Three Efficient Beamforming Methods for Hybrid IRS-aided AF Relay Wireless Networks

In this paper, a hybrid IRS-aided amplify-and-forward (AF) relay wireless network is considered, where an optimization problem is formulated to maximize signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by jointly optimizing the beamforming matrix at AF relay and the reflecting coefficient matrices at IRS subject to the constraints of transmit power budgets at the source/AF relay/hybrid IRS and that of unit-modulus for passive IRS phase shifts. To achieve high rate performance and extend the coverage range, a high-performance method based on semidefinite relaxation and fractional programming (HP-SDR-FP) algorithm is presented. Due to its extremely high complexity, a low-complexity method based on successive convex approximation and FP (LC-SCA-FP) algorithm is put forward. To further reduce the complexity, a lower-complexity method based on whitening filter, general power iterative and generalized Rayleigh-Ritz (WF-GPI-GRR) is proposed, where different from the above two methods, it is assumed that the amplifying coefficient of each active IRS element is equal, and the corresponding analytical solution of the amplifying coefficient can be obtained according to the transmit powers at AF relay and hybrid IRS. Simulation results show that the proposed three methods can greatly improve the rate performance compared to the existing networks, such as the passive IRS-aided AF relay and only AF relay network. In particular, a 50.0% rate gain over the existing networks is approximately achieved in the high power budget region of hybrid IRS. Moreover, it is verified that the proposed three efficient beamforming methods have an increasing order in rate performance: WF-GPI-GRR, LC-SCA-FP and HP-SDR-FP.

Asynchronous RIS-assisted Localization: A Comprehensive Analysis of Fundamental Limits

The reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has drawn considerable attention for its ability to enhance the performance of not only the wireless communication but also the indoor localization with low-cost. This paper investigates the performance limits of the RIS-based near-field localization in the asynchronous scenario, and analyzes the impact of each part of the cascaded channel on the localization performance. The Fisher information matrix (FIM) and the position error bound (PEB) are derived. Besides, we also derive the equivalent Fisher information (EFI) for the position-related intermediate parameters. Enabled by the derived EFI, we show that the information for both the distance and the direction of the user can be obtained when the near-field spherical wavefront is considered for the RIS-User equipment (UE) part of the channel, while only the direction of the UE can be inferred in the far-field scenario. For the base station (BS)-RIS part of the channel, we reveal that this part of the channel determines the type of the gain provided by the BS antenna array. We also show that the well-known focusing control scheme for RIS, which maximizes the received SNR, is not always a good choice and may degrade the localization performance in the asynchronous scenario. The simulation results validate the analytic work. The impact of the focusing control scheme on the PEB performances under synchronous and asynchronous conditions is also investigated.

Linear MIMO Precoders Design for Finite Alphabet Inputs via Model-Free Training

This paper investigates a novel method for designing linear precoders with finite alphabet inputs based on autoencoders (AE) without the knowledge of the channel model. By model-free training of the autoencoder in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, the proposed method can effectively solve the optimization problem to design the precoders that maximize the mutual information between the channel inputs and outputs, when only the input-output information of the channel can be observed. Specifically, the proposed method regards the receiver and the precoder as two independent parameterized functions in the AE and alternately trains them using the exact and approximated gradient, respectively. Compared with previous precoders design methods, it alleviates the limitation of requiring the explicit channel model to be known. Simulation results show that the proposed method works as well as those methods under known channel models in terms of maximizing the mutual information and reducing the bit error rate.

LEO Satellite-Enabled Grant-Free Random Access with MIMO-OTFS

This paper investigates joint channel estimation and device activity detection in the LEO satellite-enabled grant-free random access systems with large differential delay and Doppler shift. In addition, the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with orthogonal time-frequency space modulation (OTFS) is utilized to combat the dynamics of the terrestrial-satellite link. To simplify the computation process, we estimate the channel tensor in parallel along the delay dimension. Then, the deep learning and expectation-maximization approach are integrated into the generalized approximate message passing with cross-correlation--based Gaussian prior to capture the channel sparsity in the delay-Doppler-angle domain and learn the hyperparameters. Finally, active devices are detected by computing energy of the estimated channel. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms outperform conventional methods.

Automatic Registration of Images with Inconsistent Content Through Line-Support Region Segmentation and Geometrical Outlier Removal

The implementation of automatic image registration is still difficult in various applications. In this paper, an automatic image registration approach through line-support region segmentation and geometrical outlier removal (ALRS-GOR) is proposed. This new approach is designed to address the problems associated with the registration of images with affine deformations and inconsistent content, such as remote sensing images with different spectral content or noise interference, or map images with inconsistent annotations. To begin with, line-support regions, namely a straight region whose points share roughly the same image gradient angle, are extracted to address the issues of inconsistent content existing in images. To alleviate the incompleteness of line segments, an iterative strategy with multi-resolution is employed to preserve global structures that are masked at full resolution by image details or noise. Then, Geometrical Outlier Removal (GOR) is developed to provide reliable feature point matching, which is based on affineinvariant geometrical classifications for corresponding matches initialized by SIFT. The candidate outliers are selected by comparing the disparity of accumulated classifications among all matches, instead of conventional methods which only rely on local geometrical relations. Various image sets have been considered in this paper for the evaluation of the proposed approach, including aerial images with simulated affine deformations, remote sensing optical and synthetic aperture radar images taken at different situations (multispectral, multisensor, and multitemporal), and map images with inconsistent annotations. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method over the existing approaches for the whole data set.

