Configurable pseudo noise radar imaging system enabling synchronous MIMO channel extension. - In: Sensors, ISSN 1424-8220, Bd. 23 (2023), 5, 2454, insges. 27 S.
In this article, we propose an evolved system design approach to ultra-wideband (UWB) radar based on pseudo-random noise (PRN) sequences, the key features of which are its user-adaptability to meet the demands provided by desired microwave imaging applications and its multichannel scalability. In light of providing a fully synchronized multichannel radar imaging system for short-range imaging as mine detection, non-destructive testing (NDT) or medical imaging, the advanced system architecture is presented with a special focus put on the implemented synchronization mechanism and clocking scheme. The core of the targeted adaptivity is provided by means of hardware, such as variable clock generators and dividers as well as programmable PRN generators. In addition to adaptive hardware, the customization of signal processing is feasible within an extensive open-source framework using the Red Pitaya® data acquisition platform. A system benchmark in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), jitter, and synchronization stability is conducted to determine the achievable performance of the prototype system put into practice. Furthermore, an outlook on the planned future development and performance improvement is provided.
https://doi.org/10.3390/s23052454
5G new radio physical downlink control channel reliability enhancements for multiple transmission-reception-point communications. - In: IEEE access, ISSN 2169-3536, Bd. 10 (2022), S. 97394-97407
Non-coherent transmission from multiple transmission-reception-points (TRPs), i.e., base stations, or base station panels to a user equipment (UE) is exploited in 5G New Radio (NR) to improve downlink reliability and cell-edge throughput. Ultra reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) and enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB) are prominent target use-cases for multi-TRP or multi-panel transmissions. In Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 specifications, multi-TRP-based transmissions were specified for the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) specifically to enhance its reliability and robustness. In this work, a comprehensive account of various multi-TRP reliability enhancement schemes applicable for the 5G NR PDCCH, including the ones supported by the 3GPP Release 17 specifications, is provided. The impact of the specifications for each scheme, UE and network complexity and their utility in various use-cases is studied. Their error performances are evaluated via link-level simulations using the evaluation criteria agreed in the 3GPP proceedings. The 3GPP-supported multi-TRP PDCCH repetition schemes, and the additionally proposed PDCCH repetition and diversity schemes are shown to be effective in improving 5G NR PDCCH reliability and combating link blockage in mmWave scenarios. The link-level simulations also provide insights for the implementation of the decoding schemes for the PDCCH enhancements under different channel conditions. Analysis of the performance, complexity and implementation constraints of the proposed PDCCH transmission schemes indicate their suitability to UEs with reduced-capability or stricter memory constraints and flexible network scheduling.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3206027
Phase estimation of single tones next to modulated signals in the medium frequency R-mode system. - In: IEEE access, ISSN 2169-3536, Bd. 10 (2022), S. 73309-73316
Position, navigation, and timing information are critical to today’s infrastructures; as a result, the possibility of estimating ranges is being explored in more and more radio systems. One way to achieve this is to extend the modulation with time-synchronised aiding carriers and to estimate their phase at the receiver side. In this paper, we present two ways to minimise the negative influence of the modulation on the phase estimation. We show that the classical maximum likelihood estimator is still an efficient estimator for our problem, using a medium-frequency R-Mode signal as an example, and is therefore used in receiver designs. We then describe two possible ways to precondition the signal to increase the accuracy for short observations. As a first approach, we describe how window functions can positively change the signal-to-noise ratio for our estimation. As a second approach, we show the use of a narrowband bandpass filter. Finally, we show that these approaches, applied to real measurements, improve the variance of the estimate by up to two orders of magnitude.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3190544
