Large-Scale RIS Enabled Air-Ground Channels: Near-Field Modeling and Analysis

Existing works mainly rely on the far-field planar-wave-based channel model to assess the performance of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-enabled wireless communication systems. However, when the transmitter and receiver are in near-field ranges, this will result in relatively low computing accuracy. To tackle this challenge, we initially develop an analytical framework for sub-array partitioning. This framework divides the large-scale RIS array into multiple sub-arrays, effectively reducing modeling complexity while maintaining acceptable accuracy. Then, we develop a beam domain channel model based on the proposed sub-array partition framework for large-scale RIS-enabled UAV-to-vehicle communication systems, which can be used to efficiently capture the sparse features in RIS-enabled UAV-to-vehicle channels in both near-field and far-field ranges. Furthermore, some important propagation characteristics of the proposed channel model, including the spatial cross-correlation functions (CCFs), temporal auto-correlation functions (ACFs), frequency correlation functions (CFs), and channel capacities with respect to the different physical features of the RIS and non-stationary properties of the channel model are derived and analyzed. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate that the proposed framework is helpful to achieve a good tradeoff between model complexity and accuracy for investigating the channel propagation characteristics, and therefore providing highly-efficient communications in RIS-enabled UAV-to-vehicle wireless networks.

Performance Trade-off and Joint Waveform Design for MIMO-OFDM DFRC Systems

Dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC) has attracted considerable attention. This paper considers the frequency-selective multipath fading environment and proposes DFRC waveform design strategies based on multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) techniques. In the proposed waveform design strategies, the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) of the radar system, the inter-stream interference (ISI) and the achievable rate of the communication system, are respectively considered as the performance metrics. In this paper, we focus on the performance trade-off between the radar system and the communication system, and the optimization problems are formulated. In the ISI minimization based waveform design strategy, the optimization problem is convex and can be easily solved. In the achievable rate maximization based waveform design strategy, we propose a water-filling (WF) and sequential quadratic programming (SQP) based algorithm to derive the covariance matrix and the precoding matrix. Simulation results validate the proposed DFRC waveform designs and show that the achievable rate maximization based strategy has a better performance than the ISI minimization based strategy.

Integrated Sensing and Channel Estimation by Exploiting Dual Timescales for Delay-Doppler Alignment Modulation

For integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) systems, the channel information essential for communication and sensing tasks fluctuates across different timescales. Specifically, wireless sensing primarily focuses on acquiring path state information (PSI) (e.g., delay, angle, and Doppler) of individual multi-path components to sense the environment, which usually evolves much more slowly than the composite channel state information (CSI) required for communications. Typically, the CSI is approximately unchanged during the channel coherence time, which characterizes the statistical properties of wireless communication channels. However, this concept is less appropriate for describing that for wireless sensing. To this end, in this paper, we introduce a new timescale to study the variation of the PSI from a channel geometric perspective, termed path invariant time, during which the PSI largely remains constant. Our analysis indicates that the path invariant time considerably exceeds the channel coherence time. Thus, capitalizing on these dual timescales of the wireless channel, in this paper, we propose a novel ISAC framework exploiting the recently proposed delay-Doppler alignment modulation (DDAM) technique. Different from most existing studies on DDAM that assume the availability of perfect PSI, in this work, we propose a novel algorithm, termed as adaptive simultaneously orthogonal matching pursuit with support refinement (ASOMP-SR), for joint environment sensing and PSI estimation. We also analyze the performance of DDAM with imperfectly sensed PSI.Simulation results unveil that the proposed DDAM-based ISAC can achieve superior spectral efficiency and a reduced peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) compared to standard orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM).

Dynamic Sub-array Based Modeling for Large-Scale RIS-assisted mmWave UAV Channels

Large-scale reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) can effectively enhance the performance of millimeter wave (mmWave) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to ground communication link with obstructed line-of-sight (LoS) path by exploiting more reflecting units. However, the non-negligible array dimension of large-scale RIS and the mobile property of the terminals bring significant variations in propagation characteristics, making conventional channel models inapplicable. To address this issue, we propose a dynamic sub-array partition scheme to divide the large-scale RIS into sub-arrays by exploiting the Rayleigh distance criterion and the mobile property of the transceivers. Based on the proposed scheme, a novel non-stationary channel model for large-scale RIS auxiliary mmWave UAV-to-ground mobile networks is developed, which outperforms existing models with well balance between model complexity and accuracy. Numerical results are provided to verify our analysis.

Channel Modeling for Heterogeneous Vehicular ISAC System with Shared Clusters

In this paper, we consider the channel modeling of a heterogeneous vehicular integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, where a dual-functional multi-antenna base station (BS) intends to communicate with a multi-antenna vehicular receiver (MR) and sense the surrounding environments simultaneously. The time-varying complex channel impulse responses (CIRs) of the sensing and communication channels are derived, respectively, in which the sensing and communication channels are correlated with shared clusters. The proposed models show great generality for the capability in covering both monostatic and bistatic sensing scenarios, and as well for considering both static clusters/targets and mobile clusters/targets. Important channel statistical characteristics, including time-varying spatial cross-correlation function (CCF) and temporal auto-correlation function (ACF), are derived and analyzed. Numerically results are provided to show the propagation characteristics of the proposed ISAC channel model. Finally, the proposed model is validated via the agreement between theoretical and simulated as well as measurement results.

