pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Distributed Learning over Markovian Fading Channels for Stable Spectrum Access
Authors: Tomer Gafni, Kobi Cohen
Date: 2021-01-27 00:00:00

We consider the problem of multi-user spectrum access in wireless networks. The bandwidth is divided into K orthogonal channels, and M users aim to access the spectrum. Each user chooses a single channel for transmission at each time slot. The state of each channel is modeled by a restless unknown Markovian process. Previous studies have analyzed a special case of this setting, in which each channel yields the same expected rate for all users. By contrast, we consider a more general and practical model, where each channel yields a different expected rate for each user. This model adds a significant challenge of how to efficiently learn a channel allocation in a distributed manner to yield a global system-wide objective. We adopt the stable matching utility as the system objective, which is known to yield strong performance in multichannel wireless networks, and develop a novel Distributed Stable Strategy Learning (DSSL) algorithm to achieve the objective. We prove theoretically that DSSL converges to the stable matching allocation, and the regret, defined as the loss in total rate with respect to the stable matching solution, has a logarithmic order with time. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the strong performance of the DSSL algorithm.
Blind Reconstruction of Multilayered Tissue Profiles with UWB Radar Under Bayesian Setting
Authors: Burak Cevat Civek, Emre Ertin
Date: 2021-01-26 00:00:00
Tasks: parameter estimation

In this paper, we investigate the problem of inverse electromagnetic scattering to recover multilayer human tissue profiles using ultrawideband radar systems in a Bayesian setting. We study the recovery problem in a blind setting, in which we simultaneously estimate both the dielectric/geometric properties of the one-dimensional target tissue profile and the transmitted radar waveform. To perform Bayesian parameter estimation, we propose a hybrid and adaptive Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, which combines the Slice sampling and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo approaches. The introduced sampling mechanism also incorporates the Parallel Tempering approach to escape from the local optimal regions of the complex posterior distribution. We provide empirical support through various numerical simulations for the achieved enhanced sampling efficiency compared to conventional sampling schemes. To investigate the recovery performance, we work on synthetic measurements simulating actual radar returns from multilayer tissue profiles. We derive theoretical bounds for the best achievable estimation performance in terms of normalized root mean square error and provide a comparison with the performance of our estimator.
New Findings on GLRT Radar Detection of Nonfluctuating Targets via Phased Arrays
Authors: Fernando Darío Almeida García, Marco Antonio Miguel Miranda, José Cândido Silveira Santos Filho
Date: 2021-01-26 00:00:00

This paper addresses the standard generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) detection problem of weak signals in background noise. In so doing, we consider a nonfluctuating target embedded in complex white Gaussian noise (CWGN), in which the amplitude of the target echo and the noise power are assumed to be unknown. Important works have analyzed the performance for the referred scenario and proposed GLRT-based detectors. Such detectors are projected at an early stage (i.e., prior to the formation of a post-beamforming scalar waveform), thereby imposing high demands on hardware, processing, and data storage. From a hardware perspective, most radar systems fail to meet these strong requirements. In fact, due to hardware and computational constraints, most radars use a combination of analog and digital beamformers (sums) before any estimation or further pre-processing. The rationale behind this study is to derive a GLRT detector that meets the hardware and system requirements. In this work, we design and analyze a more practical and easy-to-implement GLRT detector, which is projected after the analog beamforming. The performance of the proposed detector is analyzed and the probabilities of detection (PD) and false alarm (PFA) are derived in closed form. Moreover, we show that in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime, the post-beamforming GLRT detector performs better than both the classic pre-beamforming GLRT detector and the square-law detector. This finding suggests that if the signals are weak, instead of processing the signals separately, we first must to reinforce the overall signal and then assembling the system's detection statistic. At last, the SNR losses are quantified, in which the superiority of the post-beamforming GLRT detector was evidenced as the number of antennas and samples increase.
Resolving fast gas transients with Metal-Oxide sensors
Authors: Damien Drix, Michael Schmuker
Date: 2020-10-05 00:00:00

