Direct smartphone-to-satellite connectivity is currently under investigation in both 5G Advanced and 6G to extend the support of basic communication services to the most remote geographical areas. While current satellite connectivity systems are focused on offering a global service for emergency and text messaging, their support for other extended data services, such as multimedia services, remains limited due to the challenging wireless conditions of non-terrestrial networks (NTN). These limitations stem from the significantly longer propagation distances between the device and the satellite resulting in poor link budgets and high latencies. To address these challenges and improve the reliability of data transmission in satellite networks, leveraging repeated transmissions of transport blocks with both low-rate modulation schemes and incremental redundancy can be key. In this paper, the focus is on voice services. Particularly the problem of optimally selecting the modulation coding scheme and the number of scheduled repetitions to maximize the probability of successful voice packet reception within a fixed end-to-end latency. The feasibility of supporting voice calls over 5G-NTN under different practical conditions is then evaluated for the optimized scheduler. Link-level simulations are performed based on a 3GPP 5G-NTN model, integrating 5G NR waveforms, LDPC coding, and HARQ with incremental redundancy. Numerical results suggest that high-quality voice calls can be supported in 5G-NTN for a wide range of altitudes and elevation angles, even at 2,000 km satellite altitude, which is the highest altitude considered for LEO satellites. Moreover, numerical results indicate that HARQ retransmissions are unnecessary for supporting voice transmission, as proactively scheduling a large number of repetitions is sufficient. However, using both scheduled repetitions and HARQ retransmissions is more efficient in terms of radio resources and power consumption.

High peak-to-average power ratio is one of the major drawbacks of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Clipping is the simplest peak reduction scheme, however, it requires clipping mitigation at the receiver. Recently compressed sensing has been used for clipping mitigation (by exploiting the sparse nature of clipping signal). However, clipping estimation in multi-user scenario (i.e., OFDMA) is not straightforward as clipping distortions overlap in frequency domain and one cannot distinguish between distortions from different users. In this work, a collaborative clipping removal strategy is proposed based on joint estimation of the clipping distortions from all users. Further, an effective data aided channel estimation strategy for clipped OFDM is also outlined. Simulation results are presented to justify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Location-based services (LBS) are an integral part of the mobile ecosystem today, relying on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and other technologies. However, while these technologies have been highly successful at positioning outdoors, they either fail to obtain a fix or do not provide the necessary accuracy indoors. In this paper, we will describe a low-cost high-accuracy indoor positioning system that can run on mobile devices. The system has high-accuracy because it combines several sources of information, thus improving accuracy over using any one of them alone. The cost is low because the sources of information used by the system such as WiFi measurements, inertial sensor data and building maps are readily available for use on a mobile device.

WLAN RSS-based localization has been a hot research topic for the last years. To obtain high accuracy in the noisy wireless channel, WLAN location determination systems usually use a calibration phase, where a radio map, capturing the signal strength signatures at different locations in the area of interest, is built. The radio map construction process takes a lot of time and effort, reducing the value of WLAN localization systems. In this paper, we propose 3D ray tracing as a way for automatically generating a highly accurate radio map. We compare this method to previously used propagation modeling-based methods like the Wall Attenuation Factor and 2D ray tracing models. We evaluate the performance of each method and its computational cost in a typical residential environment. We also examine the sensitivity of the localization accuracy to inaccurate material parameters. Our results quantify the accuracy- complexity trade-off of the different proposed techniques with 3D ray tracing giving the best localization accuracy compared to measurements with acceptable computational requirements on a typical PC.

The paper presents MIMO field performance results observed using a ultra mobile broadband (UMB) testbed network. We evaluate metrics such as antenna correlations and channel condition number to characterize the MIMO channel. Results show that low condition numbers, which are beneficial to MIMO, are prevalent for a majority of the coverage area in our network. We demonstrate that the use of MIMO provides gains of the order of 20-40% over SIMO transmissions. These gains are made possible by the use of cross-polarized transmit antennas and advanced UMB features that allow dynamic MIMO vs. SIMO transmission selection based on channel conditions. These results are obtained in a truly mobile, wireless wide-area deployment, which makes them unique. Our results point to the viability and value of MIMO in future mobile wireless networks.

