The subject of this work deals with the problem of channel estimation for CDMA systems. This method of multiple access when individual users share the same full bandwidth simultaneously and are differentiated with any of pseudorandom sequences, is now the most perspective method. That is proved by its wide implementation in mobile networks of the third generation and higher systems. This work describes basic theory principles of spread spectrum, above all DS-CDMA (Direct Sequence-CDMA) and furthermore some phenomena of radio wireless channel that affect changes in transmitted signal in its way from transmitter to receiver. Terms of fading, multipath propagation, loss, refraction, scattering of the wave and Rice and Rayleigh probability density functions are mentioned. The third chapter deals with yet known and used capabilities of channel estimation. Differences, advantages and disadvantages of so-called blind estimation or training-based estimation are discussed. Two algorithms: LS method and sliding correlator are analyzed in more detail. There is also description of their simulations in Matlab and some results of these simulations are discussed. The last chapter deals with comparison of main characteristics and achievable accuracy of wireless channel impulse response estimation by both methods, and their possible utilization in real live.

Η υλοποίηση πρακτικών ασύρματων συστημάτων επικοινωνίας δεδομένων στην τεχνολογία UWB παρουσιάζει ιδιαίτερες προκλήσεις, κυρίως λόγω της χαμηλής ισχύος εκπομπής και της πολύ σύντομης διάρκειας των παλμών που χρησιμοποιούνται, οι οποίοι θα πρέπει να στέλνονται με πολύ μεγάλες ταχύτητες για την επίτευξη των επιθυμητών ρυθμών μετάδοσης. Το κανάλι μετάδοσης είναι ιδιαίτερα επιλεκτικό ως προς την συχνότητα και εξαιρετικά πυκνό και πλούσιο σε πολυοδικές συνιστώσες με αρκετά μεγάλες καθυστερήσεις. Αυτές οι συνιστώσες μπορούν να ανιχνευθούν και να συλλεχθούν χρησιμοποιώντας κατάλληλες δομές δεκτών RAKE, οι οποίοι τις συνθέτουν ώστε να μεγιστοποιηθεί η ενέργεια του ωφέλιμου σήματος, αυξάνοντας την απόδοση του συστήματος. Οι δομές αυτές παρουσιάζουν την καλύτερη απόδοση σε τέτοια συστήματα, αλλά έχουν μεγάλη υπολογιστική πολυπλοκότητα, καθώς για την ικανοποιητική απόδοση του συστήματος πρέπει να συνδυάσουν πολλές συνιστώσες, δεδομένης και της χαμηλής ισχύος εκπομπής της τεχνολογίας. Συνεπώς, για την υλοποίηση ενός πρακτικού και αποδοτικού συστήματος, σημαντικό ζήτημα αποτελεί ο τρόπος επιλογής και συνδυασμού των συνιστωσών μέσω ενός αλγορίθμου που θα χρησιμοποιεί τον μικρότερο δυνατό αριθμό δακτύλων. Στόχοι της διατριβής ήταν η μελέτη της τεχνολογίας UWB, η διερεύνηση των παραμέτρων των παλμικών UWB συστημάτων, η μελέτη και εξομοίωση μοντέλων του καναλιού, η κατανόηση των οποίων είναι απαραίτητη για την αποτελεσματική ανίχνευση του σήματος και τον σχεδιασμό των αλγορίθμων ψηφιακής επεξεργασίας του σήματος, η διερεύνηση δεκτών RAKE καθώς και εναλλακτικών δομών, οι εξομοιώσεις πομποδέκτη παλμικού UWB σε επίπεδο συστήματος με έμφαση στον RAKE και τον εκτιμητή καναλιού, η διερεύνηση παραμέτρων και τεχνικών για την υλοποίηση σε υλικό και τέλος η ανάπτυξη, ο σχεδιασμός και υλοποίηση μιας πρακτικής δομής δέκτη με RAKE αποδιαμορφωτή και εκτιμητή καναλιού που συνδυάζει χαμηλή πολυπλοκότητα και ικανοποιητική απόδοση. Παρουσιάζονται και συγκρίνονται τρεις νέες διαφορετικές προσεγγίσεις σχεδίασης, οι οποίες βασίζονται σε προτεινόμενο υβριδικό αλγόριθμο (HPS) για την μείωση της πολυπλοκότητας του RAKE και δίνονται αποτελέσματα που αφορούν στην αξιοποίηση του υλικού και στις επιδόσεις του συστήματος. Tα αποτελέσματα παρουσιάζουν το trade-off ανάμεσα στην συλλογή ενέργειας, την απόδοση του δέκτη και την πολυπλοκότητά του. Η αποτελεσματικότητα των προτεινόμενων αρχιτεκτονικών επαληθεύεται μέσω ειδικής πλατφόρμας αναδιατασσόμενου υλικού στην οποία υλοποιήθηκε η σχεδίαση. / Τhe implementation of practical wireless data communications systems for the UWB technology is very challenging due to the use of low-power ns-duration pulses which have to be sent in a high-frequency in order to achieve the desirable data rates. The UWB channel is highly frequency selective and it is characterized by dense and rich multipath propagation and large multipath delay spreads in some cases. A RAKE receiver can be employed in order to exploit multipath diversity and effectively capture the desired signal energy which is dispersed over the various multipath components, helping to mitigate fading. However, the particular nature of UWB results in very low-energy paths which, in conjunction with high multipath diversity, leads to a RAKE receiver that must exploit a large number of MPCs in order to optimize the received SNR. Thus, for the implementation of a low-complexity system it is important to define a novel method for the selection and combining of MPCs and develop an algorithm that is able to utilize a minimum number of fingers in the RAKE structure. Our work was focused in the study of UWB technology, the investigation of the parameters of IR-UWB systems, the study and understanding of the