RFVTM: A Recovery and Filtering Vertex Trichotomy Matching for Remote Sensing Image Registration

Reliable feature point matching is a vital yet challenging process in feature-based image registration. In this paper,a robust feature point matching algorithm called Recovery and Filtering Vertex Trichotomy Matching (RFVTM) is proposed to remove outliers and retain sufficient inliers for remote sensing images. A novel affine invariant descriptor called vertex trichotomy descriptor is proposed on the basis of that geometrical relations between any of vertices and lines are preserved after affine transformations, which is constructed by mapping each vertex into trichotomy sets. The outlier removals in Vertex Trichotomy Matching (VTM) are implemented by iteratively comparing the disparity of corresponding vertex trichotomy descriptors. Some inliers mistakenly validated by a large amount of outliers are removed in VTM iterations, and several residual outliers close to correct locations cannot be excluded with the same graph structures. Therefore, a recovery and filtering strategy is designed to recover some inliers based on identical vertex trichotomy descriptors and restricted transformation errors. Assisted with the additional recovered inliers, residual outliers can also be filtered out during the process of reaching identical graph for the expanded vertex sets. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance on precision and stability of this algorithm under various conditions, such as remote sensing images with large transformations, duplicated patterns, or inconsistent spectral content.

Enhanced Preamble Based MAC Mechanism for IIoT-oriented PLC Network

In this paper, we propose an enhanced preamble based media access control mechanism (E-PMAC), which can be applied in power line communication (PLC) network for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). We introduce detailed technologies used in E-PMAC, including delay calibration mechanism, preamble design, and slot allocation algorithm. With these technologies, E-PMAC is more robust than existing preamble based MAC mechanism (P-MAC). Besides, we analyze the disadvantage of P-MAC in multi-layer networking and design the networking process of E-PMAC to accelerate networking process. We analyze the complexity of networking process in P-MAC and E-PMAC and prove that E-PMAC has lower complexity than P-MAC. Finally, we simulate the single-layer networking and multi-layer networking of E-PMAC, P-MAC, and existing PLC protocol, i.e. , IEEE1901.1. The simulation results indicate that E-PMAC spends much less time in networking than IEEE1901.1 and P-MAC. Finally, with our work, a PLC network based on E-PMAC mechanism can be realized.

Random Access with Massive MIMO-OTFS in LEO Satellite Communications

This paper considers the joint channel estimation and device activity detection in the grant-free random access systems, where a large number of Internet-of-Things devices intend to communicate with a low-earth orbit satellite in a sporadic way. In addition, the massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with orthogonal time-frequency space (OTFS) modulation is adopted to combat the dynamics of the terrestrial-satellite link. We first analyze the input-output relationship of the single-input single-output OTFS when the large delay and Doppler shift both exist, and then extend it to the grant-free random access with massive MIMO-OTFS. Next, by exploring the sparsity of channel in the delay-Doppler-angle domain, a two-dimensional pattern coupled hierarchical prior with the sparse Bayesian learning and covariance-free method (TDSBL-FM) is developed for the channel estimation. Then, the active devices are detected by computing the energy of the estimated channel. Finally, the generalized approximate message passing algorithm combined with the sparse Bayesian learning and two-dimensional convolution (ConvSBL-GAMP) is proposed to decrease the computations of the TDSBL-FM algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms outperform conventional methods.

Active Terminal Identification, Channel Estimation, and Signal Detection for Grant-Free NOMA-OTFS in LEO Satellite Internet-of-Things

This paper investigates the massive connectivity of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based Internet-of-Things (IoT) for seamless global coverage. We propose to integrate the grant-free non-orthogonal multiple access (GF-NOMA) paradigm with the emerging orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation to accommodate the massive IoT access, and mitigate the long round-trip latency and severe Doppler effect of terrestrial-satellite links (TSLs). On this basis, we put forward a two-stage successive active terminal identification (ATI) and channel estimation (CE) scheme as well as a low-complexity multi-user signal detection (SD) method. Specifically, at the first stage, the proposed training sequence aided OTFS (TS-OTFS) data frame structure facilitates the joint ATI and coarse CE, whereby both the traffic sparsity of terrestrial IoT terminals and the sparse channel impulse response are leveraged for enhanced performance. Moreover, based on the single Doppler shift property for each TSL and sparsity of delay-Doppler domain channel, we develop a parametric approach to further refine the CE performance. Finally, a least square based parallel time domain SD method is developed to detect the OTFS signals with relatively low complexity. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed methods over the state-of-the-art solutions in terms of ATI, CE, and SD performance confronted with the long round-trip latency and severe Doppler effect.

Joint Device Detection, Channel Estimation, and Data Decoding with Collision Resolution for MIMO Massive Unsourced Random Access

In this paper, we investigate a joint device activity detection (DAD), channel estimation (CE), and data decoding (DD) algorithm for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) massive unsourced random access (URA). Different from the state-of-the-art slotted transmission scheme, the data in the proposed framework is split into only two parts. A portion of the data is coded by compressed sensing (CS) and the rest is low-density-parity-check (LDPC) coded. In addition to being part of the data, information bits in the CS phase also undertake the task of interleaving pattern design and channel estimation (CE). The principle of interleave-division multiple access (IDMA) is exploited to reduce the interference among devices in the LDPC phase. Based on the belief propagation (BP) algorithm, a low-complexity iterative message passing (MP) algorithm is utilized to decode the data embedded in these two phases separately. Moreover, combined with successive interference cancellation (SIC), the proposed joint DAD-CE-DD algorithm is performed to further improve performance by utilizing the belief of each other. Additionally, based on the energy detection (ED) and sliding window protocol (SWP), we develop a collision resolution protocol to handle the codeword collision, a common issue in the URA system. In addition to the complexity reduction, the proposed algorithm exhibits a substantial performance enhancement compared to the state-of-the-art in terms of efficiency and accuracy.