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Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications can provide global coverage in the sixth generation communication (6G) networks. To combat the strong Partial Band Interferences (PBIs) and multipath fading in LEO satellite communication systems, the Multicarrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (MC-DS-CDMA) technique is a promising alternative to the traditional Single-carrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (SC-DS-CDMA) system for its advantages of high bandwidth efficiency, superior interference rejection capability, and low complexity of parallel signal processing. However, limited studies have been conducted on the performance analysis of MC-DS-CDMA acquisition systems in the presence of a large Doppler shift, a unique characteristic of LEO satellite communications. To bridge this gap, we investigate the performance of MC-DS-CDMA systems with two-dimensional acquisition and noncoherent equal gain combining over Rician fading channel in the presence of the Doppler shift and PBIs. The performance metrics are detection probability and Mean Square Error (MSE) of the Doppler factor and delay. Specifically, we derive the closed-form expressions for the MSE and the Probability Density Function (PDF) of the acquisition decision variable and obtain the detection probability. We conduct extensive numerical experiments to verify the theoretical analysis and performance gain of MC-DS-CDMA over the SC-DS-CDMA. The results show that MC-DS-CDMA with two-dimensional acquisition is more robust to multipath Rician fading than SC-DS-CDMA. Moreover, MC-DS-CDMA outperforms SC-DS-CDMA regarding the detection probability and MSE when combating the strong PBIs.

Abstract Earthquakes, forest fires, mudslides and other natural disasters occur frequently in recent years. They usually occur in the mountainous and dense forests, where local communication facilities do not exist or have been destroyed by the disasters. Adverse geographical environment poses a huge challenge to emergency communications and rescue. This paper presents comparative studies on multi-carrier transmission schemes in the mountainous and dense forest environment. The comprehensive communication performance for various multi-carrier waveform schemes, has been extensively analyzed by using the Stanford University Interim channel model. Simulation results show that the pruned discrete Fourier transform spread filter bank multi-carrier scheme exhibits generally the best performance in terms of transmission rate and distance for most operation modes.

The traditional LDPC encoding and decoding system is characterized by low throughput and high resource consumption, making it unsuitable for use in cost-efficient, energy-saving sensor networks. Aiming to optimize coding complexity and throughput, this paper proposes a combined design of a novel LDPC code structure and the corresponding overlapping decoding strategies. With regard to structure of LDPC code, a CCSDS-like quasi-cyclic parity check matrix (PCM) with uniform distribution of submatrices is constructed to maximize overlap depth and adapt the parallel decoding. In terms of reception decoding strategies, we use a modified 2-bit Min-Sum algorithm (MSA) that achieves a coding gain of 5 dB at a bit error rate of 10−6 compared to an uncoded BPSK, further mitigating resource consumption, and which only incurs a slight loss compared to the standard MSA. Moreover, a shift-register-based memory scheduling strategy is presented to fully utilize the quasi-cyclic characteristic and shorten the read/write latency. With proper overlap scheduling, the time consumption can be reduced by one third per iteration compared to the non-overlap algorithm. Simulation and implementation results demonstrate that our decoder can achieve a throughput up to 7.76 Gbps at a frequency of 156.25 MHz operating eight iterations, with a two-thirds resource consumption saving.

Fast Frequency Hopping/Direct Sequence (FFH/DS) hybrid spread spectrum is an effective technique of the communication network for the robot swarms operating in complex electromagnetic environment. It combines the advantages of both Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), and also uses the diversity-combining in time and frequency domain to effectively reject unwanted jamming. Multi-Tone Interference (MTI) is one of the most deleterious jamming waveforms for frequency hopping systems, and consequently a severe threat for FFH/DS systems. In this article, we explore the effect of MTI on coherent FFH/DS, and we have shown that, if spectral sensing mechanism for MTI frequency and power monitoring is available, the MTI in FFH/DS reception is a set of complex sinusoid components with deterministic amplitudes and random phases, instead of the conventionally assumed Gaussian random variables. In light of this new finding, a novel combining method is proposed. It utilizes the spectral sensing information to adaptively compute the combining weights, following Maximum Signal to Interference plus Noise (MSINR) law. Its combining performance is analyzed and compared with other existing methods, and verified by simulations. It is shown that the proposed adaptive MSINR combining has satisfactory performance under both medium and strong MTI scenarios.