Electronic olfaction can help detect and localise harmful gases and pollutants, but the turbulence of natural environment presents a particular challenge: odor encounters are intermittent, and an effective electronic nose must therefore be able to resolve short odor pulses. The slow responses of the widely-used Metal-Oxide (MOX) gas sensors complicate the task. Here we combine high-resolution data acquisition with a processing method based on Kalman filtering and absolute-deadband sampling to extract fast transients. We find that our system can resolve the precise time of odor onset events, allowing direction estimation with a pair of MOX sensors in stereo-osmic configuration.
Self-Calibrating Indoor Localization with Crowdsourcing Fingerprints and Transfer Learning
Authors: Chenlu Xiang, Shunqing Zhang, Shugong Xu, George C. Alexandropoulos
Date: 2021-01-26 00:00:00
Tasks: Indoor Localization, Transfer Learning

Precise indoor localization is one of the key requirements for fifth Generation (5G) and beyond, concerning various wireless communication systems, whose applications span different vertical sectors. Although many highly accurate methods based on signal fingerprints have been lately proposed for localization, their vast majority faces the problem of degrading performance when deployed in indoor systems, where the propagation environment changes rapidly. In order to address this issue, the crowdsourcing approach has been adopted, according to which the fingerprints are frequently updated in the respective database via user reporting. However, the late crowdsourcing techniques require precise indoor floor plans and fail to provide satisfactory accuracy. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity self-calibrating indoor crowdsourcing localization system that combines historical with frequently updated fingerprints for high precision user positioning. We present a multi-kernel transfer learning approach which exploits the inner relationship between the original and updated channel measurements. Our indoor laboratory experimental results with the proposed approach and using Nexus 5 smartphones at 2.4GHz with 20MHz bandwidth have shown the feasibility of about one meter level accuracy with a reasonable fingerprint update overhead.
Design, Implementation, Comparison, and Performance analysis between Analog Butterworth and Chebyshev-I Low Pass Filter Using Approximation, Python and Proteus
Authors: Navid Fazle Rabbi
Date: 2021-01-25 00:00:00

Filters are broadly used in signal processing and communication systems in noise reduction. Butterworth, Chebyshev-I Analog Low Pass Filters are developed and implemented in this paper. The filters are manually calculated using approximations and verified using Python Programming Language. Filters are also simulated in Proteus 8 Professional and implemented in the Hardware Lab using the necessary components. This paper also denotes the comparison and performance analysis of filters using Manual Computations, Hardware, and Software.
Spatial Wideband Channel Estimation for MmWave Massive MIMO Systems with Hybrid Architectures and Low-Resolution ADCs
Authors: In-soo Kim, Junil Choi
Date: 2021-01-25 00:00:00
Tasks: compressed sensing

In this paper, a channel estimator for wideband millimeter wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with hybrid architectures and low-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) is proposed. To account for the propagation delay across the antenna array, which cannot be neglected in wideband mmWave massive MIMO systems, the discrete time channel that models the spatial wideband effect is developed. Also, the training signal design that addresses inter-frame, inter-user, and inter-symbol interferences is investigated when the spatial wideband effect is not negligible. To estimate the channel parameters over the continuum based on the maximum a posteriori (MAP) criterion, the Newtonized fully corrective forward greedy selection-cross validation-based (NFCFGS-CV-based) channel estimator is proposed. NFCFGS-CV is a gridless compressed sensing (CS) algorithm, whose termination condition is determined by the CV technique. The CV-based termination condition is proved to achieve the minimum squared error (SE). The simulation results show that NFCFGS-CV outperforms state-of-the-art on-grid CS-based channel estimators.
Performance of Cell-Free MmWave Massive MIMO Systems with Fronthaul Compression and DAC Quantization
Authors: In-soo Kim, Junil Choi
Date: 2021-01-25 00:00:00
Tasks: Fairness, Quantization

