Damen Thesis

Thèse
présentée pour obtenir le grade de docteur

de l’École Nationale Supérieure
des Télécommunications
Spécialité : Électronique et Communication
Mohamed Oussama Damen

Joint Coding/Decoding in a Multiple
Access System, Application to Mobile
Communications
ENST
Soutenue le 22 Octobre 1999 devant le jury composé de
A. Robert Calderbank Rapporteurs

Giuseppe Caire
Philippe Loubaton Prsident
Emanuele Viterbo Examinateurs
Jean-Claude Belfiore
Jorge Rodriguez Guisantes
École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications

2 ENST
To my family
iv ENST
Remerciement
Je voudrais remercier ici tous ceux qui m’ont aid et encourag pendant les trois annes
de thse. Tout d’abord j’exprime ma reconnaissance Monsieur Philippe Loubaton, Pro-
fesseur l’Universit de Marne la Valle, pour l’honneur qu’il m’a fait en acceptant de
prsider le jury.
galement je suis trs reconnaissant Messieurs A. Robert Calderbank, Directeur de

recherche AT&T, et Giuseppe Caire, Professeur l’Institut d’Eurecom Sophia Antipo-
lis, qui ont bien voulu tmoigner leur intrêt pour ce travail en tant rapporteurs. Leur
remarques et critiques m’ont t trs utiles.
Je tien aussi remercier Messieurs Emanuele Viterbo, Professeur l’cole Politecnico di

Torino, et Jorge Rodriguez Guisantes, Maître de confrence l’cole Nationale Suprieure
des Tlcommunications (ENST) de Paris, pour m’avoir fait l’honneur de participer ce
jury et aussi pour leur valeureuse remarques.
J’exprime ma gratitude mon directeur de thse, Monsieur Jean-Claude Belfiore, Pro-

fesseur l’ENST de Paris, pour la confiance et la patience qu’il m’a tmoign, et pour
tous les ides et les conseils qu’il a partag avec moi.
Je voudrais aussi exprimer ma reconnaissance la Direction de l’cole, la Direction

Scientifique et au Dpartement de Communications et d’lectroniques pour m’avoir ac-
cueilli et donn les moyens d’entreprendre cette thse.
Je tiens exprimer ma sincre reconnaissance au Rectorat de Paris pour avoir financ

ce travail.
Je remercie mes amis et collgues pour les motivations et les encouragements qu’il
m’ont donns. Je voudrais citer spcialement Nicolas, Karim, Amal, Ammar, Bahram,
v
REMERCIEMENT
Hilmi et Rima. Aussi je remercie tout le personnel du Dpartement pour l’ambiance

cosmopolite.
Finalement, je remercie mes parents et ma famille pour leur patience, encouragement,

et penses chaleureuses.
Digitally signed by
Mohamed Mohamed Oussama

Damen
Paris, le 31 Janvier 2000 M. Oussama

Oussama
Signature Not
Damen
Damen
DN: cn=Mohamed
Oussama Damen, c=US
Date: 2001.10.15
15:27:18 -07'00'
Verified
vi ENST
Contents
Remerciement v
Résumé xvii
Notations xix
Acronyms xxi
Abstract xxiii
1 Work Context 1
1.1 Definitions and system model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Overview and contribution of thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 Information Theory and State of the Art 13

2.1 Information theory viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.1 Capacity of the noiseless K-user adder channel . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.2 Capacity of the Gaussian multiple access channel . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.3 Capacity of known systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.4 Capacity of multi-antenna system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 State of the art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2.1 Multi-user detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2.2 Multi-user coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.3 Multi-antenna and space-time codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 Joint Multi-user Decoding 25

3.1 Uncoded two users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.1.1 The Gaussian channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.1.2 The Rayleigh fading channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2 Convolutional coded systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
vii
CONTENTS
3.2.1 Convolutional codes over the Gaussian channel . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.2.2 Convolutional codes over the Rayleigh fading channel . . . . . . 36
3.3 Block coded systems over the Gaussian channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.1 The Fossorier-Lin algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3.2 Assigning soft values to the hard decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.3.3 Simulations results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.4 Performance analysis: general observations and rules-of-thumb . . . . . 42
3.5 Elements of analysis of block coded 2 users over the AWGN channel . . 44
3.5.1 Union bound on error probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5.2 The probability distribution of user 1 at the semi-iteration l + 1 45
3.6 Sub-optimal system, comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3-A The likelihoods of uncoded two users over the Gaussian channel . . . . 50
3-B Union bound of uncoded two users over the Rayleigh fading channel . . 51
3-C The means and the variances of the matched filters . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4 Joint Multi-user Coding 57

4.1 System model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.2 Information theory considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.3 K-user code construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.3.1 A case of study, K = 2, q = 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.3.2 Increasing the number of users K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.3.3 Increasing the size of the constellation q . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.3.4 Increasing the dimension of the constellation D . . . . . . . . . 67
4.4 Detection over the noiseless adder channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.4.1 Some results from algebraic number theory . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.4.2 Detection, K = 2, D = 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.4.3 Detection, K = 3, D = 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.4.4 Detection, K > 3, D = 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.5 Detection over the Gaussian channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.6 Concatenation with single user codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.6.1 Concatenation with very low rate codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.6.2 Simulation results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.6.3 Performance analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
viii ENST
CONTENTS
5 Space-Time Codes for Multi-user Applications 81

5.1 Uncoded system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.1.1 SIC detection algorithm of uncoded substreams . . . . . . . . . 82
5.1.2 Coded substreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.2 Space-time codes, construction criterion and performance . . . . . . . . 90
5.2.1 Design criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.2.2 Examples of redundant codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5.3 Space-time coding without loss in spectral efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.3.1 Construction of space-time codes from algebraic number fields . 94
5.3.2 Simulation results over quasi-static fading . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.3.3 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.3.4 Equivalent uncoded system of ΘM,l ST coded system . . . . . . 109
5.3.5 Decoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.3.6 Fast fading, smart greedy space-time codes . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.4 Concatenating space-time codes with outer substream codes . . . . . . 113
5.4.1 Concatenated system over a quasi-static fading . . . . . . . . . 113
5.4.2 Fast fading, concatenated smart greedy space-time codes . . . . 115
5.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
6 Sphere Decoding of Space-Time Codes 119

6.1 Lattice representation of multi-antenna architecture . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.1.1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.1.2 System model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6.2 The sphere decoding algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6.3 Sphere decoding of the uncoded multi-antenna system . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.4 Sphere decoding of algebraic space-time codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.5 Sub-optimal scheme, sphere decoding with SIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
7 Conclusions and Perspectives 133

7.1 Thesis summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7.2 Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
BIBLIOGRAPHY 137
ENST ix
CONTENTS
x ENST
List of Figures
1.1 Multi-user communication via the same medium to one receiver. . . . . 2

1.2 Different possible components of a transmitter in a multiple access system. 2
1.3 BPSK, 4-PSK and 4-QAM modulations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 The K-user Gaussian adder channel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 K base stations communicating simultaneously with a satellite. . . . . 6
2.1 Information theoretic limits on the compression of a source Xs −→ X,

and the channel coding X −→ Xc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Maximum achievable rate in the K-user binary adder channel (BAC). . 15
2.3 Capacity region of the 2 users Gaussian adder channel. . . . . . . . . . 16
2.4 Multi-antenna system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 The evolution of the likelihood as a function of iterations, for the it-
erative detection of two uncoded users over the Gaussian channel: the
received signal is yt = A − B + νt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2 4 PAM non symmetrical modulation as a sum of two BPSK modulations. 28
3.3 Union upper bound on the PEP of two users jointly detected over the
Rayleigh fading channel: there is no ambiguity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.4 Iterative decoding scheme of K = 2 users over the Gaussian channel. . 33
3.5 Multiple access of two users with convolutional codes at common rate
R = 12 . The code (4, 7) that has the word with all ones is compared to
the code (23, 33). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.6 Coded multi-user with the convolutional code of rate R = 14 and con-
straint length 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.7 Coded multi-user with the convolutional code of rate R = 18 and con-
straint length 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.8 Convolutional codes of common rate R = 14 , and constraint length 5
over the Rayleigh fading channel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.9 Two users using the Golay(24,12) code at rate 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.10 Multi-block codes using the code BCH(31, 6) over the Gaussian channel. 41
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
3.11 Subtract a soft estimate iterative decoding method. . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.1 The constellation sum of code1, code2 and code3. . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

4.2 A 7-user code in a cellular system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.3 3-user code over 4-QAM constellation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
iφ
4.4 Constellations C, and e C: the maximization of d2m (S)
for two users
over the rotation angle φ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.5 The constellations sum of two users in 2-dimensional space. . . . . . . . 63
4.6 D = 2, 3-user constellations sum rotated by e−iφo,3 . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
−iφo,4
4.7 D = 2, 4-user constellations sum rotated by e . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.8 d2m (S) as a function of the rotation angle φ for K = 2, 3, 4 users, and
D = 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.9 Increasing the constellation dimension D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.10 Concatenating the K-user code with error control codes. . . . . . . . . 77
4.11 TCSO concatenated with rotated 4−QAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.1 multi-antenna transmission scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

5.2 V-BLAST alone and V-BLAST with second order reprocessing, M TX
and N RX over a Rayleigh fading channel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5.3 V-BLAST cascaded by single substream decoders. . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.4 Coding and interleaving in a multi-antenna system. . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.5 Iterative decoding of two substreams over a quasi-static fading. . . . . . 88
5.6 M = N = 4, 4-QAM over quasi-static fading. V-BLAST cascaded by
substream decoders/iterative decoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.7 BER as a function of Eb/N0 for different iterations, outer code BCH(16,5),
M = N = 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.8 Trellis space-time code, 4-PSK, 4 states, 2 b/s/Hz. . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5.9 G2 ST code, 1 symbol/s/Hz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
2
5.10 Maximizing δmin over a family of rotations constructed in a Hadamard
method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
2
5.11 The peaks of dP,min are bounded by δmin in 4 dimensions. . . . . . . . . 98
2 2
5.12 δmin and dP,min in dimension 6. The peaks of dP,min are bounded by δmin .100
5.13 ST codes Θ2 , and G2 using 4-QAM over quasi-static fading, N = 1. . . 105
5.14 Average SER of Θ2 , G2 , with 4-QAM over quasi-static fading, N = 2. . 106
5.15 Average BER of Θ2 , G2 , with 4-QAM over quasi-static fading, N = 2. . 106
5.16 ST code Θ3,2 with 4-QAM over quasi-static fading, N = 1. . . . . . . . 106
5.17 ΘUDS,3,2 with 4-QAM over quasi-static fading, N = 1. . . . . . . . . . . 106
xii ENST
LIST OF FIGURES
5.18 Average SER versus Eb/N0 . Θ2 with 16-QAM over quasi-static fading,
N = 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.19 Average BER of ST codes Θ4,2 , ΘUDS,4 with BPSK modulation over
quasi-static fading, M = 4, N = 1, l = 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.20 Average BER of the ST code Θ4,3 with BPSK modulation over quasi-
static fading, M = 4, N = 1, l = 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.21 Θ2 ST code with 4-QAM over a fast fading channel N = 1. . . . . . . . 113
5.22 Θ3,2 ST code with 4-QAM over a fast fading channel, N = 1. . . . . . . 113
5.23 Θ4,2 and Θ4,3 ST codes with BPSK over a fast fading channel, N = 1. . 114
5.24 Θ2 concatenated with outer substream codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.25 Concatenated Θ2 with BCH(16, 5). N = 2, 4-QAM over quasi-static
fading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.26 Concatenated Θ2 with BCH(32, 6). N = 2, 4-QAM over quasi-static
fading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.27 Concatenated system over a pure fast fading channel. Outer code Golay(24, 12),
inner code Θ2 , N = 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.28 Concatenated system over a realistic fading channel. Outer code Golay(24, 12),
inner code Θ2 , N = 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
6.1 Lattice sphere packing representation of a multi-antenna system, M =

N = 2 with PAM modulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6.2 Geometrical representation of the sphere decoding algorithm. . . . . . . 123
6.3 Flowchart of the universal lattice decoding algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.4 Sphere decoding of V-BLAST architecture, M = N = 8, average symbol
error rate of the 16-QAM modulation, 32 bits/s/Hz. . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.5 SD of V-BLAST architecture, M = N = 4, block error rate of 4-QAM
over a quasi-static fading of length 100 symbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.6 SD of V-BLAST architecture, M = N = 2, average symbol error rate of
the 16-QAM modulation, 8 bits/s/Hz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.7 SD of V-BLAST architecture, M = N = 4, average symbol error rate of
the 4-QAM modulation, 8 bits/s/Hz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.8 Sub-optimal SIC-SD of uncoded system with M = N = 4, using 4 QAM
constellation over the Rayleigh fading channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
ENST xiii
LIST OF FIGURES
xiv ENST
List of Tables
4.1 Asymptotic gain, compared to the BPSK, of the modulation q-QAM. . 60

4.2 Optimum rotations on 4-QAM in the dimension D = 2. . . . . . . . . . 64
4.3 d2m (S) of optimum rotated q-QAM in the dimension D = 2, K = 2. . . 67
4.4 The complexity of the ML detection given in the number of computed
Euclidean distance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.5 The complexity of the algebraic detection given in the number of com-
puted function (x). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.6 Optimum rotations in a close form on 4-QAM in the dimension D = 2,
and the degrees of the corresponding algebraic number fields. . . . . . . 76
5.1 First row of the optimal rotation matrices in dimensions 8 and 12. . . . 101
xv
LIST OF TABLES
xvi ENST
Résumé
Dans les systèmes de communication mobile cellulaire, plusieurs utilisateurs parta-

gent les mêmes ressources, mais dans des cellules différentes. Ainsi, si l’opérateur veut
densifier son réseau, l’effet sur un utilisateur sera une diminution du rapport signal
à bruit, et donc une dégradation de la qualité de service. Ce phénomène est par-
ticulièrement vrai sur le GSM par exemple où les interféreurs co-canal (partageant
la même ressource) sont considérés au récepteur comme étant du bruit. En fait, le
récepteur connaît la structure des messages de ces interféreurs et on sait maintenant
qu’un décodage conjoint améliore de faon considérable les performances du système. Il
y a un problème de taille au décodage conjoint, c’est son énorme complexité.
Au cours de la présente thèse nous nous sommes consacrés à essentiellement deux

points
1. Simplification des algorithmes de dcodage conjoint.
2. Proposition de nouveaux codes tenant compte de la présence d’autres utilisateurs

sur la même ressource.
Le premier point nous a conduit à proposer un schéma de décodage itératif dont les
performances s’approchent de celles de décodage à maximum de vraisemblance après
un petit nombre d’itérations. L’algorithme proposé est optimal dans le sens où tous les
interféreurs co-canal sont pris en compte à chaque itération. Nous avons testé le schéma
de décodage itératif sur des codes convolutifs et des codes en blocs, les avantages et
inconvénients de chaque système ont été montrés et expliqués. Nous avons proposé
une méthode efficace pour associer des valeurs souples aux décisions dures prise par
l’algorithme “Fossorier-Lin“ de décodage des codes en blocs.
Le second point a été traité sur deux types de canaux:
• Canal entrées multiples et à sortie unique.
xvii
RÉSUMÉ
• Canal entrées multiples et à sorties multiples.
Pour le premier type de canaux, nous avons proposé une nouvelle classe des codes multi-
utilisateurs basée sur des constellations multi-dimentionnelles tournées. Les codes pro-
posés sont decodable d’une faon unique sur le canal additif non bruité, atteignant ainsi
la capacité de ce canal, puisqu’ils ne comportent pas de l’information redondante. Sur
un canal bruité, les performances des codes proposés surpassent presque toujours celles
de TDMA. La concaténation avec des codes extérieurs mono-utilisateur permet un
rehaussement des performances du système.
Pour le deuxième type de canaux, nous avons proposé une nouvelle classe des codes
espace-temps basée sur des constellations construites sur les corps des nombres algébriques.
Ces codes vérifient les critères de la construction des codes espace-temps sur des canaux
à évanouissement quasi-statique et rapide. Ici encore, les codes proposés n’ajoutent pas
de la redondance; ainsi, dans un système multi-antennes, nous avons pu construire des
codes qui rálisent une diversité maximale sur le canal à évanouissement, et qui ont une
grande efficacité spectrale.
La nouvelle classe des codes espace-temps peut être représentée comme un réseau de
points, ce qui permet d’appliquer l’algorithme de décodage sphérique. Cet algorithme
permet d’obtenir les performances de décodage à maximum de vraisemblance pour une
complexité polynomiale en la dimension du système multi-antennes, et indépendant de
la taille de constellation utilisée; donc on peut arriver à des efficacités spectrales très
élevée tout en gardant des bonnes performances et une complexité raisonnable. Le
décodage sphérique est limité en dimension réelle, néanmoins, pour un bon compro-
mis complexité/performances, on peut dépasser cette limite en combinant décodage
sphérique et élimination d’interférence par la combinaison optimale des différentes
versions du signal reu (maximum ratio combiner). Comme résultat supplémentaire,
on peut assigner des valeurs souples aux décisions dures prise par l’algorithme sous-
optimal.
Dans un environment multi-antennes, en combinant codage conjoint avec une con-
caténation des codes mono-utilisateur et des codes espace-temps aux émetteurs; et en
effectuant un décodage itératif aux récepteurs, nous avons montré que de très bonnes
performances peuvent être réalisées avec une complexité de décodage modérée, et une
grande efficacité spectrale. Ce qui fait de ce système un candidat prometteur pour la
troisième génération de radio-mobile (UMTS).
xviii ENST
Notations
Throughout this work the notations of the matrices and the vectors are set in boldface,
for example M , y are matrices or vectors depending on the context, while M and y
are scalars.
√
• i= −1.
• Z is the ring of integers.
• Q is the field of rational numbers.
• R is the field of real numbers.
• C is the field of complex numbers.
• Z(i), Q(i) are the sets of numbers a + ib with a, b ∈ Z, a, b ∈ Q respectively.

Z
• Zn = nZ
is the finite quotient ring of integers modulo n.
• Rn is the Euclidean vector space of dimension n over R.
• K = Q(θ) is the set of all possible algebraic combinations of an algebraic number

θ with the rational numbers of Q.
• Pr{A} is the probability of the event A.
• Pr{A|B} is the conditional probability of the event A knowing that the event B
has occured.
• p{a} is the probability density function value in a.
• Lv(a) is the log likelihood value of the variable a.
• y T is the transpose of y.
xix
NOTATIONS
• y † is the transpose conjugate of y.
• y ∗ is the conjugate of the complex scalar y.
• V ec(M ) is the matrix M put in one vector:
V ec(M )T = [(M )T1 , (M )T2 , . . . , (M )TN ]T ,
where (M )j , j = 1 . . . N is the jth columns of the matrix M , N is the number

of its columns.

• n
k
= n!
k!(n−k)!
• For y ∈ C, y = (y) + i(y).

• |y| = (y)2 + (y)2 is the absolute value of the complex scalar y.

• ||y|| = |y1|2 + . . . + |yN |2 is the norm of the vector y = (y1 , . . . , yN ).
• rank(H) is the rank of the matrix H.
• H + is Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse of the matrix H.
• Eb/N0 is the signal to noise ratio per bit.
• Es/N0 is the signal to noise ratio per symbol.
• log x is the natural logarithm of x > 0, x ∈ R.
• logb x is the logarithm to the base b of x.
xx ENST
Acronyms
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise.
BAC Binary Adder Channel.
BER Bit Error Rate.
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying.
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access.
CSI Channel State Information.
DS-CDMA Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access.
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access.
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications.
i.i.d Independent and Identically Distributed.
ISI Intersymbols Interference.
LOS Line Of Sight.
MAI Multiple Access Interference.
MAP Maximum a posteriori.
MIMO Multi-Input Multi-Output.
MISO Multi-Input Single-Output.
ML Maximum Likelihood.
MMSE Minimum Mean Square Error.
xxi
ACRONYMS
MOD Mohamed Oussama Damen!.
PAM Pulse Amplitude Modulation.
PEP Pairwise Error Probability.
PSK Phase Shift Keying.
QAM Quadratic Amplitude Modulation.
QoS Quality of Service.
RIL Residual Interference Loss.
SDMA Space Division Multiple Access.
SER Symbol Error Rate.
SIC Successive Interference Cancellation.
SISO Single-Input Single-Output.
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio.
ST Space-Time.
TCSO Turbo Code based on Super Orthogonal convolutional codes.
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access.
UD Uniquely Decodable.
UDS Unequal Diversity Scheme.
UMTS Universal Mobile Telephone System.
V-BLAST Vertical Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time.
ZF Zero Forcing.
xxii ENST
Abstract
The push toward higher data rates and higher quality in wireless communications is
expected to continue. Thus a system designer should take into account:
• Low error probability at the receiver for both data and voice transmissions.
• High data rates at the transmitter, that support multi-media transmission.

It is well known that joint detection allows the receiver to cancel the interference,
but its drawback is its huge complexity.
The first objective of this work is to simplify joint detection algorithms by the use
of iterative decoding methods. Hence the multi-user receiver becomes simpler to im-
plement, while one keeps the robustness and the good performance of ML-detection.
If the joint detection allows high quality of service at the receiver, it implies restrictions
on the data rates in order to make enough room for the multitude of users.
Joint multi-user coding permits an enhancement of the total amount of transmitted
information by taking into consideration the existence of other users on the transmission
medium at the transmitter side.
Joint multi-user coding in multiple-input multiple-output channels allows more en-
hancement in the quantity of transmitted information, due to the huge capacity of
these channels.
Representing the multi-antenna system by a lattice sphere packing and applying the
universal lattice decoder yields the performance of the ML detection at low complexity
independently of the spectral efficiency of the system. Hence, a very high spectral
efficiency is reached in a system that exploits the full diversity, which allows one to
appreciate the capacity of the multi-antenna environment.
Joint multi-user coding and decoding in a multi-antenna system makes the goal
of transmitting high data rates at low error probability and moderated complexity
feasible.
xxiii
ABSTRACT
xxiv ENST
Chapter 1
Work Context
T he concern of multiple access communication is about the efficient use of a common

transmission medium by several users. This is particularly true in the mobile-radio
system where the number of subscribers increases constantly and the cellular operators
want to provide each subscriber with high quality of service (QoS) in both voice and
data transmission. The goal of a multiple access system designer is to
• Maximize the average overall amount of transmitted information.
• Minimize the average error probability and the average delay.
The new elements added to the single user problem are: interference and coopera-
tion among users. We will explain in the sequel the system model, and the different
components in the transmission chain used in the following Chapters.
1.1 Definitions and system model

The main goal of this thesis is to find channel coding/decoding methods adapted to
multi-user environment to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance and to en-
hance the spectral efficiency of the system.
We consider two multiple access schemes:
1. Many senders communicate simultaneously through a common channel to one

receiver, like in the up link of the mobile-radio system.
1
CHAPTER 1. WORK CONTEXT
2. One sender transmits to several receivers, like in the down link of the mobile-
radio system. In this scheme, the difference with the broadcast channel [24] is
that each user is interested in a different part of the received signal.
Multi-antenna communication, M transmitters communicate with N receivers via

N independent channels1 , could be considered both in down and up link of the mobile-
radio system.
Source 1 Transmitter 1
Source 2 Transmitter 2
Estimated Data
Channel Receiver
Source K Transmitter K
Figure 1.1: Multi-user communication via the same medium to one receiver.
Fig. 1.1. presents a multi-point-to-point communication scheme, and consists of:
1. K Sources: Each one is modeled by a stochastic process, in this work only se-
quences of i.i.d (independent and identically distributed) binary random variables
are considered. This is the case of most band-limited sources (such as audio and
image sources after sampling at a frequency higher than twice times the band
of the source, and supposing that the source coding is done perfectly so that all
dependencies among the samples are omitted).
from source Multiuser to channel

Channel code code Interleaver Mapper
Figure 1.2: Different possible components of a transmitter in a multiple access system.
1
The distance inter-antenna should be at least half the wavelength in order to make the N channels
independent. This scenario is imaginable with mobile personal computers.
2 ENST
1.1. DEFINITIONS AND SYSTEM MODEL
2. K Transmitters, Fig. 1.2: a transmitter is a device that matches the source to

the channel, it could have the following components:
2.1) Channel code (outer code): adds redundancy to the source stream to
protect it from errors caused by the channel and guarantee a reliable
information transmission. Although the first proposed codes were not
linear [83], the greatest amount of work in communication and informa-
tion theory is done over linear codes [33, 62, 44]. The linearity means
that the sum of two codewords belongs to the code.
There are two classes of linear codes:
(a) Linear block codes: the main class of linear block codes used in
the thesis is the class of binary BCH (Bose, Chaudhrui, and Hoc-
quenghem) codes.
(b) Convolutional codes.
2.2) Multi-user code (K-user code): a collect of single user codes, each one
takes into account the presence of the other codes over the transmission
medium, and has the role of protecting the concerned user from other
users interference. In concatenated systems, sometimes it is referred
to as inner code [38], since it is the nearest code to the channel in the
transmission chain.
2.3) Interleaver: a permutation of the given sequence X = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ),
that is used eventually when it is desired to introduce randomness
into correlated stochastic process (like time diversity over frequency-
selective Rayleigh fading channel, independent a posteriori probabil-
ities in iterative decoding schemes, etc). The inverse operation (de-
interleaver) is performed at the receiver. There exist different types of
interleavers:
(a) Matrix interleaver: X is read by the interleaver line by line then
it is output column by column.
(b) Quotient interleaver: let p be a prime number with n, let q%n
denotes the rest of the Euclidean division of q by n, then the in-
terleaver output is Y = (xp%n , x2p%n , . . . , xnp%n ), where the index
0 equals to the index n.
(c) Random interleaver: is simply a random ordering of the elements
of X, and is generated in simulations by choosing a seed S to
activate the random generator of the computer, then by choosing
ENST 3
successively n distinct numbers between 1 and n. This last one is

the most useful [73] and is the one used in simulations.
2.4) Mapper: matches a k-length binary sequence to the physical channel.
In the simulations, we consider the following modulations: let M = 2k ,
(a) Pulse amplitude modulation (PAM): the baseband presentation of
M-PAM signals is
M-PAM = {±1, ±3 . . . , ±(M − 1)}
(b) Phase shift keying (PSK): the baseband presentation of this mod-
ulation is
2π √
M-PSK = {e(m·i M ) , m = 0, . . . , M − 1, i = −1}
The special case when M = 2 is the binary phase shift keying

(BPSK), which has the same set of signals as the 2-PAM (see Fig.
1.3) but double the bandwidth.
(c) Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM): let M = M1 · M2 , the
baseband presentation of this modulation is
M-QAM = {a + ib, a, b ∈ {M1 -PAM, M2 -PAM}}
0 1
BPSK
01
00 4-PSK 11
01 11
10
4-QAM
00 10
Figure 1.3: BPSK, 4-PSK and 4-QAM modulations.
4 ENST
3. Channel: the channel is an application that transforms one or several inputs

to an output in a probabilistic manner. We always consider discrete-inputs
discrete-outputs channels, since by using the sampling theorem we can trans-
form a continuous-time channel to a discrete one. The channels considered here
have multi-input.
3.1) The multiple access Gaussian channel (Fig. 1.4): one can consider both
real and complex channels depending on the used modulation. The real
Gaussian channel assigns to the real inputs x1 (t), x2 (t), . . . , xK (t) at the
instant t an output y(t) = x1 (t) + x2 (t) + . . . + xK (t) + w(t), where w(t)
is an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN); white refers to the fact
that the random variables w(t), t ≥ 0 are independent, in opposition
to colored noise. Gaussian states that w(t) at each instant t follows
the Gaussian (Normal) probability law
1 z2 − (x−µ) 2
Pr{w(t) ∈ [z1 z2 ]} = √ e 2σ2 dx, (1-1)

2πσ z1
where µ is the mean of the noise, and σ 2 = N0 /2 is its variance. In
practice µ is set to 0. An important point to consider about this channel
is the power constraint, that is over a symbol interval [0, T ]

