How much Training is Needed in Downlink Cell-Free mMIMO under LoS/NLoS channels?

The assumption that no LoS channels exist between wireless access points~(APs) and user equipments~(UEs) becomes questionable in the context of the recent developments in the direction of cell free massive multiple input multiple output MIMO~(CF-mMIMO) systems. In CF-mMIMO systems, the access point density is assumed to be comparable to, or much larger than the the user density, thereby leading to the possibility of existence of LoS links between the UEs and the APs, depending on the local propagation conditions. In this paper, we compare the rates achievable by CF-mMIMO systems under probabilistic LoS/ NLos channels, with and without acquiring the channel state information~(CSI) of the fast fading components. We show that, under sufficiently large AP densities, statistical beamforming that does not require the knowledge about the fast fading components of the channels, performs almost at par with full beamforming, utilizing the information about the fast fading channel coefficients, thus potentially avoiding the need for training during every frame. We validate our results via detailed Monte Carlo simulations, and also elaborate the conditions under which statistical beamforming can be successfully employed in massive MIMO systems with LoS/ NLoS channels.

Granger Causality Detection via Sequential Hypothesis Testing

Most of the metrics used for detecting a causal relationship among multiple time series ignore the effects of practical measurement impairments, such as finite sample effects, undersampling and measurement noise. It has been shown that these effects significantly impair the performance of the underlying causality test. In this paper, we consider the problem of sequentially detecting the causal relationship between two time series while accounting for these measurement impairments. In this context, we first formulate the problem of Granger causality detection as a binary hypothesis test using the norm of the estimates of the vector auto-regressive~(VAR) coefficients of the two time series as the test statistic. Following this, we investigate sequential estimation of these coefficients and formulate a sequential test for detecting the causal relationship between two time series. Finally via detailed simulations, we validate our derived results, and evaluate the performance of the proposed causality detectors.

Robust Direction-of-Arrival Estimation using Array Feedback Beamforming in Low SNR Scenarios

A new spatial IIR beamformer based direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation method is proposed in this paper. We propose a retransmission based spatial feedback method for an array of transmit and receive antennas that improves the performance parameters of a beamformer viz. half-power beamwidth (HPBW), side-lobe suppression, and directivity. Through quantitative comparison we show that our approach outperforms the previous feedback beamforming approach with single transmit antenna, and the conventional beamformer. We then incorporate a retransmission based minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamformer with the feedback beamforming setup. We propose two approaches and show that one approach is superior in terms of lower estimation error, and use that as DoA estimation method. We then compare this approach with Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) and Estimation of Parameters using Rotation Invariant Technique (ESPRIT) methods. While these previous methods perform poorly in low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) regime, we show that our method outperforms both at very low SNR levels. The results show that at SNR levels of -80 db to -10 db, the error is 80% less compared to that of MUSIC and ESPRIT.

Lattice All-Pass Filter based Precoder Adaptation for MIMO Wireless Channels

Modern 5G communication systems employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) in conjunction with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to enhance data rates, particularly for wideband millimetre wave (mmW) applications. Since these systems use a large number of subcarriers, feeding back the estimated precoder for even a subset of subcarriers from the receiver to the transmitter is prohibitive. Moreover, such frequency domain approaches also do not exploit the predominant line-of-sight component that is present in such channels to reduce feedback. In this work, we view the precoder in the time domain as a matrix all-pass filter, and model the discrete-time precoder filter using a matrix-lattice structure that aids in reducing the overall feedback while still maintaining the desired frequency-phase delay profile. This provides an efficient precoder representation across the subcarriers using fewer coefficients, and is amenable to tracking over time with much lower feedback than past approaches. Compared to frequency domain geodesic interpolation, Givens rotation based parameterisation, and the angle-delay domain approach that depends on approximate discrete-time representation, the proposed approach yields higher achievable rates with a much lower feedback burden. Via extensive simulations over mmW channel models, we confirm the effectiveness of our claims, and show that the proposed approach can reduce the feedback burden by up to 70%.

Design of Discrete-time Matrix All-Pass Filters Using Subspace Nevanlinna Pick Interpolation

Unitary matrix-valued functions of frequency are matrix all-pass systems, since they preserve the norm of the input vector signals. Typically, such systems are represented and analyzed using their unitary-matrix valued frequency domain characteristics, although obtaining rational realizations for matrix all-pass systems enables compact representations and efficient implementations. However, an approach to obtain matrix all-pass filters that satisfy phase constraints at certain frequencies was hitherto unknown. In this paper, we present an interpolation strategy to obtain a rational matrix-valued transfer function from frequency domain constraints for discrete-time matrix all-pass systems. Using an extension of the Subspace Nevanlinna Pick Interpolation Problem (SNIP), we design a construction for discrete-time matrix all-pass systems that satisfy the desired phase characteristics. An innovation that enables this is the extension of the SNIP to the boundary case to obtain efficient time-domain implementations of matrix all-pass filters as matrix linear constant coefficient difference equations, facilitated by a rational (realizable) matrix transfer function. We also show that the derivative of matrix phase constraints, related to the group delay at the interpolating points, can be optimized to control the all-pass transfer matrices at the unspecified frequencies. Simulations show that the proposed technique for unitary matrix filter design performs as well as traditional DFT based interpolation approaches, including Geodesic interpolation and the popular Givens rotation based matrix parameterization.

Indoor Distance Estimation using LSTMs over WLAN Network

The Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) like GPS suffer from accuracy degradation and are almost unavailable in indoor environments. Indoor positioning systems (IPS) based on WiFi signals have been gaining popularity. However, owing to the strong spatial and temporal variations of wireless communication channels in the indoor environment, the achieved accuracy of existing IPS is around several tens of centimeters. We present the detailed design and implementation of a self-adaptive WiFi-based indoor distance estimation system using LSTMs. The system is novel in its method of estimating with high accuracy the distance of an object by overcoming possible causes of channel variations and is self-adaptive to the changing environmental and surrounding conditions. The proposed design has been developed and physically realized over a WiFi network consisting of ESP8266 (NodeMCU) devices. The experiment were conducted in a real indoor environment while changing the surroundings in order to establish the adaptability of the system. We introduce and compare different architectures for this task based on LSTMs, CNNs, and fully connected networks (FCNs). We show that the LSTM based model performs better among all the above-mentioned architectures by achieving an accuracy of 5.85 cm with a confidence interval of 93% on the scale of (4.14 m * 2.86 m). To the best of our knowledge, the proposed method outperforms other methods reported in the literature by a significant margin.