In this paper, the zero-forcing (ZF) precoder with max-min power allocation is proposed for cell-free millimeter wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems using low-resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with limited-capacity fronthaul links. The proposed power allocation aims to achieve max-min fairness on the achievable rate lower bounds of the users obtained by the additive quantization noise model (AQNM), which mimics the effect of low-resolution DACs. To solve the max-min power allocation problem, an alternating optimization (AO) method is proposed, which is guaranteed to converge because the global optima of the subproblems that constitute the original problem are attained at each AO iteration. The performance of cell-free and small-cell systems is explored in the simulation results, which suggest that not-too-small fronthaul capacity suffices for cell-free systems to outperform small-cell systems.
Meta-learning Based Beamforming Design for MISO Downlink
Authors: Jingyuan Xia, Gunduz Deniz
Date: 2021-01-25 00:00:00
Tasks: Meta-Learning

Downlink beamforming is an essential technology for wireless cellular networks; however, the design of beamforming vectors that maximize the weighted sum rate (WSR) is an NP-hard problem and iterative algorithms are typically applied to solve it. The weighted minimum mean square error (WMMSE) algorithm is the most widely used one, which iteratively minimizes the WSR and converges to a local optimal. Motivated by the recent developments in meta-learning techniques to solve non-convex optimization problems, we propose a meta-learning based iterative algorithm for WSR maximization in a MISO downlink channel. A long-short-term-memory (LSTM) network-based meta-learning model is built to learn a dynamic optimization strategy to update the variables iteratively. The learned strategy aims to optimize each variable in a less greedy manner compared to WMMSE, which updates variables by computing their first-order stationary points at each iteration step. The proposed algorithm outperforms WMMSE significantly in the high signal to noise ratio(SNR) regime and shows the comparable performance when the SNR is low.
Unitary Approximate Message Passing for Sparse Bayesian Learning
Authors: Man Luo, Qinghua Guo, Ming Jin, Yonina C. Eldar, Defeng, Huang, Xiangming Meng
Date: 2021-01-25 00:00:00
Tasks: Variational Inference

Sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) can be implemented with low complexity based on the approximate message passing (AMP) algorithm. However, it does not work well for a generic measurement matrix, which may cause AMP to diverge. Damped AMP has been used for SBL to alleviate the problem at the cost of reducing convergence speed. In this work, we propose a new SBL algorithm based on structured variational inference, leveraging AMP with a unitary transformation (UAMP). Both single measurement vector and multiple measurement vector problems are investigated. It is shown that, compared to state-of-the-art AMP-based SBL algorithms, the proposed UAMP-SBL is more robust and efficient, leading to remarkably better performance.
UAV-Assisted Over-the-Air Computation
Authors: Min Fu, Yong Zhou, Yuanming Shi, Ting Wang, Wei Chen
Date: 2021-01-25 00:00:00
Tasks: Optimize the trajectory of UAV which plays a BS in communication system

Over-the-air computation (AirComp) provides a promising way to support ultrafast aggregation of distributed data. However, its performance cannot be guaranteed in long-distance transmission due to the distortion induced by the channel fading and noise. To unleash the full potential of AirComp, this paper proposes to use a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acting as a mobile base station to assist AirComp systems. Specifically, due to its controllable high-mobility and high-altitude, the UAV can move sufficiently close to the sensors to enable line-of-sight transmission and adaptively adjust all the links' distances, thereby enhancing the signal magnitude alignment and noise suppression. Our goal is to minimize the time-averaging mean-square error for AirComp by jointly optimizing the UAV trajectory, the scaling factor at the UAV, and the transmit power at the sensors, under constraints on the UAV's predetermined locations and flying speed, sensors' average and peak power limits. However, due to the highly coupled optimization variables and time-dependent constraints, the resulting problem is non-convex and challenging. We thus propose an efficient iterative algorithm by applying the block coordinate descent and successive convex optimization techniques. Simulation results verify the convergence of the proposed algorithm and demonstrate the performance gains and robustness of the proposed design compared with benchmarks.
An UAV-based Experimental Setup for Propagation Characterization in Urban Environment
Authors: Franco Fuschini, Marina Barbiroli, Enrico M. Vitucci, Vasilii Semkin, Claude Oestges, Bruno Strano, Vittorio Degli-Esposti
Date: 2021-01-24 00:00:00