1 N
E |Xj (n)|2 ≤ Pj , (1-2)
N n=1
where N is the number of samples transmitted by user j during the
symbol duration T , and Pj is the maximum average energy per dimen-
sion available to the jth user. Xj (n) is the nth sample of the symbol
transmitted by the jth user during [0, T ]. This channel is called syn-
chronous when there is a common time reference known to all users
and no delay among them, otherwise it is asynchronous. The com-
plex baseband version of this channel adds a complex Gaussian noise,
component-wise independent with variance N0 /2 per real dimension.
A good example of this channel is a set of K base stations (BS) on earth

communicating simultaneously with a satellite (Fig. 1.5): the trans-
mitted signals are combined at the terminal antenna of the satellite,
and are corrupted by thermal noise, which is modeled by an AWGN.
3.2) The binary memoryless K-users adder channel: it has K inputs
Z1 , Z2 , . . . , ZK belonging to {0, 1}, and one output Z = Z1 + Z2 +
ENST 5
channel
x1(t)
x2(t) y(t)
received
signal
xK(t)
transmitted
signals noise
w(t)
Figure 1.4: The K-user Gaussian adder channel.
BS2
BS1
BSK
Figure 1.5: K base stations communicating simultaneously with a satellite.
6 ENST
. . . + ZK ∈ {0, 1, . . . , K}. It is the least harmful of all multiple access

channels, the only corruption of the considered signal comes from the
interference of the other users. It is the basic model for the construction
of K-user codes [20]. This channel is also called the noiseless binary
adder channel.
3.3) The mobile-radio channel: it is the most unfavorable channel among
the physical transmission mediums. In general a transmitted signal can
suffer from
(a) Large-scale path loss [51]: it describes the dependence of the local
mean power at the receiver P̄ at the distance d of the transmitter.
Empirically P̄ = CP P0 d−αP , where P0 is the transmitted power,
CP a constant, and αP a path loss exponent, typically 2 for free
spaces and 5 for highly dense populated areas.
(b) Shadowing: is the variation of the local power around its mean
value because at the same distance the surrounding environment
may be very different for two different receivers. It is modeled
by a stochastic process that follows a log-normal law, that is to
say 10 log10 (P ) follows a Normal probability law due to the central
limit theorem.
(c) Multi-path fading: due to reflection, diffraction and scattering by
a variety of nature and man-made obstacles, the transmitted sig-
nal is replicated at the receiver with several slightly different time
delays. The sum of these replicated versions by the terminal an-
tenna is either constructive or destructive. Due to the central limit
theorem, the received baseband signal is modeled by a complex
Gaussian noise multiplied by the transmitted signal and disturbed
by an AWGN ν
Y = (w1 + iw2 ) · X + ν
= eiθ · α · X + ν,
where w1 , w2 are independent centered Gaussian random variables

with variances σ12 , σ22 respectively. θ has a uniform distribution over
[0 π] and α has a Rayleigh distribution over [0 ∞[ with variance
σ 2 = σ12 + σ22
z2
1 2 /2σ 2
Pr{α ∈ [z1 z2 ], z2 ≥ z1 ≥ 0} = r · e−r dr. (1-3)
σ2 z1
ENST 7
When there is a line of sight (LOS) between the transmitter and

the receiver, the complex Gaussian process multiplied by the trans-
mitted signal is not centered, and α follows the Rice distribution.
The Rice channel is less harmful than the Rayleigh fading channel
since one can take advantage of the LOS. The multi-path fading
makes the channel frequency-selective.
(d) Change of channel parameters with time:
• Measured in frequency domain, the channel affects differently
two carriers spaced in frequency by more than its coherence
bandwidth [76]. When the bandwidth of the transmitted signal
is small in comparison with the channel coherence bandwidth,
the channel is called frequency-nonselective. Otherwise it is
called frequency-selective.
• Measured in time domain, channel variations in time are evi-
denced as a Doppler broadening of the signal spectrum. The
channel affects differently two carriers spaced in time by more
than its coherence time, which equals approximately the in-
verse of the channel Doppler spread.
(e) Interference of other transmitted signals.
The near-far effect: it describes the situation that occurs when
other transmitters are located nearer to the terminal antenna from
the desired transmitter, in a scheme of equal transmission power.
In simulations, we used a rather two benign models to represent
(a) Flat Rayleigh fading channel: independent Rayleigh fadings are
generated for each user and at each instant t.
(b) Quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel: the fadings are fixed over a
frame l of symbols transmission, then they change independently
every l symbols.
When the value of α is very small, the channel is said to be in a deep
fade. If the receiver is supplied by several replicas of the same signal
over L independent fading channels, then the probability that all L
channels fall in deep fade is reduced, this technique is a simple way to
improve the performance over the Rayleigh fading channel, and belongs
to a vast domain of research called diversity techniques [76].
Usually the pairwise error probability over a Rayleigh fading channel
8 ENST
1.2. OVERVIEW AND CONTRIBUTION OF THESIS
is bounded by
PEP ≤ κ · (SNR)−L ,
where L is called the diversity order or gain, while the coding gain
is defined by the coding advantage over an uncoded system with the
same diversity order, and equals to κ−L .
For an overview of fading channels, diversity techniques and list of
references see [12].
Throughout this work, a perfect channel state information (CSI) is

assumed to be available at the receiver.
4. Receiver: the receiver task is to extract an estimate of the desired user from the
received signal. This can be done by:
4.1) Maximum likelihood (ML) receiver: maximize the probability of having

the received signal knowing that the detected signal was transmitted.
4.2) Maximum a posteriori (MAP) receiver: maximize the a posteriori val-
ues of the transmitted symbols.
Definition 1.1 An a posteriori value, or relative value [7] is the

probability of the event that the detected symbol was transmitted know-
ing the received signal. In the literature, the logarithm of the probability
is computed, because in the case of Gaussian distribution (1-1), taking
the logarithm simplifies the computation.
4.3) Linear receiver, which uses methods of nulling the disturbing and un-
desired signals such as zero forcing (ZF), and minimum mean square
error (MMSE) receivers.
The receiver tolerance of the BER and delay transmission depends on the trans-
mitted information : a file containing computer data is tolerated to arrive with a
big delay, but its BER should be less than 10−5 . While an audio transmission in
the mobile-radio system could have a BER around 10−3 , but a very small delay.
1.2 Overview and contribution of thesis

Overview: In Chapter 2 we review the information theory limits, and then present
the state of the art in the three multi-user domains treated in the thesis: joint multi-
ENST 9
user decoding, joint multi-user coding, and space-time codes in a multi-antenna envi-
ronment.
In Chapter 3 we treat the problem of multi-user decoding by iterative methods. Our

proposed method is optimal in the sense that it takes into account all the active users
when decoding the considered signal. In simulations we test this method for both block
and convolutional codes. The difference in results is pointed out and explained. An
important contribution is the method of computing a posteriori values in the soft-input
hard-output Fossorier-Lin block decoding algorithm [32], since it is substantially less
complex than other soft-output block decoding algorithms based on trellis structure of
block codes [64, 66, 21].
Elements of analysis of the two users block coded case are given, then a comparison
with a sub-optimal iterative method is done before concluding the Chapter.
Chapter 4 deals with enhancing the spectral efficiency of the multi-input single-
output channels (MISO), by joint multi-user coding. A construction of new codes by
rotated constellations is given for 2 . . . 7 users.
Over the noiseless channel, the proposed K-user code profits from the algebraic struc-
ture of the considered number field to separate K sources by one sensor. Achieving
thus the capacity of the noiseless adder channel. A soft-input hard-output decoding
algorithm is then proposed. Over the Gaussian channel, the new class of codes is
compared to TDMA. Studying the different parameters in the proposed code shows
their influences in the obtained gain compared to TDMA. Then we present the system
obtained by concatenation with single user codes, where the special case of very low
rate single user codes is studied.
In Chapter 5, the problem of enhancing the total amount of transmitted information

is given another shot over MIMO channels: a system of multi-antenna is studied. Each
user transmits its information by means of one or more antennas, and the receiver
disposes of several antennas largely spaced to ensure independent fading.
At first, we discuss the system without single user and without K-user codes, and
comment on the limitations of the well known V-BLAST detection algorithm [39] in
taking advantage of the receive diversity. The outer codes combined with iterative
decoding at the receiver seem to exploit the CSI of the rich scattering multi-path
better than the conventional V-BLAST detector cascaded by single user decoders.
Then, we give a new class of space-time codes that has no bandwidth loss at the
detriment of lesser coding gain. The new class is proved to achieve the full diversity in
a given multi-antenna system. Again single user codes are concatenated with space-
time codes, and a new version of iterative multi-user decoding is given and proved by
10 ENST
1.2. OVERVIEW AND CONTRIBUTION OF THESIS
simulation to reach the ML decoding performance at high SNR.

In Chapter 6 we explore the lattice sphere packing representation of the multi-
antenna system, and apply the universal lattice decoder [101] “sphere decoder” to
decode both the uncoded system and the algebraic space-time codes constructed in
Chapter 5. The algorithm reaches the ML detection performance with a polynomial
complexity in the lattice dimension. This complexity allows an ML detection of lattice
codes of dimensions up to 32. Simulations show a huge improvement over the system
presented in [39, 104] for relatively small increase in complexity. The combination of
the algorithm with successive interference cancellation allows an increase in the set
of lattice dimensions and provides an interesting tradeoff complexity/performance for
high dimensions.
Chapter 7 concludes the dissertation: we discuss the obtained results, and give some
perspectives for further research in the ever open domain of multi-user communications.
Contributions:
• An iterative decoding method for a multi-user coded system, that achieves the
single user performance.
• Assigning soft values to the hard decisions obtained by the Fossorier-Lin decoding
algorithm.
• A new class of multi-user codes based on rotated constellations, which achieves

the noiseless adder channel capacity, and outperforms TDMA almost always over
the Gaussian channel.
• A new class of space-time codes based on rotated constellations, that achieves

the full diversity of the multi-antenna system.
• Joint channel coding/decoding method for the coded multi-antenna system.
• Sphere decoding of a multi-antenna system; and the combination of sphere decod-

ing with successive interference cancellation based on maximum ratio combiner.
ENST 11
12 ENST
Chapter 2
Information Theory and State of

the Art
I nformation theory gives the upper limits of the data transmission rate over a given
channel; and the lower limits of the data compression rate for a given source [24, 83]
(Fig. 2.1).
Data compression Data transmission
limit limit
1
0
0
1 1
0
0
1
min I(X;Xs) max I(X;Xc)
Figure 2.1: Information theoretic limits on the compression of a source Xs −→ X, and

the channel coding X −→ Xc.
It also suggests means of achieving these limits. However, due to the decoding
complexity of the proposed random codes which achieve these limits when the code
length goes to infinity, information theory had opened a new area of research to find well
structured codes that approach the upper limits with a reasonable decoding complexity
[33, 62, 44]. It was amazing to find that, almost 50 years after Shannon proposed his
capacity formulas and the random codes achieving it, the turbo codes [11, 79, 9], which
are the closest known codes to the capcity limits with reasonable decoding complexity,
have a random code likewise weight distribution [60].
In the sequel, we present the information theoretical viewpoint of the multiple ac-
cess problem, which should illuminate our approach to cancel the interference and to
13
CHAPTER 2. INFORMATION THEORY AND STATE OF THE ART
perform cooperation among users. Then we give the state of the art of the three areas
treated in the thesis: joint multi-user decoding, joint multi-user coding, and space-time
codes in a multi-antenna environment.
2.1 Information theory viewpoint

2.1.1 Capacity of the noiseless K-user adder channel
Chang and Weldon [20] showed that the capacity region of the noiseless K-user adder
channel is given by

C = (R1 , R2 , . . . , RK ) | 0 ≤ Rj ≤ 1, j = 1 . . . K,

2 2
k 22
0 ≤ R1 + R2 ≤ log2 2 ,
k=0 22
k
..
.
K

K
k 2K
0 ≤ Rsum = R1 + R2 + . . . + RK ≤ log2 K , (2-1)
k=0 2K
k
where Rj , j = 1 . . . K is the rate of the user j. They also showed that the maximum
achievable sum rate Csum is asymptotically equal to 12 log2 (πeK/2) (Fig. 2.2).
It is worth to notice that the capacity ≈ 12 log2 (πeK/2) is proportional to log2 the
size of the alphabet obtained by the sum of all users [92]. So one can increase the
capacity by two ways
1. Using non binary modulation.
2. Transmitting at different powers, so that the size of the sum of signals increases:

Example 2.1 {−A, +A}+{−A, +A} = {−2A, 0, +2A} the alphabet sum has
a size equals to 3. While for A = B, {−A, +A} + {−B, +B} = {−A − B, −A +
B, +A − B, +A + B} it has a size equals to 4
2.1.2 Capacity of the Gaussian multiple access channel

In Gaussian multiple access channel with power constraint P = (P1 , . . . , PK ) and noise
variance σ 2 , the information theory predicts [24] an achievable rate region such as

Pi
Ri ≤ C i∈S
∀S ⊂ {1, . . . , K}, (2-2)
i∈S σ2
14 ENST
2.1. INFORMATION THEORY VIEWPOINT
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
per channel use
1.8
sum
C
1.6
1.4
1.2 Asymptotical C
sum
exact C
sum
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
number of users
Figure 2.2: Maximum achievable rate in the K-user binary adder channel (BAC).
where Ri is the rate of user i, and C is the channel capacity of a single user as a
function of signal-to-noise ratio SNR :
1 P
C(P/σ 2 ) = log2 (1 + 2 ) [bits per dimension]. (2-3)
2 σ
Note that when all users have the same rate the previous inequalities become [24]
K

K
1 Pi
Ri ≤ log2 1 + i=1
, (2-4)
i=1 2 σ2
which is the bisecting line in the above region. This last equation shows the surprising
fact that the sum rate can be as large as the rate achieved by a single user who sends
with a power equal to the sum of the powers. In practical systems without multi-user
detection, the achievable rates fall far behind the capacity.
In Fig. 2.3 we plotted the capacity region of two users. The vertices A and B are
known to be achievable by “successive interference cancellation” (SIC) [10] as follows:
user one considers user two as noise, so he can achieve a rate of C(P1 /(σ 2 + P2 )) error
free. So after decoding the first user, the receiver can subtract its contribution from
the received signal, a procedure that allows the second user to transmit at C(P2 /σ 2 )
error free.
The application of this rule in real situations encounters two problems:
ENST 15
R2
A
C(P2/(No/2)) C
C(P2/(P1+No/2)) B
R1
D
C(P1/(P2+No/2)) C(P1/(No/2))
Figure 2.3: Capacity region of the 2 users Gaussian adder channel.
• The second user is not a Gaussian noise, to apply the central limit theorem the
number of active users should be ≥ 10.
• There is no error free single user code that achieves the capacity of the single user
channel; even the well known turbo codes [11] are 0.7 dB far from the Shannon
capacity (2-3), and due to the big slope of the BER curve as a function of Eb/N0 ,
this class of codes is very sensitive to the changes of the noise variance caused by
the other user.
2.1.3 Capacity of known systems

Multiple access schemes
There are three main categories of multiple access techniques [97]
1. Time division multiple access (TDMA): the frame duration is divided into non-
overlapping slots, each slot is assigned to a different user, and there is a slot
reserved for signaling. Each user can use the entire frequency bandwidth during
his time slot. TDMA cellular includes North American Digital Cellular, Global
System for Mobile Communications (GSM) [65], and Personal Digital Cellular
(PDC).
16 ENST
2. Frequency division multiple access (FDMA): the frequency bandwidth is divided

into non-overlapping slots, each user is assigned to one slot and can transmit in-
formation at any time. FDMA cellular includes AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone
Service) and TACS (Total Access Communication System).
3. Code division multiple access (CDMA): assigns to each user a unique code se-
quence that distinguishes him from the multitude of active users simultaneously
transmitting through the entire bandwidth. It is referred to as direct-sequence
CDMA (DS-CDMA) [99]. CDMA has been used in military satellite commu-
nication system, after it has gone commercial [61], [82], the Telecommunication
Industry Association (TIA) has adopted it, the standard IS-95 [2] was proposed
to replace IS-54 TDMA standard. CDMA technology has been proposed for the
third generation of the mobile-radio standard UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone
System) [22].
These methods are not exclusive, one can combine FDMA/CDMA to obtain Frequency-
Hopping CDMA. There are other strategies of multiple access such as space division
multiple access (SDMA). Rimoldi and Urbank [78], proposed a rate splitting scheme,
where all users but one split their code rates into two rates depending on the total
allocated power, such that the new set of rates forms a vertex in the capacity region of
a higher dimension space, and a vertex is known to be achievable via single user coding
and successive cancellation.
Theoretical potential
• TDMA (FDMA): because of the duality time/frequency all the results on TDMA
are applied to FDMA.
Let αj denote the slot duration of user j. Pj , P̂j its average and peak power

respectively1 . In a normalized system we have Kj=1 αj = 1. The capacity region
of this system is given by
Rj ≤ αj C(P/σ 2 ), ∀j = 1 . . . K, (2-5)
where P = min ( α1j Pj , P̂j ).

The sum rate is smaller than that given in (2-4), for two reasons
K
K Pj
1 Pj 1
1. j=1 αj 2 log2 1 + αj σ2
≤ log2 1 +
2
j=1
σ2
due to Jensen’s inequality.
1
In order to compare different multiple access systems, the total transmitted power is fixed in all
of them. In the case of TDMA(FDMA) the transmitted power can not exceed a certain value due to
physical limitations when the number of users increases.
ENST 17
2. Power limitation.
When Pˆj = ∞, the sum rate of TDMA can reach any point on the bisecting line
(2-4). The other extreme case, which is commonly considered as time sharing
in the communication community2 , is when P̂j = Pj . Which, in the case of two
users, is given by the region under the dashed line connecting C and D in Fig.
2.3: C presents the situation where user 2 occupies the whole period of time, and
D is achieved by reversing the role of user 1 and 2.
Note that in TDMA (FDMA) there is no room for cooperation among users
at the receiver side, the cooperation can be done only at the transmitter by
choosing rates proportional to the allocated power, which is very difficult to
realize physically.
• CDMA, non cooperative: when each user considers the other active users on the
channel as white noise, and is independently demodulated and decoded, his rate
is bounded by

Pj
Rj ≤ C . (2-6)
σ2 + k=j Pk
1
Let the number of users K −→ ∞, then the sum of the rates is bounded by 2 log 2
=
0.721 bits/s. This limit renders the CDMA system slightly less efficient than
TDMA(FDMA), but the big advantage of CDMA is that there is no dedicated
channels, which makes cooperative decoding schemes possible at the receiver.
• CDMA cooperative [98]: the cooperation implies that the receiver knows the code
structure of the other users so he can decode each and every one and cancel their
contribution from the received signal, which incidentally increases the complex-
ity. The cooperative scheme follows the same principle of successive cancellation
to achieve the vertices in the capacity region

(Fig. 2.3):
the receiver decodes
user 1, which transmits at a rate R1 ≤ C σ2 +P1 P , then user one is coded
k>1 k
and modulated then subtracted

from the
received signal which allows user 2 to
transmit at a rate R2 ≤ C σ2 +2 P , and so on. The sum rate of this scheme
P
k>2 k
could equal that of TDMA without power constraint (2-4), with the difference
that no synchronization among users is needed and there is no limitation on peak
power since all users transmit during the whole period.
2
The comparisons done in Chapter 4 are based on this definition of TDMA.
18 ENST
2.1.4 Capacity of multi-antenna system
RX
TX RX
TX RX
Transmitter
Receiver
TX RX
TX RX
RX
Figure 2.4: Multi-antenna system.
The physical limitation of the wireless channel presents the underlying challenge be-
hind the use of multi-antenna array. Consider the system with M transmit and N
receive antennas (Fig. 2.4). Telatar in [91], obtained capacity and error exponent [33]
expressions for multiple transmit-receive antenna system in the presence of Gaussian
noise, where he made the assumption of independent fading at each channel use. Fos-
chini and Gans [30] derived the expression of the outage capacity under the assumption
that fading is quasi-static. A particular layered space-time architecture [39] was shown
to have the potential to achieve a substantial fraction of capacity. The main conclusion
of their work is that the capacity of a multi-antenna system exceeds by far the single-
antenna system and grows at least linearly with the number of transmit antennas M
as long as the number of receive antennas N ≥ M.
For capacity computation purpose, the main difference between flat and quasi-static
fading is that the fading seen as stochastic process in time is no more ergodic in the
latter case [91], which implies that the channel capacity does not equal the maximum
of mutual information (see [24] Chapter 8 and [70]). This impairment of the channel
leads to a new definition of capacity more suited for the wireless channel. Let H be
the N × M transfer matrix of the fading channel.
ENST 19
Definition 2.1 Outage capacity: when the Shannon capacity in the sense of maxi-
mum rate error free is equal to zero no matter how long the code is, the outage capacity
is proposed as a trade off between supportable rates and outage probability. Namely,
given a rate R, and a power constraint P , the outage probability Pout (R, P ) is defined
as follows: for any rate r ≤ R and ∀ > 0, there exists a code satisfying the power
constraint P , for which the error probability Pe ≤ for all but a set of quasi-static
fading H whose total probability is less than Pout .
Let ρ be the average signal to noise ratio per receive antenna (independent of M).
Then for each realization of H the capacity is given by [31]:

ρ †
C = log2 det I N + · HH . (2-7)
M
In a fast fading environment, for a fixed N, when M −→ ∞, one has M1 HH † −→ I N

due to the law of large numbers. Hence the capacity in the limit of M large is given
by
N log2 (1 + ρ).
This huge increase is because in the fast fading case, the system has infinite time
diversity.
Over a quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel we have the following situations:
1. M = N = 1: no diversity

C = log2 1 + ρ · χ22 . (2-8)
2. N = 1, M > 1: transmit diversity

ρ
C = log2 1+ · χ22M , (2-9)
M
where χ22M is a chi-squared random variable that has 2M degrees of freedom,

formed by summing the squares of 2M independent Gaussian normalized and
centered random variables [58].
3. M = 1, N > 1: receive diversity

C = log2 1 + ρ · χ22N . (2-10)
20 ENST
4. M > 1, N > 1: combined transmit-receive diversity. No exact formula of the

capacity is available; but it is bounded by

M
M

ρ ρ
log2 1 + · χ22(N −i+1) < C ≤ log2 1 + · χ22Ni , (2-11)
i=1 M i=1 M
where χ22Ni , i = 1 . . . M are independent chi-squared random variables with 2N

degrees of freedom.
This capacity is approaching N log2 (1 + ρ) when M = N and M is large.
Note that:
• Increasing single-antenna capacity by using N receive antennas (M = 1) (2-10)

is greater than the increase caused by the use of M transmit antennas (N = 1)
(2-9) [103, 93, 94, 95]. In general the receive diversity is obtained automatically
by using the maximum ratio combiner of the N independent versions of the
transmitted signal, while the transmission diversity needs more sophisticated
processing such as space-time codes [89]. A system of full diversity is a system
that has N · M diversity order.
To summarize, when the receiver knows the CSI and the transmitter does not,
transmit diversity transforms the Rayleigh fading channel to a Gaussian channel
when M is large. While the receive diversity multiplies the Gaussian capacity by
the number of receive antennas.
• (χ22M /2M) −→ 1 in distribution by the strong law of large numbers, when M −→

∞. This explains in a mathematical formula the intuitive fact that given N, there
is a value Mopt for M that no increasing in the capacity could be obtained by
increasing the number of transmit antennas further than Mopt . For example, in
practice, when N = 1 the maximum capacity is achieved by Mopt = 4 [90], for
N = 2, 6 transmit antennas are sufficient to obtain the theoretical formula of
capacity.
Remark 2.1 For the capacity computation, it is always assumed that the transmit-
ter knows the distribution law of the channel, and the receiver knows the CSI. When
assuming that the transmitter knows the CSI too, it can be proved that the capacity en-
hancement obtained by transmit diversity is equivalent to that of receive diversity [19].
Furthermore, the multiple-input multiple-output channel (MIMO) can be transformed
into an equivalent system of min(M, N) single-input single-output channels (SISO) by
using linear operations at both the receiver and the transmitter.
ENST 21
2.2 State of the art

2.2.1 Multi-user detection
It is well known that the conventional detector suffers from multiple access interference
(MAI), and the near-far effect [97]. Multi-user detection copes with both problems.
The landmark in multi-user detection was the work of Verdú [96], where he proved that
the optimum ML detector can achieve single user performance, and the MAI could be
wiped out by exploiting the trellis structure of the intereferers put in all possible values
which they can take one after another. Then a Viterbi decoding algorithm is used to
maximize the likelihood of the signal of the considered user over the trellis paths. He
also proved that the asynchronous system could be solved by the same way if one
considers the asynchronous symbols as an additional interferer. In [35] a multi-user
ML sequence estimator was generalized for the convolutionally coded systems. Similar
results of single user performance were obtained. The inconvenience of the ML multi-
user detection is its huge complexity. In [96], the number of trellis states used by the
Viterbi algorithm is exponential in the number of users in the synchronized case. While
in [35] it is exponential in the product of the number of users and the constraint length
of the used code.
Since the invention of turbo codes [11, 79, 9] and their excellent performance, iter-
ative methods has gained great attention among the communication community. For
example, in [28] turbo equalization schemes were proposed in order to cancel inter-
symbols interference (ISI). Iterative decoding schemes look very attractive to achieve
the same task as ML detector with lower complexity [63]. In [98] error control cod-
ing and spread-spectrum were done by the use of orthogonal convolutional codes, and
successive interference cancellation was suggested and proved to reach the theoretical
potential of the system. Combining decoding and interference cancellation was consid-
ered in [80] over the Gaussian channel, and in [81] over the Rayleigh fading channel,
where the decoded user was re-encoded and re-modulated, and then subtracted from
the received signal at each iteration. In [80] orthogonal convolutional codes were used
and long direct sequences were multiplied by the encoder output to spread the users.
In [84], and [67], a soft estimate of the decoded signal was computed and substituted
in iterations to the hard values computed in [80]. This procedure allows a significant
increase in the amount of transmitted information.
We investigate in a new iterative decoding method in which we weight the contri-

bution of the interferers in the joint probability measure of all the users. A detailed
study over block and convolutional codes for both Gaussian and flat Rayleigh fading
22 ENST
2.2. STATE OF THE ART
channels is provided.
2.2.2 Multi-user coding

The landmark in this field was the work of Liao [59], which established the theoretical
background of multi-user coding. Kasami [53] proposed a class of δ-decodable multi-
user code based on coset codes of Reed-Muller binary codes [52]. In [20], a class of
multi-user code has been proposed. The sum rate of this code is proved to approach
asymptotically the capacity of the channel (2-1) in the sense that their ratio goes to 1
when the number of users goes to infinity.
The construction method by iteration on the number of users and the code length
of the difference matrix [20] has inspired all the subsequent works on the K-user codes
[54, 102, 50]. In a recent work [47], another class of iteratively constructed codes was
proved to reach the capacity in the sense that the difference between the sum rate and
the theoretical capacity tends to zero; which gives substantially higher rates than [20].
Our investigation on the K-user codes for the real adder channel is motivated by
concerns of simplicity and symmetrical construction for each user code. We believe
that construction of multi-user codes on multi-dimensional modulations by rotations
is first proposed in this dissertation.
2.2.3 Multi-antenna and space-time codes

Due to the huge increase in capacity of multi-antenna systems, a considerable amount
of work has been done in this field since the pioneering papers of Telatar [91] , Foschini,
and Gans [30]. An uncoded system and an algorithm of detection has been proposed
in [31], [39], where an unprecedented quantity of transmitted information was achieved
(26 b/s/Hz at SNR= 28 dB and block error rate of 10−2 ). The uncoded system did
not benefit from the transmission diversity, even the receiving diversity was not fully
exploited by the detection algorithm (see Chapters 5 and 6).
The work of Tarokh et al. on space-time codes was the pioneering work in this
subject [90, 89, 68, 87, 86]. The criterion construction and some convolutional coded
modulations were proposed in [90], block coding was proposed in [87] where ML decod-
ing was performed with linear complexity due to the orthogonality of the space-time
codes. In [88], estimation of the channel and the effect of mobility and multi-path were
considered. Generalization of space-time block codes from orthogonal design was done
in [86].
ENST 23
The application of multi-antenna to multi-user communication was mentioned in

[31], [39]; recently a CDMA system using multi-antenna has been proposed in [6], [69],
where each user has several transmit and several receive antennas over a frequency
non-selective channel.
In [25, 26] a complex system of trellis coded modulation (TCM) and multi-dimensional
rotated constellations was proposed; each dimension component of the rotated constel-
lation was transmitted by a different antenna, and rotations helped to maximize the
product distance of the transmitted signals.
Our approach using rotated constellations was motivated by exploiting the transmis-
sion diversity without loss in spectral efficiency. It consists in forming a matrix of a
rotated multi-dimensional constellation over space-time which verifies the criterion in
[90].
24 ENST
Chapter 3
Joint Multi-user Decoding
I n a pioneering paper [96] in 1986 Verdú has established the theoretical limits of
the maximum likelihood (ML) multi-user detector over the Gaussian multiple ac-
cess channel. It is well known that the conventional detector suffers from multiple
access interference (MAI), and the near-far effect. Multi-user detection copes with
both problems and allows the multitude of users to reach the single user performance.
The inconvenience of the ML multi-user detection is its huge complexity.
Iterative decoding schemes that we apply, look very attractive to achieve the same task
as an ML detector at high SNR, with lower complexity [84, 63].
Consider a system of many senders S1 , . . . , SK and one received signal r being the
sum of the K transmitted signals, attenuated or not attenuated by independent fadings,
and disturbed by an AWGN. The receiver is assumed to know the power of all the users,
and the channel parameters. By using this knowledge, the desired information of Sk
has to be extracted. In the sequel, we assume that the BPSK modulation is used as
well as a perfect synchronization among all the users.
The Chapter is organized as follows: in Section 3.1 we study the uncoded system
of two users over the Gaussian and the Rayleigh fading channels. An iterative detec-
tion scheme is proposed and studied for the uncoded case. In Section 3.2, an iterative
decoding method is proposed and tested on convolutional coded systems over the Gaus-
sian and the Rayleigh fading channels. Section 3.3 deals with block coded systems and
shows the advantages/disadvantages of block codes compared to convolutional codes in
the proposed iterative decoding method. General observations, and rules of thumb are
given in Section 3.4; then elements of analysis of the block coded two users are detailed
in Section 3.5. Before concluding the Chapter, we give in Section 3.6 a comparison of
25
CHAPTER 3. JOINT MULTI-USER DECODING
performance/complexity with a sub-optimal iterative method [84].
3.1 Uncoded two users

3.1.1 The Gaussian channel
Consider the received signal at time t
yt = Aat + Bbt + νt , (3-1)
where at , bt ∈ {−1, +1} are the transmitted symbols of user 1 and user 2, and νt is an
AWGN with variance σ 2 = N20 .
Definition 3.1 Ambiguity, and p-ambiguity: in a multi-user system using the BPSK
modulation over the Gaussian channel, an ambiguity occurs when the sum of two or
more users is equal to zero. The ambiguity in a coded multi-user system means that the
multi-user code, which is the collection of different single user codes, is not uniquely
decodable (UD) [20]. In a coded multi-user system, we say that a p-ambiguity occurs
when there are ambiguities over p positions in the codeword.
In an uncoded system over the Gaussian channel, the ML detector can not reveal
the ambiguity over the different users, nevertheless, at high SNR, it can separate them
when they transmit at different power. In the sequel, we develop an iterative detection
scheme for two uncoded users.
The formula relating the two likelihoods
The log likelihood value Lv(·) [43] of the random variable at is defined by
Pr{at = −1|yt }
Lv(at ) = log . (3-2)
Pr{at = +1|yt}
Assuming that at , bt in (3-1) are independent, the following relations between the two
likelihoods were derived (see appendix 3-A).

