In this dissertation the aim was to investigate the usage of algorithms found in computer science and apply suitable algorithms to the problem of decoding multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO) space-time-frequency block coded signals. It was found that the sphere decoder is a specific implementation of the A* tree search algorithm that is well known in computer science. Based on this knowledge, the sphere decoder was extended to include a priori information in the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) joint decoding of the STFC block coded MIMO signals. The added complexity the addition of a priori information has on the sphere decoder was investigated and compared to the sphere decoder without a priori information. To mitigate the potential additional complexity several algorithms that determine the order in which the symbols are decoded were investigated. Three new algorithms incorporating a priori information were developed and compared with two existing algorithms. The existing algorithms compared against are sorting based on the norms of the channel matrix columns and the sorted QR decomposition. Additionally, the zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean squared error (MMSE) decoderswith and without decision feedback (DF) were also extended to include a priori information. The developed method of incorporating a priori information was compared to an existing algorithm based on receive vector translation (RVT). The limitation of RVT to quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) and binary shift keying (BPSK) constellations was also shown in its derivation. The impact of the various symbol sorting algorithms initially developed for the sphere decoder on these decoders was also investigated. The developed a priori decoders operate in the log domain and as such accept a priori information in log-likelihood ratios (LLRs). In order to output LLRs to the forward error correcting (FEC) code, use of the max-log approximation, occasionally referred to as hard-to-soft decoding, was made. In order to test the developed decoders, an iterative turbo decoder structure was used together with an LDPC decoder to decode threaded algebraic space-time (TAST) codes in a Rayleigh faded MIMO channel. Two variables that have the greatest impact on the performance of the turbo decoder were identified: the hard limit value of the LLRs to the LDPC decoder and the number of independently faded bits in the LDPC code. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Pour permettre l’accroissement de débit et de robustesse dans les futurs systèmes de communication sans fil, les processus itératifs sont de plus considérés dans les récepteurs. Cependant, l’adoption d’un traitement itératif pose des défis importants dans la conception du récepteur. Dans cette thèse, un récepteur itératif combinant les techniques de détection multi-antennes avec le décodage de canal est étudié. Trois aspects sont considérés dans un contexte MIMOOFDM: la convergence, la performance et la complexité du récepteur. Dans un premier temps, nous étudions les différents algorithmes de détection MIMO à décision dure et souple basés sur l’égalisation, le décodage sphérique, le décodage K-Best et l’annulation d’interférence. Un décodeur K-best de faible complexité (LC-K-Best) est proposé pour réduire la complexité sans dégradation significative des performances. Nous analysons ensuite la convergence de la combinaison de ces algorithmes de détection avec différentes techniques de codage de canal, notamment le décodeur turbo et le décodeur LDPC en utilisant le diagramme EXIT. En se basant sur cette analyse, un nouvel ordonnancement des itérations internes et externes nécessaires est proposé. Les performances du récepteur ainsi proposé sont évaluées dans différents modèles de canal LTE, et comparées avec différentes techniques de détection MIMO. Ensuite, la complexité des récepteurs itératifs avec différentes techniques de codage de canal est étudiée et comparée pour différents modulations et rendement de code. Les résultats de simulation montrent que les approches proposées offrent un bon compromis entre performance et complexité. D’un point de vue implémentation, la représentation en virgule fixe est généralement utilisée afin de réduire les coûts en termes de surface, de consommation d’énergie et de temps d’exécution. Nous présentons ainsi une représentation en virgule fixe du récepteur itératif proposé basé sur le décodeur LC K-Best. En outre, nous étudions l’impact de l’estimation de canal sur la performance du système. Finalement, le récepteur MIMOOFDM itératif est testé sur la plateforme matérielle WARP, validant le schéma proposé. / Recently, iterative processing has been widely considered to achieve near-capacity performance and reliable high data rate transmission, for future wireless communication systems. However, such an iterative processing poses significant challenges for efficient receiver design. In this thesis, iterative receiver combining multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detection with channel decoding is investigated for high data rate transmission. The convergence, the performance and the computational complexity of the iterative receiver for MIMO-OFDM system are considered. First, we review the most relevant hard-output and soft-output MIMO detection algorithms based on sphere decoding, K-Best decoding, and interference cancellation. Consequently, a low-complexity K-best (LCK- Best) based decoder is proposed in order to substantially reduce the computational complexity without significant performance degradation. We then analyze the convergence behaviors of combining these detection algorithms with various forward error correction codes, namely LTE turbo decoder and LDPC decoder with the help of Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) charts. Based on this analysis, a new scheduling order of the required inner and outer iterations is suggested. The performance of the proposed receiver is evaluated in various LTE channel environments, and compared with other MIMO detection schemes. Secondly, the computational complexity of the iterative receiver with different channel coding techniques is evaluated and compared for different modulation orders and coding rates. Simulation results show that our proposed approaches achieve near optimal performance but more importantly it can substantially reduce the computational complexity of the system. From a practical point of view, fixed-point representation is usually used in order to reduce the hardware costs in terms of area, power consumption and execution time. Therefore, we present efficient fixed point arithmetic of the proposed iterative receiver based on LC-KBest decoder. Additionally, the impact of the channel estimation on the system performance is studied. The proposed iterative receiver is tested in a real-time environment using the MIMO WARP platform.

