Abstract:
An efficient method for calculating the step-sizes for a frequency-domain equalizer of a discrete-multitone communications system using signal power estimation and tone grouping (SPE-TG) while on-line. The SPE-TG method is used to calculate a plurality of subchannel step-sizes which are then stored in a lookup table. When on-line, the method uses signal power estimation to select step sizes for each tone, and uses these step sizes for frequency domain equalization. The SPE-TG method simplifies the calculations necessary for frequency domain equalization, thereby saving significant hardware and/or processing resources. The SPE-TG method is reliable and robust, and does not depend upon assumptions about the line, location, or channel.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to high-speed modem telecommunications. More specifically, the present invention discloses a method for efficiently calculating the step-sizes for a frequency domain equalizer in a discrete-multitone communications system.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     Frequency domain equalization (FEQ) for discrete multi-tone (DMT) communications systems has involved separate processes for gain equalization (GE) and phase equalization (PE). In digital subscriber line (DSL) systems, FEQ must be performed when the communications are occurring, since each subscriber loop, typically twisted pair line, has individual characteristics for attenuation and frequency response due to bridge taps, outside interference, length of the line, and other factors. The frequency responses of several real-world ADSL loops are shown in chart form in  FIG. 2 . FEQ is performed during the training phase as the DSL modems on each end of the twisted pair line negotiate to determine the subchannel signal to noise ratio (SNR) and bit allocation.  
         [0005]     Please refer to  FIG. 7 , which shows a block diagram of a typical DMT-based communications system. A time-domain equalizer TEQ shortens the channel dispersion to minimize intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by channel distortions such as loop length, gauge change, and bridge taps. Although TEQ can minimize ISI in the time domain, phase rotation and amplitude attenuation in the frequency domain still exist on each subchannel. To overcome these distortions, an FEQ is used to compensate for the phase and amplitude distortions on each subchannel.  
         [0006]     However, existing methods for calculating FEQ are complex and use significant processing resources, either in software computing cycles or in specialized hardware such as high performance DSPs. One such prior art frequency domain equalization method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,062 by Wu. The method uses two equalizers, a phase equalizer (PE) and a gain equalizer (GE), in order to implement frequency domain equalization. A block diagram of this prior art method is shown in  FIG. 1 . The FEQ input Y k  is processed by gain equalizer GE and phase equalizer PE.  
         [0007]     In addition, the step-size used by the FEQ for training is a constant chosen through off-line simulation at the time of hardware design, with many uncertain issues left unresolved, and thus, the signal to noise ratio (SNR) under real-world conditions cannot be compensated for, resulting in larger net errors in phase and amplitude corrections, reducing real-world efficacy and reliability during negotiation.  
         [0008]     Therefore there is need for improvement in frequency domain equalization for DMT-based communications systems to overcome the uncertainty of the prior art.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     To achieve these and other advantages and in order to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art method in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention provides an improved method for on-line calculation of step size for DMT-based communications systems using signal power estimation and tone grouping (SPE-TG), the method being able to keep SNR losses below a user selectable limit of L-dB per tone, with L being a value chosen during design. The method predetermines a lookup table containing a set of step sizes to use for each tone, groups tones according to signal power estimation during the training period, and selects appropriate step sizes for each group, thereby keeping SNR losses to within a known, user-selectable, predetermined limit, which is compensated for with a system parameter, gain scaling, if the predetermined limit is chosen to be under 2.5 dB.  
         [0010]     The present invention further provides for a reduction in computational complexity as compared to the prior art, using a single equalizer.  
         [0011]     These and other objectives of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a prior art FEQ method;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a chart showing the frequency response of several sample ADSL channels under various real-world conditions;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the FEQ method of the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a chart showing the frequency response of the target channel of an example ADSL channel as analysed by the method of the present invention; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an embodiment of the table generation method of the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an embodiment of the on-line method of the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a typical DMT-based communications system; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating the relationship of the method of the present invention to the training phases of signal negotiation between a pair of DMT-based modems. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0021]     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.  
         [0022]     According to Widrow et al., “Stationary and Nonstationary Learning Characteristics of the LMS Adaptive Filter,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 64 no. 8, pp 1151-1162 (incorporated herein by reference), the bound of the step-size is inversely proportional to the total of tap signal input power, and must satisfy the criteria:  
             0   &lt;   μ   &lt;     2     total   ⁢           ⁢   of   ⁢           ⁢   tap   ⁢             ⁢             ⁢   signal   ⁢           ⁢   input   ⁢           ⁢   power               (     eq   ⁢           ⁢   1     )             
 
