The invention lies within the field of wireless communications systems with several transmitting antennas, corresponding to MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) systems or to MISO (Multiple Input Single Output) systems.
It is common to use several transmitting antennas in wireless communications systems to reduce the effects of multiple path fading, and thus increase the service quality of the system. This technique is notably disclosed in the document [1] entitled “A simple transmit diversity technique for wireless communications” by S. M. Alamouti IEEE JSAC, Vol. 16, NO. 8, October 1998. In this document, Alamouti defines a space-time block coding allowing to fully exploit the spatial diversity in a system of two transmitting antennas and M receiving antennas. This encoding is illustrated in the attached
The time-space block coding described in the document [1] applied to the symbols to be transmitted is given below for two instances:
In the first instance, the space-time coding of the document [1] consists in simultaneously transmitting, during the temporal interval IT1, the symbols s1 and s2, then during the temporal interval IT2, respectively the symbols −s2* and s1* from antennas E1 and E2. Each transmitting antenna transmits with a power of p/2.
As
r1=h1·s1+h2·s2
r2=−h1·s2*+h2·s1*
where * is the operator of complex conjugations.
b is a virtual but equivalent linear representation of the space-time block coding in
If, at reception, we apply to the received signals the decoding matrix
transconjugated with the coding matrix
we obtain:
that being
Given that the coding/decoding matrix
is a diagonal matrix, the transmitted symbols are very easy to detect at reception.
In the instance of a transmission of four symbols, s1, s2, s3 and s4, the latter are transmitted over four transmitting intervals. The transmitting diagram is as follows:
As shown in
r1=h1·s1+h2·s2
r2=−h1·s2*+h2·s1*
r3=h3·s3+h4·s4
r4=−h3·s4*−h4·s3*
b is an equivalent linear representation of the space-time block coding in
If we apply, at reception, to this product of matrices the decoding matrix
we obtain:
with A=|h1|2+|h2|2 and B=|h3|2+|h4|2
Just as in the previous instance, given that the coding/decoding matrix is diagonal, it is very easy to detect at reception the transmitted symbols.
The main inconvenience of the space-time coding is that it can not be generalised to a system of more than two transmitting antennas.
Some authors, such as M. M. Da Silva and A. Corréia in their document [2] entitled “Space-time block coding for 4 antennas with coding rate 1”, IEEE 7th Int. Symp. On Spread-Spectrum Tech. And Appl., Prague, 2-5 September 2002, have defined a space-time coding for four transmitting antennas.
The transmitting diagram described in the document [2] is the following:
Each symbol is transmitted with a power p/4 on to each antenna and for each interval ITi. As shown in
r1=h1·s1+h2·s2+h3·s3+h4·s4
r2=−h1·s2*+h2·s1*−h3·s4*+h4·s3*
r3=−h1·s3*−h2·s4*+h3·s1*+h4·s2*
r4=h1·s4−h2·s3−h3·s2+h4·s1
b is an equivalent linear representation of the space-time block coding in
If we apply, at reception, to this product of matrices the decoding matrix
we obtain:
with In=2·Re{h1·h4*−h2·h3*}
The coding/decoding matrix is no longer diagonal and has elements known as intersymbol interference elements. This interference is very strong and generally needs a detection of symbols with a maximum likelihood detection, complicated to implement. In order to best exploit the diversity, Da Silva and Corréia propose to pre-encode the symbols before their space-time coding.
For this purpose they propose the use of a complex orthonormal rotation matrix A8 defined in the following manner:
This pre-encoding allows to modify the global transmitting/receiving matrix of the symbols whilst maintaining the detection of the symbols via maximum likelihood detection.
One objective of the invention is to propose a method allowing to free from the detection of symbols by maximum likelihood detection at reception.
Another objective of the invention is to propose a method of transmitting symbols allowing to transmit with two transmitting antennas or more and to have at reception a simple detection of the transmitted symbols.
According to the invention, these objectives are reached by performing a pre-encoding stage with a particular pre-encoding matrix allowing to obtain, at reception, a detection of the symbols by applying the inverse pre-encoding matrix.
The invention relates to a method of transmitting a signal composed of a plurality of symbols from ne transmitting antennas, ne being a whole number greater than or equal to 2, comprising the following stages:
If we use the space-time coding presented in document [1],
Advantageously, the method further comprises, prior to the space-time coding stage, a linear combination interleaving stage to modify the temporal order of the latter and thus increase the spatial diversity of the transmissions. The size of the matrix used to perform the interleaving is m′×m′, m′ being greater than or equal to m.
According to the invention, the pre-encoding stage consists in applying, to each vector of p consecutive symbols to transmit, a complex orthonormal pre-encoding matrix of dimension m×m so as to create the said m linear combinations of symbols. The said pre-encoding matrix is preferably a matrix or combination of matrices belonging to the Special Unitary group SU(m).
The said pre-encoding matrix can be the Kronecker product of a Hadamard matrix of order
by a matrix of the Special Unitary group SU(k), k being a whole number greater than or equal to 2.