This Diploma thesis aims to explain the data coding using turbo codes. These codes belong to the group of error correction codes. We can reach the high efficiency using these codes. The first part describes process of encoding and decoding. There are describes parts of encoder and decoder. Principle of encoding and decoding demonstrate a simple example. The end of this part contains description of two most frequently used decoding algorithms (SOVA and MAP). The second part contains description of computer program that was made for using as teaching aid. This program was created in Matlab GUI. This program enables to browse error correction process step by step. This program contains graphic interface with many options and display results. In the third part is described program created in Matlab Simulink that was implemented into the TMS320C6713 kit and there is description of measuring procedure. For verification of efficiency of turbo codes was measured any parameters. Some of these parameters are: number of decoding iterations, generating polynoms and using of puncturing. The last part contains measured value and result evaluation.

In this diploma thesis an algorithm for the evaluation of picture quality of H.264-coded video sequences is introduced and applied. As a measure of picture quality objective metric the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) is used. While the computation of the PSNR usually requires a reference signal and compares it to the distorted video sequence, this algorithm is able to evaluate PSNR following the coded transform coefficients. Thus, no reference signal is needed.

Tato práce představuje návrh na vytvoření dekodéru pro video zaznamenané pomocí softwaru Magic Lantern, který může být nainstalován na Canon 5D. Toto video je význačné pro svoji velikost 14-bitů v raw formátu a proto může produkovat velmi kvalitní výstup. Práce má za cíl rozdělit video do jednotlivých snímků, ve vhodném formátu, který umí pracovat také s formáty obrazů s vysokým dynamickým rozsahem.

A high-throughput low-power Soft-Output Viterbi decoder designed for the convolutional codes used in the ECMA-368 UWB standard is presented in this thesis. The ultra wide band (UWB) wireless communication technology is supposed to be used in physical layer of the wireless personal area network (WPAN) and next generation Blue Tooth. MB-OFDM is a very popular scheme to implement the UWB system and is adopted as the ECMA-368 standard. To make the high speed data transferred over the channel reappear reliably at the receiver, the error correcting codes (ECC) are wildly utilized in modern communication systems. The ECMA-368 standard uses concatenated convolutional codes and Reed-Solomon (RS) codes to encode the PLCP header and only convolutional codes to encode the PPDU Payload. The Viterbi algorithm (VA) is a popular method of decoding convolutional codes for its fairly low hardware implementation complexity and relatively good performance. Soft-Output Viterbi Algorithm (SOVA) proposed by J. Hagenauer in 1989 is a modified Viterbi Algorithm. A SOVA decoder can not only take in soft quantized samples but also provide soft outputs by estimating the reliability of the individual symbol decisions. These reliabilities can be provided to the subsequent decoder to improve the decoding performance of the concatenated decoder. The SOVA decoder is designed to decode the convolutional codes defined in the ECMA-368 standard. Its code rate and constraint length is R=1/3 and K=7 respectively. Additional code rates derived from the "mother" rate R=1/3 codes by employing "puncturing", including 1/2, 3/4, 5/8, can also be decoded. To speed up the add-compare-select unit (ACSU), which is always the speed bottleneck of the decoder, the modified CSA structure proposed by E.Yeo is adopted to replace the conventional ACS structure. Besides, the seven-level quantization instead of the traditional eight-level quantization is proposed to be used is in this decoder to speed up the ACSU in further and reduce its hardware implementation overhead. In the SOVA decoder, the delay line storing the path metric difference of every state contains the major portion of the overall required memory. A novel hybrid survivor path management architecture using the modified trace-forward method is proposed. It can reduce the overall required memory and achieve high throughput without consuming much power. In this thesis, we also give the way to optimize the other modules of the SOVA decoder. For example, the first K-1 necessary stages in the Path Comparison Unit (PCU) and Reliability Measurement Unit (RMU) are IX removed without affecting the decoding results. The attractiveness of SOVA decoder enables us to find a way to deliver its soft output to the RS decoder. We have to convert bit reliability into symbol reliability because the soft output of SOVA decoder is the bit-oriented while the reliability per byte is required by the RS decoder. But no optimum transformation strategy exists because the SOVA output is correlated. This thesis compare two kinds of the sub-optimum transformation strategy and proposes an easy to implement scheme to concatenate the SOVA decoder and RS decoder under various kinds of convolutional code rates. Simulation results show that, using this scheme, the concatenated SOVA-RS decoder can achieve about 0.35dB decoding performance gain compared to the conventional Viterbi-RS decoder.

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