2Ayt Lv(bt ) AB
Lv(at ) = − 2 − 2arc tanh tanh tanh
σ 2 σ2
 
Lv(bt )

1 + tanh( σA2 yt ) · tanh( AB
σ2
) · tanh( AB
σ2
− 2
)
+ log Lv(bt )
. (3-3)
1 − tanh( σA2 yt ) · tanh( AB
σ2
) · tanh( AB
σ2
+ 2
)
26 ENST
3.1. UNCODED TWO USERS

2Byt Lv(at ) AB
Lv(bt ) = − 2 − 2arc tanh tanh tanh
σ 2 σ2
 
Lv(at )

1 + tanh( σB2 yt ) · tanh( AB
σ2
) · tanh( AB
σ2
− 2
)
+ log Lv(at )
. (3-4)
1 − tanh( σA2 yt ) · tanh( AB
σ2
) · tanh( AB
σ2
+ 2
)
Iterative detection method and analysis
Assuming that A ≥ B, the iterative detection is performed as follows:

Lv(bt ) is initialized to zero. Then Lv(at ) is computed by relation (3-3), and using the
result of (3-3) in (3-4) generates a new value of Lv(bt ). This procedure is then iterated.
The first term in (3-3) and (3-4) represents the situation when the user is alone. For
different signal-to-noise ratios between the two users, applying the previous relations
is equivalent to subtracting the most powerful user from the received signal. With
SNR of the same order for both users, the third term in (3-3) and (3-4) shows the
ambiguity

over

the two users, which is the worst case in an iterative decoding scheme.
If tanh σ2 ≈ 1 then for A B, the third term in (3-3) and (3-4) equals to the
AB
opposite of the first one, thus after the initialization of the likelihoods to zero, they
stick to this value during the iterations as shown in Fig. 3.1 (the dotted line).
Fig. 3.1 presents the evolution of the log likelihoods of the two users as a function
of the number of iterations for a given realization of the AWGN. It is shown that for
a big difference of SNR (5 dB) the iterative scheme separates the two users, while for
SNR of the same order the iterative scheme fails to reveal the ambiguity over the two
users.
3.1.2 The Rayleigh fading channel

To measure the performance of a system over a given channel, we usually compute an
upper bound on the pairwise error probability (PEP) [76].
Definition 3.2 The pairwise error probability is the probability of decoding the word
E knowing that the word C was transmitted, when these two words are considered to
be the only words of the code.
One expects no ambiguity over the Rayleigh fading channel, because if the two users
are affected by two independent fades, then the probability that the two fadings are
equal is zero. In the following the PEP is derived.
ENST 27
1
Lv(bt ),
) Eb2=0 dB
The loglikelihood : log(Pr(bit=0|observation)/Pr(bit=1|observation))
0
Lv(bt ), Lv(at ) for A=B
−1
−2
−3
−4
−5
Lv(a ),
) Eb1=5 dB
t
−6
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Number of iterations
Figure 3.1: The evolution of the likelihood as a function of iterations, for the iterative
detection of two uncoded users over the Gaussian channel: the received signal is yt =
A − B + νt .
Consider the received signal at time t
yt = αt Aat + βt Bbt + νt , (3-5)
where αt , βt are two independent Rayleigh fadings of variance σA2 , σB2 respectively. For
the user with amplitude A, the conditional error probability knowing that −A is trans-
mitted is equal to the conditional error probability knowing that +A is transmitted,
and is given by
1
Pr{e| − A} ≤ (Pr{e| − A − B} + Pr{e| − A + B}) . (3-6)
2
−2A 0 2A
× × × A=B
−A − B −A + B A−B A+B
× × × × A>B
Figure 3.2: 4 PAM non symmetrical modulation as a sum of two BPSK modulations.
Considering the 4 PAM non symmetrical modulation {−A−B, −A+B, A−B, A+B}
28 ENST
3.1. UNCODED TWO USERS
(Fig. 3.2), the PEP is bounded by

1 −1
Pr{(at , bt ) −→ (ct , dt )} ≤ exp (αt A(at − ct ) + βt B(bt − dt ))2 . (3-7)
2 8No
Computing the average over all the values of αt , βt , (see appendix 3-B) results in
 √ 
1 1 1 2( π − 1)  . (3-8)
Pr{e| − A} ≤
4 (1 + A2 σA ) (1 + B2 σB ) √π(1 + A2 σA )(1 + B2 σB )
2 + 2 + 2 2
No No No No
0
10
−− : The single user union bound
−.−. : The joint detection of two users union bound
−1
10
Union Bound on the PEP
−2
10
−3
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Eb/No in dB, the two users transmit at the same power
Figure 3.3: Union upper bound on the PEP of two users jointly detected over the
Rayleigh fading channel: there is no ambiguity.
We present in Fig. 3.3 a union upper bound on the error probability for a joint
detection of the two users over a the Rayleigh fading channel. There is a difference of
3 dB between the two users bound and the single user one, but there is no ambiguity.
Although iterative detection using the joint probability of an uncoded two users only
improves the performance of the system slightly, it allows one to understand the main
ENST 29
problem of such a scheme: the p-ambiguity is resolved below by using error control
codes with interleavers.
3.2 Convolutional coded systems

3.2.1 Convolutional codes over the Gaussian channel
Now the system using the BPSK modulation is encoded by convolutional codes. The
received signal is

K
rt = Ak · akt + νt , (3-9)
k=1
where akt ∈ {−1, +1}, νt is an AWGN with normalized variance σ 2 = 12 , and Ak is

the amplitude of the kth user. The same convolutional code is used by all users. The
outputs of the K convolutional encoders are fed to K independent random interleavers.
Our decoding algorithm is an iterative SIC type using the soft-input soft-output Bahl
et al. MAP decoding algorithm at each stage [5].
The parameters of the Bahl et al. MAP decoding algorithm
We do not derive here the algorithm parameters [5]. We just give their expressions and
note where the modification was done. Let rt = (rt,1 , . . . , rt,n ) be the received signal at
time t, with n being the number of outputs of the convolutional code1 ( n1 is its rate).
r t1 denotes the received sequence from instant 1 to instant t; the algorithm computes
the following parameters

αt (m) = Pr{St = m; r t1 } = αt−1 (m ).γt (m , m) Forward (3-10)
m

βt (m) = Pr{r τt+1 |St = m} = βt+1 (m ).γt+1 (m, m ) Backward (3-11)
m
γt (m , m) = Pr{St = m; r t |St−1 = m }

= pt (m|m )qt (X|m , m)R(r t , X) Branch-metric, (3-12)
X
where St is the trellis state at time t, τ is the length of the received sequence r.
pt (m|m ) is the transition probability in the trellis from the state m to the state m.
1
The different outputs are transmitted serially in time, but for computation purpose they are noted
in a parallel way. In the sequel, when there is no confusion, we note rt,j by rj .
30 ENST
3.2. CONVOLUTIONAL CODED SYSTEMS
qt (X|m , m) is the probability of X = (X1 , . . . , Xn ), when the transition m −→ m

occurs2 . R(r t , X) is the transition probability of the channel, which, for the Gaussian
channel, is

n
1 (rt,j − (2Xj − 1)A)2
R(r t , X) = √ exp − , (3-13)
j=1 2πσ 2 2σ 2
where A is the amplitude of the BPSK modulation.
The joint probability measure of all the users
We suppose that when decoding the user i, the receiver wants to take into consideration
the available information on the other active users on the channel. Assuming that the
K transmitters are independent, then the channel transition probability of the user i,
at the position j of the received signal, is given by

p{rj |aij } = p{rj |a1j , . . . , aK 1
j } · Pr{aj } · · · Pr{aj }.
K
(3-14)
akj ∈{−Ak ,+Ak }, k=1...K, k=i
When the receiver knows the code structure of all active users, like a base station in
the up link mobile-radio communication, it can profit from this knowledge to weight the
contributions of the other users in (3-14) when decoding the user i. The conventional
detector computes p{rj |aij } without taking into accounts the other users. It considers
them as an AWGN, which is equivalent to use the relation (3-14) with Pr{akj } =
0.5, k = 1 . . . K, k = i.
If we suppose that the receiver knows (by a genius aid!) that the user k has his jth
symbol equal to −Ak , so it is well known that subtracting the contribution of the kth
user from the received signal at the instant j improves the performance. Doing so is
equivalent to put Pr{akj = −Ak } = 1 and Pr{akj = +Ak } = 0 in (3-14). On the other
hand, if the receiver only knows that the probability of akj = −Ak is greater than the
probability of akj = +Ak , then it is wiser to give the metrics containing akj = −Ak more
weight than those containing akj = +Ak .
In general, the decoder performs better when a non-uniform distribution of the a priori
probabilities is available at its input, because it uses the a priori as a second “source”
of beforehand information about the received sequence; the first source being the code
structure [9].
2
If there are no parallel branches then it will be only one output for each transition.
ENST 31
Iterative multi-user decoding using the joint probability measure
Assuming that A1 ≥ A2 ≥ . . . ≥ AK , we propose to perform an iterative decoding on

the K constituent transmitters of the received signal r τ1 as follows:
In the first iteration, all the a priori probabilities Pr{akj } are initialized to 12 .
The receiver decodes user 1, while considering the rest as noise; no hard decision is made
on user 1 symbols, and the a posteriori probabilities of its symbols are stored. When
decoding user 2 the metric (3-14) is used and the a priori Pr{a1j }, ∀ j are replaced by
the a posteriori Pr{a1j |rτ1 }; users 3 . . . K are still considered as noise3 . When decoding
user 3, the receiver uses the a posteriori probabilities of users 1 and 2 in (3-14), and so
on. We say that the receiver performs one iteration in the iterative decoding scheme
when it passes over all the users. In the second iteration, the receiver re-decodes user
1 and uses the a posteriori probabilities of users 2 . . . K in (3-14). Hard decisions on
the information bits are made in the last iteration.
Note that if an error occurs at the bit j when decoding the first user, it will not
necessarily imply an error when decoding the second user. This is because when an
error occurs its reliability (a posteriori) is almost always small, so when passing this
reliability to the decoder of the second user, the first one is not subtracted erroneously
from the received signal, as when one subtracts the previously decoded users at each
iteration [80], but is still considered as noise.
Based on the above remark, we note that the assumption of having A1 ≥ A2 ≥
. . . ≥ AK is not a necessary condition in an iterative SIC type algorithm using “soft”
information about the other users. Because the algorithm does not propagate the errors
resulted from single user decoders. So starting the iterative decoding scheme by a user
of small post-detection SNR does not influence the performance of the algorithm; only
an additional iteration is needed.
Remark 3.1 We call the proposed iterative scheme a “SIC type” algorithm, but
improperly. While no subtraction of the decoded users from the received signal is per-
formed, the way the algorithm weights the kth user contribution to the received signal
is equivalent to subtract it when its a posteriori probabilities are relevant.
Example of two users
To clarify our multi-user decoder, we take K = 2. The receiver performs the following
recursion (Fig. 3.4):
3
In the first iteration, when Pr{akj } = 0.5, k = k0 . . . K it is not necessary to sum over these values
of k in (3-14).
32 ENST
received signal a posteriori 1

Deinterleaver 1 Decoder 1
Data 1
Coder 1 Interleaver 1 Mapper
Interleaver 2
Interleaver 1
Data 2
Coder 2 Interleaver 2 Mapper
AWGN
Decoder 2 Deinterleaver 2
a posteriori 2
Figure 3.4: Iterative decoding scheme of K = 2 users over the Gaussian channel.
1. De-interleave the received signal r τ1 , and the a priori of the second user with
respect to the first interleaver.
2. Decode the first user by the Bahl et al. MAP decoding algorithm using the
channel transition probability
p{rj |a1j } = p{rj |a1j , a2j = −1} · Pr{a2j = −1}

+ p{rj |a1j , a2j = +1} · Pr{a2j = +1}. (3-15)
3. Replace the a priori of the first user by the a posteriori computed by the decoding
algorithm. Then interleave the received signal and the new a priori of the first
user with respect to the first interleaver.
4. Repeat 1 − 3 for the second user and iterate.
Simulation results of convolutional codes over the Gaussian channel
We present in Fig. 3.5 the performance of an iterative decoding of two users using the
GSM [1] convolutional code (23, 33) of rate 1/2, and the systematic convolutional code
with polynomial generators (4, 7), which represents a special case where a convolutional
code of rate 1/2 has the word (1 . . . 1) (see Section 3.4). The SNR of the second user
is fixed to 5 dB for both codes, while the SNR of the first user varies from 0 to 5 dB.
It is shown that for the GSM code, the BER of the first user in the multiple access
scheme is close to the single user case starting from SNR1 = 0 dB, and SNR2 = 5 dB.
Fig. 3.6 presents the average BER of two and three users versus the common SNR
of all users. In simulations over the Gaussian channel, we counted at least 100 errors
ENST 33
0
10
code(4,7), user 1, Eb2/No = 5dB
code(4,7), user 1 alone
-1
code(23,33), user 1 alone
10 code(23,33), user 2, Eb2/No = 5dB
-2
10
BER
-3
10
-4
10
-5
10
0 1 2 3 4 5
Eb1/No in dB
Figure 3.5: Multiple access of two users with convolutional codes at common rate
R = 12 . The code (4, 7) that has the word with all ones is compared to the code
(23, 33).
34 ENST
0 0
10 10
User alone
Two users Eb1=Eb2
Three users, Eb1=Eb2=Eb3
User alone
-1 -1 Four users,Eb1=Eb2=Eb3=Eb4
10 10
Average BER
Average BER
-2 -2
10 10
-3 -3
10 10
-4 -4
10 10
0 1 2 3 4 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
Eb/No Eb/No
Figure 3.6: Coded multi-user with the Figure 3.7: Coded multi-user with the
convolutional code of rate R = 14 and con- convolutional code of rate R = 18 and con-
straint length 5. straint length 5.
ENST 35
for each user as a stop criterion. The computed BER’s of all users were very close, so
one can consider the average BER as the BER of each user. We present in Fig. 3.7 an
iterative decoding of four users transmitting at the same power, using convolutional
code of rate 1/8 and memory 4.
In all the simulations, the interleaver size is fixed to 1000 bits at the input of the
convolutional code (which makes it n×1000 symbols at the output). The convolutional
codes of a given rate and a given constraint length were chosen to have maximum free
distance [76].
3.2.2 Convolutional codes over the Rayleigh fading channel

In order to shed a light on the interleaver role in the multi-user decoding scheme we
generate independent fadings for each user. We simulate two and three users with
or without interleavers. As predicted there is no ambiguity over the Rayleigh fading
channel whichever code is used, or whatever is the number of users. In opposition to the
Gaussian channel, the iterative decoding scheme succeeds in separating the multitude
of users without interleavers, though the obtained performances are not close to the
single user (Fig. 3.8). It is shown that in opposition to the Gaussian channel, for
the same convolutional code, long interleavers are not required to reach the optimal
performance. In the simulations, independent random interleavers of size 100 obtained
the best performance.
We notice that when the number of users increases, the iterative scheme without
interleavers shows a severe degradation which we interpreted from the phenomenon
where the erroneous paths resulted from one decoder are passed entirely to the next
one. So the error paths permeate among users and bound the performance.
We present in Fig. 3.8 an iterative decoding of two and three users with or without
interleavers over the Rayleigh fading channel. All users use the same convolutional
code of rate 1/4 and memory 4. All users are transmitting at the same power, and the
variances of the different fadings are normalized to 1.
3.3 Block coded systems over the Gaussian channel

We consider the same system as in Section 3.2, where the convolutional codes are
replaced by block codes .
The class of block codes used in the sequel is the binary BCH codes.
36 ENST
3.3. BLOCK CODED SYSTEMS OVER THE GAUSSIAN CHANNEL
0
10
-1
10
Average BER
-2
10
-3 User alone
10
Two users with interleavers
Three users with interleavers
Two users without interleavers
Three users without interleavers
-4
10
0 1 2 3 4 5
Eb/No in dB
Figure 3.8: Convolutional codes of common rate R = 14 , and constraint length 5 over
the Rayleigh fading channel.
ENST 37
Definition 3.3 a binary4 BCH(n, k) code is a cyclic code described by n = 2m − 1,

n − k ≤ mt, dmin ≥ 2t + 1, where m ≥ 3 and t are arbitrary positive integers. It is
capable of correcting all error patterns of weight ≤ t [76].
Sometimes it is useful to make n even, (like when modulating every two bits into one
signal), so a parity check bit could be added to the coded word by adding the sum of
the n bits, the minimum distance is increased by one.
Block codes have the advantage that they do not need long interleavers to reach the
single user BER, which is not the case for the convolutional codes. Practically, an
interleaver of a length 5 − 10 times the block codeword length, is sufficient.
The Fossorier-Lin algorithm is used, which is a soft-input hard-output decoding
algorithm, and soft values are assigned to its decisions.
3.3.1 The Fossorier-Lin algorithm

Assume that a systematic block code (n, k) with a generator matrix G [60], and BPSK
modulation over the Gaussian channel, are used5 . Let u = (u1 , . . . , uk ) denotes the k
information bits vector, then the coded vector is
x = uG. (3-16)
After modulation and transmission we have
r = y + ν = (r1 , . . . , rn ), (3-17)
where y = (y1 , . . . , yn ) is the modulated sequence, and ν = (ν1 , . . . , νn ) is a component-

wise independent AWGN.
The principle of the algorithm [32] is to order the received signal r −→ r by de-
creasing order with respect to the post-detection SNR. The same ordering is applied
to the generator matrix G −→ G . Then the resulted code matrix is converted into
a systematic form by elementary matrix operations G −→ G , and the permutation
applied on the columns of G is performed on r −→ r . Combining the two permuta-
tions converts G −→ G = λ(G) such that G is in systematic form and its columns
are ordered in decreasing reliabilities. The permuted received sequence is then decoded
in a hard way.
Doing this minimizes the number of erroneous information bits, which can be exploited
by a reprocessing stage.
4
For mathematically precise definition see [33].
5
As we shall see in Chapter 5, one can use this decoding algorithm with other modulations, where
the ordering is done on each dimensional axis of the used modulation assuming that the noise is
component-wise independent.
38 ENST
Definition 3.4 An order-l reprocessing is defined as follows : for 1 ≤ i ≤ l, make

all possible changes of i bits of the decoded word. For each change, generate the cor-
responding codeword and compute its distance to the permuted received sequence r .
Then, choose the codeword with the minimum distance. Clearly the order-k reprocess-
ing achieves the ML decoding and requires 2k computations.
This algorithm is substantially less complex than the block decoding algorithm based
on the trellis structure of block codes [32]. In addition, it approaches the ML decoding
performance for relatively small values of the reprocessing order l depending on the
code dimension k, and the considered BER.
3.3.2 Assigning soft values to the hard decisions

In the case of block codes, for a given code C, the log likelihood ratio of the bit j is
given by

dj = 0|r
Lv(dj ) = log
dj = 1|r

Pr(r|Ci )
Ci /Cij =0
= log
Ci /Cij =1 Pr(r|Ci )

0
Pr(r|Cmin )
≈ log 1
, (3-18)
Pr(r|Cmin )
0
where the last approximation holds for large SNR. Cmin is the codeword of minimum
1
distance to the received sequence with bit j equal to zero, and Cmin is the codeword
of minimum distance to the received sequence with bit j equal to one.
To assign soft values, the relation above is used over all the codewords processed
by the algorithm during the reprocessing stage. The obtained soft values are close
to those computed by exhaustive decoding, because the probability, of the codewords
0 1
Cmin and Cmin not being among the words treated by the algorithm, is very small as
the reprocessing order increases. This property is linked to the following result [32]
π(l + 1) PB , (3-19)
where π(l + 1) is the probability that there are l + 1 or more errors in the first k posi-
tions of the decoded word (before reprocessing), and PB is the block error probability
of maximum likelihood decoding. The inequality (3-19) guarantees a sufficient condi-
tion for order-l reprocessing to provide practically optimum error performance at the
considered BER.
ENST 39
We have checked by simulation that, for k ≤ 16, a second order reprocessing provides
soft values very close to those obtained by exhaustive decoding. For these values of
k first order reprocessing in hard-output decoding is near optimum, while to obtain
near exhaustive decoding soft values, second order reprocessing is needed. However,
simulations show that iterative decoding converges to its best performance for soft
values obtained by first order reprocessing even though they are a bit different from
those obtained by exhaustive decoding.
Computing soft values in this way, induces that the computation of the metric should
be exponential, since we sum over all the codewords treated in the reprocessing stage.
While for the algorithm without soft decisions, the computed metric is only the Eu-
clidean distance. One can remedy this computations increase by choosing for the
0 1
likelihood (3-18) only the closest codewords to Cmin , Cmin among the word treated
within the reprocessing stage. Doing so, one computes only the Euclidean distance of
0 1
Cmin , and Cmin to the received sequence, because taking the logarithm of the ratio of
two exponentials is equal to the subtraction of the two exponents. This last way of
assigning soft values to the decoding algorithm gives small degradation compared to
summing over all the codewords treated by the algorithm, at high SNR.

Computation cost: Assigning soft values will add lj=1 kj comparisons and addi-
tions operations plus k divisions and storages, to the computations cost in [32].
Approximately, for short codes n ≤ 32, or medium codes 32 < n ≤ 64 with rate
R ≥ 0.6, the computation cost for near optimum hard decisions decoding is obtained
after second order reprocessing, and its computation cost is o(k 2 ) [32]. While for longer
codes higher reprocessing order is required to achieve optimum performance, most of
the coding gain is achieved within the first two reprocessing stages.
Compared to the Chase algorithm [21, 77], this algorithm presents the advantage of
less complexity and always having codewords with bit j equal to zero or one, j = 1 . . . k,
among the codewords treated by the algorithm.
3.3.3 Simulations results

The algorithm above was used in a multi-user system by introducing the metric of
relation (3-14) in the reprocessing stage. Two, three, and four users were simulated
over the Gaussian channel.
In all the simulations first order reprocessing was used. We present in Fig. 3.9 the
two users multiple access scheme at the common rate of 1/2. It is shown that for block
40 ENST
0
10
0 10
user alone
User alone
two users, Eb2/No = 5dB
10
-1 Two users
-1
10 Three users
Four users
BER of user 1
Average BER
-2
10
-2
10
-3
10
-3
10
-4
10
-4
-5 10
10 0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Eb/No , All users transmit the same power
Eb1/No in dB
Figure 3.10: Multi-block codes using the

Figure 3.9: Two users using the Go-
code BCH(31, 6) over the Gaussian chan-
lay(24,12) code at rate 12 .
nel.
ENST 41
code at the rate 1/2 the ambiguity still exists after coding and interleaving. There is
a difference of 1.2 dB between the two users case and the single user case. We present
in Fig. 3.10 an iterative decoding of two, three, and four users using the block code
BCH(31, 6). It is shown that the rate 6/31, in the block coding case, is not small
enough to separate completely four users over the Gaussian channel, while it does for
three and two users.
3.4 Performance analysis: general observations and

rules-of-thumb
We first give general observations on the performance of the system, then provide in
the next Section some elements of analysis for the two users scheme with block codes
over the Gaussian channel.
• One observes that the BER in a multi-user scheme is close to the single user BER
only after some threshold EbT (e.g 1.5 dB for two users and 2 dB for three users in
Fig. 3.6). One can interpret this as follows: in the first iteration user 1 considers

the others as noise, so his SNR is given by No +2R×Eb1 . This results in a BER
Ebi i≥2
Pe1 which should be small enough to allow the second user to obtain “reliable”
information about the first one, so that the last one could be subtracted6 from
the received signal.
– Obviously EbT increases as the number of users K increases.
– EbT decreases as the common rate R decreases.
• One observes that Rsum = K · R ≈ const. [98], which is due to the fundamental
relationship between power and bandwidth efficiency on the AWGN channel. For
a small number of users using short codes, the above relationship between power
and bandwidth efficiency could be interpreted as follows: for a given SNR, the
number of ambiguity situations increases combinatorially with K; consider the
scheme of three users, where all users are transmitting at the same power. If the
received signal is A + ν, where

A is the common amplitude of the used BPSK
3
modulation, then there are 2 = 3 possible situations of ambiguity: (1, 1, −1) ,
(1, −1, 1), or (−1, 1, 1).
6
In a soft way: since the exponent in (3-14), that subtracts the correct value of the first user from
the received signal, is multiplied by a higher value than that subtracting the wrong value.
42 ENST
3.4. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS: GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RULES-OF-THUMB
Simulation results have shown that common rates of 12 , or 13 with memory greater
than 3 are sufficient to obtain a BER close to the single-user scheme for two users
multiple access scheme. While for the same memory, a common rate of 14 is needed
for three users, and R ≤ 15 for four users.
• In the simulations, only a small number of iterations was required to reach the
stable performance (it varies from 10 iterations for low SNR (EbT dB) to 3 for
high SNR (EbT +2 dB)). It is shown that in opposition with the “turbo decoding”
scheme of a single user [9], for high SNR, the number of necessary iterations
decreases. This is due to the used metric (3-14), which, for high SNR, is equivalent
to subtracting the most powerful user from the received signal when decoding the
next users.
• Practical convolutional codes (Fig. 3.5, code(23,33)) are better than block codes
(see Fig. 3.9) at the rate 12 because they do not have the word with all ones
(1 . . . 1), which implies that every codeword Ci has its inverse C̄i = (1 . . . 1) +
Ci in the code, which increases the ambiguity cases7 . It seems that for code
rates smaller than 12 , the existence of the word with all ones does not affect the
performance of the iterative scheme. This is explained by:
– The code has increased its capacity of correction.

– The ratio of the number of codewords to the number of all words decreases.
So, after interleaving , the number of ambiguity cases decreases.
– The initial signal to interference ratio
Eb1
increases.
No +2R× i≥2 Ebi
• Interleavers : the results of subsection 3.2.2 allow us to conjecture that the role
of independent interleavers, associated with the same code output, is to make
the different users as orthogonal as possible. The orthogonality is guaranteed by
two points:
– Minimize the number of p-ambiguity cases over the Gaussian channel. Note
that when p is greater than the correction capacity of the code [60], the ML
decoding fails to reveal the ambiguity over the users even over a noiseless
adder channel. Thus the interleaver role is to make p as small as possible
over every codeword.
7
All the block codes used in the simulations have the word (1 . . . 1), and in general all the practical
known cyclic block codes have this word (ex. BCH, RM, QR) [60], since their generator polynomial
is not divisible by 1 + X, while the practical convolutional codes do not have it: an example of
convolutional code that has this word was given in Fig. 3.5.
ENST 43
– Break error paths resulted from the decoding algorithm.
3.5 Elements of analysis of block coded 2 users over

the AWGN channel
Consider the block coded two users scheme over the Gaussian channel. Since the soft
output Fossorier-Lin algorithm provides near optimum soft values, for simplicity sake,
maximum likelihood decoding is assumed.
Consider the received signal (3-1), with a normalized noise variance 1/2. The prob-
ability distribution of aj , bj , during the semi-iteration l, are denoted by plj , qjl . The
performance analysis consists in first computing a union upper bound of the error
probability in subsection 3.5.1, and then expressing a relationship between the two
probability distributions during the semi-iteration l + 1 in subsection 3.5.2.
3.5.1 Union bound on error probability

For a block code C(n, k), maximum likelihood decoding at the semi-iteration l + 1,
consists of implementing parallel M = 2k matched filters [76]. Each filter computes
a metric assigned to a codeword Ci, and the codeword that maximizes this metric is
chosen

n
2 2
eCMi = {e−(rj −(2cij −1)A+B) · qjl + e−(rj −(2cij −1)A−B) · (1 − qjl )}. (3-20)
j=1
Taking the logarithm and excluding the common term from the previous metric, the
following quantity should be maximized

n
n
Lv l (bj ) − 4Brj
CMi =2 rj (2cij −1)A+ log cosh 2AB(2cij − 1) + , (3-21)
j=1 j=1 2
ql
where Lv l (bj ) = log 1−qj l . By using the central limit theorem, it can be shown that
j
CMi is a Gaussian random variable. By using the linearity of the code, it can be
assumed that the all zero word is transmitted. The PEP for a codeword Ci is equal to
Pr{CMi ≥ CM1 }.
In the first semi-iteration, one initializes Lv(bj )1 = 0, ∀ j. By doing algebraic manipu-
lations, it can be shown (see appendix 3-C) that after the first semi-iteration, the PEP
is bounded by

1 wi (A − B)2
Pr{CMi > CM1 } ≤ exp − ,
2 2n(2A2 B 2 + A2 + B 2 ) + 2n(1 − 2n)(2B 2 − log 2)2
(3-22)
44 ENST
3.5. ELEMENTS OF ANALYSIS OF BLOCK CODED 2 USERS OVER THE AWGN CHANNEL
where wi is the weight of the codeword Ci .

Note that the ambiguity is shown by the term (A − B); that is when A ≈ B the PEP
is bounded by 12 .
After the semi-iteration l,

1 4wiA2 + ω
Pr{CMi > CM1 } ≤ exp − ,
2 8n(2A2 B 2 + A2 + B 2 ) + 8n(1 − 2n)(2B 2 − log 2)2
(3-23)
where
Lv l (bj ) Lv l (bj )
ω = qj (|2B 2 + | − |4AB + 2B 2 + |)
j/cij =1
2 2
Lv l (bj ) Lv l (bj )
+ (1 − qj )(|2B 2 − | − | − 4AB + 2B 2 − |)
2 2
= θj . (3-24)
j/cij =1
Note that over the symbols where qj ≈ 1 − qj , we have θj ≈ −4AB, which, in a scheme
where both users have the same order of SNR A ≈ B, is subtracted from 4A2 . Over
the other symbols where the decoding was done with good reliability, the corrective
term Lv l (bj ) is added to the term 4A2 − 4AB, so it allows a tighter bound on the PEP.
3.5.2 The probability distribution of user 1 at the semi-iteration

l+1
The log likelihood ratio of user 1 is approximated by

i=n
0 1

i=n
Lv l (bi )
Lv l+1
(aj ) ≈ 4 (Cmini − Cmini )ri A − log cosh( )
i=1 i=1 2
 
0 Lvl (bi )−4Brj

i=n

cosh(2AB(2Cmini − 1) + 2
)
+ log l
Lv (bi )−4Bri
, (3-25)
1
i=1 cosh(2AB(2Cmini − 1) + 2
)
κ
where Cmini denotes the bit i of the closest codeword to the received signal with bit
j = κ, with κ ∈ {0, 1}.
In the above equation, the first term represents the situation when the user is alone.
The third term represents the interaction between the two users. It is equivalent to the
third term in equation (3-3) of the uncoded scheme. The second term depends only of
ENST 45
the a posteriori probabilities of the second user, which is initialized to zero.

