The technique of cooperative communications is finding its way in the next generations of many wireless communication applications. Due to the distributed nature of cooperative networks, acquiring fading channels information for coherent detection is more challenging than in the traditional point-to-point communications. To bypass the requirement of channel information, differential modulation together with non-coherent detection can be deployed. This thesis is concerned with various issues related to differential modulation and non-coherent detection in cooperative networks. Specifically, the thesis examines the behavior and robustness of non-coherent detection in mobile environments (i.e., time-varying channels). The amount of channel variation is related to the normalized Doppler shift which is a function of user’s mobility. The Doppler shift is used to distinguish between slow time-varying (slow-fading) and rapid time-varying (fast-fading) channels. The performance of several important relay topologies, including single-branch and multi-branch dual-hop relaying with/without a direct link that employ amplify-and-forward relaying and two-symbol non-coherent detection, is analyzed. For this purpose, a time-series model is developed for characterizing the time-varying nature of the cascaded channel encountered in amplify-and-forward relaying. Also, for single-branch and multi-branch dual-hop relaying without a direct link, multiple-symbol differential detection is developed. First, for a single-branch dual-hop relaying without a direct link, the performance of two-symbol differential detection in time-varying Rayleigh fading channels is evaluated. It is seen that the performance degrades in rapid time-varying channels. Then, a multiple-symbol differential detection is developed and analyzed to improve the system performance in fast-fading channels. Next, a multi-branch dual-hop relaying with a direct link is considered. The performance of this relay topology using a linear combining method and two-symbol differential detection is examined in time-varying Rayleigh fading channels. New combining weights are proposed and shown to improve the system performance in fast-fading channels. The performance of the simpler selection combining at the destination is also investigated in general time-varying channels. It is illustrated that the selection combining method performs very close to that of the linear combining method. Finally, differential distributed space-time coding is studied for a multi-branch dual-hop relaying network without a direct link. The performance of this network using two-symbol differential detection in terms of diversity over time-varying channels is evaluated. It is seen that the achieved diversity is severely affected by the channel variation. Moreover, a multiple-symbol differential detection is designed to improve the performance of the differential distributed space-time coding in fast-fading channels.

Signal processing has been playing a key role in providing solutions to key problems encountered in communications, in general, and in wireless communications, in particular. Time-Frequency Signal Processing (TFSP) provides eective tools for analyzing nonstationary signals where the frequency content of signals varies in time as well as for analyzing linear time-varying systems. This research aimed at exploiting the advantages of TFSP, in dealing with nonstationary signals, into the fundamental issues of signal processing, namely the signal estimation and signal separation. In particular, it has investigated the problems of (i) the Instantaneous Frequency (IF) estimation of Linear Frequency-Modulated (LFM) signals corrupted in complex-valued zero-mean Multiplicative Noise (MN), and (ii) the Underdetermined Blind Source Separation (UBSS) of LFM signals, while focusing onto the fast-growing area of Wireless Communications (WCom). A common problem in the issue of signal estimation is the estimation of the frequency of Frequency-Modulated signals which are seen in many engineering and real-life applications. Accurate frequency estimation leads to accurate recovery of the true information. In some applications, the random amplitude modulation shows up when the medium is dispersive and/or when the assumption of point target is not valid; the original signal is considered to be corrupted by an MN process thus seriously aecting the recovery of the information-bearing frequency. The IF estimation of nonstationary signals corrupted by complex-valued zero-mean MN was investigated in this research. We have proposed a Second-Order Statistics approach, rather than a Higher-Order Statistics approach, for IF estimation using Time-Frequency Distributions (TFDs). The main assumption was that the autocorrelation function of the MN is real-valued but not necessarily positive (i.e. the spectrum of the MN is symmetric but does not necessary has the highest peak at zero frequency). The estimation performance was analyzed in terms of bias and variance, and compared between four dierent TFDs: Wigner-Ville Distribution, Spectrogram, Choi-Williams Distribution and Modified B Distribution. To further improve the estimation, we proposed to use the Multiple Signal Classification algorithm and showed its better performance. It was shown that the Modified B Distribution performance was the best for Signal-to-Noise Ratio less than 10dB. In the issue of signal separation, a new research direction called Blind Source Separation (BSS) has emerged over the last decade. BSS is a fundamental technique in array signal processing aiming at recovering unobserved signals or sources from observed mixtures exploiting only the assumption of mutual independence between the signals. The term "blind" indicates that neither the structure of the mixtures nor the source signals are known to the receivers. Applications of BSS are seen in, for example, radar and sonar, communications, speech processing, biomedical signal processing. In the case of nonstationary signals, a TF structure forcing approach was introduced by Belouchrani and Amin by defining the Spatial Time- Frequency Distribution (STFD), which combines both TF diversity and spatial diversity. The benefit of STFD in an environment of nonstationary signals is the direct exploitation of the information brought by the nonstationarity of the signals. A drawback of most BSS algorithms is that they fail to separate sources in situations where there are more sources than sensors, referred to as UBSS. The UBSS of nonstationary signals was investigated in this research. We have presented a new approach for blind separation of nonstationary sources using their TFDs. The separation algorithm is based on a vector clustering procedure that estimates the source TFDs by grouping together the TF points corresponding to "closely spaced" spatial directions. Simulations illustrate the performances of the proposed method for the underdetermined blind separation of FM signals. The method developed in this research represents a new research direction for solving the UBSS problem. The successful results obtained in the research development of the above two problems has led to a conclusion that TFSP is useful for WCom. Future research directions were also proposed.

Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία μελετάμε τα πλεονεκτήματα που επιφέρει η χρήση πολλαπλών κεραιών στον πομπό και στον δέκτη, κατά την μετάδοση, με στόχο την βελτίωση των παρεχομένων υπηρεσιών στο χρήστη. Στο Κεφάλαιο 1, γίνεται μια ιστορική αναδρομή των ασύρματων επικοινωνιών καθώς των σύγχρονων ασύρματων τεχνολογιών και κεραιών που χρησιμοποιούνται. Στη συνέχεια γίνεται μια αναφορά στις έννοιες του διαφορισμού, του κέρδους διάταξης και της χωρικής πολυπλεξίας οι οποίες συνδέονται άρρηκτα με τα συστήματα MIMO. Στο Κεφάλαιο 2, αναφερόμαστε σε όλα εκείνα τα χαρακτηριστικά που περιγράφουν το ασύρματο κανάλι και εξάγουμε την γραμμική σχέση εισόδου-εξόδου του ασύρματου καναλιού. Στην συνέχεια γίνεται μια ανάλυση των στοχαστικών μοντέλων περιγραφής του ασύρματου διαύλου διαλείψεων και πιο συγκεκριμένα των μοντέλων Rayleigh και Rice. Στο Κεφάλαιο 3 εξετάζουμε την αξιοπιστία διαφόρων τύπων κεραιοσυστημάτων, ως προς τον ρυθμό των ρυθμό των λανθασμένων συμβόλων στον δέκτη. Πιο συγκεκριμένα εξετάζεται η τεχνική Maximal Ratio Combining για τα συστήματα SIMO καθώς και του σχήματος Alamouti για τα συστήματα ΜISO. Συνεχίζοντας στα MIMO συστήματα αναλύουμε τις μεθόδους ισοστάθμισης για την ανάκτηση των δεδομένων, και πιο συγκεκριμένα τις τεχνικές Zero Forcing, Minimum Mean Square Error,V-Blast και καθώς και την βέλτιστη τεχνική Maximum Likelihood. Στο τελευταίο μέρος της εργασίας αναλύουμε τα πλεονεκτήματα των MIMO συστημάτων, ως προς την χωρητικότητα που προσφέρουν, σε στοχαστικά κανάλια διαλείψεων.Στη συνέχεια, γίνεται αναφορά στην μέθοδο SVD και στην αναπαράσταση του MIMO καναλιού από έναν αριθμό ανεξάρτητων SISO διαύλων. Κλείνοντας αναφέρουμε την μέθοδο βέλτιστης κατανομής ισχύος στις κεραίες του πομπού Water-filling, και στην περαιτέρω αύξηση της χωρητικότητας του διαύλου που προσφέρει. / In this diploma thesis we are investigating the benefits of using Multiple Input and Multiple Output antennas in information transmission, with final goal to improve Quality of Service. The first Chapter, includes a historical background of the wireless communications but also is a reference to the modern wireless and antenna technologies. Moreover, we introduce the definition of new concepts, such as diversity and array gain and also spatial multiplexing, which are closely connected with MIMO technology. In the second chapter, we introduce the characteristics which they are describe the wireless channel, while simultaneously we mention the linear input-output relationship of the wireless channel. Additionally, we analyze the stochastic wireless channel models, namely the Rayleigh and the Rician fading models. In the third chapter, we investigate the reliability of different types of antenna topologies, regarding the pace of the invalid symbols in the transmitter. More specifically, we examine the Maximal Ratio Combining and Alamouti technique, for SIMO and MISO systems respectively. The next step is to analyze the equalization methods, which are used in MIMO antennas, and more specifically are, Zero Forcing, Minimum Mean Square Error and V-Blast receivers, but also the optimal Maximum Likelihood equalizer. In the last part of this Thesis, we investigate the benefits of MIMO systems regarding the Capacity, in random channels. Also, a reference to the SVD method has been made,which we use to analyze the MIMO channel, in a number of parallel SISO channels. Lastly, we use the water-filling method to allocate, with the optimal way, the given power in the transmit antennas, a fact that leads to even greater Capacity gain.

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The importance of cooperative relaying communication in substituting for, or complementing, multiantenna systems is described, and a brief literature review is presented. Amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) relaying are investigated and compared for a dual-hop relay channel. The optimal strategy, source and relay optimal power allocation, and maximum cooperative gain are determined for the relay channel. It is shown that while DF relaying is preferable to AF relaying for strong source-relay links, AF relaying leads to more gain for strong source-destination or relay-destination links. Superimposed and selection AF relaying are investigated for multirelay, dual-hop relaying. Selection AF relaying is shown to be globally strictly outage suboptimal. A necessary condition for the selection AF outage optimality, and an upper bound on the probability of this optimality are obtained. A near-optimal power allocation scheme is derived for superimposed AF relaying. The maximum instantaneous rates, outage probabilities, and average capacities of multirelay, dual-hop relaying schemes are obtained for superimposed, selection, and orthogonal DF relaying, each with parallel channel cooperation (PCC) or repetition-based cooperation (RC). It is observed that the PCC over RC gain can be as much as 4 dB for the outage probabilities and 8.5 dB for the average capacities. Increasing the number of relays deteriorates the capacity performance of orthogonal relaying, but improves the performances of the other schemes. The application of rateless codes to DF relaying networks is studied by investigating three single-relay protocols, one of which is new, and three novel, low complexity multirelay protocols for dual-hop networks. The maximum rate and minimum energy per bit and per symbol are derived for the single-relay protocols under a peak power and an average power constraint. The long-term average rate and energy per bit, and relay-to-source usage ratio (RSUR), a new performance measure, are evaluated for the single-relay and multirelay protocols. The new single-relay protocol is the most energy efficient single-relay scheme in most cases. All the multirelay protocols exhibit near-optimal rate performances, but are vastly different in the RSUR. Several future research directions for fixed-rate and rateless coded cooperative systems, and frameworks for comparing these systems, are suggested. / Communications

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