In this paper, we propose a simple mono-camera based calibration method for automotive augmented reality head-up display (AR-HUD) systems. The concept is inspired by the conventional pinhole camera calibration, and the calibration camera can be merely a consumer-grade digital camera or even a smartphone, while the accuracy remains at a high level in the evaluation. Therefore, it is highly applicable to the calibration of automotive AR-HUDs in the production as well as the aftermarket. We further combine AR-HUD calibration with head tracking results for multiple viewpoints to calibrate the pose of head tracker.

We propose a calibration method for automotive augmented reality head-up displays (AR-HUD) using a chessboard pattern and warping maps. The HUD is modeled as a pinhole camera whose intrinsic parameters are determined by employing a stereo method. We select several viewpoints within the driver’s eye box and place a smartphone at each of them in sequence, whose position is sensed by a head tracker. By automatically shifting 2D points on the HUD virtual image to 3D chessboard corners within the view of the smartphone camera, we obtain a group of 2D–3D correspondences and then compute view-dependent extrinsic parameters. Using these parameters, we reproject the chessboard corners back to the virtual image. Comparing the results with measured virtual points, we acquire 2D distributions of biases, from which we reconstruct a series of warping maps as a tool for compensating optical distortions. For any other uninvolved viewpoint in the eye box, we obtain its corresponding extrinsic parameters and warping maps through interpolation. Our method outperforms the existing ones in terms of modeling complexity as well as experimental workload. The reprojection errors at 7.5 m distance fall within a few millimeters, which indicates a high augmentation accuracy. Besides, we calibrate the head tracker by utilizing the acquired extrinsic parameters and viewpoint tracking results.

In this paper, we address the prospects and key enabling technologies for highly efficient and accurate device positioning and tracking in fifth generation (5G) radio access networks. Building on the premises of ultra-dense networks as well as on the adoption of multicarrier waveforms and antenna arrays in the access nodes (ANs), we first formulate extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based solutions for computationally efficient joint estimation and tracking of the time of arrival (ToA) and direction of arrival (DoA) of the user nodes (UNs) using uplink reference signals. Then, a second EKF stage is proposed in order to fuse the individual DoA and ToA estimates from one or several ANs into a UN position estimate. Since all the processing takes place at the network side, the computing complexity and energy consumption at the UN side are kept to a minimum. The cascaded EKFs proposed in this article also take into account the unavoidable relative clock offsets between UNs and ANs, such that reliable clock synchronization of the access-link is obtained as a valuable by-product. The proposed cascaded EKF scheme is then revised and extended to more general and challenging scenarios where not only the UNs have clock offsets against the network time, but also the ANs themselves are not mutually synchronized in time. Finally, comprehensive performance evaluations of the proposed solutions on a realistic 5G network setup, building on the METIS project based outdoor Madrid map model together with complete ray tracing based propagation modeling, are provided. The obtained results clearly demonstrate that by using the developed methods, sub-meter scale positioning and tracking accuracy of moving devices is indeed technically feasible in future 5G radio access networks operating at sub-6 GHz frequencies, despite the realistic assumptions related to clock offsets and potentially even under unsynchronized network elements.

In this paper we consider transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) beamforming schemes based on the location of the device. In particular, we propose a design methodology for the Tx/Rx beamforming weight-vectors that is based on the departure and arrival angles of the line-of-sight (LoS) path between access-nodes (ANds) and user-nodes (UNds). A network-centric extended Kalman filter (EKF) is also proposed for estimating and tracking the directional parameters needed for designing the Tx and Rx beamforming weights. The proposed approach is particularly useful in 5G ultra-dense networks (UDNs) since the high-probability of LoS condition makes it possible to design geometric beams at both Tx and Rx in order to increase the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Moreover, relying on the location of the UNd relative to the ANds makes it possible to replace fullband uplink (UL) reference signals, commonly employed for acquiring the channel-state-information-at-transmitter (CSIT) in time-division-duplex (TDD) systems, by narrowband UL pilots. Also, employing the EKF for tracking the double-directional parameters of the LoS-path allows one to reduce the rate at which UL reference signals are transmitted. Consequently, savings in terms of time-frequency resources are achieved compared to beamforming schemes based on full-band CSI. Extensive numerical results are included using a realistic ray-tracing based system-level simulator in ultra-dense 5G network context. Results show that position based beamforming schemes outperform those based on full-band CSI in terms of mean user-throughput even for highly mobile users.

This paper addresses receiver (RX) signal processing in multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems. We focus on uplink orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA)-based MU-MIMO communications under in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) imbalance in the associated radio frequency electronics. It is shown in the existing literature that transceiver I/Q imbalances cause cross-talk of mirror-subcarriers in OFDM systems. As opposed to typically reported single-user studies, we extend the studies to OFDMA-based MU-MIMO communications, with simultaneous user multiplexing in both frequency and spatial domains, and incorporate also external interference from multiple sources at RX input, for modeling challenging conditions in increasingly popular heterogeneous networks. In the signal processing developments, we exploit the augmented subcarrier processing, which processes each subcarrier jointly with its counterpart at the image subcarrier, and jointly across all RX antennas. Furthermore, we derive an optimal augmented linear RX in terms of minimizing the mean-squared error. The novel approach integrates the I/Q imbalance mitigation, external interference suppression, and data stream separation of multiple UEs into a single processing stage, thus avoiding separate transceiver calibration. Extensive analysis and numerical results show the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and symbol-error rate (SER) behavior of an arbitrary data stream after RX spatial processing as a function of different system and impairment parameters. Based on the results, the performance of the conventional per-subcarrier processing is heavily limited under transceiver I/Q imbalances, and is particularly sensitive to external interferers, whereas the proposed augmented subcarrier processing provides a high-performance signal processing solution being able to detect the signals of different users as well as suppress the external interference efficiently. Finally, we also extend the studies to massive MIMO framework, with very large antenna systems. It is shown that, despite the huge number of RX antennas, the conventional linear processing methods still suffer heavily from I/Q imbalances while the augmented approach does not have such limitations.