0 1
It can be shown that when Cmini = Cmini ∀i = j, (like in the uncoded two users), the
third term in (3-25) will be subtracted from the first one. So the likelihoods will still be
equal to zero after the first iteration. In the coded scheme, it seems that the difference
0 1
between the weights of Cmin and Cmin allows the likelihoods to change their signs after
the first iteration in ambiguity situations.
Independent random interleavers guarantee the independence of the random variables

bi , ∀i, and allow the sequence (b1 , . . . , bn ) to take values in the whole vectorial space
Z n
( 2Z ) of dimension n, instead of taking values in the code subspace of dimension k.
In order to minimize the number of bits where the sum of the two users is zero, each
Z n
user seen by the other should take values in ( 2Z ) . This explains the need of long
interleavers in the scheme of convolutional codes. Because for a given rate and a given
capacity of correction, the dimensions ratio of the code subspace over the whole space
of binary sequences is smaller for a convolutional code than for a block code. For a
block code this ratio equals to the code rate nk , while for a convolutional code of rate
k
n
and constraint length L the dimensions ratio depends on the sequence length. If the
sequence length is τ then the number of all possible codewords is 2τ +(k+L) , while the
number of all possible binary words is 2nτ ; hence the dimensions ratio is τ +k+L nτ
. In
other words, for a convolutional code, one needs to interleave over a long sequence in
order to span the whole vector space of all binary sequences.
For example, for K = 2, using a common code with memory 4, and rate R = 12 : to
reach the single user performance, simulations show that interleavers of length LI =
2000 symbols are needed. LI increases as a function of K and the memory of the code
since the ambiguity increases with K and the length of error paths increases with the
memory of the code. LI decreases as a function of R.
3.6 Sub-optimal system, comparisons

The number of operations required to compute the used metric (3-14) increases expo-
nentially with the number of users, which has limited us to four users in the simulations.
The complexity of the scheme proposed in [84] is linear with the number of users. The
sub-optimal method consists in updating the received signal at each iteration by sub-
tracting soft estimates of the previously decoded users, and then perform single user
decoding. In the simulation we use the following estimate of user i at the iteration l
at time j :

E l [aij ] = 2pij (l − 1) − 1,
46 ENST
3.7. CONCLUSIONS
where pij (l − 1) is the a posteriori probability of aij = 1 at the iteration l − 1. E l [aij ] is

the mean expected value of the symbol aij , knowing the received signal, and supposing
the rest of users as an AWGN [48].
Compared to our algorithm, the drawback of this scheme is that generally it needs
a larger threshold of SNR to reach the single user performance and it does not work
for high rates on noisy channels8 (for example, two users transmitting at a common
rate of 1/2 over the Gaussian channel); while the previous system gave relatively good
results (Fig. 3.5, Fig. 3.9). This is due to the way the information is passed among
the users: for high rates the number of errors generated by the first decoder after the
first semi-iteration is large. Although the reliability of erroneous bits is almost always
small, subtracting the term ((2p − 1) · A1 ) from the received signal will decrease the
SNR of the second user at the symbols decoded erroneously by the first decoder.
We present in Fig. 3.11 an iterative decoding scheme by iterative subtraction of two

users over the Gaussian channel. Codes of rate 6/31 and 1/2 are used. It is shown
that the above scheme gives good results for small rates, while it does not work at all
for the rate 1/2.
3.7 Conclusions
We studied in this Chapter a method for iterative successive interference cancellation
using the joint probability of all the users. The proposed scheme is said to be optimal
among the iterative decoding schemes, because all the users are taken into consider-
ation by the joint probability measure (3-14). Iterative decoding schemes look very
attractive, especially over the Rayleigh fading channel where the ambiguity does not
exist. The case of two users over the Gaussian channel shows the importance of coding
and interleaving to avoid ambiguity. Using coded systems with or without interleavers
over the Rayleigh fading channel shows the role of interleavers associated with the same
encoder in making different users as orthogonal as possible.
However, the proposed algorithm requires perfect synchronization, and perfect knowl-
edge of the channel.
Both convolutional and block codes were used in the discussed system. While for the
rate 12 practical convolutional codes perform better than block codes, the complexity
of the Fossorier-Lin algorithm is much smaller than the Bahl et al. MAP algorithm,
and block codes do not require long interleavers to achieve their best performance.
8
For noiseless channels both schemes have the same performance at high rates [84]
ENST 47
0
10
-1
10
-2
Average BER
10
-3
10
Two users, BCH(31,6) code

User alone, BCH(31,6) code
-4
10 User alone, Golay(24,12) code
Two users, Golay(24,12) code
-5
10
0 1 2 3 4 5
Eb/No, All users have the same power
Figure 3.11: Subtract a soft estimate iterative decoding method.
48 ENST
3.7. CONCLUSIONS
Finally, the proposed scheme is compared to a sub-optimal system with a complexity

that grows linearly with the number of users. For a small number of users at relatively
high rates, the optimal scheme gives better performance than the sub-optimal scheme.
While for large K and small R, both schema reach optimum performance within the
same number of iterations.
The main gain of the iterative scheme is in the BER, but the sum of all the user’s rates
is still bounded. While in CDMA, without multi-user detection, each user achieves a
BER equal to that obtained when considering the other ones as noise. In the iterative
scheme each user achieves a BER close to that obtained when each user is alone.
When the number of users K grows, it is possible to send more than 1 b/s/Hz in the
iterative decoding scheme [4]. This is because when K is very large, the multitude of
interferers can be considered as Gaussian noise by the central limit theorem. Neverthe-
less, the total amount of transmitted information is still far behind the system capacity:
1
in [4] they were able to separate K = 30 users with a common rate of 28 by a subtract
iterative decoding method. It yields a total amount of transmitted information equal
to 1.0714 b/s/Hz.
The next Chapter discusses the enhancement of the spectral efficiency of the sys-
tem for the multiple-input single-output (MISO) channels. The MIMO channels are
considered in Chapter 5.
ENST 49
Appendix of Chapter 3
3-A The likelihoods of uncoded two users over the
Gaussian channel
Compute the a posteriori of the random variable at by using Bayes relation yields
Pr{at = −1|yt } = Pr{at = −1|yt , bt = −1} · Pr{bt = −1|yt } (3-A-1)

+ Pr{at = −1|yt , bt = 1} · Pr{bt = 1|yt }
with
p{yt |at = −1, bt = −1} · Pr{at = −1|bt = −1}
Pr{at = −1|yt , bt = −1} = ,
p{yt |bt = −1}
where
p{yt |bt = −1} = p{yt |bt = −1, at = −1} · Pr{at = −1|bt = −1}
+ p{yt |bt = −1, at = 1} · Pr{at = 1|bt = −1}.
Assuming that at , bt are independent, and that at are i.i.d gives

1
Pr{at |bt } = Pr{at } = . (3-A-2)
2
The transition probability of the Gaussian channel is given by
1 (yt −at A−bt B)2
p{yt |bt , at } = e(− 2σ 2
)
. (3-A-3)
2
(2πσ )
Replacing (3-A-3) in (3-A-1) results in

(yt +A+B)2
e(− 2σ 2
)
Pr{at = −1|yt } = (yt +A+B)2 (yt −A+B)2
· Pr{bt = −1|yt }
(− ) (− )
e 2σ 2 +e 2σ 2
(y +A−B)2
(− t )
e 2σ 2
+ (y +A−B)2 (yt −A−B)2
· Pr{bt = 1|yt}. (3-A-4)
(− t )
e 2σ 2 + e−( 2σ 2
)
On the other hand

e(Lv(bt ))
Pr{bt = −1|yt } =
1 + e(Lv(bt ))
1
Pr{bt = 1|yt} = .
1 + e(Lv(bt ))
50 ENST
3-B. UNION BOUND OF UNCODED TWO USERS OVER THE RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNEL
Replacing in (3-A-4) and doing simplifications gives

A
e− σ2 (yt +B) eLv(bt )
Pr{at = −1|yt } = ·
2 cosh ( σA2 (yt + B)) 1 + eLv(bt )
A
e− σ2 (yt −B) 1
+ · . (3-A-5)
2 cosh ( σ2 (yt − B)) 1 + eLv(bt )
A
Replacing +A by −A in the above relation gives Pr{at = 1|yt}.

Finally the log likelihood is given by
Lv(at ) = (3-A-6)
 Lv(b ) Lv(b ) 
− A2 B+ 2 t A
B− 2 t
 A e σ · cosh A
σ2
(yt − B) + e σ2 · cosh A
σ2
(yt + B) 
log e−2 σ2 yt · A Lv(b ) Lv(b ) 
B+ 2 t − A2 B− 2 t
e σ2 · cosh A
σ2
(yt − B) + e σ · cosh A
σ2
(yt + B)
A
= −2 yt
σ2 
Lv(bt ) Lv(bt )
cosh σA2 B − 2
+ sinh A
σ2
B − 2
· tanh( σA2 yt ) · tanh( σA2 B)
+ log 
Lv(bt )

Lv(bt )
.
cosh A
σ2
B + 2
− sinh σA2 B + 2
· tanh( σA2 yt ) · tanh( σA2 B)
Developing the second term in 3-A-6 and simplifying gives

A AB Lv(bt )
Lv(at ) = −2 2 yt − 2arc tanh tanh · tanh
σ σ2 2
 
Lv(bt )
1 + tanh A
y
σ2 t
· tanh AB
σ2
· tanh AB
σ2
− 2
+ log 
Lv(bt )
. (3-A-7)
1− tanh σA2 yt · AB
tanh σ2 · AB
tanh σ2 + 2
3-B Union bound of uncoded two users over the

Rayleigh fading channel
We want to average over the Rayleigh fadings the PEP

Pr{(at , bt ) −→ (ct , dt )}.
Compute
1 ∞ ∞ −1 x2 y2
I= 2 2 exp( (δ1t x + δ2t y)2 ) · xy exp(−( 2 + 2 ))dxdy (3-B-8)
2σA σB 0 0 8No 2σA 2σB
where δ1t = A(at − ct ), and δ2t = B(bt − dt ).
ENST 51
Let
2
δ1t 1
Et2 = + 2,
8No 2σA
δ2 1
Ft2 = 2t + 2 ,
8No 2σB

2 8No 8No
λt + 1 = 1 + 2 2 1+ 2 2
2σA δ1t 2σB δ2t
2 2
A σA B 2 σB2
SNR1t = , SNR2t = .
No No
Integrating with respect to x gives [41]

∞
1 1 1 δ1t δ2t δ1t δ2t 2 2 δ1t δ2t y
I= 2 2 · − · y 2 · exp − Ft2 − ( ) y · erf dy .
2σA σB 2Et 2Ft2
2
0 16No Et 3
8No Et 8No Et
Integrating with respect to y results in

1 1 1
I = ( 2 2
· 2 2
2 (2σA Et ) (2σB Ft )
1 1 1 arctan λt 1
− √ · 2 2
· 2 2
·( 3
− 2 )). (3-B-9)
π (2σA Et − 1) (2σB Ft − 1) λt λt (1 + λ2t )
If SNR1t 1, and SNR2t 1 then λt 1 and arctan λt ≈ λt .

When δ1t = 0 and δ2t = 0, approximating the above relation gives
√
π−1 1 1
I≈ √ , (3-B-10)
2 π (1 + SNR1t ) (1 + SNR2t )
for δ1t = 0, or δ2t = 0 the result is quite strait-forward.
3-C The means and the variances of the matched

filters
After the semi-iteration l, compute
−Lv l (bj )
E[CM1 ] = 2nA2 + nE[log(cosh( + 2B 2 bj + 2Bηj ))], (3-C-11)
2
52 ENST
3-C. THE MEANS AND THE VARIANCES OF THE MATCHED FILTERS
where the expectation E[·] is made over the Gaussian noise and the two values of the
second user,
−Lv l (bj )
E[log(cosh( + 2B 2 bj + 2Bηj ))] =
2
+∞
−Lv l (bj )
(1 − qj ) log(cosh( + 2B 2 + 2Bt)) · exp(−t2 )dt (3-C-12)
−∞ 2
+∞
−Lv l (bj )
+qj log(cosh( − 2B 2 + 2Bt)) · exp(−t2 )dt,
−∞ 2
and compute
E[CMi ] = (n − wi )E[CM1 ]/n − wi (2A2 )

−Lv l (bj )
+ wi E[log(cosh( − 4AB + 2B(Bbj + ηj )))]. (3-C-13)
2
One postulates that the variances are the same for all the words
E[(CMi − E[CMi ])2 ] = E[(CMi )2 ] − (E[CMi ])2 . (3-C-14)
For the all zero word, writing CM1 in the form

j=n
CM1 = 2nA − 2A2
(Bbj + ηj )
j=1

j=n
−Lv l (bj )
+ log(cosh( + 2B 2 bj + 2Bηj )), (3-C-15)
j=1 2
yields
−Lv l (bj )
E[(CM1 )2 ] = 4n2 A4 + 4nA2 (B 2 + 1/2) + nE[log2 (cosh( + 2B(Bbj + ηj )))]
2
−Lv l (bj )
+ 4n2 A2 E[log(cosh( + 2B(Bbj + ηj )))]
2
−Lv l (bj )
− 4nAE[(Bbj + ηj ) log(cosh( + 2B(Bbj + ηj )))]. (3-C-16)
2
Let
+∞
F (x, y) = logν (cosh(x + yt)) · exp(−t2 )dt (3-C-17)
−∞

exp(−x2 /y 2 ) +∞ ν
= ( ) log (cosh(u)) · exp(−u2 /y 2 + 2xu/y)du
y −∞
2 2
exp(−x /y ) +∞ ν
= 2( ) log (cosh(u)) cosh(2xu/y 2) · exp(−u2 /y 2 + 2xu/y)du,
y 0
ENST 53
for ν = 1, 2.
exp(u)
For high SNR9 , we make the approximations cosh(u) ≈ 2
and cosh(2xu/y) ≈
exp(2|x|u/y)
2
, which results in
+∞
u − |x|
F (x, y) ≈ (u − log 2)ν exp −( )du
0 y
+∞
≈ −|x|
(yt + |x| − log 2)ν exp(−t2 )dt. (3-C-18)
y
Let
+∞
G(x, y) = t · log(cosh(x + yt)) · exp(−t2 )dt (3-C-19)
−∞

exp(−x2 /y 2) +∞ u − x
= ( ) ( ) log(cosh(u)) · exp(−u2 /y 2 + 2xu/y)du
y −∞ y

−x 2 exp(−x2 /y 2) +∞
= ( ) log(cosh(u)) cosh(2xu/y 2) · exp(−u2 /y 2 + 2xu/y)du
y y 0

1 2 exp(−x2 /y 2 ) +∞
+ ( ) u log(cosh(u)) sinh(2xu/y 2) · exp(−u2 /y 2 + 2xu/y)du.
y y 0
exp(u)
Making the approximations cosh(u) ≈ 2
, sinh(2xu/y) ≈ sign(x) exp(2|x|u/y)
2
, gives
−x +∞
G(x, y) ≈ (yt + |x| − log 2) exp(−t2 )dt
y −|x|
y
+∞
+ sign(x) −|x|
(yt + |x|)(yt + |x| − log 2) exp(−t2 )dt.
y
Finally, the values of the previous integrals are listed below.

For ν = 1
y
F (x, y) ≈ exp(−x2 /y 2 ) + (|x| − log 2)(1 + erf(|x|/y)),
2
and for ν = 2
y
F (x, y) ≈ (3|x| − 2 log 2) exp(−x2 /y 2) + (y 2 /2 + (|x| − log 2)2 )(1 + erf(|x|/y)),
2
and
−x y
G(x, y) ≈ ( exp(−x2 /y 2) + (|x| − log 2)(1 + erf(|x|/y)))
y 2
+ sign(x)((3|x|y/2 − y log 2/2) exp(−x2 /y 2 )
+ (y 2/2 + x2 − log 2|x|)(1 + erf(|x|/y))).
9
The union bound becomes significant for high SNR.
54 ENST
3-C. THE MEANS AND THE VARIANCES OF THE MATCHED FILTERS
For large SNR erf(|x|/y) ≈ 1, and exp(−x2 /y 2 ) ≈ 0. For ν = 1 it yields
F (x, y) ≈ 2(|x| − log 2), (3-C-20)
and
F (x, y) ≈ (y 2/2 + 2(|x| − log 2)2 ), (3-C-21)
for ν = 2. The other integral is approximated by

−2x
G(x, y) ≈ (|x| − log 2) (3-C-22)
y
+ 2sign(x)(y 2/2 + x2 − log 2|x|). (3-C-23)
After the first semi-iteration l = 0, it is given
E[CM1 ] ≈ 2nA2 + 2n(2B 2 − log 2), (3-C-24)
and
E[CMi ] ≈ (n − wi )(2A2 + 2(2B 2 − log 2)) − wi (2A2 )

+ wi (4AB + 2B 2 + | − 4AB + 2B 2 | − 2 log 2). (3-C-25)
Assuming that A ≥ B, this gives
E[CMi ] ≈ (n − wi )(2A2 + 2(2B 2 − log 2)) + wi (8AB − 2A2 − 2 log 2). (3-C-26)
Their common variance is given by
−Lv l (bj )
E[(CM1 )2 ] = 4n2 A4 + 4nA2 (B 2 + 1/2) + nE[log2 (cosh( + 2B(Bbj + ηj )))]
2
−Lv l (bj )
+ 4n2 A2 E[log(cosh( + 2B(Bbj + ηj )))]
2
−Lv l (bj )
− 2nAE[(Bbj + ηj ) log(cosh( + 2B(Bbj + ηj )))], (3-C-27)
2
and it is approximated by
E[(CM1 )2 ] ≈ 4n2 A4 + 4nA2 (B 2 + 1/2) + n(2B 2 + 2(2B 2 − log 2)2 )

+ 8n2 A2 × (2B 2 − log 2), (3-C-28)
which gives
E[(CM1 )2 ] − (E[CM1 ])2 ≈ 2n(2A2 B 2 + A2 + B 2 ) + 2n(1 − 2n)(2B 2 − log 2)2 . (3-C-29)
ENST 55
After the semi-iteration l one has

Ll (bj ) Ll (bj )
E[CM1 ] ≈ 2nA2 + 2 (qj |2B 2 + | + (1 − qj )|2B 2 − | − log 2),
j 2 2
and
E[CMi ] ≈ (n − 2wi)(2A2 )
Ll (bj ) Ll (bj )
+ 2 qj |2B 2 + | + (1 − qj )(|2B 2 − | − log 2)
j/ci j=0
2 2
Ll (bj )
2
+ qj (|4AB + 2B + | − log 2)
j/ci j=1
2
Ll (bj )
+ (1 − qj )(| − 4AB + 2B 2 − | − log 2). (3-C-30)
2
Finally, the mean of the difference is given by
Ll (bj ) Ll (bj )
E[CM1 − CMi ] ≈ 4wi A + 2
(qj (|2B + 2 2
| − |4AB + 2B + |)
j/ci j=1
2 2
Ll (bj ) Ll (bj )
+ (1 − qj )(|2B 2 − | − | − 4AB + 2B 2 − |)).(3-C-31)
2 2
56 ENST
Chapter 4
Joint Multi-user Coding
M any works have addressed the K-user coding over both noiseless and noisy chan-
nels [53, 20, 54, 50]. In [20] a class of multi-user codes has been proposed, and
proved to approach asymptotically the capacity of the channel in the sense that their
ratio goes to 1 when the number of users goes to infinity. The construction method by
iteration on the number of users and the code length of the difference matrix [20] has
inspired all the subsequent works on the K-user codes [54], and [50]. In a recent work
[47], another class of iteratively constructed codes was proved to reach the capacity in
the sense that the difference between the sum rate and the theoretical capacity tends
to zero when the number of users goes to infinity, which gives substantially higher rates
than [20].
Definition 4.1 A K-user code is said to be uniquely decodable if the sum of K

codewords is uniquely determined for each set of K words. It is said to be δ-decodable,
δ > 0, if the sum have a minimum Hamming distance greater or equal than δ, when
the minimum is computed over all the set of K codewords.
It is clear that δ-decodable implies uniquely decodable [53].

Example 4.1 We consider the following 3-user binary code [20]:
code1 = {(11), (00)}, with minimum squared Euclidean distance of 8.

57
CHAPTER 4. JOINT MULTI-USER CODING
Considering the sum of the three corresponding BPSK modulated signals gives a received
signal belonging to the constellation (see Fig. 4.1):
CS = {(3 − 1), (1 − 1), (1 − 3), (−1 − 3), (11), (−11), (−1 − 1), (−3 − 1)}.
which has a minimum squared Euclidean distance of 4 (it has a minimum Hamming
distance of 1 −→ 1-decodable). The sum rate of this 3-user code is 1.5 bits, which is
.3113 bits far from the capacity (2-1). Over the noiseless adder channel, the code is
uniquely decodable. Over the noisy channel, this scheme privileges users 1 and 2, since
their proper minimum distances are greater than that of the third user.
1
0.5
−0.5
−1
−1.5
−2
−2.5
−3
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3
Figure 4.1: The constellation sum of code1, code2 and code3.
Our investigation on the K-user codes for the real adder channel is motivated by
concerns about simplicity and symmetrical construction for each user code.
An example of the application of multi-user coding in the MISO mobile-radio cellular
system [57] is the use of 7-user code in a cluster where all users share the same frequency
band, and then repeat this set of codes over the other clusters (Fig. 4.2).
The Chapter outline is as follows: In Section 4.1, we present the system over which
we intend to build K-user codes. In Section 4.2, we consider some information theory
in order to make comparisons with the proposed K-user code. In Section 4.3 we give
the code construction, and study the influence of the different parameters of the code
on its performance. In Section 4.4, we propose a detection algorithm over the noiseless
adder channel which profits from the algebraic structure of the code. Unfortunately,
the considered algorithm is not robust in the presence of additive noise (Section 4.5).
Before concluding the Chapter, we study the concatenated system of inner and outer
codes. A special emphasis is given for the scheme of outer codes with very low rates.
58 ENST
4.1. SYSTEM MODEL
Code 3
Code 3 Code 4 Code 2
Code 6
Figure 4.2: A 7-user code in a cellular system.
4.1 System model

Consider a system of K senders transmitting simultaneously at the same power P ; each
one of them is using a rotated version of the q-QAM modulation in the dimension1
D, with one received signal being the sum of all senders disturbed or not disturbed
by additive white Gaussian noise. The noiseless received signal belongs to a certain
constellation CS , with minimum squared Euclidean distance d2m (S).
Definition 4.2 We define the residual interference loss (RIL) to be the ratio be-
tween the minimum squared Euclidean distance of the normalized constellation sum
d2m (S) and the minimum squared Euclidean distance of the normalized original QAM
constellation, which equals 4,

d2m (S)
Ls = 10 log10 . (4-1)
4
The goal of the designer is to find a K-user code that minimizes2 Ls.
1
For the QAM modulation, D should be even. Thus every two components of the modulated vector
represent a point in the two-dimensional QAM constellation. When D is odd, one can consider the
scheme of every component belonging to the BPSK modulation.
2
The K-user code is called uniquely decodable if d2m (S) > 0.
ENST 59
q 4 16 32 64 128 256
gq |dB −3.6798 −10.1424 −13.2222 −16.2668 −19.2942 −22.313
Table 4.1: Asymptotic gain, compared to the BPSK, of the modulation q-QAM.
Rotated constellations were first used in [14] to obtain diversity over the Rayleigh
fading channel. In [15, 37, 36] algebraic tools were introduced to build such rotations.
Here, we use rotated constellations to map different users on the real adder channel.
4.2 Information theory considerations
The capacity of the noiseless adder channel is bounded by log2 Sa , where Sa is the size
of the input alphabet [92]. Moreover, when sending K independent symbols from the
q-QAM modulation over the noiseless adder channel, the alphabet at the channel input
could have at most q K different symbols. Therefore, the maximum achievable sum rate
in this scheme is K log2 q bits per two dimensions.
Over the Gaussian channel, the system using q-QAM modulation with average power
per user equal to P as defined above is compared to a TDMA system of K users
described as follows:
each user transmits during K1 of the allocated time duration using the 2K log2 q -QAM
modulation with average power per user equals to min (P̂ , KP ), where P̂ is the power
peak allowed by the physical limitations. P̂ = P in the definition of TDMA commonly
used in the communications community, which we consider in the body of this Chapter.
For the modulation q-QAM, at high SNR, the asymptotic gain per symbol, with
respect to the BPSK, is given by [76]
3
gq = .
2q − 1
Table 4.1 lists the asymptotic gain for the modulation q-QAM with respect to the
BPSK: one looses approximately 3 dB per each added bit.
60 ENST
4.3. K-USER CODE CONSTRUCTION
4.3 K-user code construction

√
Let i = −1, and let φ be a rotation angle given in Radians. A K-user code based on
the rotation angle φ is defined by
K−2 iφ
(1, eiφ , e2iφ , · · · , e2 ), K ≥ 2. (4-2)
At each time instant t, the received signal is given by

K
j−2 iφ
r = x1 + e2 xj , xj ∈ q-QAM. (4-3)
j=2
00
11
00
11 000000000000
111111111111
111111111111111
000000000000000 000000000000
111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111 000000000000
111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111 000000000000
111111111111
000000000000000 111111111111
111111111111111 000000000000
000000000000
111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111 000000000000
111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111 000000000000
111111111111
000000000000000 111111111111
111111111111111 000000000000
000000000000
111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111 000000000000
111111111111
00
11
00
1100000000000
11111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111 000000000000
111111111111
0011111111111
1100000000000 000000000000
111111111111
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000
111111111111
000000000000
111111111111
00000000000
11111111111
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000
111111111111
11111111111 00
11
00000000000 111111111111111
00
11
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000000
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000000
111111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111
00000000000
11111111111
00000000000 111111111111111
11111111111 000000000000000
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000000
111111111111111
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000000
111111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111
00000000000
11111111111
00000000000 111111111111111
11111111111 000000000000000
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000000
111111111111111
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000000
111111111111111
000000000000000
111111111111111
00
11
00000000000
11111111111
00111111111111111
11 000000000000000
Figure 4.3: 3-user code over 4-QAM constellation.
In this system, where all users have the same modulation constellation q-QAM, the
first user sends his symbols without rotation. The second user rotates his symbols by
φ, the third user by 2φ, the fourth by 4φ and so on (Fig. 4.3). The proposed code is
constructed as if each user has a different received carrier phase, which equals twice the
preceding user arrival angle. Thus the receiver could separate the multitude of users
without ambiguity.
In the following we note φo,K the optimal angle for the K-user code (4-2) in the sense
of minimizing Ls (4-1).
ENST 61
4.3.1 A case of study, K = 2, q = 4

In this special scheme of two users in a two-dimensional space, finding the optimum
rotation angle φo,2 can be done by simple geometrical calculus as follows: for simplicity’s
sake we consider the 4−PSK modulation (φo,2 is the same for 4−QAM).
Let U1 ∈ {±1, ±i}, U2 ∈ eiφ {±1, ±i}, Us = U1 + U2
2
φo,2 = arg (max{ min {||Us − Us || }}), (4-4)
φ Us =Us
which is equivalent to

φo,2 = arg (max{ min

||(U1 − U1 ) + (U2 − U2 )||})
φ or U2 =U2
U1 =U1 ,
= arg (max{ min ||Z1 + Z2 ||}), (4-5)

φ (Z1 ,Z2 )=(0,0)
where

Z1 ∈ C = {0, ±2, ±2i, ±1 ± i}, Z2 ∈ eiφ C.
2
2i
C
iφ
// e C
1.5
iφ
e (1+i) //
1 1+i
0.5
−0.5
−1
−1.5
−2
−2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Figure 4.4: Constellations C, and eiφ C: the maximization of d2m (S) for two users over
the rotation angle φ.
62 ENST
Fig. 4.4 presents C and eiφ C. By using the symmetry of the constellation C, one
notices that the minimum distance between C and eiφ C occurs between the point
eiφ (1 + i) and its closest neighbors. The maximum of the minimum distance occurs
when the triangle (1 + i, eiφ (1 + i), 2i) is bilateral, which is the situation for φo,2 = π/6.
This angle gives d2m (S) = 1.0718, which yields Ls = −5.719 dB. This scheme has a .74
dB gain over TDMA using 16-QAM (see table 4.1).
4
4−QAM
iπ/6
e 4−QAM
3 Cs
0
y
−1
−2
−3
−4
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3
x
Figure 4.5: The constellations sum of two users in 2-dimensional space.
Fig. 4.5 shows the two constellations and their sum.
Remark 4.1 For two users, TDMA could be seen as a special case of the proposed
scheme. The scheme of two users in time sharing using the modulation 4-QAM is
equivalent to the scheme of the two constellations transmitted simultaneously
C1 = {1 + i, −1 − i},
and
π
C2 = ei 4 C1 ,
where d2m (S) = 8, Ls = 0 dB3 , and the spectral efficiency of the system is 1 bit per
dimension.
3
The comparison is done with the original constellation C1 with minimum squared Euclidean
distance equals to 8.
ENST 63
K φo,K d2m (S) Ls TDMA Loss
1 4 0
2 π/6 1.0718 −5.719 −6.463
3 0.312 0.371 −10.3 −12.59
4 0.155 0.075 −17.2 −18.6332
5 0.0760 0.0231 −22.38 −24.66
6 0.0350 0.0049 −29.12 −30.6824
7 0.0150 0.0009 −36.478 −36.7
Table 4.2: Optimum rotations on 4-QAM in the dimension D = 2.
There are three parameters in the aforementioned K-user code (4-2): K, q, and the
dimension D of the considered q-QAM constellation. In the following we show the
empirical effect of increasing these parameters on Ls.
4.3.2 Increasing the number of users K

