A State-of-the-art Survey on Full-duplex Network Design

Full-duplex (FD) technology is gaining popularity for integration into a wide range of wireless networks due to its demonstrated potential in recent studies. In contrast to half-duplex (HD) technology, the implementation of FD in networks necessitates considering inter-node interference (INI) from various network perspectives. When deploying FD technology in networks, several critical factors must be taken into account. These include self-interference (SI) and the requisite SI cancellation (SIC) processes, as well as the selection of multiple user equipment (UE) per time slot. Additionally, inter-node interference (INI), including cross-link interference (CLI) and inter-cell interference (ICI), become crucial issues during concurrent uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) transmission and reception, similar to SI. Since most INI is challenging to eliminate, a comprehensive investigation that covers radio resource control (RRC), medium access control (MAC), and the physical layer (PHY) is essential in the context of FD network design, rather than focusing on individual network layers and types. This paper covers state-of-the-art studies, including protocols and documents from 3GPP for FD, MAC protocol, user scheduling, and CLI handling. The methods are also compared through a network-level system simulation based on 3D ray-tracing.

Performance Analysis of Fluid Antenna-aided Backscatter Communications Systems

This paper studies the performance of backscatter communications (BC) over emerging fluid antenna (FA) technology. In particular, a single-antenna source sends information to a FA reader through the wireless forward (i.e., source-to-tag) and backscatter (tag-to-reader) channels. For the considered BC, we first derive the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the equivalent channel at the FA receiver, and then we obtain closed-form expressions of the outage probability (OP) and delay outage rate (DOR) under a correlated Rayleigh distribution. Moreover, in order to gain more insights into the system performance, we present analytical expressions of the OP and DOR at the high SNR regime. Numerical results indicate that considering the FA at the reader can significantly improve the performance of BC in terms of the OP and DOR compared with a single-antenna reader.

A New Spatial Block-Correlation Model for Fluid Antenna Systems

Powered by position-flexible antennas, the emerging fluid antenna system (FAS) technology postulates as a key enabler for massive connectivity in 6G networks. The free movement of antenna elements enables the opportunistic minimization of interference, allowing several users to share the same radio channel without the need of precoding. However, the true potential of FAS is still unknown due to the extremely high spatial correlation of the wireless channel between very close-by antenna positions. To unveil the multiplexing capabilities of FAS, proper (simple yet accurate) modeling of the spatial correlation is prominently needed. Realistic classical models such as Jakes' are prohibitively complex, rendering intractable analyses, while state-of-the-art approximations often are too simplistic and poorly accurate. Aiming to fill this gap, we here propose a general framework to approximate spatial correlation by block-diagonal matrices, motivated by the well-known block fading assumption and by statistical results on large correlation matrices. The proposed block-correlation model makes the performance analysis possible, and tightly approximates the results obtained with realistic models (Jakes' and Clarke's). Our framework is leveraged to analyze fluid antenna multiple access (FAMA) systems, evaluating their performance for both one- and two-dimensional fluid antennas.

Historical Review of Fluid Antenna and Movable Antenna

Recently, significant attention has been drawn to the development of two emerging antenna technologies known as "Fluid Antenna" and "Movable Antenna" in wireless communication research community, which is greatly motivated by their unprecedented flexibility and reconfigurability for improving system performance in wireless applications. However, some confusions have also ensued on their nomenclature. In fact, both "Fluid Antenna" and "Movable Antenna" are not newly-made terms, and they have a longstanding presence in the field of antenna technology. This article wishes to provide some clarity on this closely related terminology and help dispel any confusion, concern or even dispute on the appropriate use of their names in the literature. Our hope is to unite researchers and encourage more research endeavours to focus on resolving the technical issues on this topic. This article begins by reviewing the historical evolution of these technologies for fostering a clear understanding of their origins and recent development in the realm of wireless communication. We will conclude this article by commenting on other nomenclatures that have emerged in the recent research of Fluid/Movable Antenna.

STAR-RIS Enhanced UAV-Enabled MEC Networks with Bi-Directional Task Offloading

A simultaneously transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (STAR-RIS) enhanced unnamed aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled multi-user mobile edge computing (MEC) scheme is proposed in this paper. Different from the existing MEC works, the proposed scheme allows bi-directional offloading where users can simultaneously offload their computing tasks to the MEC servers situated at the ground base station (BS) and aerial UAV with the assistance of the STARRIS. Specifically, we formulate an optimization problem aiming at maximizing the energy efficiency of the system while ensuring the quality of service (QoS) constraint by jointly optimizing the resource allocation, user scheduling, passive beamforming of the STAR-RIS, and the UAV trajectory. An iterative algorithm designed with the Dinkelbach's algorithm and the successive convex approximation (SCA) is proposed to effectively handle the formulated non-convex optimization problem. Simulation results indicate that the proposed STAR-RIS enhanced UAV-enabled MEC scheme possesses significant advantages in enhancing the system energy efficiency over other baseline schemes including the conventional RIS-aided scheme.

