Deep Learning-Based Computer Vision for Beam Selection and Proactive Blockage Prediction

Millimeter-wave communication faces two critical challenges: propagation losses requiring costly narrow-beam alignment, and penetration losses causing link failures from blocked line-of-sight paths. We address propagation loss through a novel vision-aided beam selection framework that integrates RGB imagery with received power profiles for efficient transmitter identification and beam prediction. This framework achieves 98.96% top-5 beam prediction accuracy, surpassing current state-of-the-art methods by at least 6% across all metrics. We address penetration loss through a proactive blockage prediction framework using a modified object tracker with weighted centroid-based depth estimation. This represents the first analysis of simultaneous non-uniform mobility of both transmitters and obstacles. Evaluated on completely unseen data, this framework achieves over 98% accuracy in predicting blockages up to three frames ahead, establishing strong performance benchmarks.

Beam Squinting Effects in Super Wideband Communication Systems

Beam squint, the frequency-dependent shift of the main beam, poses a major challenge for wideband antenna arrays. This paper focuses on the beam squint effects in super wideband (SW) systems, where high mutual coupling (MC) effects are present. These high MC effects complicate beamforming (BF) by creating frequency-dependent phase relationships that invalidate conventional approaches. To accurately model MC effects, this paper uses a circuit-theoretic framework for tightly coupled SW uniform linear arrays (ULAs). We derive closed-form expressions for the average received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with BF in conventional half-wavelength spaced, weakly coupled arrays and validate them. Extending our analysis to tightly coupled SW arrays, we demonstrate that, in contrast to conventional weakly coupled arrays, the effective true time delays exhibit a nonlinear dependence on frequency due to coupling-induced phase shifts. A comparative analysis reveals that strong MC in SW arrays significantly reduces squint in phase-controlled BF, extending the usable bandwidth considerably.

Dimensional Scaling Laws for Continuous Fluid Antenna Systems

Consider the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a continuous fluid antenna system (CFAS) operating over a Rayleigh fading channel. In this paper, we extend traditional system assumptions and consider spatially coherent isotropic correlation, continuous positioning of the antenna rather than discrete, and the use of multi-dimensional space (1D, 2D and 3D). By focusing on the upper tail of the received SNR distribution (the high SNR probability (HSP)), we are able to derive asymptotically exact closed-form formulas for the HSP. Finally, these results lead to scaling laws which describe the increase in the HSP as we employ more dimensions and the optimal CFAS dimensions.

Deep Learning based Computer-vision for Enhanced Beamforming

Meeting the high data rate demands of modern applications necessitates the utilization of high-frequency spectrum bands, including millimeter-wave and sub-terahertz bands. However, these frequencies require precise alignment of narrow communication beams between transmitters and receivers, typically resulting in significant beam training overhead. This paper introduces a novel end-to-end vision-aided beamforming framework that utilizes images to predict optimal beams while considering geometric adjustments to reduce overhead. Our model demonstrates robust adaptability to dynamic environments without relying on additional training data where the experimental results indicate a top-5 beam prediction accuracy of 98.96%, significantly surpassing current state-of-the-art solutions in vision-aided beamforming.

Rician Channel Modelling for Super Wideband MIMO Communications

Recent developments in Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology include packing a large number of antenna elements in a compact array to access the bandwidth benefits provided by higher mutual coupling (MC). The resulting super-wideband (SW) systems require a circuit-theoretic framework to handle the MC and channel models which span extremely large bands. Hence, in this paper, we make two key contributions. First, we develop a physically-consistent Rician channel model for use with SW systems. Secondly, we express the circuit-theoretic models in terms of a standard MIMO model, so that insights into the effects of antenna layouts, MC, and bandwidth can be made using standard communication theory. For example, we show the bandwidth widening resulting from the new channel model. In addition, we show that MC distorts line-of-sight paths which has beamforming implications. We also highlight the interaction between spatial correlation and MC and show that tight coupling reduces spatial correlations at low frequencies.

Can FSK Be Optimised for Integrated Sensing and Communications?