Downlink Precoding for Cell-free FBMC/OQAM Systems With Asynchronous Reception

In this work, an efficient precoding design scheme is proposed for downlink cell-free distributed massive multiple-input multiple-output (DM-MIMO) filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC) systems with asynchronous reception and highly frequency selectivity. The proposed scheme includes a multiple interpolation structure to eliminate the impact of response difference we recently discovered, which has better performance in highly frequency-selective channels. Besides, we also consider the phase shift in asynchronous reception and introduce a phase compensation in the design process. The phase compensation also benefits from the multiple interpolation structure and better adapts to asynchronous reception. Based on the proposed scheme, we theoretically analyze its ergodic achievable rate performance and derive a closed-form expression. Simulation results show that the derived expression can accurately characterize the rate performance, and FBMC with the proposed scheme outperforms orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) in the asynchronous scenario.

A Framework for Transmission Design for Active RIS-Aided Communication with Partial CSI

Active reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have recently been proposed to compensate for the severe multiplicative fading effect of conventional passive RIS-aided systems. Each reflecting element of active RISs is assisted by an amplifier such that the incident signal can be reflected and amplified instead of only being reflected as in passive RIS-aided systems. This work addresses the practical challenge that, on the one hand, in active RIS-aided systems the perfect individual CSI of the RIS-aided channels cannot be acquired due to the lack of signal processing power at the active RISs, but, on the other hand, this CSI is required to calculate the expected system data rate and RIS transmit power needed for transceiver design. To address this issue, we first derive closed-form expressions for the average achievable rate and the average RIS transmit power based on partial CSI of the RIS-aided channels. Then, we formulate an average achievable rate maximization problem for jointly optimizing the active beamforming at both the base station (BS) and the RIS. This problem is then tackled using the majorization--minimization (MM) algorithm framework, and, for each iteration, semi-closed-form solutions for the BS and RIS beamforming are derived based on the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions. To ensure the quality of service (QoS) of each user, we further formulate a rate outage constrained beamforming problem, which is solved using the Bernstein-Type inequality (BTI) and semidefinite relaxation (SDR) techniques. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithms can efficiently overcome the challenges imposed by imperfect CSI in active RIS-aided wireless systems.

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.

Two-Timescale Transmission Design for RIS-Aided Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems

This paper investigates the performance of two-timescale transmission design for uplink reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) systems. We consider the Rician channel model and design the passive beamforming of RISs based on the long-time statistical channel state information (CSI), while the maximum ratio combining (MRC) technique is utilized to design the active beamforming of base stations (BSs) based on the instantaneous overall channels, which are the superposition of the direct and RIS-reflected channels. Firstly, we derive the closed-form expressions of uplink achievable rate for arbitrary numbers of BS antennas and RIS reflecting elements. Relying on the derived expressions, we theoretically analyze the benefits of RIS-aided cell-free mMIMO systems and draw explicit insights. Then, based on closed-form expressions under statistical CSI, we maximize the sum user rate and the minimum user rate by optimizing the phase shifts of the RISs based on the genetic algorithm (GA). Finally, the numerical results demonstrate the feasibility and the benefits of deploying large-size RISs into conventional cell-free mMIMO systems. Besides, our results validate the effectiveness of the proposed two-timescale scheme in the RIS-aided cell-free mMIMO systems.

Automatic Hybrid-Precision Quantization for MIMO Detectors

In the design of wireless systems, quantization plays a critical role in hardware, which directly affects both area efficiency and energy efficiency. Being an enabling technique, the wide applications of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) heavily relies on efficient implementations balancing both performance and complexity. However, most of the existing detectors uniformly quantize all variables, resulting in high redundancy and low flexibility. Requiring both expertise and efforts, an in-depth tailored quantization usually asks for prohibitive costs and is not considered by conventional MIMO detectors. In this paper, a general framework named the automatic hybrid-precision quantization (AHPQ) is proposed with two parts: integral quantization determined by probability density function (PDF), and fractional quantization by deep reinforcement learning (DRL). Being automatic, AHPQ demonstrates high efficiency in figuring out good quantizations for a set of algorithmic parameters. For the approximate message passing (AMP) detector, AHPQ achieves up to $58.7\%$ lower average bitwidth than the unified quantization (UQ) one with almost no performance sacrifice. The feasibility of AHPQ has been verified by implementation with $65$ nm CMOS technology. Compared with its UQ counterpart, AHPQ exhibits $2.97\times$ higher throughput-to-area ratio (TAR) with $19.3\%$ lower energy dissipation. Moreover, by node compression and strength reduction, the AHPQ detector outperforms the state-of-the-art (SOA) in both throughput ($17.92$ Gb/s) and energy efficiency ($7.93$ pJ/b). The proposed AHPQ framework is also applicable for other digital signal processing algorithms.