Telecommunications in the current information age is increasingly relying on the wireless link. This is because wireless communication has made possible a variety of services ranging from voice to data and now to multimedia. Consequently, demand for new wireless capacity is growing rapidly at a very alarming rate. In a bid to cope with challenges of increasing demand for higher data rate, better quality of service, and higher network capacity, there is a migration from Single Input Single Output (SISO) antenna technology to a more promising Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna technology. On the other hand, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technique has emerged as a very popular multi-carrier modulation technique to combat the problems associated with physical properties of the wireless channels such as multipath fading, dispersion, and interference. The combination of MIMO technology with OFDM techniques, known as MIMO-OFDM Systems, is considered as a promising solution to enhance the data rate of future broadband wireless communication Systems. This thesis addresses a major area of challenge to both SISO-OFDM and MIMO-OFDM Systems; estimation of accurate channel state information (CSI) in order to make possible coherent detection of the transmitted signal at the receiver end of the system. Hence, the first novel contribution of this thesis is the development of a low complexity adaptive algorithm that is robust against both slow and fast fading channel scenarios, in comparison with other algorithms employed in literature, to implement soft iterative channel estimator for turbo equalizer-based receiver for single antenna communication Systems. Subsequently, a Fast Data Projection Method (FDPM) subspace tracking algorithm is adapted to derive Channel Impulse Response Estimator for implementation of Decision Directed Channel Estimation (DDCE) for Single Input Single Output - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (SISO-OFDM) Systems. This is implemented in the context of a more realistic Fractionally Spaced-Channel Impulse Response (FS-CIR) channel model, as against the channel characterized by a Sample Spaced-Channel Impulse Response (SS)-CIR widely assumed by other authors. In addition, a fast convergence Variable Step Size Normalized Least Mean Square (VSSNLMS)-based predictor, with low computational complexity in comparison with others in literatures, is derived for the implementation of the CIR predictor module of the DDCE scheme. A novel iterative receiver structure for the FDPM-based Decision Directed Channel Estimation scheme is also designed for SISO-OFDM Systems. The iterative idea is based on Turbo iterative principle. It is shown that improvement in the performance can be achieved with the iterative DDCE scheme for OFDM system in comparison with the non iterative scheme. Lastly, an iterative receiver structure for FDPM-based DDCE scheme earlier designed for SISO OFDM is extended to MIMO-OFDM Systems. In addition, Variable Step Size Normalized Least Mean Square (VSSNLMS)-based channel transfer function estimator is derived in the context of MIMO Channel for the implementation of the CTF estimator module of the iterative Decision Directed Channel Estimation scheme for MIMO-OFDM Systems in place of linear minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. The VSSNLMS-based channel transfer function estimator is found to show improved MSE performance of about -4 MSE (dB) at SNR of 5dB in comparison with linear MMSE-based channel transfer function estimator. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems have been extensively studied in the past decade. The attractiveness of MIMO systems is due to the fact that they drastically reduce the deleterious e ects of multipath fading leading to high system capacity and low error rates. In situations where wireless devices are restrained by their size and hardware complexity, such as mobile phones, transmit diversity is not achievable. A new paradigm called cooperative communication is a viable solution. In a cooperative scenario, a single-antenna device is assisted by another single-antenna device to relay its message to the destination or base station. This creates a virtual multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. There exist two cooperative strategies: amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF). In the former, the relay ampli es the noisy signal received from the source before forwarding it to the destination. No form of demodulation is required. In the latter, the relay rst decodes the source signal before transmitting an estimate to the destination. In this work, focus is on the DF method. A drawback of an uncoded DF cooperative strategy is error propagation at the relay. To avoid error propagation in DF, various relay selection schemes can be used. Coded cooperation can also be used to avoid error propagation at the relay. Various error correcting codes such as convolutional codes or turbo codes can be used in a cooperative scenario. The rst part of this work studies a variation of the turbo codes in cooperative diversity, that further reduces error propagation at the relay, hence lowering