Motivated by the ideal peak-to-average-power ratio and radar sensing capability of traditional frequency-coded radar waveforms, this paper considers the frequency shift keying (FSK) based waveform for joint communications and radar (JCR). An analysis of the probability distributions of its ambiguity function (AF) sidelobe levels (SLs) and peak sidelobe level (PSL) is conducted to study the radar sensing capability of random FSK. Numerical results show that the independent frequency modulation introduces uncontrollable AF PSLs. In order to address this problem, the initial phases of waveform sub-pulses are designed by solving a min-max optimisation problem. Numerical results indicate that the optimisation-based phase design can effectively reduce the AF PSL to a level close to well-designed radar waveforms while having no impact on the data rate and the receiver complexity. For large numbers of waveform sub-pulses and modulation orders, the impact on the error probability is also insignificant.

OTFS based Joint Radar and Communication: Signal Analysis using the Ambiguity Function

Orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation has recently been identified as a suitable waveform for joint radar and communication systems. Focusing on the effect of data modulation on the radar sensing performance, we derive the ambiguity function (AF) of the OTFS waveform and characterize the radar global accuracy. We evaluate the behavior of the AF with respect to the distribution of the modulated data and derive an accurate approximation for the mean and variance of the AF, thus, approximating its distribution by a Rice distribution. Finally, we evaluate the global radar performance of the OTFS waveform with the OFDM waveform.

Performance Analysis of Relay Selection Schemes in Multi-Hop Decode-and-Forward Networks

This paper analyses the data rate achieved by various relay selection schemes in a single-user multi-hop relay network with decode-and-forward (DF) relaying. While the single-user relay selection problem is well studied in the literature, research on achievable rate maximization is limited to dual-hop networks and multi-hop networks with a single relay per hop. We fill this important gap by focusing on achievable rate maximization in multi-hop, multi-relay networks. First, we consider optimal relay selection and obtain two approximations to the achievable rate. Next, we consider three existing sub-optimal relay selection strategies namely hop-by-hop, ad-hoc and block-by-block relay selection and obtain exact expressions for the achievable rate under each of these strategies. We also extend the sliding window based relay selection to the DF relay network and derive an approximation to the achievable rate. Further, we investigate the impact of window size in sliding window based relay selection and show that a window size of three is sufficient to achieve most of the possible performance gains. Finally, we extend this analysis to a noise limited multi-user network where the number of available relay nodes is large compared to the number of users and derive approximations to the achievable sum-rate.

Frequency Permutation Subsets for Joint Radar and Communication

This paper focuses on waveform design for joint radar and communication systems and presents a new subset selection process to improve the communication error rate performance and global accuracy of radar sensing of the random stepped frequency permutation waveform. An optimal communication receiver based on integer programming is proposed to handle any subset of permutations followed by a more efficient sub-optimal receiver based on the Hungarian algorithm. Considering optimum maximum likelihood detection, the block error rate is analyzed under both additive white Gaussian noise and correlated Rician fading. We propose two methods to select a permutation subset with an improved block error rate and an efficient encoding scheme to map the information symbols to selected permutations under these subsets. From the radar perspective, the ambiguity function is analyzed with regards to the local and the global accuracy of target detection. Furthermore, a subset selection method to reduce the maximum sidelobe height is proposed by extending the properties of Costas arrays. Finally, the process of remapping the frequency tones to the symbol set used to generate permutations is introduced as a method to improve both the communication and radar performances of the selected permutation subset.

Sum-Rate Optimal Relay Selection and Power Control in Multi-Hop Networks

In this paper, we focus on the achievable sum-rate optimization problem of a multi-user, multi-hop relay network. We analyze the joint relay selection and power control in the presence of interference such that the achievable sum-rate is maximized. First, we evaluate the achievable sum-rate under five relay selection strategies when the transmit power is fixed. We show that the dynamic programming based max-min relay selection with the objective of maximizing the minimum signal-to-noise-ratio results in the highest achievable sum-rate gain for larger networks. Next, we combine the relay selection problem using the max-min relay selection and the power control problem using a tight lower bound approximation and propose a novel iterative algorithm, which maximizes the achievable sum-rate. We also provide a comprehensive comparison of the proposed algorithm with respect to existing resource allocation techniques, and observe that our proposed algorithm provides significant sum-rate gains. Finally, we prove that for the special case of two-user networks, binary power allocation is optimum for at least two transmitting nodes. Extensive numerical examples are provided to illustrate the accuracy of our results.