In this article, a slot array with double-layered full-corporate-fed distribution network by ridge gap waveguide (RGW) in the G-band is presented. The array antenna proposed in this article contains 16 × 16-element radiation slots fed by air-filled ridge gap waveguide distribution network that achieves high-efficiency. Gap waveguide technology avoids the demand for perfect electrical contact in millimeter waves, therefore the expensive diffusion bonding and the laser welding processes are not demanded. Moreover, the high-accurate Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) machining is applied for the fabrication. Due to the limited layout space for the distribution network, two types of universal stepped cavity power dividers are presented in this article. The proposed array antenna is fed by a standard WR-5 waveguide at the bottom. Furthermore, the tested outcomes show that the proposed 16×16-element array has a gain larger than 30 dBi with over 50% antenna efficiency in the frequency range of 155-171 GHz.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite systems have received considerable attentions for its advantages and potential applications in global communication. Yet LEO satellite-ground communication is challenged by the huge Doppler shift. This article is devoted to studying how to deal with this challenge in Multi-carrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (MC-DS-CDMA) systems in the presence of multi-path and partial band interferences for LEO satellite-ground link in urban areas. To this end, we design a two-dimensional joint acquisition algorithm. Specifically, we acquire the delay and Doppler factor by solving the Maximum Likelihood (ML) problem with decision variable falling into two-dimensional uncertain region of the estimated parameters. We then use grid-based searching method to access the ML estimates of the delay and Doppler factor at the cost of acceptable complexity. We also derive the detection probability and Mean Square Error (MSE) in both Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh fading channels. It is shown that the performance of MC-DS-CDMA with the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms its single-carrier counterpart in Rayleigh fading channel, and is proved to be more tolerant to partial band interferences for both AWGN and Rayleigh fading scenarios.

Military robot swarm becomes more and more important for contemporary military application. In order to satisfy sophisticated application scenarios, novel communication architecture for military robot swarm has to be conceived. In this paper, we propose a multi-carrier intelligent covert satellite communication (MCICSC) architecture based on electromagnetic environment sensing technology, in where the ability of dynamically adapting the system configuration to the holistic requirements of covertness, performance, and complexity can be considerably improved. Additionally, in order to solve the carrier synchronization problem in very low signal noise ratio (SNR) for each data stream of MCICSC, polar code (PC) is incorporated into the proposed MCICSC system. With the aid of the proposed polar code-aided multi-stream parallel feedback (PAMSPF) carrier synchronization scheme, the MCICSC system is capable of realizing high-precise carrier synchronization even in very low SNR region. Moreover, in order to further decrease the complexity of our MCICSC system, we also propose a polar code-based diversity combining (PBDC) scheme, which is capable of efficiently combing all the data streams without the aid of channel state information (CSI) estimation. Numerical simulations demonstrate that for MCICSC system the performance of the PAMSPF carrier synchronization and PBDC combining schemes can get extremely close to that of an ideally synchronized system. Complexity analysis of the proposed algorithms is given as well.

Robot swarms, which constitute typical multi-user systems, have played more and more important roles in many areas. In this paper, a directional modulation (DM) scheme for frequency diverse array (FDA) based on the leakage power minimization criterion is proposed, which can be used in a robot swarm system as well as other multi-user scenarios. Based on this scheme, location-dependent secure transmission can be obtained in the multi-user downlink channels under certain circumstances, where independent data streams can be sent to different legitimate users safely. Meanwhile, the difficulty for perfect eavesdropping is significantly increased compared with phased-array-based DM. We also use the block successive upper-bound minimization algorithm to optimize the frequency offsets of the array, and the algorithm can be effectively performed. This scheme utilizes the baseband model of the FDA, which is another contribution of this paper. It solves the problems brought by the time-varying nature of the FDA and reveals the distance-angle correlation of the FDA more fundamentally. Based on that, besides the proposed FDA-DM scheme, a novel multiple access technique, named as link division multiple access, is also preliminarily proposed. It allows the transmitter to distinguish multiple users in the same or proximal locations without the help of time division, frequency division, or code division. At last, numerical results are presented to verify the superiorities of LDMA and the proposed FDA-DM scheme.