A measurement setup made of millimeter-wave and ultra wideband transceivers mounted on both a customized UAV and a ground station for full 3D wireless propagation analysis is described in this work. The developed system represents a flexible solution for the characterization of wireless channels and especially of urban propagation, as the drone might be easily located almost anywhere from ground level to the buildings rooftop and beyond. The double directional properties of the channel can be achieved by rotating directive antennas at the link ends. Other possible applications in urban contexts include above ground level propagation, outdoor-to-indoor penetration, line-of-sight to non-line-of-sight transition, scattering from buildings and air-to-ground channel characterization for UAV-assisted wireless communications.
Quantum Learning Based Nonrandom Superimposed Coding for Secure Wireless Access in 5G URLLC
Authors: Dongyang Xu, Pinyi Ren
Date: 2021-01-24 00:00:00
Tasks: Action Detection, Activity Detection

Secure wireless access in ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), which is a critical aspect of 5G security, has become increasingly important due to its potential support of grant-free configuration. In grant-free URLLC, precise allocation of different pilot resources to different users that share the same time-frequency resource is essential for the next generation NodeB (gNB) to exactly identify those users under access collision and to maintain precise channel estimation required for reliable data transmission. However, this process easily suffers from attacks on pilots. We in this paper propose a quantum learning based nonrandom superimposed coding method to encode and decode pilots on multidimensional resources, such that the uncertainty of attacks can be learned quickly and eliminated precisely. Particularly, multiuser pilots for uplink access are encoded as distinguishable subcarrier activation patterns (SAPs) and gNB decodes pilots of interest from observed SAPs, a superposition of SAPs from access users, by joint design of attack mode detection and user activity detection though a quantum learning network (QLN). We found that the uncertainty lies in the identification process of codeword digits from the attacker, which can be always modelled as a black-box model, resolved by a quantum learning algorithm and quantum circuit. Novel analytical closed-form expressions of failure probability are derived to characterize the reliability of this URLLC system with short packet transmission. Simulations how that our method can bring ultra-high reliability and low latency despite attacks on pilots.
Towards Overfitting Avoidance: Tuning-free Tensor-aided Multi-user Channel Estimation for 3D Massive MIMO Communications
Authors: Lei Cheng, Qingjiang Shi
Date: 2021-01-24 00:00:00
Tasks: Tensor Decomposition

Channel estimation has long been deemed as one of the most critical problems in three-dimensional (3D) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), which is recognized as the leading technology that enables 3D spatial signal processing in the fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications and beyond. Recently, by exploring the angular channel model and tensor decompositions, the accuracy of single-user channel estimation for 3D massive MIMO communications has been significantly improved given a limited number of pilot signals. However, these existing approaches cannot be straightforwardly extended to the multi-user channel estimation task, where the base station (BS) aims at acquiring the channels of multiple users at the same time. The difficulty is that the coupling among multiple users' channels makes the channel estimation deviate from widely-used tensor decompositions. It gives a non-standard tensor decomposition format that has not been well tackled. To overcome this challenge, besides directly fitting the new tensor model for channel estimation to the wireless data via block coordinate descent (BCD) method, which is prone to the overfitting of noises or requires regularization parameter tuning, we further propose a novel tuning-free channel estimation algorithm that can automatically control the channel model complexity and thus effectively avoid the overfitting. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of both estimation accuracy and overfitting avoidance.
Non-Bayesian Estimation Framework for Signal Recovery on Graphs
Authors: Tirza Routtenberg
Date: 2020-05-05 00:00:00