the end-to-end error rate. The union bounds on the bit-error rate (BER) of the proposed scheme are derived using the pairwise error probability via the transfer bounds and limit-before-average techniques. In addition, the outage analysis of the proposed scheme is presented. Simulation results of the bit error and outage probabilities are presented to corroborate the analytical work. In the case of outage probability, the computer simulation results are in good agreement with the the analytical framework presented in this chapter. Recently, most studies have focused on cross-layer design of cooperative diversity at the physical layer and truncated automatic-repeat request (ARQ) at the data-link layer using the system throughput as the performance metric. Various throughput optimization strategies have been investigated. In this work, a cross-relay selection approach that maximizes the system throughput is presented. The cooperative network is comprised of a set of relays and the reliable relay(s) that maximize the throughput at the data-link layer are selected to assist the source. It can be shown through simulation that this novel scheme outperforms from a throughput point of view, a system throughput where the all the reliable relays always participate in forwarding the source packet. A power optimization of the best relay uncoded DF cooperative diversity is investigated. This optimization aims at maximizing the system throughput. Because of the non-concavity and non-convexity of the throughput expression, it is intractable to derive a closed-form expression of the optimal power through the system throughput. However, this can be done via the symbol-error rate (SER) optimization, since it is shown that minimizing the SER of the cooperative system is equivalent to maximizing the system throughput. The SER of the retransmission scheme at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was obtained and it was noted that the derived SER is in perfect agreement with the simulated SER at high SNR. Moreover, the optimal power allocation obtained under a general optimization problem, yields a throughput performance that is superior to non-optimized power values from moderate to high SNRs. The last part of the work considers the throughput maximization of the multi-relay adaptive DF over independent and non-identically distributed (i.n.i.d.) Rayleigh fading channels, that integrates ARQ at the link layer. The aim of this chapter is to maximize the system throughput via power optimization and it is shown that this can be done by minimizing the SER of the retransmission. Firstly, the closed-form expressions for the exact SER of the multi-relay adaptive DF are derived as well as their corresponding asymptotic bounds. Results showed that the optimal power distribution yields maximum throughput. Furthermore, the power allocated at a relay is greatly dependent of its location relative to the source and destination. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

The continuous growth in wireless networks is not showing any sign of slowing down as new services, new technologies and new mobile users continue to emerge. Satellite networks are expected to complement the terrestrial network and be a valid option to provide broadband communications services to both fixed and mobile users in scenarios where terrestrial networks cannot be used due to technical and economical viability. In the current emerging satellite networks, where different users with varying traffic demands ranging from multimedia, voice to data and with limited capacity, Radio Resource Management (RRM) is considered as one of the most significant and challenging aspect needed to provide acceptable quality of service that will meet the requirements of the different mobile users. This dissertation considers Packet Scheduling in the Satellite High Speed Downlink Packet Access (S-HSDPA) network. The main focus of this dissertation is to propose a new cross-layer designed packet scheduling scheme, which is one of the functions of RRM, called Queue Aware Channel Based (QACB) Scheduler. The proposed scheduler, which, attempts to sustain the quality of service requirements of different traffic requests, improves the system performance compared to the existing schedulers. The performance analysis comparison of the throughput, delay and fairness is determined through simulations. These metrics have been chosen they are three major performance indices used in wireless communications. Due to long propagation delay in HSDPA via GEO satellite, there is misalignment between the instantaneous channel condition of the mobile user and the one reported to the base station (Node B) in S-HSDPA. This affects effectiveness of the channel based packet schedulers and leads to either under utilization of resource or loss of packets. Hence, this dissertation investigates the effect of the introduction of a Signal-to-Noise (SNR) Margin which is used to mitigate the effect of the long propagation delay on performance of S-HSDPA, and the appropriate SNR margin to be used to achieve the best performance is determined. This is determined using both a semi-analytical and a simulation approach. The results show that the SNR margin of 1.5 dB produces the best performance. Finally, the dissertation investigates the effect of the different Radio Link Control (RLC) Transmission modes which are Acknowledged Mode (AM) and Unacknowledged Mode (UM) as it affects different traffic types and schedulers in S-HSDPA. Proportional fair (PF) scheduler and our proposed, QACB, scheduler have been considered as the schedulers for this investigation. The results show that traffic types are sensitive to the transmitting RLC modes and that the QACB scheduler provides better performance compared to PF scheduler in the two RLC modes considered. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Cooperative communication allows for single users in multi user wireless network to share their antennas and achieve virtual antenna transmitters, which leads to transmit diversity. Coded Cooperation introduced channel coding into cooperative diversity over traditional pioneer cooperative diversity methods which were based on a user repeating its partner's transmitted signals in a multi-path fading channel environment in order to improve Bit Error Rate (BER) performance.. In this dissertation the Coded Cooperation is simulated and the analytical bounds are evaluated in order to understand basic cooperation principles. This is done using Rate Compatible Punctured Convolutional Codes (RCPC). Based on the understanding of these principles a new protocol called Cross Layer Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) 2 Cooperative Diversity is developed to allow for improvements in BER and throughput. In Cross Layer Hybrid ARQ 2 Cooperation, Hybrid ARQ 2 (at the data-link layer) is combined with cooperative diversity (at the physical layer), in a cross layer design manner, to improve the BER and throughput based on feedback from the base station on the user's initial transmissions. This is done using RCPC codes which partitions a full rate code into sub code words that are transmitted as incremental packets in an effort to only transmit as much parity as is required by the base station for correct decoding of a user's information bits. This allows for cooperation to occur only when it is necessary unlike with the conventional Coded Cooperation, where bandwidth is wasted cooperating when the base station has already decoded a user's information bits. The performance of Cross Layer Hybrid ARQ 2 Cooperation is quantised by BER and throughput. BER bounds of Cross Layer Hybrid ARQ 2 Cooperation are derived based on the Pairwise Error Probability (PEP) of the uplink channels as well as the different inter-user and base station Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) states. The BER is also simulated and confirmed using the derived bound. The throughput of this new scheme is also simulated and confirmed via analytical throughput bounds. This scheme maintains BER and throughput gains over the conventional Coded Cooperation even under the worst inter-user channel conditions. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology has emerged as a popular technique for enhancing the reliability and capacity of wireless communication systems. In this dissertation, we analyze the spatial modulation (SM) MIMO technique and investigate possible extensions to this scheme. To date, there has been no literature reporting on the theoretical performance of M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) SM with maximum likelihood (ML) based detection. The first objective of this dissertation is to present an asymptotic bound to quantify the average bit error rate (BER) of M-QAM SM with ML detection over independent and identically distributed (i.i.d) Rayleigh flat fading channels. The analytical frameworks are validated by Monte Carlo simulation results, which show the derived bounds to be tight for high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values. The ML based SM detector is optimal, since it offers the best detection performance. However, this technique is not practical due to its high computational complexity. The second objective of this dissertation is to introduce a novel SM detection scheme, termed multiple-stage (MS) detection. Performance and complexity comparisons with existing SM detectors show two main benefits of MS detection: near optimal BER performance and up to a 35% reduction in receiver complexity as compared to the ML based detector. Conventional SM schemes are unable to exploit the transmit diversity gains provided by the MIMO channel. The third objective of this dissertation is to propose Alamouti coded spatial modulation (ACSM), a novel SM based scheme with transmit diversity. The ACSM technique combines SM with Alamouti space-time block coding (STBC), thereby improving the diversity aspect and overall system performance of conventional SM. A closed form expression for the average BER of real constellation ACSM over i.i.d Rayleigh flat fading channels is derived and Monte Carlo simulations are used to verify the accuracy of this analytical expression. The BER performance of ACSM is compared to that of SM and Alamouti STBC. Simulation results show that the new scheme outperforms SM and Alamouti STBC by approximately 5.5 dB and 1.5 dB respectively, albeit at the cost of increased receiver complexity. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Turbo codes are a class of forward error correction (FEC) codes that offer energy efficiencies close to the limits predicted by information theory. The features of turbo codes include parallel code concatenation, recursive convolutional encoding, nonuniform interleaving, and an associated iterative decoding algorithm. The excellent performance of turbo codes explains why much of the current research is focused on applying turbo codes to different systems. This dissertation first outlines a new simple criterion for stopping the iterative process of the turbo decoder for each individual frame immediately after the bits are correctly estimated and thus prevents unnecessary computations and decoding delay. The dissertation then considers the performance of turbo coded DS-CDMA systems. The performance analysis begins with simulation results for turbo coded DS-CDMA over a multi-path Rayleigh fading channel. The channel is then modeled using the Gilbert-Elliott channel model and analytical expressions for the performance of the system are derived. The influence of various parameters such as the Doppler frequency, the signal-to-noise ratio threshold on the system performance are analyzed and investigated. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

The rapid growth of wireless systems has shown little sign of ceasing, due to increased consumer demand for reliable interactive services. A key component of the development has centered on satellite networks, which allows provision of services in scenarios where terrestrial systems are not viable. The Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite Second Generation (DVB-S2) standard was developed for use in satellite broadcast applications, the foremost being video broadcasting. Inherent to DVB-S2 is a powerful forward error correction (FEC) module, present in both the Physical and Data Link Layer. Improving the error correcting capability of the FEC is a natural advent in improving the quality of service of the protocol. This is more crucial in real time satellite video broadcast where retransmission of data is not viable, due to high latency. The Physical Layer error correcting capability is implemented in the form of a concatenated BCH-LDPC code. The DVB-S2 standard does not define the decoding structure for the receiver system however many powerful decoding systems have been presented in the literature; the Belief Propagation-Chase concatenated decoder being chief amongst them. The decoder utilizes the concept of soft information transfer between the Chase and Belief Propagation (BP) decoders to provide improved error correcting capability above that of the component decoders. The following dissertation is motivated by the physical layer (PL) FEC scheme, focused on the concatenated Chase-BP decoder. The aim is to generate results based on the BP-Chase decoder in a satellite channel as well as improve the error correcting capability. The BP-Chase decoder has shown to be very powerful however the current literature provides performance results only in AWGN channels. The AWGN channel however is not an accurate representation of a land-mobile satellite (LMS) channel; it does not consider the effect of shadowing, which is prevalent in satellite systems. The development of Markov chain models have allowed for better description of the characteristics of the LMS channel. The outcome being the selection of a Ku band LMS channel model. The selected LMS channel model is composed of 3 states, each generating a different degree of shadowing. The PL system has been simulated using the LMS channel and BP-Chase receiver to provide a more accurate representation of performance of a DVB-S2 network. The effect of shadowing has shown to reduce coding performance by approximately 4dB, measured over several code lengths and decoders, when compared with AWGN performance results. The second body of work aims to improve the error correcting capability of the BP-Chase decoder, concentrating on improving the LDPC decoding module performance. The LDPC system is the basis for the powerful error correcting ability of the concatenated scheme. In attempting to improve the LDPC decoder a reciprocal improvement is expected in the overall decoding performance of the concatenated decoder. There have been several schemes presented which improve BP performance. The BP-Ordered statistics decoder (OSD) was selected through a process of literary review; a novel decoding structure is presented incorporating the BP-OSD decoder into the BP-Chase structure. The result of which is the BP-OSD-Chase decoder. The decoder contains two stages of concatenation; the first stage implements the BPOSD algorithm which decodes the LDPC code and the second stage decodes the BCH code using the Chase algorithm. Simulation results of the novel decoder implementation in the DVBS2 PL show a coding gain of 0.45dB and 0.15dB versus the BP and BP-Chase decoders respectively, across both the AWGN and LMS channel. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

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