CAREER: The Design of Resource-Efficient Communications Systems by Combining Decision Feedback with Error-Control Coding

通信技术的无处不在正变得日益明显。随着每个市场中客户数量的增长，以及他们对越来越高的数据速率的需求，尽可能有效地使用电力和带宽等可用资源的需求变得至关重要。通常，一个接近理论极限的通信系统需要一个计算复杂得令人望而却步的接收器。为了降低复杂性，通常对接收器的一部分进行线性化，但这会严重降低系统相对于理论潜力的性能。然而，有一类非线性接收器被称为判决反馈接收器，其复杂度本质上不超过线性接收器，但其性能往往更接近于最优接收器。本研究探索决策反馈接收器结构作为实现资源高效的通信系统的一种实用手段。这项研究也被整合到所有学生层面的教育活动中。研究的各个方面被有目的地介绍给课堂上的本科生，在暑期工作项目中，以及通过高级论文建议。这为他们进入行业或在研究生院深造做好了技术和动机上的准备。为研究生提供了一个有利于在令人兴奋的通信领域进行高质量研究的环境，无论他们选择在工业还是学术领域。研究的技术方面涉及三个方面。首先，至少在原则上确定如何将判决反馈接收器与用于各种重要通信信道的差错控制编码相结合。然后，在这些决策反馈框架下，推导出可用资源和系统需求之间的解析关系，并设计出资源效率高的系统。最后，从理论上的随机码过渡到实际的编解码器，并进行软件仿真。总而言之，这些调查提供了在节约资源方面非常有效的通信系统，但具有足够低的复杂性，便于实施。

The ubiquity of communications technology is becoming more evidentevery day. As the number of customers grows within each market, alongwith their demand for higher and higher data rates, the need to use available resources such as power and bandwidth as efficiently as possible becomes paramount. Typically a communications system that is operating near theoretical limits requires a receiver whose computational complexityis prohibitively large. To reduce complexity, it is common to linearizea portion of the receiver but this can severely reduce system performancerelative to theoretical potential. However, there is a class of nonlinearreceivers known as decision-feedback receivers whose complexity is essentially no more than that of linear receivers but whose performance is often much closer to that of optimal receivers. This research explores the decision-feedback receiver structure as a practical means of realizing resource-efficient communications systems. The research is also integrated into educational activities at all student levels. Aspects of the research are purposefully introduced to undergraduate students in the classroom,during summer work programs, and through senior-level thesis advising. This prepares them both technically and motivationally to enter industryor to pursue further studies in graduate school. Graduate students areprovided an environment conducive to doing quality research in the exciting field of communications, whether they choose careers in industry or academia.The technical aspects of the research involve three components. First, it is determined, at least in principle, how to combine a decision-feedback receiver with error-control coding for a variety of important communications channels. Then, within these decision-feedback frameworks analytical relationships between available resources and system requirements are derived, and resource-efficient systems are designed. Lastly, the transition is made from theoretical random codes to actual encoders and decoders that are simulated in software. Together these investigations provide communications systems that are highly efficient in regard to their conservation of resources, yet with low enough complexity to be amenable to implementation.