We fix q = 4 and D = 2, K is varying.
Table 4.2 lists the optimum K-user codes maximizing d2m (S) for K = 1 · · · 7. For
three users there is a loss of Ls = −10.3 dB compared to the single user scheme. This
presents an advantage of almost 2.3 dB compared to a TDMA system using 64-QAM
with the same spectral efficiency of 6 bits per two dimensions. It is noticed from Table
4.2 that for q = 4, in the dimension D = 2, one can not gain more than 2.3 dB over
TDMA.
Fig’s. 4.6, and 4.7 present the distributions of the points in the constellation’s sum
in dimension 2 for K = 3, 4. Notice the repetition of the same pattern of groups of
points in these figures.
Fig. 4.8 presents the evolution of d2m (S) as a function of the rotation angle φ varying
from 0 to π/4 with a discrete step of 0.0014 . Notice that for all the values taken by φ,
(d2m (S), K = 2) ≥ (d2m (S), K = 3) ≥ (d2m (S), K = 4) for this class of K-user codes.
4
For the QAM constellation, d2m (S) is symmetrical with respect to the angle π/4.
64 ENST
0
y
−1
−2
−3
−4
−4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4
x
Figure 4.6: D = 2, 3-user constellations sum rotated by e−iφo,3 .
0
y
−1
−2
−3
−4
−5
−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5
x
Figure 4.7: D = 2, 4-user constellations sum rotated by e−iφo,4 .
ENST 65
1.4
K=2 users
K=3 users
K=4 users
1.2
0.8
dm(S)
2
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
φ
Figure 4.8: d2m (S) as a function of the rotation angle φ for K = 2, 3, 4 users, and
D = 2.
66 ENST
q 4 16 32 64 128
d2m (S) 1.0718 0.2872 0.077 0.0206 0.0206
Ls −5.7 −11.4 −17.1 −22.9 −22.9
TDMA Loss −6.4626 −12.1706 −15.0169 −18.0954 −21.0890
Table 4.3: d2m (S) of optimum rotated q-QAM in the dimension D = 2, K = 2.
4.3.3 Increasing the size of the constellation q

The maximization in Section 4.3.2 was performed over 4-QAM, but since the rotation
is orthogonal and unit transformation, and p-QAM ⊂ q-QAM, for q ≥ p, the values of
φo,K stay valid when increasing the parameter q in the modulation q-QAM.
Table 4.3 lists the values of d2m (S), for q = 4, 16, 32, 64, 128 for K = 2, D = 2.
For q = 16, the rotated scheme has spectral efficiency of 8 bits per two dimensions,
and has a loss of −11.4 dB compared to the single 16-QAM. While, for the same
efficiency of 8 bits per two dimensions, the TDMA system using 256-QAM has a loss
of −12.1706 = −22.3130 + 10.1424, compared to 16-QAM (see table 4.1). Thus there
is a gain of 0.77 dB compared to TDMA. For q > 16, TDMA is better than the rotated
constellations scheme for D = 2.
4.3.4 Increasing the dimension of the constellation D

It is intuitive that one can increase d2m (S) by increasing the dimension of the con-
stellation space, since more room is available to separate the multitude of users. For
example, for two users in R4 , a rotation that realizes Ls = −5.4 dB was found by the
aid of computer search over the Hadamard family of rotations given in [16]. Let
 
 a b −c −d 
   
 
 

 −b a d −c 
  M 1 −M 2 
M4 =   =

,

 
 c d a b  M2 M1
 
 
 
−d c −b a
where M 1 is fixed to be the optimal two-dimensional matrix that maximizes d2m (S)
for D = 2. Thus M 4 depends only on one parameter λ. Respecting the orthogonality
ENST 67
and unit constraints, the considered matrix family is given by
1 λ
a= , b = aλo,2 , c = , d = cλo,2 ,
U 1 + λ2o,2 Uλo,2
where

λ2o,2 + λ2 + λ2o,2 λ2 1
U= , λo,2 = √ .
λo,2 3
λo,2 5 is the optimum parameter that maximizes d2m (S) for D = 2.
1.4
K=2, q=4, D=2
K=2, q=4, D=4
1.2
0.8
d2 (S)
m
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
λ
Figure 4.9: Increasing the constellation dimension D.
We plotted in Fig. 4.9 d2m (S), for D = 2 and D = 4, as a function of λ with a

discrete step of 0.001. Notice, that for this family of rotations, the spectrum of λ,
where (d2m (S), D = 4) dominates (d2m (S), D = 2), is larger than its spectrum in the
opposite situation. This reflects having more room to separate the multitude of users
when increasing D. For D = 4, the optimum d2m (S) is reached for λ = 0.116 and equal
to 1.1446.
√
5
For D = 2, a = √ 1
= cos φo,2 = 3
2 .
1+λ2o,2
68 ENST
4.4. DETECTION OVER THE NOISELESS ADDER CHANNEL
4.4 Detection over the noiseless adder channel

We derive in the following a simple algebraic soft-input hard-output decoding algorithm
in the dimension D = 2 of the aforementioned K-user codes. Before that, we begin by
establishing the notations and by reviewing some results from number theory that we
will employ. To have a complete study of number field theory see [13, 55]. The number
field theory was used in [15, 37, 36] to build rotations in a given dimension that verify
certain properties6 .
4.4.1 Some results from algebraic number theory

Let Z, Q, R, and C be the ring of integers, the field of rational numbers, the field of
real numbers, and the field of complex numbers respectively. The notations Z(i), Q(i)
refer to the sets of numbers a + ib with a, b ∈ Z, a, b ∈ Q respectively. Note that
R(i) = C.
Definition 4.3 An algebraic number field K = Q(θ) is the set of all possible alge-
braic combinations of an algebraic number θ with the rational numbers of Q. θ is a
root of an irreducible polynomial mθ over Q which is called the minimal polynomial.
θ could be real or complex. If mθ is monic then θ is called integral over the ring of
integers Z.
Let n be the degree of this polynomial, it is also the degree of the algebraic number
field. mθ has n distinct roots in C called the conjugates of θ: θ1 , . . . , θn . (1, θ, · · · , θn−1 )
forms a basis for K. K is called an extension of degree n over Q.
√ √

Example 4.2 Let θ = 2, K = {a + b 2 with a, b ∈ Q}. The minimal polynomial

of θ is mθ = X 2 − 2. It is evident that K contains Q. Moreover, any element α =
√
a + b 2 ∈ K is a root of the polynomial mα = X 2 − 2aX + a2 − 2b2 .
Definition 4.4 We say that α ∈ K is an algebraic integer if it is a root of a monic

polynomial with coefficients in Z. The set of algebraic integers of K is a ring called the
ring of integers of K and is indicated with OK .
Let F denote either the field R of real numbers, or the field C of complex numbers
(depending on θ). It is proved that K is dense in F n , thus it is possible to uniquely
represent each element of K, by means of the canonical embeddings, with a point in
6
Some of the results below are only useful in Chapter 5, but for a concise review of algebraic
number theory we put all the required results in one Section.
ENST 69
F n . These canonical embeddings fix K point-wise; each one of them fix K, except θ,

which is sent to one of its n conjugates

n−1
n−1
σk : x = xj θj → σk (x) = xj θkj ,
j=0 j=0
thus, representing the elements of K by points in F n is done by using the following

mapping
φ ∈ K → (σ1 (φ), · · · , σn (φ)) ∈ F n .
This mapping is an additive homomorphism with trivial kernel, so it preserves the
additive structure and the dimension.
The ring of integers OK of K forms a Z−module of rank n (a linear vector space of
dimension n over Z). Let (w1 , w2, . . . , wn ) be a basis of K. If O K = Z(w1 , w2 , . . . , wn ),
then we call this basis integral.
Definition 4.5 One can define an algebraic norm over K by N(φ) = σ1 (φ) × · · · ×
σn (φ). One has, N(φ) ∈ Q, or ∈ Z, for φ ∈ K, and φ ∈ OK respectively.
We call the algebraic number field totally real if all the roots of the minimal poly-
nomial are real, the case in which we are interested in this work. Let F n = Rn , and con-
sider an integral basis (w1 , w2 , . . . , wn ). The n vectors vj = (σ1 (wj ), σ2 (wj ), . . . , σn (wj )) ∈
F n , for j = 1 . . . n, are linearly independent. So they define a full rank lattice (a discrete
group) of F n with generator matrix
 
 σ1 (w1 ) σ2 (w1 ) . . . σn (w1 ) 
 
 
 
 σ1 (w2 ) σ2 (w2 ) . . . σn (w2 ) 
 
G=  .
 .. .. .. .. 
 . . . . 
 
 
 
σ1 (wn ) σ2 (wn ) . . . σn (wn )
Thus studying the properties of a lattice in F n is equivalent to studying the algebraic

number field K.

√

Example 4.3 Q 2 + 2 is of degree 4 over Q, the minimal polynomial is mθ =

√ √
X 4 − 4X 2 + 2 which has four distinct roots θ = 2 + 2, −θ, θ̄ = 2 − 2, −θ̄ over
R. The four canonical embeddings are
σ1 = e : θ → θ, the identity
70 ENST
σ2 = ρ : θ → −θ
σ3 = σ : θ → θ̄
σ4 = σρ : θ → −θ̄. (4-6)
One notices that

{e, σ, ρ, σρ},
forms a Galois group with respect to the function composition law [55]. The basis
{1, θ, θ2 , θ3 } is integral. The lattice of R4 defined by the following generator matrix has
a full rank
 
 1 1 1 1 
 
 
 

 θ −θ θ̄ −θ̄ 

G4 =  .
 
 θ2 θ2 θ̄2 θ̄2 
 
 
 
θ3 −θ3 θ̄3 −θ̄3
In the following subsections, we provide a simple soft-input hard-output detection

algorithm for D = 2 over the noiseless adder channel.
4.4.2 Detection, K = 2, D = 2
Let us write the received signal r as
r = x1 + eiφ x2 , x1 , x2 ∈ q-QAM, (4-7)
with φ = π/6. Equation (4-7) is an under-determined linear system of two unknowns

in Z(i) and one equation. The right hand side of (4-7) is in the algebraic number field
Q(iθ), where
√
θ = 2 cos φ = 3.
Q(iθ) is of degree 4 over Q, thus in developing (4-7), we obtain a complete linear system
of 4 equations and four unknowns over Z:
x1 = a + ib
x2 = c + id, (4-8)
ENST 71
with a, b, c, d integers from PAM constellations over Z. Replacing in (4-7) and sepa-
rating real and imaginary parts yield
1 1
r1 = (r) = a − d + (c )θ
2 2
1 1
r2 = (r) = b + c + (d )θ. (4-9)
2 2
Over Q(θ), {1, θ} forms a base, thus in (4-9) there is a unique representation of r1 , r2
in the base {1, θ}. The detection algorithm for K = 2, D = 2, ∀ q is based upon the
representation of r1 , r2 in the base {1, θ} which yields a unique solution for a, b, c, d.
We need the following definition to describe the detection algorithm
Definition 4.6 For x ∈ R, let
(x) = |x − [x]|2 ,
where [x] denotes the closest integer to x.
To perform the detection we do
1. (r1 , r2 ) ← ((r), (r)).
2. Minimize over c belonging to the considered PAM the quantity7
(2r1 − θc). (4-10)
3. Minimize over d belonging to the considered PAM the quantity
(2r2 − θd). (4-11)
4. Replace the values obtained for c, d in (4-7) and compute the values of a, b.
√
The detection algorithm has a linear complexity in q, since the minimization is done
separately over the different PAM constituents of the used q-QAM constellation. It
provides optimal detection over the noiseless adder channel because of the following
lemma
Lemma 4.1 (x) = 0 if and only if x is integer.

The proof is a direct result from the definition of [x]. Thus the minimizations (4-10,
4-11) have two unique solutions over the considered PAM constellation.
7
For example, for q = 4, c ∈ {±1}.
72 ENST
4.4.3 Detection, K = 3, D = 2
For the 3-user code over the noiseless adder channel, the received signal (4-2) could be
written as
r = e−iφ r = e−iφ x1 + x2 + eiφ x3 . (4-12)
Let
x1 = a + ib, x2 = c + id, x3 = e + if,
developing (4-12) yields
r = c + (a + e) cos φ + (b − f ) sin φ
+ i (d + (b + f ) cos φ + (e − a) sin φ) . (4-13)
θ = cos φ, and θ̄ = sin φ, are two algebraic numbers of degree n ≥ 3 over Q, because
the code is uniquely decodable by construction. Since {1, θ, θ̄} is a free set over Q(θ),
the following linear system has a unique solution over Z
r1 = (r ) = c + (a + e)θ + (b − f )θ̄

r2 = (r ) = d + (b + f )θ + (e − a)θ̄. (4-14)
To solve this system we propose the following algorithm:
1. r ← e−iφ r.
2. (r1 , r2 ) ← ((r ), (r )).
3. Minimize the quantity

(r1 − Xθ − Y θ̄),

over X and Y belonging to the considered DPAMq,2 = {α + β, α, β ∈ PAM}8
4. Minimize the quantity

(r2 − Uθ − V θ̄),
over U, and V belonging to the considered DPAMq,2

Y +U
5. • a← X−V
2
,b← 2
.
• e ← X − a, f ← U − b.
6. Replace the values of a, b, e, f in (4-14) and compute c, d.

8
For example, for q = 4, DPAMq,2 = {−2, 0, 2}.
ENST 73
Over the noiseless adder channel, this algorithm succeeds in separating the users with
considerably less complexity than the ML detection. The complexity of the proposed
algorithm depends on the size of the considered DPAMq,2 . For example, over the q-
√
QAM modulation obtained by the same q-PAM over real and imaginary parts, one
√
considers in the detection two minimizations over a DPAMq,2 of size 2 q − 1. This
√
induces 2(2 q − 1)2 computations of the function (x) (4.6), while the ML-detection
computes q 3 Euclidean distances or cross correlations.
4.4.4 Detection, K > 3, D = 2

By doing algebraic manipulations on the received signal (4-3), one obtains
2K−2 φ
r = e−i 2 r
−i2K−3 φ K−3 −1)φ K−3 φ
= e x1 + e−i(2 x2 + . . . + xK−1 + ei2 xK , (4-15)
separating the real and imaginary parts, and developing in
{1, cos φ, cos 2φ, . . . , sin φ, sin 2φ, . . .},
yields
r1 = (r ) = (xK−1) + ((x1 ) + (xK )) cos (2K−2φ)

+ ((x1 ) − (xK )) sin (2K−2 φ)
+ (x2 ) cos ((2K−3 − 1)φ) + (x2 ) sin ((2K−3 − 1)φ) + . . .
r2 = (r ) = (xK−1) + (−(x1 ) + (xK )) sin (2K−2 φ)
+ ((x1 ) + (xK )) cos (2K−2φ)
− (x2 ) sin ((2K−3 − 1)φ) + (x2 ) cos ((2K−3 − 1)φ) + . . . (4-16)
Proposition 4.1 In the above K-user code, over the noiseless adder channel the
real and imaginary parts are uniquely decodable separately.
Proof: By construction, the proposed code is uniquely decodable; i.e.
∀(x1 , x2 , . . . , xK ) = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xK ),
we have

K
j−2 iφ
K
j−2 iφ
x1 + e2 xj = x1 + e2 xj .
j=2 j=2
Suppose that in equation (4-16) one has one solution for r1 and two solutions for r2 ,
then combining the two equations one obtains two different solutions for (4-15) and thus
74 ENST
K||q 4 16 32 64
3 64 4096 32768 262144
4 256 65536 1048576 16777216
5 1024 1048576 33554432 1.0737e + 09
Table 4.4: The complexity of the ML detection given in the number of computed
Euclidean distance.
K||q 4 16 32 64
3 18 98 213 450
4 45 833 3510 14625
5 225 14161 115840 950625
Table 4.5: The complexity of the algebraic detection given in the number of computed
function (x).
two different solutions for (4-3) which contradicts the hypothesis of uniquely decodable.
Applying the same principle of the algebraic detection on r1 − (xK−1 ) and r2 −
(xK−1 ), one should perform one minimization of the function (x) over at most
2(K − 3) variables belonging to the constellation PAM and two variables belonging
√
to DPAMq,2 . Thus, the complexity of the algorithm is at most (q K−3 + 1)(2 q − 1)2
computations of the function (x) (4.6). This complexity is to be compared with
q K computations of Euclidean distances, which is the complexity of the ML-detection.
Besides, the computation of the function (x) is less complex than the computation
of the Euclidean distance. In Tables 4.4, and 4.5, we list the complexity of the ML and
the algebraic detections for different values of K and q. For example for K = 3, and
q = 64, the complexity of the ML detection is 582 times that of the algebraic detection
algorithm.
The values of the rotation angles were obtained through an exhaustive search by the
computer search.
In order to separate K users in one algebraic equation (4-3), the algebraic number eiφ
should be at least of degree ≥ 2K so that cos φ could be of degree ≥ K. For example,
ENST 75
K φo,K in close form Ls degree of cos φo,K
2 2π/12 −5.719 2
3 2π/20 −10.9 4
4 2π/41 −17.3 20
5 2π/83 −22.42 41
6 2π/180 −29.12 24
7 2π/419 −36.478 209
Table 4.6: Optimum rotations in a close form on 4-QAM in the dimension D = 2, and
the degrees of the corresponding algebraic number fields.
for K = 2, eiπ/6 is of degree9 Φ(12) = 4 over Q, and cos π6 is of degree 2. For K = 3, the
closest algebraic number to ei.312 in close form is ei2π/20 which has a degree Φ(20) = 8
π
over Q, and thus cos 10 is of degree 4. The rotation ei2π/20 in the 3-user scheme gives
an RIL of Ls = −10.9 dB. Table 4.6 shows the closest algebraic number in close form
to the optimal rotations. It also lists their degrees over Q and their RIL’s.
Notice the resemblance between rotating the multi-dimensional constellation to ob-

tain spatial diversity over the Rayleigh fading channel, and the proposed multiple access
scheme. Over the Rayleigh fading channel, in order to obtain a full spatial diversity,
every vector in the considered constellation should have all its components different
from any other vector components in the constellation. To do so one chooses an alge-
braic number field of degree greater than the dimension of the constellation. Thus by
using the algebraic dimension, one can make the components of all the constellation
points different. On the other hand, for the proposed K-user code, we want to put
K users together in one equation and then be able to separate them. So we choose
an algebraic number field of degree greater than the number of users, and we use the
algebraic dimension to make enough rooms for the K users.
9
Φ(·) is the Euler function giving the number of integers less than N and prime with it ([13] p.
363).
76 ENST
4.5. DETECTION OVER THE GAUSSIAN CHANNEL
4.5 Detection over the Gaussian channel

Since the function (x) is not continuous, and the real and imaginary parts in (4-16)
are correlated, the proposed detection algorithm is not robust in the presence of noise.
The detection that approaches the ML performance with less complexity over the
Gaussian channel is still an open problem which belongs to the field of source separa-
tions with more sources than sensors, when the mixer matrix is known to the receiver
[56].
4.6 Concatenation with single user codes
Source 1 Coder 1 Mapper 1

AWGN
Channel
Mapper 2
Source 2 Coder 2 + Rotation
Estimate Decoder 1
Source 1
Joint
Detection
Estimate Decoder 2
Source 2
Figure 4.10: Concatenating the K-user code with error control codes.
Consider the system in Fig. 4.10: the mapper is normalized in a way that Eb1 =
Eb2 = 1, and N0 varies. Each couple of coded bits btj , bt+1 j , j = 1, 2 of user j are
2
mapped to the point xj = (2bj − 1, 2bj − 1) in R , x2 is then rotated by π6 . By
t t t+1 t
joint detection we mean that the detector takes into consideration the form of the
received signal r= xt1 +xt2 +νt , where νt is a two-dimensional white noise, component-wise
independent, with variance N20 on each dimension. The detector provides Pr{btj = 0|rt }
and Pr{btj = 1|rt } to the decoder j at each time t. The last one considers these
reliability values as a priori and performs soft-input decoding.
ENST 77
In contrast with iterative multi-user decoding (Chapter 3), in this scheme the de-
coders use single user metric, and there are no iterations among them.
4.6.1 Concatenation with very low rate codes

The use of error control codes with very low rates in multiple access communications
helps the receiver in separating the different users since their interference is lowered
by the code rate [98]. Thus concatenating with turbo code based on super orthogonal
convolutional code (TCSO [72]) improves drastically the performance of the system.
In simulations, only one user is coded and the BER is computed on its data; the others
are modeled by independent random data modulated by rotated 4-QAM and then
added to the first one. Note that doing this does not affect the performance of the first
user when compared to the coded multi-user scenario, because single user decoding is
performed, and the roles of all rotated constellations are symmetrical.
4.6.2 Simulation results

Simulations are done for two and three users for φo,2 = π6 rd and φo,3 = 0.312 rd
respectively. All users have the same signal-to-noise ratio, and optimized TCSO [49]
with rates 1/8 and 1/16 are used. In all simulations, interleaver size is 4000 and the
number of iterations is 16. In Fig. 4.11 the BER versus Eb/N0 is plotted for the coded
user with TCSO of rate R = 18 and R = 16 1 1
. For two users at rate R = 16 , at BER
= 10−5 , Eb/N0 is 1.3 dB far from the Shannon limit.
4.6.3 Performance analysis

The explanation of the good performance of the system concatenated with TCSO is
based on the following facts:
• The use of very low rate codes implies operation over a very noisy channel in term
of signal-to-noise ratio Es/N0 , as well as a very low symbol signal-to-interferer
ratio Es/I. Since the transformation done on each user renders the sum uniquely
decodable, multiplying by a very low code rate yields a system with practically
no interferers, operating on a very low signal-to-noise ratio.
• The turbo codes are known to operate at this level of Es/N0 .
78 ENST
4.7. CONCLUSIONS
1e-01
Three users, R=1/16

1e-02 Two users, R=1/16
Three users, R=1/8
Two users, R=1/8
BER of the first user
1e-03
1e-04
1e-05
1e-06
-0.20 0.10 0.40 0.70 1.00 1.30 1.60 1.90 2.20 2.50 2.80
Eb/No in dB
Figure 4.11: TCSO concatenated with rotated 4−QAM.
4.7 Conclusions
We presented in this Chapter a new class of K-user codes for the real adder channel.
The considered code does not belong to the family of K-user code over the binary
adder channel (BAC) [53, 20, 54, 50]. Its main characteristics are:
• The construction of the code is simply done by rotating the constellation QAM.
• The residual interference loss is symmetrical for all users.
• Over the noiseless adder channel, the proposed K-user code is uniquely decodable
without any redundancy, therefore it achieves the capacity of the noiseless adder
channel with K log2 q bits per two dimensions.
• Over noisy channels, the absence of redundancy in the considered class of uniquely
decodable codes induces a penalty as a decrease in the minimal squared distance
of the resulted constellations sum.
• It is codeword and frame asynchronous.
We have proposed an algebraic detection scheme for some cases over the noiseless adder
channel, but the general case over the noisy channel still lacks an efficient soft-input
soft-output decoding algorithm.
ENST 79
Over the noisy channels, in the 2-dimensional space, the proposed scheme gives better
performance than TDMA. Increasing the three parameters K, q, D in the proposed K-
user code yields almost always more improvement on TDMA.
The drawback is the need of carrier synchronization and the detection complexity
over the noisy channel.
Concatenation with very low rate turbo code improves drastically the performance of
the system, since the resulted system is equivalent to a SISO channel operating at low
average symbol to noise energy ratio Es/N0 .
In a cellular system, it seems that joint decoding is always necessary and prevalent
on joint coding. While the latter cancels the MAI originating from the other users in
the same cluster, multi-user decoding cancels the MAI of all active users transmitting
in the same frequency band [46].
The proposed K-user code fakes a multi-antenna environment when each user goes
k−2
through a different fading ei2 φ such that the sum of all users at the receive antenna
is uniquely decodable. In the next Chapter, K-user codes for a multi-antenna system
are explored.
80 ENST
Chapter 5
Space-Time Codes for Multi-user

Applications
R ecently, the field of space-time (ST) coding has attracted interest as means of
exploiting the inherent transmit diversity in a multi-antenna system [91], and
[30]. The channel is assumed to be static1 over the code length in time, meaning that
there is no time diversity in the channel. It is the role of the code to transform the
inherent transmit diversity into time diversity . In a system of M transmit antennas,
and N receive antennas, the maximum time diversity induced by the use of ST codes
is equal to M, and the total space-time diversity is MN [30].
In this Chapter we investigate a new class of ST codes constructed from algebraic

constellations built on algebraic number fields. The Chapter outline is as follows:
In Section 5.1 we study a multi-antenna system without ST codes, where one examines
both schema with or without outer codes. For the first scheme we study two receivers:
a SIC detector cascaded by decoders and an iterative decoding receiver. In Section 5.2
we review the construction criteria of ST codes, and give some examples of ST codes
verifying the construction criteria. In Section 5.3 we give the construction of the new
class of the bandwidth efficient ST codes from algebraic constellations . We consider
the concatenated system with ST and outer codes in Section 5.4. Conclusions are given
in Section 5.5.
1
This channel model fits the indoor rich scattering wireless channel [45].
81
CHAPTER 5. SPACE-TIME CODES FOR MULTI-USER APPLICATIONS
5.1 Uncoded system

Consider the system demonstrated by Fig. 5.1, N ≥ M. The single data stream
in the input is demultiplexed into M substreams, and each substream, modulated
independently, is then transmitted by its dedicated antenna. It is assumed that all
substreams use the same modulation . The transmission is done by burst of length l over
a quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel changing randomly every l symbol durations.
The power launched by each transmitter is proportional to 1/M so that the total
radiated power is constant and independent2 of M.
In this Section, “uncoded” refers to the absence of coding inter-substreams. However,
each one of them could be coded independently. We are concerned with detecting the
uncoded substreams since eventually one could pass the decisions to the substream
independent decoders.
The proximity of antennas presupposes the inherent synchronization of the model.
... . .
.... ...
.... .... .... .......
- TX
.... ...... ..
a1 .... ......
Quasi-static
RX
Modulation a2 - TX
...
....
... ..
......
...
.
....
.
....
..
.... ..
......
....
.
...
- ?
Data and Vector RX
- Encoding
...
....
Rayleigh fading
.
....
.
.... ...
.... Detection -
Sink
- TX -
..
.... .... ..
.... ...
Stream a3 .... ......
RX
.... .
....
channel
.
...
... ...
...
6
- TX
.... .
.......... .... ....
a4 .. ......
RX
Figure 5.1: multi-antenna transmission scheme.
In the following subsection we describe the detection algorithm V-BLAST (Vertical

Bell Laboratories Layered Space-Time), which is a SIC type that uses a linear detector
ZF or MMSE at each detection procedure [39, 104].
5.1.1 SIC detection algorithm of uncoded substreams

The received signal is given by
r1 = H · a + ν, (5-1)
2
In a multi-user scenario, where each substream represents a different user, this assumption is not
valid. However, for a unified frame work it is always assumed that the total radiated power is indepen-
dent of M . Furthermore, in a multi-user context single substreams codes are called interchangeably
single user or outer codes, and space-time codes are called K-user or inner codes (Section 5.4).
82 ENST
5.1. UNCODED SYSTEM
where a = (a1 , a2 , . . . , aM )T denotes the transmitted vector, H N ×M is the transfer

matrix of the channel, hij is the fading between transmitter j and receiver i, modeled
by a complex Gaussian variable. For all i, j, hi,j are decorrelated. ν is a vector of length
N of complex AWGN component-wise independent with a variance σ 2 per dimension.
Let

S = {k1 , k2 , . . . , kM }, (5-2)
denote a permutation of the integers 1, 2, . . . , M.
SIC without ordering statistics
The permutation (5-2) is set to the identity. The detection is performed as follows:
• Step 1: yk1 = w k1 r 1 .
• Step 2: Slice yk1 to obtain âk1 = Q(yk1 ) the nearest point to yk1 in the constellation
in the sense of minimum Euclidean distance.
• Step 3: Cancel âk1 from the received vector r 1
r 2 = r 1 − âk1 (H)k1 , (5-3)
where (H)k1 denotes the k1 -th column of H. Steps 1 − 3 are performed over the
rest of S
The nulling vectors w ki are computed depending on ZF or MMSE3 criterion by

the use of the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse4 [40]. In the case of ZF criterion wki is
the ki -th row of H +
ki−1
, where the sign ki−1 refers to zeroing columns k1 , k2 , . . . , ki−1
because the corresponding components are already canceled. The sign + refers to the
pseudoinverse [104].
SIC with optimal ordering statistics
The post-detection SNR for the ki -th detected component of a is given by
E[|aki |2 ]
ρki = , (5-4)
σ 2 ||wki ||2
3
The two methods are equivalent for high SNR, which is often the case in the V-BLAST detection
scheme due to the absence of code inter-substreams.
4
The Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse of a matrix is defined for an over-determined linear system,
which means that there are more equations than unknowns. That is why N should be greater than
M in the V-BLAST architecture.
ENST 83
where the expectation is taken over the constellation points. Thus the descending
order of ρki is equivalent to ordering w ki in ascending values. It is intuitive that a SIC
type algorithm that subtracts hard values5 at each iteration, performs better if the
subtracted interferers are ordered in descending order of their post-detection SNR. By
doing so, V-BLAST with optimal ordering statistics is described as follows:
• Initialization: i ← 1. G1 = H + .
• Recursion:
ki = arg( min ||(Gi )j ||2)

j ∈{k
/ 1 ,...,ki−1 }
w ki = (Gi )ki
y ki = w ki r i
âki = Q(yki ) (5-5)
ri+1 = r i − âki (H)ki
Gi+1 = H+
k i
i ← i + 1,
where (Gi )ki is the ki -th row of Gi .
V-BLAST limits
In a rich scattering environment, V-BLAST algorithm succeeds in separating the de-

sired signal from the multitude of interferers through a SIC operation. Although there
is no explicit orthogonalization of the transmitted signals, the nature of multi-path as-
sumes certain decorrelations sufficient to separate the co-channel signals. Nevertheless,
V-BLAST is not optimal in the sense that the receive diversity in the multi-antenna
system is not fully exploited. We believe that this is due to the following phenomena
• First, multiplying at the receiver, by the inverse of the fading, as it is done by