Unified laser telemetry, tracking, and command (TTC) system on space platforms is increasingly utilized in space exploration for the reason that it takes advantage of the ultra-wideband laser signal, which is beneficial for high-speed command communication and high precision tracking and ranging. Unfortunately, its deployment is hindered by imprecise temporal synchronization because of high dynamic resulting from the movement of space platforms. This paper develops new compressive sensing (CS)-based dynamic estimation algorithm to address the dynamic estimation problem in spaceborne intensity modulation direct detection (IMDD)-based laser TTC systems. Specifically, we first design the sparsity in the transformation domain. On top of this design, a sparsity-aware algorithm for dynamic estimation through CS via sparse transformation is developed. To evaluate its performance, we conduct extensive simulations and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of good accuracy. Moreover, the analytical and simulation results show that the proposed algorithm exhibits better performance than conventional CS algorithms in terms of computational complexity, suggesting its attractiveness for spaceborne IMDD-based laser TTC systems.

A multi-channel backscatter communication and radar sensing system is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. Frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar ranging is integrated with simultaneous uplink data transmission from a self-packaged active radio frequency (RF) tag. A novel package solution is proposed for the RF tag. With the proposed package, the RF tag can transmit a 32-QAM signal up to 2.5 Gbps and QPSK signal up to 8 Gbps. For a multi-tag scenario, we proposed using spread spectrum code to separate the data from each tag. In this case, tags can be placed at arbitrary locations without adjacent channel interference. Proof-of-concept simulations and measurements are demonstrated. A 625 Mbps data rate is achieved in a dual-tag scenario for two tags.

The analog low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder, which is a specific application of the probabilistic computing, is considered to be a promising solution for power-constrained applications. However, due to the lack of efficient electronic design automation tools and reliable circuit model, the analog LDPC decoders suffer from costly hand-craft design cycle, and are unable to provide enough coding gains for practical applications. In this paper, we present an implementation of a (480,240) CMOS analog LDPC decoder, which is the longest implemented code to date using the analog approach. We first propose an analog LDPC decoder architecture, which is constructed by the reusable modules and can significantly reduce the hardware complexity. And then, we present a mixed behavioral and structural model for the analog LDPC decoding circuits, which can reliably and efficiently predict the error-correcting performance. Finally, the experimental results show that the decoder prototype, which is fabricated in a 0.35-μm CMOS technology, can achieve a throughput higher than 50 Mbps with the power consumption of 86.3 mW for the decoder core, and can offer a superior 6.3-dB coding gain at the bit error rate of 10-6 when the tested throughput is 5 Mbps. The proposed analog LDPC decoder is suitable for the power-limited applications with moderate throughput and certain coding gains.

Received-signal-strength-based (RSS-based) device-free localization (DFL) is a promising technique since it is able to localize the person without attaching any electronic device. This technology requires measuring the RSS of all links in the network constituted by several radio frequency (RF) sensors. It is an energy-intensive task, especially when the RF sensors work in traditional work mode, in which the sensors directly send raw RSS measurements of all links to a base station (BS). The traditional work mode is unfavorable for the power constrained RF sensors because the amount of data delivery increases dramatically as the number of sensors grows. In this paper, we propose a binary work mode in which RF sensors send the link states instead of raw RSS measurements to the BS, which remarkably reduces the amount of data delivery. Moreover, we develop two localization methods for the binary work mode which corresponds to stationary and moving target, respectively. The first localization method is formulated based on grid-based maximum likelihood (GML), which is able to achieve global optimum with low online computational complexity. The second localization method, however, uses particle filter (PF) to track the target when constant snapshots of link stats are available. Real experiments in two different kinds of environments were conducted to evaluate the proposed methods. Experimental results show that the localization and tracking performance under the binary work mode is comparable to the those in traditional work mode while the energy efficiency improves considerably.