         [0023]     Essentially, the LMS algorithm is an instantaneous estimation to approximate the exact gradient for adaptation. The instantaneous gradient estimation leads to the gradient noise, which gives rise to the misadjustment. Therefore, considering the misadjustment effect, the criteria of (eq 1) can be reformulated as:  
             μ   ≅       2   ⁢           ⁢   M       total   ⁢           ⁢   of   ⁢           ⁢   tap   ⁢           ⁢   signal   ⁢           ⁢   input   ⁢           ⁢   power               (     eq   ⁢           ⁢   2     )             
 
         [0024]     where M is the amount of the misadjustment.  
         [0025]     In addition, the number of iterations for convergence, τ MSE , can be defined as  
               τ   MSE     ≅     1     4   ·   M               (     eq   ⁢           ⁢   3     )             
 
         [0026]     Consequently, a large step-size will lead to a large misadjustment but a short convergence time. Conversely, a small step-size will lead to a small misadjustment but a long convergence time. Thus, the choice of step-size involves a tradeoff between misadjustment and convergence time. From the perspective of managing the SNR, it is desirable to reduce the misadjustment, thus improving SNR, while also keeping convergence time at about the same level for each subchannel. However, channel characteristics differ from loop to loop and from subchannel to subchannel, depending on the individual characteristics of each subscriber loop (twisted pair line).  
         [0027]     The SNR loss which results from the misadjustment, L, expressed in dB, can be determined by the system designer. If L is chosen to be less than 2.5-dB, the SNR loss can be compensated for using a system parameter, gk. The g k  parameter provides for adjustment from −2.5 to 2.5 dB, as defined in G.992.1 (ADSL), G.992.3 (ADSL2), G.992.5 (ADSL2+) and G.vdsl (VDSL). Therefore, the subchannel step-size can be calculated by:  
               μ   k     ≅     η     average   ⁢           ⁢   input   ⁢           ⁢   signal   ⁢             ⁢             ⁢   power   ⁢           ⁢   on   ⁢           ⁢     k   ⁢   th     ⁢           ⁢   subchannel               (     eq   ⁢           ⁢   4     )             
 
         [0028]     where eta, η, is 2M, and is obtained from the L parameter; for example, if L is chosen to be less than 0.25-dB, then η is equal to 0.118. Furthermore, the corresponding convergence time, per (eq 3), is then:
 
τ k ≅5 iterations  (eq 5)
 
         [0029]     (eq 4) is of O(N) for the number of subchannels, i.e., it can be implemented in linear time with N SC  division operations for N SC  subchannels. However, (eq 4) implies that having equal average input signal power leads to having the same step-size. This in turn leads to the use of tone grouping to design the updating step-size based upon the average input signal power.  
         [0030]     Please refer to  FIG. 4 . From the received signal power point of view, the target channel frequency response can be sliced horizontally into Q blocks to group the subchannels by average input signal power. Tones whose average input signal power levels are within the same block then use the same step size.  
         [0031]     As described in the paper “On-Line Step-Size Calculation Using Signal Power Estimation—Tone Grouping for Frequency Domain Equalizer of DMT-Based Systems” by Wu et al. (the present inventors), 2004 IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Circuits and Systems, December 2004, and incorporated herein by reference, based on the SPE-TG approach, the subchannel step size as given in (eq 4) can be described by:  
                     μ   k     ≅       ⁢     η            Y   k          2                     =       ⁢     η         G   k   2     ⁡     [       (       2   b     -   1     )     ⁢     Γ   T       ]       ⁢       σ   k   2     ~           ,                 (     eq   ⁢           ⁢   6     )             
 