The matrix of the Special Unitary group SU(2) can be of type
with
k′ and k″ being integers.
At reception, it is sufficient according to the invention to apply the inverse space-time coding matrix and the inverse pre-encoding matrix to find the transmitted symbols.
Thus the invention also relates to a method of receiving a signal comprised of a plurality of symbols transmitted from ne transmitting antennas, ne being greater than or equal to 2, with the aid of nr receiving antennas, nr being a whole number greater than or equal to 1, the said symbols being transmitted according to the previously defined method of transmitting, the method consisting in decoding the said m coded linear combinations received on each of the said nr receiving antennas by applying an inverse space-time coding stage and an inverse linear pre-encoding stage to those of the said method of transmitting so as to retrieve, from the said m coded linear combinations that were transmitted, the m transmitted symbols.
According to an alternative, the inverse pre-encoding stage consists in applying to the linear combinations derived from the inverse space-time coding a complex orthonormal inverse pre-encoding matrix, the m retrieved symbols corresponding to the results of the application of a global matrix with diagonal elements proportional to a sum of diagonal elements of a diagonal matrix, and with at least several non diagonal elements proportional to a difference between diagonal elements of the diagonal matrix, the other non diagonal elements being zero, the diagonal matrix corresponding to the transformation of the m linear combinations of symbols into the linear combinations derived from the inverse space-time coding.
The invention also relates to another method of receiving a signal composed of a plurality of symbols transmitted from ne transmitting antennas, ne being greater than or equal to 2, with the aid of nr receiving antennas, nr being a whole number greater than or equal to 1, the said symbols being transmitted according to an aforementioned method of transmitting with an interleaving, and consisting in decoding the said m coded linear combinations received on each of the said nr receiving antennas by applying an inverse space-time coding stage, an inverse interleaving stage and an inverse linear pre-encoding stage to those of the said method of transmitting so as to retrieve, from the said m coded linear combinations that were transmitted, the transmitted symbols.
According to an alternative, the inverse pre-encoding stage consists in applying to the linear combinations derived from the inverse space-time coding a complex orthonormal inverse pre-encoding matrix, the m retrieved symbols corresponding to the result of the application of a global matrix with diagonal elements proportional to a sum of diagonal elements of a diagonal matrix, and with non diagonal elements proportional to a difference between at least two diagonal elements of the diagonal matrix, the diagonal matrix corresponding to the transformation of the m linear combinations of symbols into the linear combinations derived from the inverse space-time coding and from the inverse interleaving stage.
The invention also relates to a wireless communications system comprising means of transmitting for implementing a method of transmitting symbols such as previously described.
According to an alternative, this system further comprises means for implementing a method of receiving symbols such as previously described.
These characteristics and advantages of the invention, as well as others, will become clearer upon reading the following description, in conjunction with the annexed drawings, in which:
a and 2b, already described, illustrate the transmission of two symbols in a system with two transmitting antennas according to a first known method;
a and 3b, already described, illustrate the transmission of four symbols without pre-encoding in a system with two transmitting antennas according to the said first known method;
a and 5b, already described, illustrate the transmission of four symbols in a system of four transmitting antennas according to a second known method;
a and 7b illustrate the transmission of four pre-encoded symbols in a system with two or four transmitting antennas according to the method of transmitting of the invention; and
In the following description, ne and nr designate the number of transmitting antennas and the number of receiving antennas of the wireless communications system.
To simplify matters, we will first consider that nr=1.
In reference to
The linear pre-encoding operation consists in applying to a burst of m symbols to be transmitted a linear pre-encoding matrix PREC belonging to the Special Unitary group SU(m).
To transmit for example bursts of four consecutive symbols, we use the following PREC matrix:
The matrices of the SU(2) group, noted above [SU(2)], are square matrices with a dimension of 2 bearing the following properties:
with det[SU(2)]=1 and where det[A] is the determinant of the matrix [A] and a, b are complex numbers; and
where [SU(2)]H is the transconjugated matrix of the matrix [SU(2)].
The pre-encoded PREC matrix, given above, which actually belongs to the SU(4) group, can be obtained by performing the Kronecker product of a Hadamard matrix H2 of order 2 by a matrix [SU(2)]:
We then perform a space-time coding of the linear combinations of symbols derived from the pre-encoding stage. The method of the invention using the space-time coding of Alamouti (document [1]) will be illustrated hereafter. Other space-time codes such as the one disclosed in the document [3] entitled “Space-time block codes from orthogonal designs” by V. Tarokh, H. Jafarkhani and A. R. Calderbank, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 45, NO 5, 1999, pp. 1456-1467 can also be used.
With the Alamouti coding, the linear combinations are transmitted in blocks of two from the transmitting antennas of the system. The blocks of linear combinations are transmitted one after the other during two consecutive transmitting intervals from two transmitting antennas. Each of the linear combinations of the block is transmitted with an intensity p/2 from one of the two transmitting antennas associated with the said block.