Open sub-granting radio resources in overlay D2D-based V2V communications. - In: EURASIP journal on wireless communications and networking, ISSN 1687-1499, Bd. 2022 (2022), 46, S. 1-29
Richtiger Name des Verfassers: Dariush Mohammad Soleymani
Capacity, reliability, and latency are seen as key requirements of new emerging applications, namely vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and machine-type communication in future cellular networks. D2D communication is envisaged to be the enabler to accomplish the requirements for the applications as mentioned earlier. Due to the scarcity of radio resources, a hierarchical radio resource allocation, namely the sub-granting scheme, has been considered for the overlay D2D communication. In this paper, we investigate the assignment of underutilized radio resources from D2D communication to device-to-infrastructure communication, which are moving in a dynamic environment. The sub-granting assignment problem is cast as a maximization problem of the uplink cell throughput. Firstly, we evaluate the sub-granting signaling overhead due to mobility in a centralized sub-granting resource algorithm, dedicated sub-granting radio resource (DSGRR), and then a distributed heuristics algorithm, open sub-granting radio resource (OSGRR), is proposed and compared with the DSGRR algorithm and no sub-granting case. Simulation results show improved cell throughput for the OSGRR compared with other algorithms. Besides, it is observed that the overhead incurred by the OSGRR is less than the DSGRR while the achieved cell throughput is yet close to the maximum achievable uplink cell throughput.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-022-02128-0
A novel covariance model for MIMO sensing systems and its identification from measurements. - In: Signal processing, Bd. 197 (2022), 108542
A novel model for the covariance matrix of sampled observations by multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) sensing systems with parallel receiver channels will be presented. The model is of shifted Kronecker structure and accounts for two mutually independent noise processes: a coloured and a white one. The maximum-likelihood (ML) estimator is applied to identify this covariance model from observations. The ML estimator gives rise to a non-convex optimisation problem. Since no closed-form solution is available, an iterative, space-alternating Gauss-Newton algorithm is proposed to solve the optimisation problem. This approach repeatedly requires the evaluation of the ML cost function. Since the cost function composes of the inverse and determinant of the covariance matrix, its evaluation can be memory exhaustive, numerically unstable and computationally complex. A computational method is developed to overcome these issues, using the simultaneous matrix diagonalisation and exploiting the properties of the Kronecker product. Measurements by a MIMO radar are used to identify the covariance model and to demonstrate its benefits. The identified covariance model is used to whiten the measurements. The whitening reduces interfering, noise-like components, which enhances the signal-to-interference ratio and hence facilitates the target detection.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sigpro.2022.108542
Coherent measurements of a multistatic MIMO radar network with phase noise optimized non-coherent signal synthesis. - In: IEEE journal of microwaves, ISSN 2692-8388, Bd. 2 (2022), 2, S. 239-252
For multistatic radar networks in the upper mm-wave range with a large spacing between its radar sensor nodes, a coherent signal distribution is very complex and thus very costly. Hence, it is desirable to generate the mm-wave signals individually for each radar sensor node, i.e., non-coherently. However, multistatic radar networks using a non-coherent signal distribution for its radar sensor nodes are affected by systematic errors and uncorrelated phase noise, which reduces the resolution and the detection performance of these systems. In this article, a novel non-coherent signal synthesis concept based on the direct digital synthesis (DDS) principle is presented for multistatic radar networks. Compared to a signal synthesis using a phase-locked loop (PLL), it is shown that the different phase noise behavior of the DDS is beneficial for bistatic signal paths between the radar sensor nodes. The presented hardware concept is considered and analyzed for three different types of coherency regarding the signal distribution: coherent, quasi-coherent, and incoherent. Measurements with a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar at 150GHz prove that despite 150 GHz prove that despite a non-coherent signal distribution, it is possible to achieve the same detection and imaging performance as with a fully coherent radar by using a DDS.
