-hop Cooperative Networks-Part I: K-Parallel-Path Networks

We consider single-source, single-sink multi-hop relay networks, with slow-fading Rayleigh fading links and single-antenna relay nodes operating under the half-duplex constraint. While two hop relay networks have been studied in great detail in terms of the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT), few results are available for more general networks. In this two-part paper, we identify two families of networks that are multi-hop generalizations of the two hop network: K-Parallel-Path (KPP) networks and Layered networks. In the first part, we initially consider KPP networks, which can be viewed as the union of K node-disjoint parallel paths, each of length > 1. The results are then generalized to KPP(I) networks, which permit interference between paths and to KPP(D) networks, which possess a direct link from source to sink. We characterize the optimal DMT of KPP(D) networks with K >= 4, and KPP(I) networks with K >= 3. Along the way, we derive lower bounds for the DMT of triangular channel matrices, which are useful in DMT computation of various protocols. As a special case, the DMT of two-hop relay network without direct link is obtained. Two key implications of the results in the two-part paper are that the half-duplex constraint does not necessarily entail rate loss by a factor of two, as previously believed and that, simple AF protocols are often sufficient to attain the best possible DMT.

Dual-frequency characteristics of Minkowski-square ring antennas

Fractal Minkowski curves to design a compact dual-frequency microstrip ring antenna are proposed. Sides of a square ring have been selectively replaced with first and second iterations of the generalised fractal geometry to design a smaller antenna with dual-frequency operation. This behaviour has been explained based on current distributions on the antenna structure. Measured results compare well with electromagnetic simulations.

High-rate, Single-Symbol Decodable Distributed STBCs for Partially-Coherent Cooperative Networks

Space-time block codes (STBCs) that are single-symbol decodable (SSD) in a co-located multiple antenna setting need not be SSD in a distributed cooperative communication setting. A relay network with N relays and a single source-destination pair is called a partially-coherent relay channel (PCRC) if the destination has perfect channel state information (CSI) of an the channels and the relays have only the phase information of the source-to-relay channels. In our earlier work, we had derived a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a distributed STBC (DSTBC) to be SSD for a PCRC. Using these conditions, in this paper we show that the possibility of channel phase compensation operation at the relay nodes using partial CSI at the relays increases the possible rate of SSD DSTBCs from 2/N when the relays do not have CSI to 1/2, which is independent of N. We also show that when a DSTBC is SSD for a PCRC, then arbitrary coordinate interleaving of the in-phase and quadrature-phase components of the variables does not disturb its SSD property. Using this property we are able to construct codes that are SSD and have higher rate than 2/N but giving full diversity only for signal constellations satisfying certain conditions.

Performance of Quantized Equal Gain Transmission With Noisy Feedback Channels

In this paper, new results and insights are derived for the performance of multiple-input, single-output systems with beamforming at the transmitter, when the channel state information is quantized and sent to the transmitter over a noisy feedback channel. It is assumed that there exists a per-antenna power constraint at the transmitter, hence, the equal gain transmission (EGT) beamforming vector is quantized and sent from the receiver to the transmitter. The loss in received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relative to perfect beamforming is analytically characterized, and it is shown that at high rates, the overall distortion can be expressed as the sum of the quantization-induced distortion and the channel error-induced distortion, and that the asymptotic performance depends on the error-rate behavior of the noisy feedback channel as the number of codepoints gets large. The optimum density of codepoints (also known as the point density) that minimizes the overall distortion subject to a boundedness constraint is shown to be the same as the point density for a noiseless feedback channel, i.e., the uniform density. The binary symmetric channel with random index assignment is a special case of the analysis, and it is shown that as the number of quantized bits gets large the distortion approaches the same as that obtained with random beamforming. The accuracy of the theoretical expressions obtained are verified through Monte Carlo simulations.

RECONNECT: A NoC for polymorphic ASICs using a low overhead single cycle router

A polymorphic ASIC is a runtime reconfigurable hardware substrate comprising compute and communication elements. It is a ldquofuture proofrdquo custom hardware solution for multiple applications and their derivatives in a domain. Interoperability between application derivatives at runtime is achieved through hardware reconfiguration. In this paper we present the design of a single cycle Network on Chip (NoC) router that is responsible for effecting runtime reconfiguration of the hardware substrate. The router design is optimized to avoid FIFO buffers at the input port and loop back at output crossbar. It provides virtual channels to emulate a non-blocking network and supports a simple X-Y relative addressing scheme to limit the control overhead to 9 bits per packet. The 8times8 honeycomb NoC (RECONNECT) implemented in 130 nm UMC CMOS standard cell library operates at 500 MHz and has a bisection bandwidth of 28.5 GBps. The network is characterized for random, self-similar and application specific traffic patterns that model the execution of multimedia and DSP kernels with varying network loads and virtual channels. Our implementation with 4 virtual channels has an average network latency of 24 clock cycles and throughput of 62.5% of the network capacity for random traffic. For application specific traffic the latency is 6 clock cycles and throughput is 87% of the network capacity.