Graph signals arise from physical networks, such as power and communication systems, or as a result of a convenient representation of data with complex structure, such as social networks. We consider the problem of general graph signal recovery from noisy, corrupted, or incomplete measurements and under structural parametric constraints, such as smoothness in the graph frequency domain. In this paper, we formulate the graph signal recovery as a non-Bayesian estimation problem under a weighted mean-squared-error (WMSE) criterion, which is based on a quadratic form of the Laplacian matrix of the graph and its trace WMSE is the Dirichlet energy of the estimation error w.r.t. the graph. The Laplacian-based WMSE penalizes estimation errors according to their graph spectral content and is a difference-based cost function which accounts for the fact that in many cases signal recovery on graphs can only be achieved up to a constant addend. We develop a new Cram\'er-Rao bound (CRB) on the Laplacian-based WMSE and present the associated Lehmann unbiasedness condition w.r.t. the graph. We discuss the graph CRB and estimation methods for the fundamental problems of 1) A linear Gaussian model with relative measurements; and 2) Bandlimited graph signal recovery. We develop sampling allocation policies that optimize sensor locations in a network for these problems based on the proposed graph CRB. Numerical simulations on random graphs and on electrical network data are used to validate the performance of the graph CRB and sampling policies.
Circumventing the resolution-time tradeoff in Ultrasound Localization Microscopy by Velocity Filtering
Authors: Ufuk Soylu, Yoram Bresler
Date: 2021-01-23 00:00:00
Tasks: Super-Resolution, Translation

Ultrasound Localization Microscopy (ULM) offers a cost-effective modality for microvascular imaging by using intravascular contrast agents (microbubbles). However, ULM has a fundamental trade-off between acquisition time and spatial resolution, which makes clinical translation challenging. In this paper, in order to circumvent the trade-off, we introduce a spatiotemporal filtering operation dubbed velocity filtering, which is capable of separating contrast agents into different groups based on their vector velocities thus reducing interference in the localization step, while simultaneously offering blood velocity mapping at super resolution, without tracking individual microbubbles. As side benefit, the velocity filter provides noise suppression before microbubble localization that could enable substantially increased penetration depth in tissue typically by 4cm or more. We provide a theoretical analysis of the performance of velocity filter. Numerical experiments confirm that the proposed velocity filter is able to separate the microbubbles with respect to the speed and direction of their motion. In combination with subsequent localization of microbubble centers, e.g. by matched filtering, the velocity filter improves the quality of the reconstructed vasculature significantly and provides blood flow information. Overall, the proposed imaging pipeline in this paper enables the use of higher concentrations of microbubbles while preserving spatial resolution, thus helping circumvent the trade-off between acquisition time and spatial resolution. Conveniently, because the velocity filtering operation can be implemented by fast Fourier transforms(FFTs) it admits fast, and potentially real-time realization. We believe that the proposed velocity filtering method has the potential to pave the way to clinical translation of ULM.
Pulse Index Modulation
Authors: Sultan Aldirmaz-Colak, Erdogan Aydin, Yasin Celik, Yusuf Acar, Ertugrul Basar
Date: 2021-01-22 00:00:00

Emerging systems such as Internet-of-things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications have strict requirements on the power consumption of used equipments and associated complexity in the transceiver design. As a result, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) solutions might not be directly suitable for these system due to their high complexity, inter-antenna synchronization (IAS) requirement, and high inter-antenna interference (IAI) problems. In order to overcome these problems, we propose two novel index modulation (IM) schemes, namely pulse index modulation (PIM) and generalized PIM (GPIM) for single-input single-output (SISO) schemes. The proposed models use well-localized and orthogonal Hermite-Gaussian pulses for data transmission and provide high spectral efficiency owing to the Hermite-Gaussian pulse indices. Besides, it has been shown via analytical derivations and computer simulations that the proposed PIM and GPIM systems have better error performance and considerable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain compared to existing spatial modulation (SM), quadrature SM (QSM), and traditional M-ary systems.