LoRa is a widely recognized modulation technology in the field of low power wide area networks (LPWANs). However, the data rate of LoRa is too low to satisfy the requirements of Internet of Things applications. To address this issue, we propose a novel high-data-rate LoRa scheme based on the spreading factor index (SFI). In the proposed SFI-LoRa scheme, the starting frequency bin of a chirp signal is used to transmit information bits, while the combinations of spreading factors are exploited as a set of indices to convey additional information bits. Moreover, the theoretical symbol error rate, data rate, transmission throughput, complexity and energy efficiency of the proposed SFI-LoRa scheme are carefully analyzed. Simulation results not only verify the accuracy of our theoretical analysis, but also demonstrate that the proposed SFI-LoRa scheme can improve the transmission throughput of existing LoRa schemes without sacrificing the BER performance over additive white Gaussian noise, Rayleigh fading, and multipath flat-fading channels. Therefore, the proposed SFI-LoRa scheme is a potential solution for applications requiring a high data rate in the LPWAN domain.

In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted frequency-modulated (FM) differential chaos shift keying (DCSK) scheme with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT), called RIS-FM-DCSK-SWIPT scheme, for low-power, low-cost, and high-reliability wireless communication networks. In particular, the proposed scheme is developed under a non-linear energy-harvesting (EH) model which can accurately characterize the practical situation. The proposed RIS-FM-DCSK-SWIPT scheme has an appealing feature that it does not require channel state information, thus avoiding the complex channel estimation. We further derive the closed-form theoretical expressions for the energy shortage probability and bit error rate (BER) of the proposed scheme over the multipath Rayleigh fading channel. In addition, we investigate the influence of key parameters on the performance of the proposed transmission scheme in two different scenarios, i.e., RIS-assisted access point (RIS-AP) and dual-hop communication (RIS-DH). Finally, we carry out various Monte-Carlo experiments to verify the accuracy of the theoretical derivation, illustrate the performance advantage of the proposed scheme, and give some design insights for future study.

A new differential chaos shift keying scheme with multidimensional index modulation, referred to as MIM-DCSK scheme, is proposed in this paper. This design objective of the proposed MIM-DCSK scheme is to enhance the data rate, energy efficiency, and spectral efficiency of traditional DCSK scheme. In the proposed MIM-DCSK scheme, in addition to the information bits allocated for physical transmission, multidimensional transmission entities, namely the time slot, carrier, and Walsh code are simultaneously considered as indices to convey additional information bits, thus achieving high data rate, spectral efficiency, and energy efficiency. The theoretical bit-error-rate (BER) expressions of the MIM-DCSK scheme are derived over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and multipath Rayleigh fading channels. Furthermore, the data rate, complexity, spectral efficiency, and energy efficiency of the MIM-DCSK scheme are analyzed. Simulation results verify the accuracy of the theoretical analysis and illustrate the superiority of the proposed scheme. The proposed MIM-DCSK scheme is a promising solution for low-power and low-cost short-wireless communications.

In this paper, we investigate the performance of space-time block-coded multiple-input-multiple-output (STBCMIMO) LoRa system over Nakagami-m and Ricean fading channels with perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI). Specifically, we derive the closed-form bit-error-rate expressions and analyze the diversity order of the STBC-MIMO LoRa system with perfect and imperfect CSI, where two common channel estimation error models are considered. Moreover, we perform simulations to evaluate the coverage performance of the system and to verify the accuracy of the theoretical analyses.