X-ray and neutron scattering studies on some nanoscale structures in molecular biology

Scattering of X-rays and neutrons has been applied to the study of nanostructures with interesting biological functions. The systems studied were the protein calmodulin and its complexes, bacterial virus bacteriophage phi6, and the photosynthetic antenna complex from green sulfur bacteria, chlorosome. Information gathered using various structure determination methods has been combined to the low resolution information obtained from solution scattering. Conformational changes in calmodulin-ligand complex were studied by combining the directional information obtained from residual dipole couplings in nuclear magnetic resonance to the size information obtained from small-angle X-ray scattering from solution. The locations of non-structural protein components in a model of bacteriophage phi6, based mainly on electron microscopy, were determined by neutron scattering, deuterium labeling and contrast variation. New data are presented on the structure of the photosynthetic antenna complex of green sulfur bacteria and filamentous anoxygenic phototrophs, also known as the chlorosome. The X-ray scattering and electron cryomicroscopy results from this system are interpreted in the context of a new structural model detailed in the third paper of this dissertation. The model is found to be consistent with the results obtained from various chlorosome containing bacteria. The effect of carotenoid synthesis on the chlorosome structure and self-assembly are studied by carotenoid extraction, biosynthesis inhibition and genetic manipulation of the enzymes involved in carotenoid biosynthesis. Carotenoid composition and content are found to have a marked effect on the structural parameters and morphology of chlorosomes.

RETHROTTLE: Execution Throttling in the REDEFINE SoC Architecture

REDEFINE is a reconfigurable SoC architecture that provides a unique platform for high performance and low power computing by exploiting the synergistic interaction between coarse grain dynamic dataflow model of computation (to expose abundant parallelism in applications) and runtime composition of efficient compute structures (on the reconfigurable computation resources). We propose and study the throttling of execution in REDEFINE to maximize the architecture efficiency. A feature specific fast hybrid (mixed level) simulation framework for early in design phase study is developed and implemented to make the huge design space exploration practical. We do performance modeling in terms of selection of important performance criteria, ranking of the explored throttling schemes and investigate effectiveness of the design space exploration using statistical hypothesis testing. We find throttling schemes which give appreciable (24.8%) overall performance gain in the architecture and 37% resource usage gain in the throttling unit simultaneously.

STBC's from representation of extended Clifford Algebras

A set of sufficient conditions to construct lambda-real symbol Maximum Likelihood (ML) decodable STBCs have recently been provided by Karmakar et al. STBCs satisfying these sufficient conditions were named as Clifford Unitary Weight (CUW) codes. In this paper, the maximal rate (as measured in complex symbols per channel use) of CUW codes for lambda = 2(a), a is an element of N is obtained using tools from representation theory. Two algebraic constructions of codes achieving this maximal rate are also provided. One of the constructions is obtained using linear representation of finite groups whereas the other construction is based on the concept of right module algebra over non-commutative rings. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first paper in which matrices over non-commutative rings is used to construct STBCs. An algebraic explanation is provided for the 'ABBA' construction first proposed by Tirkkonen et al and the tensor product construction proposed by Karmakar et al. Furthermore, it is established that the 4 transmit antenna STBC originally proposed by Tirkkonen et al based on the ABBA construction is actually a single complex symbol ML decodable code if the design variables are permuted and signal sets of appropriate dimensions are chosen.

Evaluating ILS and MLS Sites without Flight Tests

Instrument landing systems (ILS) and the upcoming microwave landing systems (MLS) are (or are planned to be) very important navigational aids at most major airports of the world. However, their performance is directly affected by the features of the site in which they are located. Currently, validation of the ILS performance is through costly and time-consuming experimental methods. This paper outlines a powerful and versatile analytical approach for performing the site evaluation, as an alternative to the experimental methods. The approach combines a multi-plate model for the terrain with a powerful and exhaustive ray-tracing technique and a versatile and accurate formulation for estimating the electromagnetic fields due to the array antenna in the presence of the terrain. It can model the effects of the undulation, the roughness and the impedance (depending on the soil type) of the terrain at the site. The results computed from the analytical method are compared with the actual measurements and good agreement is shown. Considerations for site effects on MLS are also outlined.