https://doi.org/10.1109/JMW.2022.3154886
fastmat: efficient linear transforms in Python. - In: SoftwareX, ISSN 2352-7110, Bd. 18 (2022), 101013, S. 1-8
Scientific computing requires handling large linear models, which are often composed of structured matrices. With increasing model size, dense representations quickly become infeasible to compute or store. Matrix-free implementations are suited to mitigate this problem at the expense of additional implementation overhead, which complicates research and development effort by months, when applied to practical research problems. Fastmat is a framework for handling large structured matrices by offering an easy-to-use abstraction model. It allows for the expression of matrix-free linear operators in a mathematically intuitive way, while retaining their benefits in computation performance and memory efficiency. A built-in hierarchical unit-test system boosts debugging productivity and run-time execution path optimization improves the performance of highly-structured operators. The architecture is completed with an interface for abstractly describing algorithms that apply such matrix-free linear operators, while maintaining clear separation of their respective implementation levels. Fastmat achieves establishing a close relationship between implementation code and the actual mathematical notation of a given problem, promoting readable, portable and re-usable scientific code.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2022.101013
V2X in 3GPP standardization: NR sidelink in Release-16 and beyond. - In: IEEE communications standards magazine, ISSN 2471-2833, Bd. 5 (2021), 1, S. 12-21
The 5G mobile network brings several new features that can be applied to existing and new applications. High reliability, low latency, and high data rate are some of the features that fulfill the requirements of vehicular networks. Vehicular networks aim to provide safety for road users and several additional advantages such as enhanced traffic efficiency and in-vehicle infotainment services. This article summarizes the most important aspects of NR-V2X, which is standardized by 3GPP, focusing on sidelink communication. The main part of this work belongs to 3GPP Release 16, which is the first 3GPP release for NR-V2X, and the work/study items of the future Release 17.
https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOMSTD.001.2000070
Positioning with medium frequency R-Mode. - In: Navigation, ISSN 2161-4296, Bd. 68 (2021), 4, S. 829-841
R-Mode is a terrestrial navigation system under development for the maritime domain that provides backup in case of a GNSS outage. This paper describes the first test results for real-time positioning on board a ship using medium frequency R-Mode signals. The estimation and positioning algorithms used are described in detail and it is shown how they are integrated into the R-Mode receiver developed by the German Aerospace Center. Moreover, during two daytime experiments with lower and higher dynamic movements of a ship in the Baltic Sea, we were able to achieve a 95% horizontal positioning accuracy of better then 12 m in the center of three R-Mode transmitters. This demonstrates the first time that the medium frequency R-Mode has provided positioning at sea.
https://doi.org/10.1002/navi.450
Frequency subsampling of ultrasound nondestructive measurements: acquisition, reconstruction, and performance. - In: IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, ISSN 1525-8955, Bd. 68 (2021), 10, S. 3174-3191
In ultrasound nondestructive testing (NDT), a widespread approach is to take synthetic aperture measurements from the surface of a specimen to detect and locate defects within it. Based on these measurements, imaging is usually performed using the synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT). However, SAFT is suboptimal in terms of resolution and requires oversampling in the time domain to obtain a fine grid for the delay-and-sum (DAS). On the other hand, parametric reconstruction algorithms give better resolution, but their usage for imaging becomes computationally expensive due to the size of the parameter space and a large amount of measurement data in realistic 3-D scenarios when using oversampling. In the literature, the remedies to this are twofold. First, the amount of measurement data can be reduced using state-of-the-art sub-Nyquist sampling approaches to measure Fourier coefficients instead of time-domain samples. Second, parametric reconstruction algorithms mostly rely on matrix-vector operations that can be implemented efficiently by exploiting the underlying structure of the model. In this article, we propose and compare different strategies to choose the Fourier coefficients to be measured. Their asymptotic performance is compared by numerically evaluating the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) for the localizability of the defect coordinates. These subsampling strategies are then combined with an l1-minimization scheme to compute 3-D reconstructions from the low-rate measurements. Compared to conventional DAS, this allows us to formulate a fully physically motivated forward model matrix. To enable this, the projection operations of the forward model matrix are implemented matrix-free by exploiting the underlying two-level Toeplitz structure. Finally, we show that high-resolution reconstructions from as low as a single Fourier coefficient per A-scan are possible based on simulated data and measurements from a steel specimen.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2021.3085007