It is commonly expected that network densification will play an important role in achieving the capacity demands of 5G communication networks. While densification is introduced to improve the spectral efficiency and area-capacity, it also results in an infrastructure that is perfectly suitable for user node (UN) positioning. However, so far this compelling opportunity has not been clearly recognized in the literature. In this paper, we therefore propose to make "always on" positioning an integral part of 5G networks such that highly accurate user location estimates are available at any given moment but without draining the UN batteries. We furthermore propose an extended Kalman filter (EKF) that tracks the user location based on the fusion of direction of arrival (DoA) and time of arrival (ToA) estimates obtained at the access nodes (ANs) of the 5G network. Since ToA estimates are typically not useful for positioning unless the UN is synchronized with the network, we include a realistic clock model within the DoA/ToA EKF. This addition makes it possible to estimate the offset of the imperfect UN clock, along with the UN position. In an extensive analysis that is based on specific 5G simulation models, we then quantify the enormous potential of high accuracy positioning in 5G networks, in general, and the proposed DoA/ToA EKF, in particular. Moreover, we demonstrate that the proposed DoA/ToA EKF substantially outperforms the classical DoA-only EKF and is furthermore also able to handle practically extremely relevant situations where the DoA-only EKF fails to position the UN.

The deployment of future 5G ultra-dense small cell networks provides unprecedented opportunities to create an advanced localization system that meets the demands of future location-based services and functionalities. In this paper, we present technical enablers for obtaining location information of user nodes (UNs) in a network-centric manner. More specifically, we focus on signal properties, access node (AN) hardware and AN deployments in the envisioned 5G systems. Moreover, we provide illustrative examples of the expected localization performance and indicate how to efficiently predict the UN location. Finally, we offer insights into the utilization of location-awareness and location prediction, and show that it provides substantial benefits compared to existing radio networks.

Sectorized antennas are a promising class of antennas for enabling direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation and successive transmitter localization. In contrast to antenna arrays, sectorized antennas do not require multiple transceiver branches and can be implemented using a single RF front-end only, thus reducing the overall size and cost of the devices. However, for good localization performance the underlying DoA estimator is of uttermost importance. In this paper, we therefore propose a novel high performance DoA estimator for sectorized antennas that does not require cooperation between the transmitter and the localizing network. The proposed DoA estimator is broadly applicable with different sectorized antenna types and signal waveforms, and has low computational complexity. Using computer simulations, we show that our algorithm approaches the respective Cramer-Rao lower bound for DoA estimation variance if the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is moderate to large and also outperforms the existing estimators. Moreover, we also derive analytical error models for the underlying DoA estimation principle considering both free space as well as multipath propagation scenarios. Furthermore, we also address the fusion of the individual DoA estimates into a location estimate using the Stansfield algorithm and study the corresponding localization performance in detail. Finally, we show how to implement the localization in practical systems and demonstrate the achievable performance using indoor RF measurements obtained with practical sectorized antenna units.

In this paper, we consider cooperating secondary users (SUs) that are estimating the location and transmit power of an emitter that may be either a primary user (PU) or another SU in the cognitive radio (CR) context. Since SU devices need to be affordable and portable, their capabilities to estimate e.g. the direction of arrival (DOA) are very limited. In addition, the geographical distribution of SUs is random rather than optimized resulting in very stringent conditions for the localization. We therefore analyze possible benefits and performance of hybrid received signal strength (RSS)- DOA based emitter transmit power and position estimation by means of the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB). We show that the RSS-DOA hybrid approach can lead to significantly lower bounds compared to estimation based on only RSS or DOA. Assuming a special case of two SUs at equal distance from the emitter, we derive the CRBs in closed-form and demonstrate that for certain SU-emitter geometries, the RSS-only and DOA-only CRBs become infinite due to the inability to estimate one of the emitter's coordinates. Since those coordinates are orthogonal for RSS and DOA, the hybrid approach does not suffer from these geometries, resulting in a finite CRB. Results from Monte-Carlo simulations are provided which illustrate that significant theoretic gains are possible also for random SU and emitter placements. The results also show that biggest performance gains from joint processing of RSS and DOA are available when the number of cooperating SUs is fairly small, in the order of 2-5.

Soft-In Soft-Out (SISO) MIMO detection algorithms providing soft information to subsequent channel decoder are computationally high complex. Realizations based on depth-first search e.g. the Tuple Search (TS) algorithm enables near full MaxLogAPP optimal detection at much reduced but still high complexity. This paper presents a novel method for the complexity reduction of SISO MIMO detection algorithms. This method is based on the pruning of tree nodes and the corresponding subtrees. The pruning is decided based on the absolute value of a priori information of bits greater than or equal to a threshold value. Simulation results for the TS algorithm show that up to 25% reduction in complexity can be achieved without any BER performance degradation.