We present a transmission scheme that combines space-time block coding over frequency selective channels with single carrier frequency domain interference suppression and equalization. The equalization and interference suppression exploits the structure of the space-time block coding. It is shown that this scheme will provide the diversity benefit of both the frequency selective channel and the space-time block code while completely suppressing the interference from another co-channel transmitter that occupies exactly the same channel (time & frequency) as the desired transmitter.

This paper presents an overview of progress in the area of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) space-time coded wireless systems. After some background on the research leading to the discovery of the enormous potential of MIMO wireless links, we highlight the different classes of techniques and algorithms proposed which attempt to realize the various benefits of MIMO including spatial multiplexing and space-time coding schemes. These algorithms are often derived and analyzed under ideal independent fading conditions. We present the state of the art in channel modeling and measurements, leading to a better understanding of actual MIMO gains. Finally, the paper addresses current questions regarding the integration of MIMO links in practical wireless systems and standards.

Space-time coding is a bandwidth and power efficient method of communication over fading channels that realizes the benefits of multiple transmit antennas. Specific codes have been constructed using design criteria derived for quasi-static flat Rayleigh or Rician fading, where channel state information is available at the receiver. It is evident that the practicality of space-time codes will be greatly enhanced if the derived design criteria remain valid in the absence of perfect channel state information. It is even more desirable that the design criteria not be unduly sensitive to frequency selectivity and to the Doppler spread. This paper presents a theoretical study of these issues beginning with the effect of channel estimation error. Here it is assumed that a channel estimator extracts fade coefficients at the receiver and for constellations with constant energy, it is proved that in the absence of ideal channel state information the design criteria for space-time codes is still valid. The analysis also demonstrates that standard channel estimation techniques can be used in conjunction with space-time codes provided that the number of transmit antennas is small. We also derive the maximum-likelihood detection metric in the presence of channel estimation errors. Next, the effect of multiple paths on the performance of space-time codes is studied for a slowly changing Rayleigh channel. It is proved that the presence of multiple paths does not decrease the diversity order guaranteed by the design criteria used to construct the space-time codes. Similar results hold for rapid fading channels with or without multiple paths. The conclusion is that the diversity order promised by space-time coding is achieved under a variety of mobility conditions and environmental effects.

Diversity transmission at the base station is an effective technique to combat the adverse effects of fading. This is suggested as an alternative to diversity at the terminal, thereby reducing the implementation complexity. We evaluate the matched filter bound (MFB) for two transmit diversity schemes with two transmit antennas: delay diversity and space-time block coding. Theoretical results show that even though the expected value of the matched filter bound is the same for both approaches, the diversity order exhibited by the space-time block coding approach is larger than that of delay diversity for any frequency selective channel with more than 1 tap. In fact for a frequency selective channel with L+1 taps with equal energy, the diversity order exhibited by the space-time coding MFB is 2/spl times/(L+1) while that of delay diversity is L+2.

The information capacity of wireless communication systems can be increased dramatically by employingmultiple transmit and receive antennas [?, ?]. An effective approach to increasing data rate over wireless channels is to employ coding techniques appropriate to multiple transmit antennas, that is space-time coding. Space-time codes introduce temporal and spatial correlation into signals transmitted from different antennas, in order to provide diversity at the receiver, and coding gain over an uncoded system. The spatial-temporal structure of these codes can be exploited to further increase the capacity of wireless systems with a relatively simple receiver structure. This chapter provides an overview of space-time coding techniques and the associated signal processing framework.

Diversity transmission at the base station is an effective technique to combat the adverse effects of fading. This is suggested as an alternative to diversity at the terminal, thereby reducing the implementation complexity. Space-time coding has been proposed as a coding technique for diversity transmission that will provide additional performance gains. We describe a maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) for space-time coded signals that exploits the structure present in some of these codes. Simulation results of the proposed equalizer show a substantial improvement over single antenna transmission.

