Transmit antenna selection algorithms for quadrature spatial modulation.

Abstract

The use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems has become increasingly popular due to the demand for high data rate transmissions. One such attractive MIMO system is spatial modulation (SM). SM is an ideal candidate for high data rate transmission as it is able to achieve a high spectral efficiency, whilst maintaining a relatively low receiver complexity. SM completely avoids inter-channel interference and the need for inter-antenna synchronisation. Furthermore, SM requires the existence of only one radio frequency chain. However, the need to increase the spectral efficiency achieved by SM is a topic which continues to garner interest. Quadrature spatial modulation (QSM) was introduced as an innovative SM-based MIMO system. QSM maintains the aforementioned advantages of SM, whilst further increasing the spectral efficiency of SM. However, similar to SM, the need to improve the reliability (error performance) of QSM still exists. One such strategy is the application of a closed-loop technique, such as transmit antenna selection (TAS). In this dissertation, Euclidean distance-based antenna selection for QSM (EDAS-QSM) is proposed. A substantial improvement in the average error performance is demonstrated. However, this is at the expense of a relatively high computational complexity. To address this, we formulate an algorithm in the form of reduced-complexity Euclidean distance-based antenna selection for QSM (RCEDAS-QSM) that is used for the computation of EDAS-QSM. RCEDAS-QSM yields a significant reduction in the computational complexity, whilst preserving the error performance. To further address computational complexity, four sub-optimal, low-complexity, TAS schemes for QSM are investigated, viz. capacity optimised antenna selection for QSM (COASQSM), TAS for QSM based on amplitude and antenna correlation (TAS-A-C-QSM), lowcomplexity TAS for QSM based on amplitude and antenna correlation using the splitting technique (LCTAS-A-C-QSM) and TAS based on amplitude, antenna correlation and Euclidean distance for QSM (A-C-ED-QSM). Amongst the sub-optimal algorithms, A-C-ED-QSM provides superior error performance. While the computational complexity of A-C-ED-QSM is higher than the other sub-optimal, lowcomplexity schemes, there is a significant reduction in the computational complexity compared to the optimal RCEDAS-QSM. However, this is at the expense of error performance. Hence, clearly a trade-off exists between error performance and computational complexity, and is investigated in detail in this dissertation.