         [0032]     where: Y k  and {tilde over (σ)} k  express the DFT output (FEQ input) and the standard deviation of the baseband equivalent channel noise on the k-th subchannel respectively; G k  represents the equivalent gain of the converged TEQ on the k-th subchannel; Γ k  denotes the total SNR gap including the SNR gap, system design margin and coding gain in power sense; and b is the value of the bit-allocation. Without losing the generality, G k  is considered the same for each subcarrier. Therefore, G=G k  and k=0, 1, . . . , N SC −1. Also, practically, all of the subchannels have the equivalent AWGN. Consequently, {tilde over (σ)}={tilde over (σ)} k  and k=0, 1, . . . , N SC −1.  
         [0033]     Therefore the subchannel step-size can be further simplified to tone-grouping step-size, μ i . The μ i  is given by:  
                 μ   i     =     η         G   2     ⁡     [       (       2   b     -   1     )     ⁢     Γ   T       ]       ⁢       σ   2     ~           ,           ⁢       b   ⁢     :     ⁢   2     ∼   16     ,           ⁢       i   ⁢     :     ⁢   1     ∼   15             (     eq   ⁢           ⁢   7     )             
 
         [0034]     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , a block diagram showing a representation of the method of the present invention. The FEQ utilizes the method of the present invention to update the step size for each subchannel in the updating hardware of the frequency domain equalizer.  
         [0035]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , the method  100  for generating the lookup table comprises the following steps:  
         [0036]     Step  110 : for each subchannel from 0 to N SC −1, calculate Γ T  as a function of the design parameters: SNR gap (Γ), design margin (γ m ) and coding gain (γ c );  
         [0037]     Step  120 : for each subchannel from 0 to N SC −1, calculate {tilde over (σ)} from BW, AWGN (−140 dBm/Hz) and receiver input impedance R (100-Ω);  
         [0038]     Step  130 : using the user-determined L parameter, calculate η 
         [0039]     Step  140 : assign the gain G;  
         [0040]     Step  150 : for each group number from 1 to 15, calculate the step size μ i , where i is the group number 1 to 15.  
         [0041]     Step  160 : build a lookup table according to the results of Step  150 .  
         [0042]     In the method  100 , b is not limited to less than 15 and its range is from 2 to 16 inclusive; furthermore G is typically kept within the practical range of about 0.5˜1.5.  
         [0043]     Based on the method  100  above, an SPE-TG lookup table (LUT), described in Table 1, can be constructed with the assumptions of a 9.8-dB SNR gap, a 6-dB design margin, and a 0-dB coding gain. In addition, L is assumed to be less than 0.25-dB, resulting in η being equal to 0.118. From the VLSI implementation point of view, to simplify the necessary hardware, the step-size can be implemented as a power of two, listed in the fourth column of Table 1. Results of using the power of two approximations, shown in Table 2, are discussed below. Finally, there are 15 tone-groupings with power of two step-sizes ranging from 2 6  to 2 −8 .  
                                                                             TABLE 1                           Proposed SPE-TG Lookup Table.                    Floating   Power of 2                   Step-size   Step-size           Signal Power   μ flt, STE-TG     μ po2, STE-TG     Group            b   P i , 1 ≦ i ≦ 15   μ i , 1 ≦ i ≦ 15   Number                    ≦2   0.00100735   117.64279645   2 6      1       3   0.00235048   50.41834133   2 5      2       4   0.00503674   23.52855929   2 4      3       5   0.01040928   11.38478675   2 3      4       6   0.02115434   5.60203793   2 2      5       7   0.04264447   2.77896370   2 1      6       8   0.08562473   1.38403290   2 0      7       9   0.17158525   0.69066221   2 −1     8       10   0.34350629   0.34499354   2 −2     9       11   0.68734836   0.17241250   2 −3     10       12   1.37503251   0.08618520   2 −4     11       13   2.75040080   0.04308734   2 −5     12       14   5.50113739   0.02154235   2 −6     13       15   11.00261056   0.01077085   2 −7     14       ≧16   22.00555691   0.00538534   2 −8     15                  
 
         [0044]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a flowchart of an embodiment of the method of the present invention, the on-line method  200  comprises the following steps:  
         [0045]     Step  210 : for each subchannel from 0 to N SC −1, calculate and accumulate the subchannel signal power,  
              Y   k          2       
 
         [0046]     Step  220 : calculate the subchannel average signal power R k    
         [0047]     Step  230 : assign a group number to each subchannel using a decision policy based on the power threshold values in column two of Table 1.  
         [0048]     Step  240 : for each subchannel from 0 to N SC −1, select the step size μ i  for k-th subchannel according to the decision policy. 
        Step  250 : perform FEQ using the step sizes determined in Step  240 .        
 