For a system with four transmitting antennas, the linear combinations are transmitted for example in bursts of four symbols over four consecutive transmitting intervals as illustrated in
Each symbol is transmitted with a power of p/2. These linear combinations can also be transmitted from two transmitting antennas instead of four. We would then come out with the transmission diagram in
If we ignore the noise during transmitting, the signals r1, r2, r3 and r4 received by the receiving antenna R1, respectively during the intervals IT1, IT2, IT3 and IT4, are:
r1=h1·s1+h2·S2
r2=−h1 ·s2*+h2·s1*
r3=h3·s3+h4·s4
r4=−h3·s4*−h4·s3*
b is an equivalent linear representation of the space-time block coding in
After applying the inverse space-time coding matrix
and the inverse pre-encoding matrix
we obtain the following global matrix G:
that being
where
Generally, the proportionality coefficient (in this instance ½) in the above equation defining the matrix G derives from the standardising of powers and from the multiplication of matrices depending on the size of the matrices to be multiplied.
Note that this matrical formulation applies to a system comprising two or four transmitting antennas.
The elements of the diagonal given by
of the matrix G obey a law of χ28 (Rayleigh channels being independent between themselves). It is therefore very easy to retrieve the symbols at reception.
The intersymbol interference elements given by
result from the difference of the two laws of χ24. These elements are therefore minimal and can be ignored at reception. Thus, the symbols are therefore directly detected after applying the inverse pre-encoding matrix. Detection by maximum likelihood could be used instead of the inverse pre-encoding stage. This would bring about slightly better results but would considerably increase the complexity of the receiver.
Values a and b of the matrix [SU(2)] are given by: a=eiθ
Preferably, we would choose
in order to equitably balance the diversity exploited by the space-time coding of Alamouti and
to maximise the determinant of the matrix G and to minimise the interference elements. k′ and k″ are integers. Moreover, we have determined in an empirical manner that the best performances for bit error rates are obtained when
In a preferred embodiment, we choose:
The size of the pre-encoding matrix PREC can be extended to 8×8. The matrix PREC is then equal to:
where H4 is the Hadamard matrix of order 4.
The space-time coding is then applied to two, four or eight transmitting antennas. The symbols to be transmitted are then pre-encoded in bursts of eight. The transmitting of the linear combinations of these eight symbols is performed over eight transmitting intervals.
The coding/decoding matrix is therefore the following:
with A=|h1|2+|h2|2, B=|h3|2+|h4|2, C=|h5|2+|h6|2 and D=|h7|2+|h8|2 where hi represents the ith channel between one of the transmitting antennas and the receiving antenna (stable channel over two consecutive transmitting intervals).
The global matrix G is therefore the following:
Generally, in the absence of interleaving, the global matrix has several non diagonal elements different from zero as they are proportional to a difference between identical elements of the coding/decoding diagonal matrix.
The useful elements (that being those of the diagonal) obey a law of χ216.
For a pre-encoding matrix built on the same principle, we would by generalising:
SU(2)
SU(2)
SU(4)
SU(2)
SU(k)
As the product m increases, the law of χ22m leans towards the gaussian law (central limit theorem) and the exploiting of the diversity is improved.
An important characteristic of the invention is that we can act in an independent manner on the number of transmitting antennas ne and on the size of the pre-encoding matrix m. A same size of pre-encoding matrix m×m can apply to different numbers of transmitting antennas, from 2 to m. In the example in
For a modulation with 2M states, the increase in the exploiting of the diversity increases in conjunction with the size of the pre-encoding matrix, with a complexity which increases with this size of matrix in m3. By using a rapid Hadamard transformation we can transform this complexity into m·log(m).
If we use a maximum likelihood detector at reception, the complexity increases in Mm.
We can still improve the diversity of the system, by interleaving the linear combinations derived from the pre-encoding stage. An example of interleaving matrix ENT of dimension 8×8 is given below:
At reception, there is an interleaving dispensing stage between the inverse space-time coding stage and the inverse pre-encoding stage. The interleaving dispensing stage is performed with the aid of matrix ENT−1=ENTT (ENTT is the transpose of ENT).
We then obtain:
The global matrix (pre-encoding, interleaving, coding, inverse coding, interleaving dispensing, inverse pre-encoding) of the system then becomes:
In the case of interleaving, the global matrix G has, generally speaking, several non diagonal elements different from zero as they are proportional to a difference between different elements of the diagonal matrix.
We therefore note that the interleaving allows to obtain a diversity of order χ216 on the diagonal instead of χ28 without interleaving.
The invention has only been described for a system with one receiving antenna. Of course, it can be applied to a system of nr receiving antennas.
The performances of the method of the invention are illustrated in
We can notice that if we increase the size of the pre-encoding matrix, we continually improve the exploiting of the diversity. Indeed, for a matrix of size 4×4, the performances are better than the known system of Alamouti. With larger matrix we even outperform a system with a diversity of optimal order 4 which is the MIMO 2×2 and this with an ever lower signal over noise ratio. This system with a diversity of optimal order 4 would correspond, if it existed, to the space-time coding with four antennas exploiting the maximum diversity.
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