channel models which is necessary for the design of practical and efficient DSP algorithms, the investigation of RAKE type receivers as well as other alternative structures, the system-level simulations of the IR-UWB transceiver with emphasis given to the algorithms for the RAKE demodulator and channel estimator, the investigation of the parameters and techniques for the implementation of the system in hardware and finally, the development, design, and implementation of a practical receiver structure that includes a RAKE demodulator and a channel estimator and combines low complexity and satisfactory performance. The ultimate goal of this work is the presentation and investigation of the proposed channel estimator and (MRC)-RAKE receiver architecture which is based on a proposed novel hybrid algorithm called HPS. Three different design approaches aiming to a practical system implementation in an FPGA are proposed and compared and system/algorithm performance, hardware utilization results are provided. The obtained results demonstrate the trade-off between energy capture, performance and receiver complexity. The effectiveness of the proposed architectures is verified on a special FPGA platform which was used for the implementation of the receiver structure.

Bayesian approaches for sparse signal recovery have enjoyed a long-standing history in signal processing and machine learning literature. Among the Bayesian techniques, the expectation maximization based Sparse Bayesian Learning(SBL) approach is an iterative procedure with global convergence guarantee to a local optimum, which uses a parameterized prior that encourages sparsity under an evidence maximization frame¬work. SBL has been successfully employed in a wide range of applications ranging from image processing to communications. In this thesis, we propose novel, efficient and low-complexity SBL-based algorithms that exploit structured sparsity in the presence of fully/partially known measurement matrices. We apply the proposed algorithms to the problem of channel estimation and data detection in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM) systems. Further, we derive Cram´er Rao type lower Bounds(CRB) for the single and multiple measurement vector SBL problem of estimating compressible vectors and their prior distribution parameters. The main contributions of the thesis are as follows: We derive Hybrid, Bayesian and Marginalized Cram´er Rao lower bounds for the problem of estimating compressible vectors drawn from a Student-t prior distribution. We derive CRBs that encompass the deterministic or random nature of the unknown parameters of the prior distribution and the regression noise variance. We use the derived bounds to uncover the relationship between the compressibility and Mean Square Error(MSE) in the estimates. Through simulations, we demonstrate the dependence of the MSE performance of SBL based estimators on the compressibility of the vector. OFDM is a well-known multi-carrier modulation technique that provides high spectral efficiency and resilience to multi-path distortion of the wireless channel It is well-known that the impulse response of a wideband wireless channel is approximately sparse, in the sense that it has a small number of significant components relative to the channel delay spread. In this thesis, we consider the estimation of the unknown channel coefficients and its support in SISO-OFDM systems using a SBL framework. We propose novel pilot-only and joint channel estimation and data detection algorithms in block-fading and time-varying scenarios. In the latter case, we use a first order auto-regressive model for the time-variations, and propose recursive, low-complexity Kalman filtering based algorithms for channel estimation. Monte Carlo simulations illustrate the efficacy of the proposed techniques in terms of the MSE and coded bit error rate performance. • Multiple Input Multiple Output(MIMO) combined with OFDM harnesses the inherent advantages of OFDM along with the diversity and multiplexing advantages of a MIMO system. The impulse response of wireless channels between the Nt transmit and Nr receive antennas of a MIMO-OFDM system are group approximately sparse(ga-sparse),i.e. ,the Nt Nr channels have a small number of significant paths relative to the channel delay spread, and the time-lags of the significant paths between transmit and receive antenna pairs coincide. Often, wire¬less channels are also group approximately-cluster sparse(ga-csparse),i.e.,every ga-sparse channel consists of clusters, where a few clusters have all strong components while most clusters have all weak components. In this thesis, we cast the problem of estimating the ga-sparse and ga-csparse block-fading and time-varying channels using a multiple measurement SBL framework. We propose a bouquet of novel algorithms for MIMO-OFDM systems that generalize the algorithms proposed in the context of SISO-OFDM systems. The efficacy of the proposed techniques are demonstrated in terms of MSE and coded bit error rate performance.