         [0050]     The decision policy of step  230  is described as follows:  
         [0051]     i) R k ≧P 15 , μ k =μ 15    
         [0052]     ii) P i ≦R k ≦P i+1 , μ k =μ i , for i=1, 2, . . . , 14  
         [0053]     ii) R k &lt;P 1 , μ k =μ 1    
         [0054]     where k and i are the index of the subchannel and group respectively; R k  and μ k  represent the average received signal power and step-size of the k-th subchannel respectively; and P i  and μ i  express the threshold value of the received signal power and step-size of the ith group respectively. The group step-sizes from μ 1  to μ 15  are stored in the LUT, which is obtained from method  100 .  
         [0055]     Please refer to  FIG. 8 , a diagram illustrating the relationship of the method of the present invention to the training phases of signal negotiation between a pair of DMT-based modems. The diagram illustrates an example using ADSL protocol. However, the present invention can be utilized with various protocols such as ADSL, ADSL2, ADSL2+, VDSL, or other type of protocol.  
         [0056]     The initial protocol comprises a sequence of steps, including transceiver training. Transceiver training, in turn, comprises a sequence of steps defining exchange of known data so that line conditions can be determined. The relationship of the preferred embodiment of the method of the present invention is shown, with the step-size calculation of method  200  preferentially being performed during the beginning of the FEQ segment of the C-REVERB3 exchange during the transceiver training period. The results of the step-size calculation are subsequently used during the filtering and updating portions  410 , 420  of the FEQ training of the C-REVERB3 exchange and C-MEDLEY exchange respectively, as well as during any adaptation periods which may occur later.  
         [0057]     The method of the present invention can be implemented either in software or in hardware. A lookup table can be used for storing the step sizes of Table 1 to speed calculations. In hardware, the method is realized with components for signal power accumulation, average signal power calculation, comparator (decision policy), look-up table (ROM table), filtering, updating, and error estimation. Power of two step-sizes can be substituted for the floating-point calculations to further simplify implementation in software or hardware, further reducing computational overhead with only a small difference in efficiency. Referring to Table 2, the resulting data rate difference between using the floating-point calculation and the integer calculation is less than ±0.21%.  
                                                                                       TABLE 2                           Data rate comparison between μ flt  and μ po2                  SPE-TG                    μ flt     μ flt, SPE-TG     μ po2, SPE-TG                  Test Loop   REVERB/MEDLEY (kbps)   ε                    T1.601 Loop #7   3096/3020   3076/3000   3096/3020   0.00%       T1.601 Loop #9   4204/4024   4184/4000   4212/4032   0.19%       T1.601 Loop   3896/3764   3900/3752   3916/3772   0.21%       #13       CSA Loop #4   9528/8620   9488/8640   9516/8616   −0.04%       CSA Loop #6   9048/8720   9016/8672   9052/8712   −0.09%       CSA Loop #7   8992/8692   8968/8672   8988/8696   0.04%       CSA Loop #8   8324/7840   8394/7796   8324/7832   −0.10%       mid-CSA Loop   12144/11304   12132/11288   12140/11304   0.00%                  
 
         [0058]     In comparison to the prior art, the method of the present invention uses only a single equalizer rather than a plurality of equalizers, thereby using significantly fewer computational resources and reduced hardware complexity. The present invention also compensates for actual subscriber loop conditions, as opposed to relying on the uncertainties of off-line simulations and field trials, which are unable to take into account the highly individual conditions of each real-world subscriber loop.  
                                                             TABLE 3                           Comparison between present invention and       method of U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,062                U.S. Pat.           Item   No. 6,389,062   SPE-TG method               FEQ   GE plus PE   Single Equalizer       Architecture            Updating   GE   Direct-form   Amplitude and phase updating           PE   LMS algorithm,   together with LMS algorithm       Computing   GE   2-real “mul”   8-real “mul”       Complexity   PE   8-real “mul”            Step-size   Single step-size   15 step-size groups predetermined           predetermined by   by SPE-TG and calculated on-line           off-line simulation   for each tone       Performance   uncertain issues which   SNR k  loss less than 0.25-dB which           depend on simulation   can be compensated for by g k             model and field trial                  
 
         [0059]     The method of the present invention thus provides a significant improvement over prior art methods, resulting in faster convergence, simpler implementation, and improved adaptation to real-world subscriber loop conditions.  
         [0060]     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the invention and its equivalent.