V-BLAST, is less efficient than multiplying by the fading conjugate (maximum
ratio combiner), because its value could be very small.
• Also, at different steps the V-BLAST computes pseudoinverses of matrices of

rank values going form M to 1. When the columns of the matrix H are nearly
dependent6 its pseudoinverse is quite sensitive meaning that small changes in H
5
An iterative SIC type algorithm that subtract soft values, as we have seen in Chapter 3, is not
affected by the order of the statistics of interferers.
6
When N ≥ M , one can assume that the columns of H are independent if the antennas are largely
separated.
84 ENST
5.1. UNCODED SYSTEM
generate unpredictable changes in H + . As for rank deficient cases (rank(H) <

M), the sensitivity of the pseudoinverse grows linearly with M − rank(H) (see
[40], p. 242).
In the following we develop a method in order to improve over V-BLAST.
Improving on V-BLAST
The optimal order version of the algorithm recalls the structure of the Fossorier-Lin [32]
decoding algorithm of block codes: second order statistics are ordered in descending
order and a “hard” detection is performed on the symbols. When comparing the two
algorithms, one may want to perform a reprocessing of the detected vector in the V-
BLAST. The difference between the two schemes is the absence of the code structure
in the matrix H in the latter case.
The computed nulling vectors w ki are stored for reprocessing. An Or -order repro-
cessing is performed as follows:
• An ML detection is performed on the symbols yk1 , . . . , ykOr (5-5) which gives

âk1 , . . . , âkOr .
• The detected symbols are subtracted from the received signal

Or
r Or +1 = r 1 − âki (H)ki . (5-6)
i=1
• i ← Or + 1, perform V-BLAST SIC (5-5) using the stored nulling vectors.
The computation complexity of Or -order reprocessing is (SC)Or metric computations,

where SC is the size of the used constellation.
Fig. 5.2 shows the performance of V-BLAST with second order reprocessing for
4-QAM modulation over quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel . Reprocessing does not
increase the diversity exploited by the detection (except the case when Or −order = M
since it is the exhaustive detection). Only about 4 dB are gained by second order
reprocessing for M = N = 4. The simulation results show little improvement on V-
BLAST alone, which is what to be expected since there is no code structure that could
be exploited.
5.1.2 Coded substreams

Now the different substreams are encoded independently. We consider two decoding
schemes:
ENST 85
0
10
−1
10
Average symbol error rate
−2
10
−3
10
−4
10 V−BLAST optimal order alone, M=N=2.
Second order repro. V−BLAST optimal order, M=N=2.
V−BLAST optimal order alone, M=N=4.
Second order repro. V−BLAST optimal order, M=N=4.
−5
10
0 5 10 15 20 25
SNR per bit
Figure 5.2: V-BLAST alone and V-BLAST with second order reprocessing, M TX and
N RX over a Rayleigh fading channel.
1. V-BLAST optimal order SIC cascaded by substreams decoders (Fig. 5.3).
2. Iterative substreams decoding (Fig. 5.5).
V-BLAST cascaded by substreams decoders
The detector computes yj and âj (5-5). Then yj , j = 1, . . . , M, are passed to the soft-
input decoder. The decoder does not use the channel-state information (CSI), since
the CSI has been exploited by the detector to inverse the channel effect. The decoder
considers yj as a disturbed version of the transmitted symbol aj . The multitude of
transmitted substream signals are separated thanks to the rich scattering multi-path
channel. However, in the situation, where the decoders could not exploit directly the
multi-antenna CSI, implies severe degradation in performance compared to iteratively
decoded substreams schemes.
Iterative decoding
Independent random interleavers are added after the modulators in order to break error
paths resulted from the single substream decoders in the iterative decoding scheme (Fig.
86 ENST
5.1. UNCODED SYSTEM
RX
TX RX
coder 1 Decoder 1
TX RX
coder 2 Decoder 2 Sink

Data TX RX V-BLAST
Stream Detection
coder 3 Decoder 3
TX RX
coder 4 Decoder 4
RX
Figure 5.3: V-BLAST cascaded by single substream decoders.
5.4)7 .
The iterative scheme, for two substreams, is shown in Fig. 5.5.
At the iteration ι, the soft estimate computed here ãιj is [84], [63]
√
ãιj = (2prj − 1) + (2pij − 1) −1,
where prj = Pr{(aj ) = +1|Observationι } (5-7)
and pij = Pr{(aj ) = +1|Observationι }.
Then interference cancellation is done by

r ιj = r 1 − ãι−1
s (H)s . (5-8)
s=j
The a posteriori probabilities are initialized to 0.5. The interleavers size is 5 times the
codeword length, and the number of iteration is 3.
Simulation results
In simulations, 4-QAM modulation is used. The variance of the complex AWGN is

fixed to 0.5 per real dimension. The transfer matrix H is modeled by NM independent
7
For more details on the independent random interleavers role see Chapter 3.
ENST 87
TX RX
Coder 1 QAM 4 Interleaver 1
Iterative Decoding
Data
Stream
TX RX
Coder 2 QAM 4 Interleaver 2
Figure 5.4: Coding and interleaving in a multi-antenna system.
soft estimate of substream 1

received signal
DeInterleaver 1 Decoder 1 Interleaver 1
Interference Interference
Cancellation Cancellation
soft estimate of substream 2
Interleaver 2 Decoder 2 DeInterleaver 2
Figure 5.5: Iterative decoding of two substreams over a quasi-static fading.
88 ENST
5.1. UNCODED SYSTEM
0 0
10 10
Conventional decoding, Golay(24,12) iteration 4

Conventional decoding, BCH(16,5) iteration 3
Iterative decoding, Golay(24,12) iteration 2
Iterative decoding, BCH(16,5) iteration 1
−1
10
−1
10
Average Bit Error Rate

−2
10
−2
10
−3
10
−3 −4
10 10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Eb/N0 in dB Eb/N0 in dB
Figure 5.6: M = N = 4, 4-QAM over quasi- Figure 5.7: BER as a function of

static fading. V-BLAST cascaded by sub- Eb/N0 for different iterations, outer code
stream decoders/iterative decoding. BCH(16,5), M = N = 2.
complex Gaussian random variables of variance 0.5 per dimension. H is fixed during
the burst length which is 5 times the codeword length.
The average BER is plotted as a function of the transmitted Eb/N0 in dB; power
computation is done as follows: the q-QAM modulation is normalized such that the
average symbol energy Esav = 1, then multiplied by a factor Aq depending on the
average SNR per bit by the formula:

Rout
Aq = log2 (q) · Eb/N0 · , (5-9)
M
where Rout is the outer code rate.
Fig. 5.6 shows the performance of the outer codes BCH(16, 5) and Golay(24, 12),
where the Fossorier-Lin decoding algorithm with first order reprocessing is used. The
scheme using the code BCH(16, 5) has a spectral efficiency of 2.5 b/s/Hz, and iterative
decoding gives average BER of 10−3 at Eb/N0 = 12 dB. While for the same Eb/N0 ,
the scheme with the Golay code, which has a spectral efficiency of 4 b/s/Hz gives BER
equal to 10−2 .
Although in a rich scattering environment, one can separate the multitude of sub-
streams by a multi-substream detector cascaded by single substream decoders, one
ENST 89
observes a big difference in performance between this scheme and the iterative decod-
ing one. In the latter case, the decoder has access to the CSI of the N receive antennas,
which exploits better than the detector in the former case. For example, for M = 1, a
maximum ratio combiner cascaded by a decoder, allows the last one to exploit the N
received versions of the signal. While for M > 1, a detector which cancels the interfer-
ences with other substreams, gives the decoder its decision on the detected substream
without allowing it to profit form the N versions of the received substream disturbed
by other signals.
In Fig. 5.7, the average BER is plotted for different iterations. After the third
iteration no substantial improvement in the iterative decoding scheme can be observed.
The ML performance of the single substream (M = 1 transmitter using the code
BCH(16,5), and N = 2 receivers) is reached due to the multi-path structure that helps
the decoder to separate the different substreams.
5.2 Space-time codes, construction criterion and per-

formance
In the following, we recall the construction criterion of space-time codes, and give some
examples of redundant codes that achieve the full diversity and have simple decoding
schemes at the expense of low spectral efficiency [85, 90, 89, 87, 68, 86].
5.2.1 Design criteria

In the aforementioned multi-antenna system (Fig. 5.1), we suppose to have a code
inter-substreams of length l, the channel is quasi-static over l.

(i) (i) (i)
At the transmitter i, we send the word X (i) = x1 , x2 , · · · , xl .

Computing the pairwise error probability (PEP) Pr X → E|H yields [42, 90]

Pr X → E|H ≤ exp −d2 (X, E)Es/4N0 , (5-10)
where Es is the average transmitted energy per symbol. d2 (X, E) defines a distance
between X and E, it is given by

N
d2 (X, E) = H j AH j † , (5-11)
j=1
where H j is the j-th row of the transfer matrix H, and A(X, E) = B(X, E)B † (X, E)

90 ENST
5.2. SPACE-TIME CODES, CONSTRUCTION CRITERION AND PERFORMANCE
(with the sign † refers to the transpose conjugate), B is given by

 
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
 x1 − e1 x2 − e2 ··· ··· xl − el 
 
 
 (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) 


x1 − e1 x2 − e2 ··· ··· xl − el 

 
 .. .. .. .. .. 
B(X, E) =  . . . . . .
 
 
 .. .. .. .. .. 
 . . . . . 
 
 
 
(M ) (M ) (M ) (M ) (M ) (M )
x1 − e1 x2 − e2 · · · · · · xl − el
Simplifying (5-10) and averaging over the Rayleigh fading variables gives
r −N

Pr X → E ≤ λi (Es/4N0 )−rN . (5-12)
i=1
Thus a diversity gain of r · N and a coding gain of (λ1 λ2 · · · λr )1/r is achieved, where r
is the rank of A, λi , i = 1 . . . r are the eigenvalues of A. Finally minimizing the PEP
is equivalent to
• The rank criterion: the rank r of B is called the diversity gain of the code. In
order to achieve the maximum diversity M · N, the matrix B has to be full rank
for any pair of codewords (X, E).
• The determinant criterion: if the diversity gain of the code is r, then the mini-
mum of the r-th root of the sum of determinants of all r × r principal cofactors of
A(X, E) taken over all the codewords pairs (X, E) must be maximized (coding
1
2
gain). In the sequel we always refer to the coding gain by (δmin ) r whether B is
square or not.
There are two methods to impose these criteria on the substreams:
• Add redundancy (Tarokh et al.) space-time trellis and block coding.
• Apply the rank criterion without redundancy (constellations from algebraic num-
ber fields).
In the rest of this Section we give some examples of the first category, in the next
Section we examine in detail the second category of ST codes.
ENST 91
0 00 01 02 03
1
1 10 11 12 13 2 0
2 20 21 22 23 3
3 30 31 32 33
Figure 5.8: Trellis space-time code, 4-PSK, 4 states, 2 b/s/Hz.
5.2.2 Examples of redundant codes

Trellis space-time codes
In Fig. 5.8 is depicted a trellis code that transform the 2 transmit antenna diversity to
2 time diversity for the 4-PSK modulation. The code has one register, one input from
the 4-PSK modulation (thus it has 4 states), and two outputs for the two transmit
antennas. For example if the register state is the signal 0, and the input is 1, we
transmit the signal 1 on the first antenna, and the signal 0 on the second, and so on.
This code verifies the rank criterion because over two periods of time, the matrix B
of the code has a full rank over all codeword pairs (see [90] for demonstration), and the
decoding is simply done by a Viterbi algorithm. However, the rate of this code is 1/2.
Block space-time codes
A space-time block code is an M × l matrix G, that encodes M substreams over l time

periods. For example [3], [89], M = 2, the following code of rate 1/2 has a diversity
gain of 2 (Fig. 5.9)
 
 x1 −x∗2 
G2 =  .

 
x2 x∗1
92 ENST
5.3. SPACE-TIME CODING WITHOUT LOSS IN SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY
Space
6
TX 1
S
S (
x1 x2 )
TX 2
S
S (;
x2 x1

)
- Time
Figure 5.9: G2 ST code, 1 symbol/s/Hz.
The received signals are
τ1 = h1 x1 + h2 x2 + ν1
τ2 = −h1 x∗2 + h2 x∗1 + ν2
Maximum ratio combiner yields

x̃1 = h∗1 τ1 + h2 τ2∗ = |h1 |2 + |h2 |2 x1 + noise

x̃2 = h∗2 τ1 − h1 τ2∗ = |h1 |2 + |h2 |2 x2 + noise
The maximum ratio combiner is optimal due

to the orthogonality of the columns of
2 2
G2 . It shows the diversity gain |h1 | + |h2 | of the space-time code G2 .
The coding gain depends on the used modulation, for example, it equals 4 for the
QPSK modulation.
5.3 Space-time coding without loss in spectral effi-

ciency
In the following we use the notations and the results from Section 4.4.1 to build band-
width lossless space-time codes from constellations of algebraic number fields.
ENST 93
5.3.1 Construction of space-time codes from algebraic number

fields
A case of study, two transmit antennas, l = M = 2, QAM modulation
We aim to transmit complex symbols with two transmit antennas, over two slots of
time such that the space-time matrix B(X, E) (5.2.1 ) has full rank, i.e. the minimum
over all codeword pairs of the absolute value of its determinant is nonzero.
Choose a complex number field of degree 4 over Q(i), let
 
 α −σ(α) 
Θ2 =  ,

 
σρ(α) ρ(α)
where α = a1 + a2 θ + a3 θ2 + a4 θ3 , aj belongs to the considered constellation (QAM).

{e, σ, ρ, σρ} are the four canonical embeddings over the algebraic number field Q(θ)
(see subsection 4.4.1, (4-6)). The determinant of B(X, E) is a sum of two algebraic
norms of the algebraic number field K over an extension of Q of degree 2, which is a
nonzero integer over the 2-degree extension.
√

Example 5.1 Take θ = 2 + 2 of the example 4.3: K = Q(iθ) is an extension

of degree 4 over Q(i). Thus over l time periods we transmit
 
2 3
 a1 + a2 θ + a3 θ + a4 θ −a1 − a2 θ̄ − a3 θ¯2 − a4 θ¯3 
Θ2 = 

.

2 3
a1 − a2 θ̄ + a3 θ¯2 − a4 θ¯3 a1 − a2 θ + a3 θ − a4 θ
This code has no redundancy, over 2 time periods we transmit 4 symbols with two
antennas. Let
C4,q = {x = x1 − x2 , x1 = x2 ∈ q-QAM4 },

denote the set of all the difference of vectors x1 − x2 with component from q-QAM
4 4
constellation. For q = 4, the size of C4,4 is |C4,4 | = 4 (42 −1) = 32640. The determinant
of B(X, E) is given by8
δ = β · ρ(β) + σ(β) · σρ(β)

with β = b1 + b2 θ + b3 θ2 + b4 θ3 , where (b1 , b2 , b3 , b4 )T ∈ C4,q
8
In the case when B is a square matrix, the determinant of A equals the square of the determinant
of B. Otherwise, when B is a rectangular matrix, each principal cofactor Aco of A could be written
as a product of B co B †co with B co a sub-matrix of B. Thus to compute the rank or determinant of A
we often compute their corresponding parameters of B.
94 ENST
δ = 2b21 − 2b22 (θ2 + θ¯2 ) + b23 (θ4 + θ¯4 ) − b24 (θ6 + θ¯6 )
+ 2b1 b3 (θ2 + θ¯2 ) − 2b2 b4 (θ4 + θ¯4 )
= 2b21 − 8b22 + 12b23 − 40b24 + 8b1 b3 − 24b2 b4 . (5-13)
Proposition 5.1 In the above example, the determinant of the matrix Θ2 could be
written as a trace of a norm, and thus is an integer. Over C4,4 it has a minimum
absolute value of 8.
Proof: Consider the group G = {e, σ, ρ, σρ}, where e is the identity, σ maps θ to θ̄,
and ρ maps θ to −θ. ρ and σ are commutative because G is isomorphic to Z22 (the
Cartesian product of the group of integers modulo 2). The determinant of Θ2 is
δ = β · ρ(β) + σ(β) · σρ(β)

= β · ρ(β) + σ (β · ρ(β)) . (5-14)
√
One has β · ρ(β) ∈ Z(i 2) for β ∈ Z(i), because ρ : θ → −θ and hence all the odd
powers of θ disappears in the product β · ρ(β). To complete the demonstration, one
√
needs to prove that the restriction of σ on Q( 2) is the conjugate embedding of the
√
algebraic number field Q( 2), and thus δ equals to the sum of a norm and its conjugate
with respect to the canonical embedding σ.
Lemma 5.1
√ √
σ : Q( 2) −→ Q( 2)
√ √
2 → − 2.
√ √
Proof: One has 2 ∈ Q(θ), and its representation in the basis {1, θ, θ2 , θ3 } is 2 =
−2 + θ2 . It yields
√
σ( 2) = σ(−2 + θ2 )
= σ(−2) + σ(θ2 )
√
= −2 + θ2 = −2 + θ̄2 = − 2. (5-15)
The preceding arguments guarantee that δ is integer, but we can not guarantee that
it is non zero over all the constellations. Only over constellations of small size like the
4-QAM or the BPSK where the size of C4,q is not very large we can compute its value
by exhaustive search, which gives 8.
In this special case the determinant is a non zero integer (when all bj are not zeros
simultaneously, since it is a trace of a norm), thus we have a full diversity system. But
ENST 95
we are interested in finding θ, and thus the algebraic number field K, that maximizes the
minimum square of the absolute value of the determinant over the group of rotations,
thus we maximize the coding gain.
Because of the resemblance between this optimization problem and the one of max-
imizing the minimum product distance dP,min , in rotated constellations that achieve
maximum diversity order over the Rayleigh fading channel, we follow the Hadamard
construction in [16].
Problem We want to find a rotation matrix M 4 over R4 , such that for y = M 4 aT ,

with a ∈ 4-QAM, the space-time matrix formed from y = (y1 , y2, y3 , y4 ) as
 
 y1 −y3 
Θ2 =  ,

 
y2 y4
has
2
= min{| det (Θ2 )|2 },

δmin
C4,4
maximized over the group of rotations. This optimization problem has many param-
eters that grows rapidly with the dimension. To solve this optimization problem, we
follow the iterative construction used for the Hadamard matrices.
Solution Consider the 4-dimensional orthogonal matrix family

 
 a b −c −d 
   
 
 

 −b a d −c 
  M 1 −M 2 
M4 = 



=

,

 c d a b  M2 M1
 
 
 
−d c −b a
where M 1 is fixed to be the optimal two-dimensional matrix that maximizes the min-
imum product distance [16] 9 . Doing so, the matrix M 4 is then determined by one
variable λ. Respecting the orthogonality and unit constraints, the considered matrix
family is given by
1 λ
a= , b = aλo,2 , c = , d = cλo,2 ,
U 1 + λ2o,2 Uλo,2
9
This is a logical choice of M 1 , since in the square absolute value of the determinant, the product
distance in the 2-dimensional space intervenes.
96 ENST
where √
λ2o,2 + λ2 + λ2o,2 λ2
1± 5
U= , λo,2 =
λo,2 2
λo,2 is the optimum parameter that maximizes the minimum product distance in di-
mension 2 [16].
In dimension 4, we can compute δ as follows:
δ = (ab1 + bb2 − cb3 − db4 ) · (−db1 + cb2 − bb3 + ab4 )

+ (cb1 + db2 + ab3 + bb4 ) · (−bb1 + ab2 + db3 − cb4 )
= (ad + bc) · (−b21 + b22 + b23 − b24 ) (5-16)
+ 2(ac − bd) · (b1 b2 − b3 b4 ) + 2(cd − ab) · (b1 b3 − b2 b4 )
+ (a2 + d2 − c2 − b2 ) · (b1 b4 + b2 b3 ),
which can be computed by an exhaustive search through the points of the finite con-
stellation C4 built on 4-QAM.
2
In Fig. 5.10 is depicted the values of δmin as a function of λ, with steps of 0.005. We
2
also plotted the following upper bounds on δmin :




 16 · |ad + bc|2 , (2, 0, 0, 0)




2
δmin ≤ 16 · |(a2 + d2 − c2 − b2 ) − 2(ad + bc)|2 , (2, 0, 0, 2) (5-17)







 16 · |(a2 + d2 − c2 − b2 ) + 2(ad + bc)|2 , (0, 2, 2, 0)
2
We identify the two highest peaks of δmin at the intersection of the first and the
second upper bound

1 √ √
λo,4 = ( 2 − 1) 50 + 10 5 = 0.3523511.
10
and at intersection of the first and the third upper bound

1 √ √
λo,4 = ( 2 + 1) 50 + 10 5 = 2.0536527.
10
It is worth noticing that these same values of λ maximize the minimum product
2
distance in [16], although the upper bounds on δmin and dP,min are not the same. Over
the 4-QAM constellation, the optimum values are δmin,o = 16
2
10
, and dP,min = 16
40
.
The choice of real rotations is motivated by the fact that the resulting rotated con-
stellation will have full spatial diversity [36], [16]. A property that is useful for building
space-time codes good for both quasi-static and fast fading channels (see subsection
5.3.6).
ENST 97
16
δ2
min
2
14 16|ad+bc|
2 2 2 2 2
16|(a +d −c −b )+2(ad+bc)|
16|(a2+d2−c2−b2)−2(ad+bc)|2
12
δ2 , minimum square determinant
10
6
min
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
λ
2
Figure 5.10: Maximizing δmin over a family of rotations constructed in a Hadamard
method.
1.6
δ2
min
dP,min
1.4
1.2
1
P,min min
, δ2
0.8
d
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
λ
2
Figure 5.11: The peaks of dP,min are bounded by δmin in 4 dimensions.
98 ENST
Higher dimensions
• Dimension 6, M = 3, l = 2:
 


y1 −y4 

 
 
Θ3,2 =  y2 y5  , (5-18)
 
 
 
y3 y6
with y = M 6 aT , where M 6 is a matrix of the Hadamard family [17] in dimension

6, and a is a vector in QAM6 .
 
 a b c −d −e −f 
 
 
 
 b c a −e −f −d 
 
   
 
 −c −a −b f d e  M 1 −M 2 
  
M6 =   = ,
   
 


d e f a b c 

M2 M1
 
 
 e f d b c a 
 
 
 
−f −d −e −c −a −b
where M 1 is fixed to be the optimal three-dimensional matrix that maximizes

the minimum product distance [16]. Respecting the orthogonality and unit con-
straints, M 6 is determined by one parameter λ as follows
a = (5 + λo,3 − λ2o,3 )/(7U) b = (−1 + 4λo,3 + 3λ23,o )/(7U)
c = (3 − 5λo,3 − 2λ23,o )/(7U) d = λ/U
e = λλo,3 /U f = −λ(λ2o,3 + λo,3 − 1)/U,
with

U= 1 + λ2 (λ23,o − λ + 2),
where λo,3 = [2 cos(4 · π/7)]−1 = −2.24698 is the optimal value maximizing dP,min
in the dimension 3.
2
We computed the values of δmin and dP,min over
C6,4 = {x = x1 − x2 , x1 = x2 ∈ 4-QAM6 },

ENST 99
0.7
δ2
min
d
P,min
0.6
0.5
0.4
P,min min
d , δ2
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
λ
2 2
Figure 5.12: δmin and dP,min in dimension 6. The peaks of dP,min are bounded by δmin .
where the vectors from C6,4 of norm greater than 3 were skipped. The optimal
2 2
value of δmin is obtained for λo,6 = .455 and equal δmin,o = 0.6; notice that (Fig.
5.12) for this value of λ one has a local optimum of dP,min = .045. The optimal
2
value of dP,min = .116 is obtained for λo,6 = .53, for this value δmin = 0.54 which
2
is close to δmin,o .
2
Fig. 5.12 shows the evolution of δmin and dP,min as a function of λ varying from 0
to 1 with a discrete step of 0.005. Notice that the peaks of dP,min are bounded by
2
δmin . This empirical observation is also verified in dimension 4 (see Fig. 5.11).
For higher dimensions than 6, it is practically impossible to guarantee the opti-

mality of the rotations. Since the product distance of the rotated vector inter-
2
venes in the computation of δmin , and based on numerical results in dimension
4 and 6, we conjecture that the optimal rotation that maximizes dP,min , gives
2
good value of δmin of the corresponding ΘM,l ST code10 . These ST codes are also
obtained by the Hadamard iterative construction, for example
10
When M = l, ΘM,l is referred to by ΘM
100 ENST
dimension column index
8 1-4 0.05830052 -0.09433222 0.14074991 -0.22773814
5-8 0.19255622 -0.31156250 0.46487183 -0.75217842
12 1-4 -.15171243 0.34089475 -0.27337636 0.09376344
5-8 -0.21068454 0.16895588 0.27514779 0.47206374
9-12 0.03331638 -0.08690755 0.23170916 0.58601306
Table 5.1: First row of the optimal rotation matrices in dimensions 8 and 12.
• M = 4, l = 2:
 
 y1 y2 y3 y4 
ΘT4,2 =  ,

  (5-19)
−y5 y6 −y7 y8
where y = M 8,o aT , a ∈ the considered constellation, and M 8,o is the optimum

rotation in dimension 8 that maximize dP,min . Table 5.1 shows the first row
of M 8,o and M 12,o [16]; the rest of the matrix could be found easily by the
Hadamard iterative construction.
• M = 4, l = 3,
 
 y1 −y5 y9 
 
 
 
 y2 y6 y10 
 
Θ4,3 =  , (5-20)
 
 y3 −y7 y11 
 
 
 
y4 y8 y12
where y = M 12,o aT , a ∈ considered constellation, and M 12,o is the optimum

rotation in dimension 12 that maximize dP,min (see Table 5.1).
• M = l = 4: The same Hadamard construction is iterated for the dimension
ENST 101
16 = l · M,
 
 y1 −y5 −y9 y13 
 
 
 


 y2 y6 −y10 −y14 

Θ4 =  , (5-21)
 
 y3 −y7 y11 −y15 
 
 
 
y4 y8 y12 y16
where y = M 16,o aT , a ∈ considered constellation, and M 16,o is the optimum

rotation11 in dimension 16 that maximize dP,min .
Unequal diversity schemes
For the case M > l, one can consider unequal diversity schemes (UDS)12 , by coding
the first l antennas with the corresponding Θl code, and then transmitting uncoded
symbols on the M − l remaining antennas during l periods of time.
 
 Θl 
 
 
 
 a1 ... al 
 
ΘUDS,M,l =  , (5-22)
 .. .. .. 
 . . . 
 
 
 
a(M −l−1)l+1 . . . a(M −l)l
where aj , j = 1 . . . l · (M − l) are uncoded symbols belonging to the considered modula-

tion. In such a scheme the construction criteria considering all the transmitted symbols
are not verified. Only one protects the coded symbols.
One can build another scenario of UDS in the case of multi-user communication
where each user disposes of l transmit antennas. The proposed UDS scheme says that
each user encodes his symbols by Θl ST code. The rank criterion is still verified in
such a scheme since each ST code Θl is a full rank matrix.
In a system of p users where the number of total transmit antennas equals to M = p · l,
11
For higher dimensions than 12, the construction method on the Hadamard family [16] becomes
intractable. However, one can construct rotations on the cyclotomic number fields that possess a good
minimum product distance along with full spatial diversity [8].
12
In comparison with unequal error protection in the case of error correcting codes
102 ENST
the proposed UDS is given by

 
 Θ1l 
 
 
 


 Θ2l 

ΘUDS,M =  , (5-23)
 .. 
 . 
 
 
 
Θpl
where Θjl , j = 1 . . . p, denotes the symbols of the user j coded by Θl ST code.
Proposition 5.2 The matrix A(X, E) (see subsection 5.2.1) of the ST code ΘUDS,M
has a rank equal to l. In additions, the l-th root of the sum of the determinants of all
1
2
l × l principal cofactors of A equals to (δmin,l ) l , where δmin,l is the minimum of the de-
terminants of Θl taken over all codeword pairs (X, E) in the corresponding modulation.
Proof: The rank of A is equal to the rank of B, where A = BB † . B is given by

the same matrix as ΘUDS,M (5-23) where the symbols vector a = (a1 , a2 , . . . , aM )T with
aj ,  = 1 . . . M ∈ QAM is replaced by b = (b1 , b2 , . . . , bM )T with bj = xj − ej , xj , ej ∈
QAM. Hence, the rank of B is equal to l because it contains Θl which is full rank by
construction.
The matrix A is given by
 
† † †
 Θ1l Θ1l Θ1l Θ2l ... ... Θ1l Θpl
 
 
 † † 2 p† 


Θ2l Θ1l Θ2l Θ2l ... ... Θl Θl 
 
 .. .. .. .. .. 
A(X, E) = 
 . . . . . .

(5-24)
 
 .. .. .. .. .. 
 . . . . . 
 