As an attempt to tackle the low-data-rate issue of the conventional LoRa systems, we propose two novel frequency-bin-index (FBI) LoRa schemes. In scheme I, the indices of starting frequency bins (SFBs) are utilized to carry the information bits. To facilitate the actual implementation, the SFBs of each LoRa signal are divided into several groups prior to the modulation process in the proposed FBI-LoRa system. To further improve the system flexibility, we formulate a generalized modulation scheme and propose scheme II by treating the SFB groups as an additional type of transmission entity. In scheme II, the combination of SFB indices and that of SFB group indices are both exploited to carry the information bits. We derive the theoretical expressions for bit error rate (BER) and throughput of the proposed FBI-LoRa system with two modulation schemes over AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. Simulation results not only verify the accuracy of theoretical BER and throughput analyses but also show that the proposed FBI-LoRa schemes can significantly increase the transmission throughput compared with the existing LoRa systems at the expense of a slight loss in BER performance. The proposed FBI-LoRa system is a promising alternative for high-data-rate Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

To realize high energy-efficient, high spectrum-efficient, and high-throughput data transmission, a multi-carrier differential chaos shift keying communication system with hybrid index modulation, referred to asHIM-MC-DCSK system, is proposed in this paper. In the HIM-MC-DCSK system, we intelligently integrate the carrier-number-index technique and carrier-index technique into the MC-DCSK modulation in order to significantly boost the transmission efficiency in wireless communication systems. Especially, we use a pair of orthogonal signals to represent the active and inactive subcarriers in the HIM-MC-DCSK system so as to exploit all the subcarriers to transmit information bits. In addition, the theoretical bit-error-rate (BER) expressions of the HIM-MC-DCSK system are derived over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and multipath Rayleigh fading channels. Also, the data rate, spectrum efficiency, energy efficiency, and complexity of the proposed system are carefully analyzed. Monte-Carlo simulations not only verify the accuracy of the theoretical analysis but also illustrate the superiority of the proposed system.

LoRa is a modulation technology for low power wide area networks (LPWAN) with enormous potential in 5G era. However, the performance of LoRa system deteriorates seriously in fading-channel environments. To tackle this problem, in this paper we introduce multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configuration employing space-time block coding (STBC) schemes into the LoRa system to formulate an STBC-MIMO LoRa system. Then, we investigate the theoretical performance of the proposed system over Rayleigh fading channels. To this end, we derive the distribution of the decision metric for the demodulator in the proposed system. Based on the above distribution, we propose a closed-form approximate BER expression of the proposed system when perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI) are considered. Furthermore, we analyze the diversity order and the throughput of the proposed system. The results of the diversity analysis demonstrate that the diversity order of the system in the imperfect CSI scenario with fixed channel estimate error variance is zero. However, in the imperfect CSI scenario with a decreasing channel estimate error variance and the perfect CSI scenario, the system can achieve full diversity. In addition, the results of the throughput analysis show that the throughput of the proposed system is little affected by CSI conditions. Simulation results verify the accuracy of the theoretical analysis and the excellent performance of the proposed system. Due to such superiority, the proposed STBC-MIMO LoRa system can be considered as a good scheme for LPWAN.

Frequency-modulated differential chaos shift keying ultrawideband (FM-DCSK UWB) system has attracted more and more attention in recent years because of its low-complexity and low-power advantages. Nevertheless, its system performance is severely degraded in the presence of narrowband interference (NBI), which further limits its practical applications. In this paper, an enhanced energy-based detector (EED) is proposed for the FM-DCSK UWB system to tackle this problem. Compared with the conventional energy detector (ED), the proposed EED significantly enhances the anti-NBI capability while maintaining the low-power and low-complexity feature. As a further insight, the analytical bit-error-rate (BER) expression of the proposed EED-based FM-DCSK UWB system is derived over additive white Gaussian noise as well as IEEE 802.15.4a multipath fading channels. Moreover, simulation results are carried out to demonstrate the accuracy of the theoretical analysis and the merit of the proposed EED. It is illustrated that the proposed EED achieves better performance than the conventional ED in various transmission scenarios. Thanks to the above-mentioned advantages, the proposed EED-based FM-DCSK UWB system appears to be an excellent candidate for low-power and low-complexity tactile Internet-of-Things applications, e.g., wireless sensor networks and wireless body area networks.