This paper addresses the problem of equalization space-time codes with transmit diversity. We derive a symbol-by-symbol MAP equalizer/decoder for space-time coded signals over frequency selective channels. We describe a turbo equalization/decoding scheme where the results of the decoding are fed back to the equalizer. Simulation results show an improved equalizer performance due to the feedback.

Space-time coding is a bandwidth and power efficient method of communication over fading channels that realizes the benefits of multiple transmit antennas. Specific codes have been constructed using design criteria derived for quasi-static flat Rayleigh or Rician fading, where channel state information is available at the receiver. It is evident that the practicality of space-time codes will be greatly enhanced if the derived design criteria remain valid in the absence of perfect channel state information. It is even more desirable that the design criteria not be unduly sensitive to frequency selectivity and to the Doppler spread. This paper presents a theoretical study of these issues beginning with the effect of channel estimation error. Here it is assumed that a channel estimator extracts fade coefficients at the receiver and for constellations with constant energy, it is proved that in the absence of ideal channel state information the design criteria for space-time codes is still valid. The analysis also demonstrates that standard channel estimation techniques can be used in conjunction with space-time codes provided that the number of transmit antennas is small. We also derive the maximum-likelihood detection metric in the presence of channel estimation errors. Next, the effect of multiple paths on the performance of space-time codes is studied for a slowly changing Rayleigh channel. It is proved that the presence of multiple paths does not decrease the diversity order guaranteed by the design criteria used to construct the space-time codes. Similar results hold for rapid fading channels with or without multiple paths. The conclusion is that the diversity order promised by space-time coding is achieved under a variety of mobility conditions and environmental effects.

The information capacity of wireless communication systems may be increased dramatically by employing multiple transmit and receive antennas. The goal of system design is to exploit this capacity in a practical way. An effective approach to increasing data rate over wireless channels is to employ space-time coding techniques appropriate to multiple transmit antennas. These space-time codes introduce temporal and spatial correlation into signals transmitted from different antennas, so as to provide diversity at the receiver, and coding gain over an uncoded system. For large number of transmit antennas and at high bandwidth efficiencies, the receiver may become too complex whenever correlation across transmit antennas is introduced. This paper dramatically reduces encoding and decoding complexity by partitioning antennas at the transmitter into small groups, and using individual space-time codes, called the component codes, to transmit information from each group of antennas. At the receiver, an individual space-time code is decoded by a novel linear processing technique that suppresses signals transmitted by other groups of antennas by treating them as interference. A simple receiver structure is derived that provides diversity and coding gain over uncoded systems. This combination of array processing at the receiver and coding techniques for multiple transmit antennas can provide reliable and very high data rate communication over narrowband wireless channels. A refinement of this basic structure gives rise to a multilayered space-time architecture that both generalizes and improves upon the layered space-time architecture proposed by Foschini (see Bell Labs Tech. J., vol.1, no.2, 1996).

This paper presents the theory and practice of a new advanced modem technology suitable for high-data-rate wireless communications and presents its performance over a frequency-flat Rayleigh fading channel. The new technology is based on space-time coded modulation (STCM) with multiple transmit and/or multiple receive antennas and orthogonal pilot sequence insertion (O-PSI). In this approach, data is encoded by a space-time (ST) channel encoder and the output of the encoder is split into N streams to be simultaneously transmitted using N transmit antennas. The transmitter inserts periodic orthogonal pilot sequences in each of the simultaneously transmitted bursts. The receiver uses those pilot sequences to estimate the fading channel. When combined with an appropriately designed interpolation filter, accurate channel state information (CSI) can be estimated for the decoding process. Simulation results of the proposed modem, as applied to the IS-136 cellular standard, are presented. We present the frame error rate (FER) performance results as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the maximum Doppler frequency, in the presence of timing and frequency offset errors. Simulation results show that for a 10% FER, a 32-state eight-phase-shift keyed (8-PSK) ST code with two transmit and two receive antennas can support data rates up to 55.8 kb/s on a 30-kHz channel, at an SNR of 11.7 dB and a maximum Doppler frequency of 180 Hz. Simulation results for other codes and other channel conditions are also provided. We also compare the performance of the proposed STCM scheme with delay diversity schemes and conclude that STCM can provide significant SNR improvement over simple delay diversity.