 
 † †

Θpl Θ1l Θpl Θ2l . . . . . . Θpl Θpl †
To prove the determinant criterion, one notices that each l × l principal cofactor Aco of
A is a product of two sub-matrices B co and B †co of B and B † : Aco = B co B †co . Hence
the determinant of Aco is a positive number because it equals to the absolute value of
†
the determinant of B co . On the other hand we know that Aco,j = Θjl Θjl , j = 1 . . . p
2
are l × l principal cofactors of A with a common minimum determinant of δmin,l , thus
1
2
the coding gain is greater than (δmin,l ) l since the components of X − E can be all
zeros.
To prove the inverse inequality one computes the minimum of the sum of the determi-
nants of all l × l principal cofactors of A in the special case where X − E has all its
ENST 103
components equal to zeros except the last l2 symbols. This minimum equals to δmin,l
2
,
which proves the determinant criterion of the code ΘUDS,M .
In the next subsection we give an example for M = 3, and l = 2, where the first four
symbols are coded by Θ2 and the remaining two symbols are sent uncoded on the third
antenna during two time periods. Another example of UDS schemes is given for two
users transmitting simultaneously, where each user disposes of two transmit antennas
and encodes his symbols by the code Θ2 . Comparisons are made with the ST code
Θ4,2 .
5.3.2 Simulation results over quasi-static fading

We used the space-time codes Θ2 , Θ3,2 , ΘUDS,3,2, Θ4,2 , Θ4,3 and ΘUDS,4 with the mod-
ulations BPSK, 4-QAM, and 16-QAM. The performance of Θ2 is compared with that
of the ST code G2 in 5.2.2, that has the same order of diversity, but half the rate of
Θ2 . Power computation is done as in (5-9), where Rout is replaced by Rin the rate of
the space-time or inner code.
Fig. 5.13 shows the symbol error rate (SER) over a quasi-static Rayleigh fading
channel as a function of Eb/N0 of the modulation 4-QAM for the codes Θ2 , G2 and the
uncoded system; for one receive antenna. It is shown that the two curves of Θ2 and
G2 have the same slope and thus the same diversity order. G2 has better coding gain.
Fig. 5.14 shows the average symbol error rate for the Θ2 , G2 and the uncoded 4-QAM
for two receivers. In Fig. 5.15 we present the average BER for the same scheme.
In Fig. 5.16 we show the performance of the ST code Θ3,2 obtained by a rotation in
dimension 6, in a scheme of three transmitters, using the modulation 4-QAM and one
receiver. Fig. 5.17 presents the performance of each one of the 6 symbols when using
unequal diversity scheme by coding 4 symbols with Θ2 , and sending the remaining
two symbols uncoded on the third transmit antenna within two periods of time; the
scheme contains one receiver. Notice that even the uncoded symbols have enhanced
their performance in this scheme. One can understand better this phenomenon if one
supposes that the ML detection is performed by a SIC type algorithm: when the first
four coded symbols have small error rates, then subtracting them from the received
signal would allow the remaining two uncoded symbols to have better performance. It
is noticed that the average symbol error rate taken over all the coded symbols is almost
like the average shown in Fig. 5.16 in the scheme Θ3,2 .
104 ENST
0
10
uncoded, 4 bits/s/Hz
-1
10 Algebraic code, 4 bits/s/Hz
G2 code, 2 bits/s/Hz
-2
10
-3
10
-4
10
-5
10
-6
10
-7
10
10 20 30 40
SNR per bit
Figure 5.13: ST codes Θ2 , and G2 using 4-QAM over quasi-static fading, N = 1.
ENST 105
0 0
10 10
uncoded, 4 b/s/Hz uncoded, 4 b/s/Hz

Algebraic code, 4 b/s/Hz Algebraic code, 4 b/s/Hz
G2 code, 2 b/s/Hz G2 code, 2 b/s/Hz
−1 −1
10 10
Average bit error rate

−2 −2
10 10
−3 −3
10 10
−4 −4
10 10
−5 −5
10 10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
SNR per bit SNR per bit
Figure 5.14: Average SER of Θ2 , G2 , Figure 5.15: Average BER of Θ2 , G2 ,

with 4-QAM over quasi-static fading, with 4-QAM over quasi-static fading,
N = 2. N = 2.
0
10
0
10
uncoded 6 bits/s/Hz
algebraic code 6 bits/s/Hz uncoded 6 b/s/Hz
UDS: 2 uncoded symbols
UDS: 4 coded symbols
−1
10 −1
10
Symbol error rate
−2
10 −2
10
−3
10 −3
10
−4 −4
10 10
10 15 20 25 30 35 10 15 20 25 30 35
Figure 5.16: ST code Θ3,2 with 4-QAM Figure 5.17: ΘUDS,3,2 with 4-QAM over
over quasi-static fading, N = 1. quasi-static fading, N = 1.
106 ENST
0
10
uncoded system, 8 bits/s/Hz

algebraic code, l=2, 8 bits/s/Hz
G2 code, 4 bits/s/Hz
−1
10
−2
10
−3
10
−4
10
−5
10
−6
10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
SNR per bit
Figure 5.18: Average SER versus Eb/N0 . Θ2 with 16-QAM over quasi-static fading,
N = 2.
The symbol error rate of the modulation 16-QAM is presented in Fig. 5.18 for two
receive antennas for Θ2 , G2 ST codes and the uncoded system. When the size of
the constellation is increased, we notice that the coding disadvantage of Θ2 is a bit
degraded to 6 − 7 dB compared to G2 .
Fig. 5.19 shows the performance of the algebraic ST codes Θ4,2 and ΘUDS,4 with
BPSK modulation using 4 transmit antennas and one receive antenna over a quasi-
static Rayleigh fading channel. In this multi-user scenario we maintain the total
launched power independent of M.
Fig. 5.20 presents the performance of Θ4,3 with the BPSK modulation over a quasi-
static fading with one receive antenna.
Remark 5.1 One notices that, for a scheme of 4 bits/s/Hz, the uncoded system of
4 transmit antennas using the uncoded BPSK modulation is worse than a scheme of 2
transmit antenna with uncoded 4-QAM modulation which has also 4 bits/s/Hz (see Fig.
5.13). This is due to the way we normalize the power on all transmit antennas: if one
increases the total spectral efficiency by increasing the number of transmit antennas then
the radiated power per bit on each antenna is lowered such that the total radiated power
is still constant. While, when increasing the spectral efficiency by increasing the size of
the modulation, the radiated power per bit on each antenna is still constant. However,
ENST 107
0 0
10 10
uncoded 4 bits/s/Hz uncoded 4 bits/s/Hz

algebraic code over 4 antennas algebraic code Θ4,2
two algebraic codes over two antennas algebraic code Θ
4,3
−1
10
−1
10
−2
10
−2
10
Average BER
−3
10
−3
10
−4
10
−4
10
−5
10
−5 −6
10 10
10 15 20 25 30 35 10 15 20 25 30 35
Figure 5.19: Average BER of ST codes Figure 5.20: Average BER of the ST code
Θ4,2 , ΘUDS,4 with BPSK modulation over Θ4,3 with BPSK modulation over quasi-
quasi-static fading, M = 4, N = 1, l = 2. static fading, M = 4, N = 1, l = 3.
108 ENST
all the comparisons that we have made are valid since in a given multi-antenna scheme
using a certain modulation, we fix the SNR per bit for all the compared systems (ΘM
ST codes, uncoded symbols, and G2 ).
5.3.3 Analysis

The coding gain of the code Θ2 is Gc = δmin,o 2
= √410 , while it equals 4 for the code
G2 . At the same diversity order there is a loss of 10 log10 √110 = −5 dB, which we can
see in the simulations at high SNR. When the size of the modulation increases beyond
2 bits/symbol, the determinant criteria is no longer guaranteed. Nevertheless, coding
information symbols by Θ2 always improves over the uncoded system (see Fig. 5.18).
This is because guaranteeing the determinant criteria over the 4-QAM modulation
means that the decoder corrects all error patterns of magnitude less than that of the
4-QAM. The error events of higher magnitude have small probabilities of occuring.
For the other ΘM,l ST codes, we notice that the slopes of performance curves are
proportional to l (see Fig. 5.19 where the curve decreases l = 2 orders of the power of
10 within 10 dB, and Fig. 5.20 where the curve decreases l = 3 orders within 10 dB).
Thus, simulation results confirm the theory that ΘM,l has a diversity order of lN in a
scheme of M transmit and N receive antennas.
5.3.4 Equivalent uncoded system of ΘM,l ST coded system

Since the code ΘM,l is obtained by an orthogonal and unit transformation, the space-
time coded system is equivalent to an uncoded system of lM transmitters and lN
receivers: for example, l = M = 2, N = 1, during two periods of time, the received
signal is given by
r = [r1 , r2 ] = HΘ2 + ν
 
 y1 −y3 
= [h1 , h2 ] 

+ν

y2 y4
⇐⇒
 
 h1 h2 0 0 
rT =   V ec(Θ2 ) + ν T
 
0 0 h1 h2
 
 h1 h2 0 0 
=   M [a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ]T + νT
  4
0 0 h1 h2
ENST 109
= H [a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ]T + ν T , (5-25)
where V ec(Θ2 ) transforms the matrix Θ2 into one vector containing the first then
the second column of Θ2 . In the above relation M 4 is the rotation matrix M 4 with
the third line multiplied by −1. Thus H , the new 2 × 4 transfer matrix, consists in
correlated complex Gaussian random variables; because Gaussian random variables are
fixed under unit transformation. Writing the space-time codes in this form shows how
they transform the inherent transmit diversity M into time diversity expressed here
by increasing the receive diversity N −→ lN. Coding disadvantage is shown by the
correlations between lines of the new transfer matrix H .
5.3.5 Decoding
The price to pay for the bandwidth lossless full diversity space-time codes is the ML
decoding complexity. Since all the information is contained in every transmitted sym-
bol one can not separate the metrics as in other less efficient codes. In the situation
of M = l = 2, ML decoding is feasible, but for higher dimensions it becomes rapidly
intractable since its complexity grows exponentially with M and l.
One can alleviate considerably the ML-decoding complexity burden, by applying

the following principle of sphere decoding [100, 101]: we search the closest point in
the constellation within certain sphere centered at the received point, with a radius
proportional to the noise level (see Chapter 6).
Otherwise, a possible remedy to this problem is to concatenate ΘM codes with outer

codes for each substream, and perform iterative decoding of the double coded system
(see Section 5.4). As we have seen in the previous Section, for coded substreams 5.1.2,
iterative decoding scheme is always better than a detector cascaded by a decoder, since
the decoder exploits the CSI of the rich scattering channel better than a detector.
5.3.6 Fast fading, smart greedy space-time codes

In this subsection we show how ΘM codes benefit from fast fading. The design criteria
of space-time codes for the fast fading is given in [90]. The codes which verify this
criteria are called smart and greedy because the encoder does not know the channel
but can exploit the benefits provided both by the transmit and receive antennas as well
as by the possible rapid changes in the channel.
In this subsection we will prove that ΘM codes verify the aforementioned criteria
and present simulation results over the fast fading channel.
110 ENST
Channel model
In the literature, fast fading is modeled by the transfer matrix H N ×M (t), where all the
hj,k (t) are independent complex Gaussian random variables.
Remark 5.2 When the space-time codes ΘM are used over fast fading that changes
during an inner codeword, it is still possible to represent them by their equivalent un-
coded system 5.3.4. For example, M = 2, N = 1, the equivalent uncoded system is
given by
 
 h1 h2 0 0 
rT = 

 · M [a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ]T
 4 + νT (5-26)
0 0 h3 h4
= H [a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ]T + ν T ,
where hj , j = 1 · · · 4 are independent Gaussian random variables.
Design criteria
For both fast and quasi-static fading, the criterion in 5.2.1 become
• The distance/rank criterion: in order to achieve the diversity v · N in a rapid

fading environment, for any two codewords X and E the strings x1t x2t · · · xM
t and
1 2
et et · · · et must be different at least for v values of 1 ≤ t ≤ l.
M
For ΘM codes this distance criterion is always verified because by construction,

ΘM codes come from rotated vectors that have full spatial diversity over the
Rayleigh fading channel [16, 36, 15] since the optimized rotations are totally real.
Full spatial diversity means that each point of the rotated constellation has its
components different from all the other points components. Thus the distance
criterion is verified by the codes ΘM . The rank criterion is the same as in 5.2.1,
and is also verified by the considered space-time codes.
• The product/determinant criterion: let V (X, E) denote the set of time instances
1 ≤ t ≤ l, such that x1t x2t · · · xM 1 2
t = et et · · · et and let
M

M
||X t − E t ||2 = |xjt − ejt |2 .
j=1
Then to achieve the most coding advantage in a rapid fading environment, the
minimum of the products

||X t − E t ||2 ,
t∈V (X ,E )
ENST 111
taken over distinct codewords must be maximized. As for the determinant crite-
rion, it is the same as in 5.2.1.
For ΘM codes, V(X, E) = {1 · · · l}, and by construction again, the minimum
product distance

l
M
dP,min = min |xjt − ejt |,
X =E t=1 j=1

is maximized. But for positive real numbers z1 , z2 , · · · , zM , maximizing Mj=1 zj
M 2
will maximize j=1 zj . Thus the space-time codes from algebraic constellations
verify the product criterion. As for the determinant criterion, it is verified as long
2
as the conjecture of having δmin maximized for the same rotation that maximizes
dP,min is true.
Thus, ΘM space-time codes are proved to be suitable for both fast and quasi-static
fading channels.
Remark 5.3 Notice that the construction criteria over quasi-static and over fast
fading are independent; i.e. one can find a code that realizes the quasi-static fading
criteria but not the fast fading one, and vice versa. For example, consider the following
matrices  
 1 1 
B1 = 

,

0 1
and  
 1 2 
B2 = 

.

1 2
The rank of B 1 is 2, but the number of positions where its columns are different is 1.
While this number equals 2 for the matrix B 2 , its rank is 1. Consider the ST code G2
with the modulation BPSK. G2 verifies the rank criteria, but the number of positions
where the columns of its matrix B (see Section 5.2) are different is equal to 1. If
we consider the codewords X = [x1 , x2 ], and E = [x2 , x1 ] then the matrix B in this
codewords pair equals to
 
 x1 − x2 x∗1 − x∗2 
B(X, E) = 

,

x2 − x1 x∗1 − x∗2
where, for the BPSK modulation, x∗1 − x∗2 = x1 − x2 .
112 ENST
5.4. CONCATENATING SPACE-TIME CODES WITH OUTER SUBSTREAM CODES
0 0
10 10
uncoded 4 bits/s/Hz uncoded 6 bits/s/Hz
algebraic code 4 bits/s/Hz algebraic code 6 bits/s/Hz
−1
10
−1
10
−2
10

−2
10
−3
10
−3
10
−4
10
−4
10
−5
10
−6 −5
10 10
10 15 20 25 30 35 10 15 20 25 30 35
Figure 5.21: Θ2 ST code with 4-QAM Figure 5.22: Θ3,2 ST code with 4-QAM
over a fast fading channel N = 1. over a fast fading channel, N = 1.
In Fig. 5.21 is depicted the symbol error rate of Θ2 ST code using the 4-QAM
modulation over fast fading channel. Fig. 5.22 shows the symbol error rate of Θ3,2
ST code using the 4-QAM modulation over fast fading channel. It is noticed in both
figures that the performance is enhanced over the fast fading compared to quasi-static
fading (Fig.’s 5.13, 5.16).
Fig. 5.23 shows the average BER of Θ4,2 and Θ4,3 ST codes with BPSK modulation
over a fast fading channel, for N = 1. Notice that one obtains more enhancement of
the performance over fast fading when l increases.
5.4 Concatenating space-time codes with outer sub-

stream codes
5.4.1 Concatenated system over a quasi-static fading
Consider a double coded system by outer substream codes and inner inter-substream
space-time ΘM codes (Fig. 5.24). At the receiver inter-substreams coded system is
replaced by its equivalent uncoded system (5.3.4), then iterative decoding is performed
ENST 113
0
10
uncoded 4 bits/s/Hz
algebraic code,M=4,l=2
algebraic code M=4,l=3
−1
10
−2
10
−3
10
−4
10
−5
10
−6
10
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
SNR per bit
Figure 5.23: Θ4,2 and Θ4,3 ST codes with BPSK over a fast fading channel, N = 1.
Source 1 Coder 1 QAM 4 Interleaver 1
TX
in 2x2 Space-Time matrix
Rotation and arrangement
TX
Figure 5.24: Θ2 concatenated with outer substream codes.
114 ENST
5.4. CONCATENATING SPACE-TIME CODES WITH OUTER SUBSTREAM CODES
on the coded substreams as in 5.1.2. The interleaver size is 5 times the outer codeword
length, a period on which the Rayleigh fading is fixed, then changes randomly. The
number of iterations is chosen to be 3, since after the third iteration, no substantial
improvement in performance occurs. Power computation is done like in (5-9) where
Rout is replaced by Rout · Rin the product of the inner and outer codes.
0 0
10 10
2 coded substreams without ST code Two coded substreams without ST code
4 coded substreams with ST code Four coded substreams with ST code
−1
10
−1
10

−2
10
−2
10
−3
10
−3
10
−4
10
−4 −5
10 10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Eb/N0 in dB EbN0 in dB
Figure 5.25: Concatenated Θ2 with Figure 5.26: Concatenated Θ2 with

BCH(16, 5). N = 2, 4-QAM over BCH(32, 6). N = 2, 4-QAM over
quasi-static fading. quasi-static fading.
In Fig. 5.25 average BER is plotted as a function of Eb/N0 for the outer code
BCH(16, 5), the decoding algorithm is the Fossorier-Lin with first order reprocessing.
The ST code Θ2 is compared to a system without space-time code, at the same spectral
efficiency. Iterative decoding is also used for the second system.
Fig. 5.26 shows the performance of the outer code is BCH(32, 6). For both outer codes,
the diversity order is multiplied by 2 when using the ST code Θ2 .
5.4.2 Fast fading, concatenated smart greedy space-time codes
In this subsection the performance of the concatenated system is shown over a pure
fast fading and then over a “realistic” fading model.
ENST 115
Concatenated system over a pure fast fading
We present in Fig. 5.27 the average BER of the concatenated system using Θ2 as an
inner code, and Golay(24, 12) as an outer code for all substreams with M = N = 2.
The channel changes randomly every time instant t. This iterative scheme over a pure
fast fading is compared to the scheme with the same components except the space-
time code. The number of iteration is 4. The independent random interleaver length
is 5 × 12 = 70 symbol periods.
Concatenated system over a realistic fading
Channel model since the reality is somewhere between the two extreme cases of
fast and quasi-static fading, we use the following model to fit the real fading channel
(without Doppler effects).
“Realistic” fading model: if the outer code is C(n, k) then the fading are supposed
to be fixed over an outer codeword n bits (n/2 symbols for the 4-QAM modulation),
then it changes randomly. The interleaver size is 5 times the outer codeword length
(5n/2 symbols).
Now, random interleavers associated with the modulators outputs over the Rayleigh
fading channel have two different roles:
Break error paths (words in the case of block codes) resulted from substreams de-
coders.
Introduce time diversity by making successive fadings as independent as possible.
As expected, a big improvement in performance is obtained, because the receiver profits

form the combination of three diversity techniques
1. Time diversity from interleaving the fast fadings.
2. Transmit diversity by the inner code.
3. The diversity introduced by the redundancy of the outer code.
In addition to the receive diversity in the case N > 1.

Fig. 5.28 shows the BER, as a function of SNR per bit, of all transmitted substreams,
of the same concatenated system as in 5.4.2, where the channel is fixed over 12 symbols
then changes randomly. The number of iterations is 4. At Eb/N0 = 8 dB an average
BER of 10−3 is reached, for a total throughput of 2b/s/Hz, which is very suitable for
the real wireless communications.
116 ENST
5.5. CONCLUSIONS
0
0 10
10
1st symbol
without ST code, iteration 1 2nd symbol
without ST code, iteration 4 3rd symbol
with ST code, iteration 1
4th symbol
with ST code, iteration 4
−1
−1 10
10
average BER
BER
−2 −2
10 10
−3 −3
10 10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Figure 5.27: Concatenated system over Figure 5.28: Concatenated system over
a pure fast fading channel. Outer code a realistic fading channel. Outer code
Golay(24, 12), inner code Θ2 , N = 2. Golay(24, 12), inner code Θ2 , N = 2.
5.5 Conclusions
In this Chapter, we have studied a multi-antenna system over a quasi-static Rayleigh
fading channel, in four different cases
1. Without substreams neither inter-substreams codes.
2. Only with substreams codes.
3. Only with inter-substreams codes.
4. Concatenated codes.
In the first case we commented on the limitations of the well known V-BLAST detec-
tion algorithm. Although it succeeds in separating the different substreams, and thus
reaches an astonishing throughput, it does not fully exploit the receive diversity. For
this purpose, iterative decoding schemes of coded substreams give better performance
than a detector cascaded by decoders. In the first two schema the inherent transmit
diversity of the multi-antenna system was not exploited. To do so, space-time codes
transform transmit diversity into time diversity.
ENST 117
We have presented a new class of bandwidth lossless space-time codes from algebraic
constellations. These codes realize the rank and determinant criteria of the space-time
codes design for multi-dimensional QAM constellations. Their performance is indepen-
dent from the size of the original QAM (4, 16, 32, . . .), thus very high throughput can
be reached in a system that fully exploits receive and inherent transmit diversity. The
new class of ST codes is proved to be suitable for both fast and quasi-static fading.
The drawback of these codes is the complexity of their ML decoding: to remedy this
last problem we have studied the concatenated systems, and their iterative decoding
schemes that approach the ML performance at high SNR for reasonable complexity
(the number of iterations times single substream decoder complexity).
Finally, we have shown simulations over a pure fast fading channel and over a realistic
Rayleigh fading channel of the concatenated system, where the expected improvement
was presented and explained by the combination of independent types of diversity.
The obtained performance/SNR is very suitable for real wireless communications with
power constraint and mobility effect.
The multi-antenna system and the algebraic ST codes are akin to lattice codes, thus
applying the universal lattice decoder suggests itself. This problem is examined in the
next Chapter.
118 ENST
Chapter 6
Sphere Decoding of Space-Time

Codes
L attice codes decoding is a crucial problem in its applications in digital commu-

nications. Decoding a n-dimensional lattice consists in finding the closest lattice
point to the given vector r in the Euclidean space Rn [100]. The ML detection based
on exhaustive research is prohibitive in its complexity because it is exponential in the
dimension n, and in the size of the carved constellation. For the well known lattices,
practical decoding algorithms with low complexity exist and are listed in [23]. A univer-
sal decoder of lattice codes [100, 101], independently of its structure, is very useful since
many problems in digital communications have a lattice representation. For example,
any linear block code over Zq (the ring of integers modulo q) is in a sense equivalent
to a sublattice of Zn (see ’Construction A’ [23] Chapter 5); and as we shall see in the
sequel, a multi-antenna system has its lattice representation.
In this Chapter, we study the lattice sphere packing representation of a multi-antenna

system, and we investigate the sphere decoding of the resulted lattice code. The Chap-
ter outline is as follows:
In Section 6.1 we review briefly the basic notions of lattices, and we give a lattice
sphere packing representation of the uncoded system in a multi-antenna environment.
Section 6.2 gives a review of the sphere decoding algorithm. In Section 6.3 simulations
results, comparisons with the V-BLAST algorithm [39, 104], and analysis are given for
the uncoded system. Section 6.4 deals with sphere decoding of algebraic space-time
codes constructed in Chapter 5. Conclusions of this Chapter are given in Section 6.6.
119
CHAPTER 6. SPHERE DECODING OF SPACE-TIME CODES
6.1 Lattice representation of multi-antenna archi-

tecture
In this Section we give basic notions and notations of lattices and lattice codes, for a
complete study of the topic see [23].
6.1.1 Definitions
Definition 6.1 Let v 1 , v 2 , . . . , v m be m linearly independent vectors of the n-dimensional

Euclidean space Rd , with m ≤ n. A lattice is the set Λ of vectors
λ1 v 1 + λ2 v 2 + . . . + λm v m , j = 1 . . . m, λj ∈ Z. (6-1)
The set of vectors {v 1 , v 2 , . . . , v m } is called a basis of Λ.
The generator matrix of Λ is given by
M TΛ = [v 1 v 2 . . . v m ].
Hence, for any point x ∈ Λ, there exits a unique u ∈ Zm such that x = uM Λ .
Given a generator matrix M Λ and an integer orthogonal matrix T such that det(T ) =
±1, we can obtain another generator matrix, and thus another basis of Λ by M Λ =
T M Λ.
The Gram matrix of Λ is defined as
G = M Λ M TΛ .
In other words, G represents the cross correlation matrix of the basis of Λ. When
m = n we say that Λ is a full rank lattice, which we consider in the sequel. G is
symmetric and positive definite because the lines of M Λ are independent.
Definition 6.2 The fundamental parallelotope of Λ is the set {yM Λ }, with y =

(y1 , . . . , yn ), 0 ≤ yj < 1, j = 1 . . . n. Its volume is equal to d(Λ) = | det(M Λ )|, a
number independent of the lattice basis and called the determinant of Λ.
It is evident that det(G) = d(Λ)2 . If we are interested in the metric properties of a
lattice, we can equivalently work on the basis vectors, restricted to Zn , of the quadratic
form defined by
Q(y) = yGy T . (6-2)
For example, computing the minimum Euclidean distance of Λ is equivalent to minimize
Q over Zn \{0}.
A lattice code is a finite subset of points of a lattice or a lattice translate, within a
bounded region containing the origin.
120 ENST
6.1. LATTICE REPRESENTATION OF MULTI-ANTENNA ARCHITECTURE
6.1.2 System model

We consider the multi-antenna system of M transmitters and N receivers over the
Rayleigh fading channel defined in Section 5.1. In the sequel, we set N = M.
The independence of the receive antennas and the affecting fades of each substream
presupposes that the transfer matrix H (5-1) has a full rank almost always; i.e. the
event of having two or more dependent columns in H is negligible with respect to the
probability measure.
The received signal at each instant time is given by
r = HaT + ν, (6-3)
where a = (a1 , a2 , . . . , aM ) denotes the transmitted vector which belongs here to the
constellation QAM carved from Z(i). In the above equation ν is an N × 1 complex
column vector AWGN component-wise independent with a variance σ 2 per dimension.
Equivalently, one can write the system (6-3) as
r

= [(r T ) (r T )]
 
 (H ) T
(H ) 
T
= u  + ν
 
−(H T ) (H T )
= uM H + ν , (6-4)
where u = [(a) (a)] ∈ Z2M , and ν = [(ν T ) (ν T )] ∈ R2M .
Proposition 6.1 Let GH = (H T )(H T )† be the Gram matrix of H T , if the rank

of H is M, then the rank of M H is 2M, and its Gram matrix GM is positive definite
and equals
 
 (GH ) (GH ) 
GM = M H M †H = 

.
 (6-5)
−(GH ) (GH )
The proof is a direct result from the properties of matrix product. Hence, we can
represent the multi-antenna environment by a lattice sphere packing, and one can apply
the universal lattice decoder in a multi-antenna system.
Fig. 6.1 shows the lattice representation of a multi-antenna system with M = N = 2

and PAM modulation for 3 different realizations of the fading matrix H.
ENST 121
15
6
10
4
2 5
0 0
−2 −5
−4
−10
−6
−15
−5 0 5 −10 −5 0 5 10
10 10
5 5
0 0
−5 −5
−10 −10
−10 −5 0 5 10 −20 −10 0 10 20
Figure 6.1: Lattice sphere packing representation of a multi-antenna system, M =

N = 2 with PAM modulation.
6.2 The sphere decoding algorithm

Sphere decoding (SD) algorithm was first proposed to find the shortest vector in a
given lattice [74], further analysis and complexity computation was done in [29]. It was
introduced to digital transmission and vector quantization in [100] where the problem of
decoding lattice codes over the Gaussian channel was shown to be equivalent to finding
the shortest vector problem, and further analysis of the sphere decoding algorithm was
given. The special case of decoding lattice codes over the Rayleigh fading channel was
studied in [101], the authors also give a flowchart for simple implementation of the
algorithm. Further research on the algorithm was done in [18] where it was applied to
CDMA detection.
In this Section we give a summary of the aforementioned algorithm and comment

on its ML performance with considerably low complexity compared to the exhaustive
search in the general situation.
Suppose that we have a lattice code carved from the n-dimensional lattice Λ defined
by its generator matrix M Λ . Over the Gaussian channel the received signal is given
by
r = uM Λ + ν, (6-6)
122 ENST
6.2. THE SPHERE DECODING ALGORITHM
Figure 6.2: Geometrical representation of the sphere decoding algorithm.
where ν is (1 × n) Gaussian noise with1 E[νν T ] = σ 2 I n . In the sequel, we suppose a

perfect channel state information (CSI) at the receiver. The ML decoding requires the
minimization of the following metric:

n
m(x|r) = |rj − xj |2 , (6-7)
j=1
where x = uM Λ . The lattice decoding algorithm enables to find the closest point of
the lattice constellation in terms of the metric (6-7) and thus realizes the performance
of the ML detection for real dimensions up to 32 [101], a set of dimensions for which
the exhaustive search becomes infeasible.
The principle of the algorithm is to search the closest lattice point to the received
√
signal within a sphere of radius C centered at the received signal (Fig. 6.2). The
algorithm starts by a ZF detection on the received signal by inverting the matrix M Λ :
ρ = rM −1
Λ .
Let ξ = ρ − u, then minimizing (6-7) is equivalent to minimize the quadratic form

Q(ξ) = ξGM ξT over the integer vector u, where GM is the Gram matrix of M Λ . The
√
ball of radius C and centered at the received signal is transformed into an ellipsoid
centered at the origin with a boundary region defined by Q(ξ) = C.
Performing a Cholesky’s factorization2 of GM , then starting with solving ξn and
working backwards, the search performed on the integers uj , for j = n . . . 1, is very
much like mixed-radix counter on the digits uj , with the difference that the bounds
change whenever there is a carry operation from one digit to the next [101].
1
I n is the n × n identity matrix.
2
The Cholesky’s factorization of a symmetric positive definite matrix A is referred to as “taking
the square root” of A. It finds an upper triangular matrix B such that A = BB T , see [75] p. 96.
ENST 123
The choice of C is very crucial to the speed of the algorithm. In practice, C can be
adjusted according to the noise (and eventually the fading) variance. When a failure
is detected, one can either declare an erasure on the detected symbol, or increase C.
The complexity of the algorithm is independent of the lattice constellation size, which
is very useful for high data rate transmission. In [29] Fincke and Pohst showed that if
d−1 is a lower bound for the eigenvalues of the Gram matrix GM , then the number of
arithmetical operations is

4dC
2 n−1
O n × 1+ , (6-8)
4dC
which, for a judicious choice of the radius C ≈ d−1 , is approximated by O (n6 ) arith-
metical operations.
Fig. 6.3 presents a flowchart of the sphere decoding algorithm. The function
Chol(GM ) computes a normalized Cholesky’s factorization of the Gram matrix GM
as follows
GM = RRT , (6-9)
with R an upper triangular matrix with entries rij . Then computes
qii = rii2 , and qij = rij /rii , , for i = 1, . . . , n, j = i + 1, . . . , n. (6-10)
The function x gives the smallest integer greater than x, and x gives the greatest
integer smaller than x.
6.3 Sphere decoding of the uncoded multi-antenna

system
Consider the system in (6-3) and its equivalent lattice representation in (6-4). Per-
forming sphere decoding demands additional operations to compute the Cholesky’s
factorization of the Gram matrix GM , and the inverse of M H . The additional com-
putational complexity is O (n3 ) arithmetical operations (see [75] p. 97 and p. 102),
where n = 2M. Over a quasi-static fading where the channel is fixed during a long
period of time, this additional computation is performed once at the beginning of each
received block.
In simulation we use the constellation q-QAM, with q = 4, 16. The average energy
124 ENST
6.3. SPHERE DECODING OF THE UNCODED MULTI-ANTENNA SYSTEM
- qGM MM T
:=
INPUT
:= Chol(G
r C M M ; 1 M)
= rM ; 1
?
2
d := C
Tn := C
S :=

?

i := n
Li :=
p?
bp Ti =qii + Si c
d; e
--
ui := Ti =qii + Si
# #
?
" !"# !
i := i + 1 ui := ui + 1
no
6 ? i := i ; 1
6P
i = n? ui > Li ?
Si ;1 := ;1 =+
n
qi;1 j j
" !
i j i
yes
yes
? ?no 6
;
OUPUT
u 2
^ d^
i > 1?
yes
- Ti;1 := ? T
i := i
; qii (Si
ui
; 2
ui ) > 0
#
i
2
d^ := Tn
?
; 1 11
T +q
no
(S1 ; u1 )2
" !
? u^ := u
no
2
d^ < d ?
2
yes
- 2
d := d^
Tn := d^
2
2
Figure 6.3: Flowchart of the universal lattice decoding algorithm.
ENST 125
per bit is fixed3 to Eb = 1. The transfer matrix H is modeled by independent Gaussian

random variables of variance 0.5 per dimension. The curves are plotted as a function
of SNR, and the variance σ 2 of the AWGN per dimension is adjusted by the formula
MEsav −SNR
σ2 = 10 10 , (6-11)
2 log2 (q)
where Esav is the average symbol energy of the q-QAM when Eb = 1. For example,
for q = 4 and q = 16, Esav equals 2 and 10, respectively.
0 0
10 10
V−BLAST optimal order V−BLAST optimal order detection
Sphere decoding Sphere decoding
−1
10
−2 −1
10 10
Block error rate
−3
10
−4 −2
10 10
−5
10
−6 −3
10 10
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Figure 6.4: Sphere decoding of V-BLAST Figure 6.5: SD of V-BLAST architecture,

architecture, M = N = 8, average symbol M = N = 4, block error rate of 4-QAM over
error rate of the 16-QAM modulation, 32 a quasi-static fading of length 100 sym-
bits/s/Hz. bols.
Fig. 6.4 presents the average symbol error rate of a scheme of 8 transmit antennas
and 8 receive antennas using the 16-QAM modulation. A symbol error rate of 10−5
is attained at SNR ≈ 17.8 dB for a total throughput of 32 bits/s/Hz. It is worth
mentioning that, in this case, ML detector by exhaustive search requires 168 (8 × 8)
matrix multiplications and 168 (1 × 8) vector norm computations, which is infeasible.
3
This normalization is useful to have a lattice representation by transmitting symbols from Z(i).
However, if the amplitudes of the transmitted symbols are not integers, one can always perform the
normalization at the receiver.
126 ENST
6.4. SPHERE DECODING OF ALGEBRAIC SPACE-TIME CODES
Fig. 6.5 shows the block error rate of sphere decoding and V-BLAST detection using
a 4-QAM modulation over a quasi-static Rayleigh fading, with a burst length of 100
symbols.
The limitation of the algorithm to real dimensions (n) up to 32 implies a limitation

of its application in a V-BLAST architecture of complex dimensions (M) up to 16.
However, this is still very interesting; for example, for M = N = 8, one can use 4, 16,
or 64 QAM constellation, and reaches a very high throughput with ML performance
at a reasonable complexity by using the sphere decoding; while the ML detection for
such dimensions is simply infeasible [39, 104].
6.4 Sphere decoding of algebraic space-time codes

We consider in this Section the sphere decoding of the class of algebraic space-time
codes ΘM,l constructed in Chapter 5; the decoding is applied to the scheme where the
number of receive antennas equals the number of transmit antennas N = M.
The lattice sphere packing representation of the ST code ΘM,l is done in two steps
1. Representing ΘM,l by its equivalent uncoded system (see subsection 5.3.4):

(M, N) −→ (lM, lN).
2. Representing the resulted uncoded system by its lattice form (6-4): n = 2lM.