Physical Layer Security Performance of Dual RIS-aided V2V NOMA Communications

This paper investigates the performance of physical layer security (PLS) in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication system, where a transmitter vehicle exploits a dual reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) to send confidential information to legitimate receiver vehicles under the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme in the presence of an eavesdropper vehicle. In particular, it is assumed that an RIS is near the transmitter vehicle and another RIS is close to the receiver vehicles to provide a wider smart radio environment. Besides, we suppose that the channels between two RISs suffer from the Fisher-Snedecor F fading model. Under this scenario, we first provide the marginal distributions of equivalent channels at the legitimate receiver vehicles by exploiting the central limit theorem (CLT). Then, in order to evaluate the PLS performance of the considered secure communication system, we derive analytical expressions of the average secrecy capacity (ASC), secrecy outage probability (SOP), and secrecy energy efficiency (SEE) by using the Gauss-Laguerre quadrature and the Gaussian quadrature techniques. Moreover, to gain more insights into the secrecy performance, the asymptotic expression of the ASC is obtained. The numerical results indicate that incorporating the dual RIS in the secure V2V communication under the NOMA scheme can significantly provide ultra-reliable transmission and guarantee more secure communication for intelligent transportation systems (ITS).

User Clustering for STAR-RIS Assisted Full-Duplex NOMA Communication Systems

In contrast to conventional reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), simultaneous transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (STAR-RIS) has been proposed recently to enlarge the serving area from 180o to 360o coverage. This work considers the performance of a STAR-RIS aided full-duplex (FD) non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication systems. The STAR-RIS is implemented at the cell-edge to assist the cell-edge users, while the cell-center users can communicate directly with a FD base station (BS). We first introduce new user clustering schemes for the downlink and uplink transmissions. Then, based on the proposed transmission schemes closed-form expressions of the ergodic rates in the downlink and uplink modes are derived taking into account the system impairments caused by the self interference at the FD-BS and the imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC). Moreover, an optimization problem to maximize the total sum-rate is formulated and solved by optimizing the amplitudes and the phase-shifts of the STAR-RIS elements and allocating the transmit power efficiently. The performance of the proposed user clustering schemes and the optimal STAR-RIS design are investigated through numerical results

Fluid Antenna-Assisted MIMO Transmission Exploiting Statistical CSI

In conventional multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems, the positions of antennas are fixed. To take full advantage of spatial degrees of freedom, a new technology called fluid antenna (FA) is proposed to obtain higher achievable rate and diversity gain. Most existing works on FA exploit instantaneous channel state information (CSI). However, in FA-assisted systems, it is difficult to obtain instantaneous CSI since changes in the antenna position will lead to channel variation. In this letter, we investigate a FA-assisted MIMO system using relatively slow-varying statistical CSI. Specifically, in the criterion of rate maximization, we propose an algorithmic framework for transmit precoding and transmit/receive FAs position designs with statistical CSI. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm in FA-assisted systems significantly outperforms baselines in terms of rate performance.

Channel Estimation for FAS-assisted Multiuser mmWave Systems

This letter investigates the challenge of channel estimation in a multiuser millimeter-wave (mmWave) time-division duplexing (TDD) system. In this system, the base station (BS) employs a multi-antenna uniform linear array (ULA), while each mobile user is equipped with a fluid antenna system (FAS). Accurate channel state information (CSI) plays a crucial role in the precise placement of antennas in FAS. Traditional channel estimation methods designed for fixed-antenna systems are inadequate due to the high dimensionality of FAS. To address this issue, we propose a low-sample-size sparse channel reconstruction (L3SCR) method, capitalizing on the sparse propagation paths characteristic of mmWave channels. In this approach, each fluid antenna only needs to switch and measure the channel at a few specific locations. By observing this reduced-dimensional data, we can effectively extract angular and gain information related to the sparse channel, enabling us to reconstruct the full CSI. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed method allows us to obtain precise CSI with minimal hardware switching and pilot overhead. As a result, the system sum-rate approaches the upper bound achievable with perfect CSI.

Massive Wireless Energy Transfer without Channel State Information via Imperfect Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces

Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS) utilizes low-cost, passive reflecting elements to enhance the passive beam gain, improve Wireless Energy Transfer (WET) efficiency, and enable its deployment for numerous Internet of Things (IoT) devices. However, the increasing number of IRS elements presents considerable channel estimation challenges. This is due to the lack of active Radio Frequency (RF) chains in an IRS, while pilot overhead becomes intolerable. To address this issue, we propose a Channel State Information (CSI)-free scheme that maximizes received energy in a specific direction and covers the entire space through phased beam rotation. Furthermore, we take into account the impact of an imperfect IRS and meticulously design the active precoder and IRS reflecting phase shift to mitigate its effects. Our proposed technique does not alter the existing IRS hardware architecture, allowing for easy implementation in the current system, and enabling access or removal of any Energy Receivers (ERs) without additional cost. Numerical results illustrate the efficacy of our CSI-free scheme in facilitating large-scale IRS without compromising performance due to excessive pilot overhead. Furthermore, our scheme outperforms the CSI-based counterpart in scenarios involving large-scale ERs, making it a promising solution in the era of IoT.