We consider the problem of receiving CDMA multipath signals at a receiver with an antenna array. We derive the space-time matched filter for the multipath signals arriving at the array and show that this space-time matched filter consists of a front-end spatial matched filter or a bank of beamformers (one for each multipath component), followed by a temporal matched filter, or a bank of correlators (one for each multipath component). Then we derive the optimum (maximum likelihood) sequence detector that can be implemented via a Viterbi algorithm. We also present a sub-optimal space-time decorrelating receiver structure and discuss its limitations. Based on this space-time matched filter framework, we briefly discuss conventional space-time receiver structures for CDMA multipath signals. Analysis results for a space-time receiver with DPSK signaling show improved bit error rate performance due to the exploitation of the spatial dimension in the received signal.

We revisit space-time codes for a mobile communication system that employs multiple antennas at the base station and optional antenna diversity at the mobile station. The realistic case when the channel state is not completely known is considered. It is assumed that the channel estimator extracts the fade coefficients using orthogonal pilot tones. Mismatch analysis is then carried out. It is proved that in the absence of ideal channel state information the design criteria for space-time codes developed in Tarokh et al. (1997) is still valid for the equal energy constellation case. Using our derivation, it is observed that channel estimation techniques commonly used over rapidly fading channels can be used in conjunction with space-time codes provided that the number of transmit antennas is small.

We consider the design of channel codes for improving the data rate and/or the reliability of communications using multiple transmit antennas over a fading channel. It is assumed that the transmitter does not know the channel but seeks to choose a codebook that guarantees a diversity gain of r/sub 1/ when there is no mobility and a diversity gain of r/sub 2//spl ges/r/sub 1/ when the channel is fast fading. A solution to this problem is unveiled in this paper. Here, the encoded data is split into n streams that are simultaneously transmitted using n transmit antennas. The signal received at each receive antenna is a superposition of the faded versions of the n transmitted signals. We derive performance criteria for designing codes having the aforementioned properties. Performance is shown to be determined by diversity advantage quantified by a rank/distance and coding advantage quantified by a determinant/product criterion. The criteria is used to design codes for both slow and rapid fading channels. The constructed codes have remarkable performance in low signal to noise ratios and are suitable for improving the frequency reuse factor under a variety of mobility conditions.

An antenna array-based base station receiver structure for wireless direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS/CDMA) with M-ary orthogonal modulation is proposed. The base station uses an antenna array beamformer-RAKE structure with noncoherent equal gain combining. The receiver consists of a "front end" beamsteering processor feeding a conventional noncoherent RAKE combiner. The performance of the proposed receiver with closed loop power control in multipath fading channels is evaluated. Expressions for the system uncoded bit-error probability (BEP) as a function of the number of users, number of antennas, and the angle spread are derived for different power control scenarios. The system capacity in terms of number of users that can be supported for a given uncoded BEP is also evaluated. Analysis results show a performance improvement in terms of the system capacity due to the use of antenna arrays and the associated signal processing at the base station. In particular, analysis results show an increase in system capacity that is proportional to the number of antennas. They also show an additional performance improvement due to space diversity gain provided by the array for nonzero angle spreads.

Mobile radio channels can be generally characterized as a fading multipath channel with multipath spread delay that ranges from a few microseconds (/spl mu/s) up to as much as 15 /spl mu/s. Such large delays result in intersymbol interference which raises the need for equalization. A semi-blind maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) with an antenna array is studied as an adaptive equalization method for time division multiple access (TDMA) digital cellular systems. The MLSE is implemented using a Viterbi algorithm (VA). An antenna array is used to utilize both temporal and spatial structure in the received signal to provide the VA with the estimate of the channel impulse response necessary for it to perform MLSE.>