Example 6.1 Take M = N = l = 2, The algebraic ST code is Θ2 , the received

signal is given by
  
 h11 h12   y1 −y3 
r=



 + ν,
 (6-12)
h21 h22 y2 y4
where ν is a 2 × 2 matrix of independent complex Gaussian noise, and

y T = [y1 , y2 , y3, y4 ]T = M 4,o aT , M 4,o the optimal rotation matrix4 in dimension 4,
and a = [a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 ] ∈ QAM4 the uncoded symbols vector.
4
see Section 5.3.
ENST 127
The equivalent uncoded system is given by

 
 h11 h12 0 0 
 
 
 
 0 0 h11 h12 
 
V ec(r T ) =  · M 4 a
T

 
+ V ec(ν T )
 h21 h22 0 0 
 
 
 
0 0 h21 h22
= H M 4 aT + V ec(ν T ), (6-13)
where V ec(r T ) is the vector representation of the matrix rT by putting all its columns
one after another in one vector column. M 4 is the rotation matrix M 4,o with the
third line multiplied by −1. The received signal could be written as
r = V ec(r T ) = H aT + ν , (6-14)
where H = H M 4 , of rank 4 almost always, since the rank of H is 4 almost always.
Finally, the lattice sphere packing representation of the resulted system is given by
r [(r T ) (r T )]

=
 
T T
 (H ) (H ) 
= u  + ν
 
T T
−(H ) (H )
= uM H + ν , (6-15)
where u = [(a) (a)] ∈ Z2lM , and ν = [(ν T ) (ν T )] ∈ R2lM . The dimension
increase for the lattice representation is M = 2 −→ 2lM = 8.
One can alleviate the computational complexity in the case of ST codes ΘM,l by
precomputing the inverse of the corresponding rotation matrix (see Chapter 5), and by
expressing the inverse of the transfer matrix of the corresponding equivalent uncoded
system by the inverse of the transfer matrix of the ST coded system. In the Example
6.1 one has
H −1 = M 4 −1 H −1
 
 hi11 0 hi21 0 
 
 
 
 hi21 0 hi22 0 
−1  
= M 4  , (6-16)
 
 0 hi11 0 hi21 
 
 
 
0 hi21 0 hi22
128 ENST
6.4. SPHERE DECODING OF ALGEBRAIC SPACE-TIME CODES
where the entries hik,j are computed from the inverse of H

 
 hi11 hi12 
H −1 = 

.

hi21 hi22
The variance of the transmitted symbols, the transfer matrix and the AWGN are
computed like in Section 6.3, because the ST code ΘM,l does not add redundancy.
Comparisons are done with uncoded systems of (M, N) transmit-receive antennas.
The limitation on n implies that lM ≤ 16.
0 0
10 10
−1 −1
10 10
−2 −2
10 10
−3 −3
10 10
−4 −4
10 10
V−BLAST optimal order of uncoded system

V−BLAST optimal order of uncoded system, 8 bits/s/Hz Sphere decoding of uncoded system
−5
10 SD of uncoded system, 8 bits/s/Hz −5
10 Sphere decoding of algebraic code l=2
SD of algebraic code, l=2, 8 bits/s/Hz Sphere decoding of algebraic code l=3
−6 −6
10 10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Figure 6.6: SD of V-BLAST architecture, Figure 6.7: SD of V-BLAST architecture,

M = N = 2, average symbol error rate of M = N = 4, average symbol error rate of
the 16-QAM modulation, 8 bits/s/Hz. the 4-QAM modulation, 8 bits/s/Hz.
Fig. 6.6 shows the average symbol error rate of SD and V-BLAST optimal order
detection for the uncoded system M = N = 2, and for the algebraic ST code Θ2 . In
both schema 16-QAM constellation were used. One notices that the SD decoding gives
the ML detection results (see Fig. 5.18).
Fig. 6.7 presents the average symbol error rate of sphere decoding and V-BLAST
detection of 4 substreams using the modulation 4-QAM in a scheme of 4 receivers, and
ENST 129
total throughput of 8 bit/s/Hz. It also shows the SD of the ST code Θ4,2 and Θ4,3 of
the same scheme with the same throughput over a quasi-static fading of length l = 2
and l = 3 symbols . One notices that the slope of the sphere decoding curve is close to
4 (within 10 dB, the curve decreases 4 orders of the power of 10: at 8 dB ≈ 210−2 , and
at 18 dB ≈ 6.5e−6 ) which is the diversity expected by the ML detection upper bound
[90]. The slopes of the ST codes curves are greater than that of SD of the uncoded
system: the scheme of ST code ΘM,l has a total diversity of lN.
6.5 Sub-optimal scheme, sphere decoding with SIC

When the multi-antenna dimensions lM exceeds 16, one can still profit from the sphere
decoding by decoding a part of the received signal, then one performs an iterative SIC
operation based on maximum ratio combiner as follows:
Consider the sphere lattice representation of the received signal (6-4) r = [r 1 r 2 ] with
r 1 , r2 (1 × M) vectors. Suppose that one disposes of a first estimate û of the data
vector u by a V-BLAST or a simple ZF detection. Writing the lattice generator matrix
M H in the form
 
 M1 M2 
MH = 

,

−M 2 M 1
yields
r 1 = u1 M 1 − u2 M 2
r 2 = u1 M 2 + u2 M 1 , (6-17)
where u = [u1 u2 ]. The iterative SIC sub-optimal detection is performed as follows
1.
r sd1 = (r 1 + û2 M 2 )M T1 + (r 2 + û2 M 1 )M T2 . (6-18)
2. û1 = sphere-decoder(r sd1 , M 1 M T1 + M 2 M T2 ).
3.
r sd2 = (−r 1 − û1 M 1 )M T2 + (r 2 + û1 M 2 )M T1 . (6-19)
4. û2 = sphere-decoder(r sd2 , M 1 M T1 + M 2 M T2 ).
5. Iterate.
130 ENST
6.5. SUB-OPTIMAL SCHEME, SPHERE DECODING WITH SIC
The maximum ratio combiner done in (6-18) and (6-19) by optimal combination of
r 1 and r 2 aims to allow the sphere decoder to exploit the receive diversity after the
SIC operation. The complexity of the sub-optimal algorithm is O ((n/2)6 ) arithmetical
operations5 , which permits decoding of schemes with complex dimensions up to 32.
One can assign soft decisions to the hard detected symbols as a by-product of this
sub-optimal algorithm as follows:
The probability of the symbol aj = s is set to the number of times aj = s during the
iterations over the total number of iterations6 .
0
10
V−BLAST optimal order

SIC−SD first iteration
SIC−SD second iteration
−1
10
−2
10
−3
10
−4
10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
SNR per bit
Figure 6.8: Sub-optimal SIC-SD of uncoded system with M = N = 4, using 4 QAM

constellation over the Rayleigh fading channel
Fig. 6.8 shows the performance of the proposed sub-optimal scheme over a multi-
antenna system with 4 transmitters and 4 receivers using the 4-QAM modulation. We
notice that one gains almost 5 dB after the second iteration compared to V-BLAST
optimal order detection alone. However, the sub-optimal scheme does not increases the
diversity order exploited by the receiver. This small improvement is logical because
when performing a SIC operation on uncoded substreams (without outer codes), an
erroneous detected data will propagate from one iteration to another (see Chapter 3).
5

The initialization by V-BLAST demands O (n/2)4 arithmetical operations, besides it depends
linearly on the constellation size.
6
This method is akin to the one used in the Gibbs algorithm [34].
ENST 131
Remark 6.1 This SIC method is similar to the reprocessing method combined with
V-BLAST proposed in Section 5.1 (subsubsection Improving on V-BLAST). We have
seen there that one obtained little improvement by the proposed method for small di-
mensions because we were limited in the dimension by the ML detection. The difference
here is that we are less limited in dimensions.
6.6 Conclusions
We have studied in this Chapter the sphere decoding of the V-BLAST multi-antenna ar-
chitecture over the Rayleigh fading channel, and then the application of this algorithm
to decode the algebraic ST codes ΘM,l . The algorithm reaches the ML performance
with a computational complexity of O (n6 ). It is independent of the size of the con-
stituent QAM constellation. Hence, a very high throughput could be reached along
with ML performance.
The huge difference in performance between the sphere decoding and the V-BLAST
detection algorithm [39, 104] over the uncoded system, shows the limitations of the lat-
ter algorithm in taking advantage of the receive diversity, and allows one to appreciate
the huge capacity of the multi-antenna systems [91].
The sphere decoding solves the intricate problem of decoding the algebraic ST codes
ΘM,l up to dimensions lM ≤ 16. It was shown by the simulation results and the
properties of these codes (see Chapter 5) that one can verify the full diversity in a
multi-antenna system without adding any redundancy, and perform the ML decoding
with low computational complexity.
The combination of sphere decoding with a SIC based on maximum ratio combiner
allows one to increase the complex dimensions lM up to 32 for a reasonable complexity.
Besides, one can assign soft values to the decisions taken by the sub-optimal SIC algo-
rithm. Although the performance is largely degraded compared to the ML detection,
this scheme is still interesting in high dimensions since it outperforms the classical SIC
algorithm like the V-BLAST.
132 ENST
Chapter 7
Conclusions and Perspectives
M ultiple access problem concerns the efficient use of a common transmission medium
by several users. Of the four principle problems in this scheme, Namely: the
channel impairment, the transmission delay, the BER of each user, and the average
overall amount of transmitted information; the present thesis focuses on the last two
issues.
7.1 Thesis summary

In this work, we have presented solutions to reduce the huge complexity of the multi-
user detection problem, and to enhance the spectral efficiency of some of the MISO,
and the MIMO channels.
After outlining the characteristics of the multiple access channel, and reviewing the
information theory viewpoint, we have studied an iterative decoding scheme for the
uncoded system first, then for coded systems. The convergence of the iterative method
was shown by simulations for both convolutional and block codes.
We provided elements of analysis of the block coded two users system over the Gaus-
sian channel. It shows how the convergence of the iterative method is done: by using
the “useful” information of the most “reliable” decoded bits, and by neglecting the
“useless” information of the erroneous decoded bits.
Studying the iterative method over the Rayleigh fading channel illuminates the role of
independent random interleavers associated with the encoders outputs in preventing
the error paths from permeating among the users in the iterative decoding process,
and by diminishing the number of ambiguity situations over the Gaussian channel.
133
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
At this point, we have compared our method to a sub-optimal iterative decoding

scheme. For a small number of users with relatively high rates sum, our algorithm
gives better performance than the sub-optimal method. However when the number of
users is big and their rates are small enough, the two schemes give the same perfor-
mance of the single user situation. An important contribution was assigning soft values
to the decisions of the Fossorier-Lin block codes decoding algorithm. Because this de-
coding algorithm is substantially less complex than the decoding algorithms based on
the trellis structure of block codes.
Joint multi-user decoding allows each user to reach a BER as if he is alone on the
channel, but it implies restrictions on the users data rates to make enough room to
separate them.
To remedy the last problem, we have studied joint multi-user coding, which sup-
poses that each transmitter takes into consideration the existence of other users on the
medium. All the active transmitters are designed to minimize their mutual interference
in order to coexist and to transmit at high data rates.
We have proposed a new class of multi-user codes based on rotated multi-dimensional
constellations. Over the noiseless adder channel, the proposed code is proved to be
uniquely decodable, without adding any redundancy. Thus, the proposed class of codes
achieves the capacity of the noiseless adder channel. We have proposed a sub-optimal
detection algorithm which profits from the algebraic structure of the code. The alge-
braic detection succeeds in separating the multitude of users over the noiseless adder
channel. The main characteristics of the considered code are: the simplicity of coding;
the symmetry of the residual MAI to all users; it is codeword and frame asynchronous.
Over the noisy channel, minimizing the MAI, by maximizing the minimum squared
Euclidean distance of the constellations sum, outperforms TDMA in most cases. The
concatenation with error control codes with very low rate further enhances the perfor-
mance of the system.
Due to the huge increase in the capacity of multi-antenna systems compared to a

single-antenna system, one finds a big trend in the actual research in the multi-antenna
area.
We have also proposed a new class of space-time codes from algebraic constellations
built on algebraic number fields. Again, the proposed code has no redundancy, and
verifies the construction criteria of space-time codes over both quasi-static and fast
fading. Hence it is capable of exploiting the full diversity of the multi-antenna system.
The concatenation with outer codes, and the application of an adapted version of
134 ENST
7.2. PERSPECTIVES
iterative decoding to the multi-antenna environment, alleviates the burden of decoding

the proposed space-time codes, and yields a very suitable performance/transmitted
information dilemma for the wireless channel.
Finally, we have considered the lattice sphere packing representation of the multi-
antenna system. This allows us to apply the sphere decoding algorithm, which reaches
the ML performance at low complexity. Comparing the results of the sphere decoding
(ML) and those of the V-BLAST detection with optimal order, shows the limitations
of the latter one in taking advantage of the receive diversity, and permits to apprehend
the huge capacity of the multi-antenna system since a very high spectral efficiency was
reached along with excellent performance.
Sphere decoding solves the problem of decoding the proposed algebraic space-time
codes, and permits to decode a system, exploiting the full diversity of the multi-antenna
environment, without redundancy, with low computational complexity. The limitation
of the sphere decoder in the dimension of the lattice (up to 32) suggests a combina-
tion with interference cancellation based on maximum ratio combiner of the different
versions of the received signal. In addition, one can assign soft values to the deci-
sions taken by the sub-optimal SIC algorithm. The resulted system yields a tradeoff
complexity/performance when the dimensions of the multi-antenna system increase.
7.2 Perspectives
Of course, some open problems remain:
• Joint channel decoding
– Iterative decoding needs the knowledge of the channel parameters. Channel

estimation jointly [71] with multi-user iterative decoding could be consid-
ered.
– Due to the interleaver length, the iterative decoding does not respect the
delay constraints. This problem could be considered through two ways:
1. The choice of suitable short interleavers like in the actual trend in turbo
codes [73].
2. The choice of suitable codes that do not need long interleavers.
• Joint channel coding
– The use of algebraic tools to construct K-user codes in higher dimension.
ENST 135
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
– The efficient decoding of the K-user codes in the presence of noise (modified
sphere decoding [27]).
– Coded modulation in the K-user code; an extensive study of the influence
of the concatenated outer code on the K-user code.
• Multi-antenna systems
– Joint channel estimation in the soft output sphere decoding of ST codes.

– The conjunction of CDMA with space-time codes is considered as a serious
candidate for the UMTS.
136 ENST
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ENST 145
Index
a posteriori, 3, 9, 10, 32, 33, 46, 47, 87 capacity of multi-antenna system, 19,
a priori, 31–33, 77 132, 134
capacity of TDMA, 17
algebraic, 69 capacity of the Gaussian multiple ac-
algebraic combination, 69 cess channel, 14
algebraic constellation, 81, 112, 118, capacity of the noiseless K-user adder
134 channel, 14
algebraic detection, 75, 79, 134 capacity of the single user Gaussian
algebraic dimension, 76 channel, 15, 16
algebraic equation, 75 capacity region, 15, 18
algebraic manipulation, 44, 74 outage capacity, 20
algebraic norm, 70, 94 CDMA, 17, 18, 24, 49, 122, 136
algebraic number, 69, 73, 75, 76 cellular, 1, 16, 17, 58, 59, 80
algebraic number field, 69–71, 76, 81, central limit theorem, 7, 16, 44, 49
91, 93, 94, 96, 134 channel, 5, 25, 47, 57, 58, 60, 79–81, 83,
algebraic number theory, 69 86, 90, 97, 110, 111, 116, 133–135
algebraic ST codes, 107, 119, 127, 132 binary adder channel, 79
algebraic structure, 10, 58, 134 channel code, 3
algebraic tools, 60, 135 channel transition probability, 31, 33
ambiguity, 26, 27, 29, 30, 36, 42, 43, 45–47, Gaussian channel, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28,
61, 133 30, 31, 33, 36, 38, 40, 42, 43, 47,
AWGN, 5, 7, 16, 25–27, 30, 38, 42, 47, 83, 60, 77, 122, 133
87, 121, 126, 129 mobile-radio channel, 7
multi-path channel, 86
BER, 1, 9, 16, 33, 38, 39, 42, 43, 49, 78, multiple access channel, 5, 133
89, 90, 104, 115, 116, 133 noiseless adder channel, 5, 43, 58, 60,
block codes, 3, 10, 23, 25, 36, 38, 39, 43, 69, 71–74, 79, 134
47, 85, 116, 133, 134 noisy channel, 47, 57, 58, 78–80, 134
Rayleigh fading channel, 3, 8, 20–23,
capacity, 14, 15, 20, 49, 57, 58, 60, 79, 134 25, 27, 29, 36, 47, 60, 76, 82, 85,
capacity of CDMA, 18 96, 104, 107, 110–113, 116–118, 121,
capacity of correction, 43, 46 122, 133
capacity of FDMA, 17 rich scattering channel, 10, 110
146
INDEX
complexity, 11, 13, 25, 26, 40, 46, 47, 49, Hadamard, 67, 96, 98–101
72, 74, 75, 77, 80, 85, 110, 118, Hamming, 57, 58
119, 122, 124, 127, 128, 131–133,
information bits, 32, 38
135
information theory, 3, 13, 14, 58, 60, 133
convolutional codes, 3, 23, 25, 30, 33, 36,
interference, 1, 3, 7, 8, 22, 43, 78, 87, 90,
38, 43, 46, 47, 78, 133
134
cooperation, 1, 14, 18
ISI, 22
CSI, 9, 10, 86, 90, 110, 123
MAI, 22, 25, 134
delay, 1, 9, 133, 135 RIL, 59, 76, 79
diversity, 8, 11, 60, 85, 111, 116, 118, 130 interleaver, 3, 30, 33, 36, 38, 43, 46, 47, 78,
diversity gain, 9, 91–93 86, 87, 115, 116, 133
diversity order, 9, 21, 96, 104, 109, 115, iterative decoding, 3, 10, 11, 22, 25, 27, 33,
131 36, 40, 42, 47–49, 81, 86, 89, 90,
full diversity, 90, 95, 110, 132, 134 110, 113, 115, 117, 118, 133–135
receive diversity, 10, 20, 21, 23, 84,
lattice, 70, 119, 120, 123, 124
110, 116, 117, 131, 132
lattice code, 120, 122
spatial diversity, 76, 97, 111
lattice decoder, 121, 123
time diversity, 3, 20, 81, 92, 116, 117
likelihood, 26–28, 39, 40, 44–46
transmit diversity, 20, 21, 23, 24, 81,
92, 110, 116–118 MAP, 9, 30, 33, 47
transmit-receive diversity, 21 mapper, 4, 77
unequal diversity scheme, 102, 104 maximum ratio combiner, 11, 84, 90, 93,
130–132, 135
error paths, 36, 44, 46, 86, 116, 133
minimum distance, 38, 39, 58, 59, 63, 120
error probability, 1, 8, 20, 28, 29
ML, 9, 11, 22, 23, 25, 26, 39, 43, 74, 75,
fading, 3, 7, 8, 10, 19, 25, 27–29, 36, 47, 80, 77, 85, 90, 104, 110, 118, 123, 126,
83, 84, 91, 96, 111, 115, 116, 118, 129, 132
124 MMSE, 9, 82, 83
fast fading, 20, 97, 110–113, 115, 116, mobile-radio, 1, 7, 9, 17, 58
118, 134 modulation, 4, 38, 82, 93, 102, 103
flat fading, 8, 19 BPSK, 4, 25, 26, 28, 31, 38, 42, 59, 60,
quasi-static fading, 8, 19, 20, 82, 85, 104, 107, 112
86, 97, 104, 107, 111–113, 116–118, coded modulation, 136
130, 134 PAM, 4, 28
FDMA, 17 PSK, 4, 62, 92
Fossorier-Lin, 10, 11, 38, 44, 47, 85, 89, QAM, 4, 59–61, 63, 67, 74, 85, 87, 89,
115, 134 93, 94, 104, 107, 113, 116, 126, 131
multi-antenna, 2, 10, 14, 19, 80, 81, 84, 86,
Gram matrix, 120, 121, 123, 124 90, 117, 119, 121, 132, 134–136
ENST 147
INDEX
multi-user, 1, 2, 11, 22, 24–26, 35, 40, 42, transmitted information, 1, 9, 49, 133, 135
57, 78, 82, 102, 107 turbo code, 13, 16, 22, 78, 80, 135
multi-user code, 3, 11, 23, 26, 134
UMTS, 17, 136
multi-user coding, 10, 23, 58, 134
uncoded system, 25, 26, 82, 104, 109, 111,
multi-user decoding, 10, 32, 36, 78, 80,
113, 119, 127, 128, 133
134, 135
uniquely decodable, 26, 57–59, 73–75, 78–
multi-user detection, 15, 22, 25, 49,
80, 134
133
multiple access, 1, 16, 17, 33, 40, 76, 78 ZF, 9, 82, 83, 123
orthogonal, 43, 47, 67, 78, 96, 109, 120
PEP, 8, 27, 29, 44, 45, 90, 91
receiver, 7, 9, 18, 25, 31, 32, 61, 77, 78, 81,

83, 84, 90, 104, 109, 113, 116, 121,
123, 126, 129, 131
reliability, 32, 45, 47, 77
reprocessing order, 39, 40
rotated constellations, 11, 24, 60, 67, 78,
96, 97, 111, 134
SIC, 15, 22, 30, 32, 47, 81–86, 104, 131, 132
single user, 1, 10, 26, 29, 32, 33, 36, 38, 42,
43, 46, 47, 64, 77, 78, 82, 134
SNR, 11, 15, 20, 25–27, 33, 38–40, 42, 43,
47, 60, 83, 84, 89, 109, 116, 118,
126
soft values, 11, 38–40, 44, 84, 134, 135
space-time, 19, 24, 81, 94, 96
ST codes, 10, 11, 21, 23, 81, 82, 90–94,
97, 104, 107, 109–113, 115–119, 127,
134–136
sphere decoding, 11, 110, 119, 122, 127,
130, 135
sub-optimal, 10, 26, 46, 49, 130–132, 134
synchronization, 18, 25, 47, 80, 82
system model, 1, 59, 121
TDMA, 16, 17, 60, 63, 64, 67, 80, 134

threshold, 42, 47
throughput, 126, 130, 132
148 ENST

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présentée pour obtenir le grade de docteur

Spécialité : Électronique et Communication

Mohamed Oussama Damen

A. Robert Calderbank Rapporteurs

École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications

galement je suis trs reconnaissant Messieurs A. Robert Calderbank, Directeur de

Je tien aussi remercier Messieurs Emanuele Viterbo, Professeur l’cole Politecnico di

J’exprime ma gratitude mon directeur de thse, Monsieur Jean-Claude Belﬁore, Pro-

Je voudrais aussi exprimer ma reconnaissance la Direction de l’cole, la Direction

Je tiens exprimer ma sincre reconnaissance au Rectorat de Paris pour avoir ﬁnanc

Hilmi et Rima. Aussi je remercie tout le personnel du Dpartement pour l’ambiance

Finalement, je remercie mes parents et ma famille pour leur patience, encouragement,

Mohamed Mohamed Oussama

Paris, le 31 Janvier 2000 M. Oussama

2 Information Theory and State of the Art 13

3 Joint Multi-user Decoding 25

3.2.1 Convolutional codes over the Gaussian channel . . . . . . . . . . 30

4 Joint Multi-user Coding 57

5 Space-Time Codes for Multi-user Applications 81

6 Sphere Decoding of Space-Time Codes 119

7 Conclusions and Perspectives 133

1.1 Multi-user communication via the same medium to one receiver. . . . . 2

2.1 Information theoretic limits on the compression of a source Xs −→ X,

3.11 Subtract a soft estimate iterative decoding method. . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.1 The constellation sum of code1, code2 and code3. . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5.1 multi-antenna transmission scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

6.1 Lattice sphere packing representation of a multi-antenna system, M =

4.1 Asymptotic gain, compared to the BPSK, of the modulation q-QAM. . 60

Dans les systèmes de communication mobile cellulaire, plusieurs utilisateurs parta-

Au cours de la présente thèse nous nous sommes consacrés à essentiellement deux

1. Simpliﬁcation des algorithmes de dcodage conjoint.

2. Proposition de nouveaux codes tenant compte de la présence d’autres utilisateurs

• Canal entrées multiples et à sortie unique.

• Canal entrées multiples et à sorties multiples.

• Z is the ring of integers.

• Q is the ﬁeld of rational numbers.

• R is the ﬁeld of real numbers.

• C is the ﬁeld of complex numbers.

• Z(i), Q(i) are the sets of numbers a + ib with a, b ∈ Z, a, b ∈ Q respectively.

• Rn is the Euclidean vector space of dimension n over R.

• K = Q(θ) is the set of all possible algebraic combinations of an algebraic number

• Pr{A} is the probability of the event A.

• p{a} is the probability density function value in a.

• Lv(a) is the log likelihood value of the variable a.

• y † is the transpose conjugate of y.

• y ∗ is the conjugate of the complex scalar y.

• V ec(M ) is the matrix M put in one vector:

V ec(M )T = [(M )T1 , (M )T2 , . . . , (M )TN ]T ,

where (M )j , j = 1 . . . N is the jth columns of the matrix M , N is the number

• For y ∈ C, y = (y) + i(y).

• rank(H) is the rank of the matrix H.

• H + is Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse of the matrix H.

• Eb/N0 is the signal to noise ratio per bit.

• Es/N0 is the signal to noise ratio per symbol.

• log x is the natural logarithm of x > 0, x ∈ R.

• logb x is the logarithm to the base b of x.

AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise.

BAC Binary Adder Channel.

BER Bit Error Rate.

BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying.

• For y ∈ C, y = (y) + i(y).

Deﬁnition 1.1 An a posteriori value, or relative value [7] is the