EP2893679A1

EP2893679A1 - Method of cooperative emission, signal, source entity, relay entity, method of reception, destination entity, system and computer program corresponding thereto

Info

Publication number: EP2893679A1
Application number: EP13759697.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jean-François Helard; Maryline Helard; Mathieu CRUSSIERE; Roua Youssef
Original assignee: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS; Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Rennes
Current assignee: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS; Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Rennes
Priority date: 2012-09-03
Filing date: 2013-09-03
Publication date: 2015-07-15
Also published as: FR2995163A1; JP2015535398A; WO2014033315A1; US20150222332A1; JP6250676B2; FR2995163B1; KR20150052221A

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of emitting an information sequence from a source entity (S) to a destination entity (D), via at least one relay entity (R). According to the invention, such a method comprises: a step of emission (21), by said source entity, of modulated symbols representative of said information sequence, which are obtained after modulation of said information sequence, on a first pathway, termed "source" modulated symbols; a step of emission (22), by said at least one relay entity, of modulated symbols representative of said information sequence, which are obtained after modulation of an estimation of said information sequence on a second pathway, termed "relay" modulated symbols, said first and second pathways being orthogonal to one another, and in that said source entity and said at least one relay entity simultaneously emit at least one of said "source" modulated symbols and at least one of said "relay" modulated symbols.

Description

COOPERATIVE TRANSMISSION METHOD, SIGNAL, ENTITY SOURCE, RELAY ENTITY,

RECEPTION METHOD, RECEIVER ENTITY, SYSTEM AND PROGRAM

CORRESPONDING COMPUTER

1. Field of the invention

The field of the invention is that of digital communications, in transmission or in broadcasting.

More specifically, the invention relates to the transmission of coded data from at least one source entity to at least one destination entity.

In particular, the invention relates to improving the quality of the transmission of such data, by means of so-called cooperative communications based on the use of one or more relays to improve the communications between the source entity or entities and the the recipient entities.

2. Prior Art

Since the 1970s, a technique using a relay transmission channel has been used to make the communications reliable. This technique improves the transmission efficiency. The relay can either decode the bitstream and retransmit ("Decode & Forward" in English) or amplify and retransmit the received signal ("Amplify & Forward" in English) or compress and retransmit the received signal.

Mr. Valenti and B. Zhao ("Distributed Turbo Codes: Towards the Capacity of the Relay Channel", Vehicular Technology Conference, Vol 1, pp. 322-326, October 2003) propose a new coding technique called turbo-codes. Distributed (distributed turbo code). According to this approach, a single source transmits data to both the relay and the destination terminal. The relay decodes, interleaves and re-codes the message before relaying it to the recipient. In other words, the relay performs one of the turbo-coding steps, generally performed by the transmitter (which justifies the term "distributed turbo-code"). The recipient thus receives two coded versions of the original message and decodes them together using an iterative decoding algorithm. This technique thus achieves an improvement in gain and diversity.

More recently, R. Thobaben ("Distributed codes with noisy relays", Proc.Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, October 2008), and Z. SI, R. Thobaben and M. Skoglund ("One distributed serially concatenated codes "Proc IEEE Signal Processing Workshop on Signal Processing Advance in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), June 2009) include the previous technology, improving it to take into account the presence of transmission noise and concatenated distributed codes respectively. serial.

In addition, the document US 2008/0317168 also disclosed a technique implementing a relay transmission channel, in particular a "half-duplex" relay allowing a alternative communication either upstream or downstream is considered.

According to these different techniques, the transmission is carried out in accordance with FIG. 1. More precisely, the transmission time is divided into two units: the first unit of time is devoted to transmitting the source to the relay, while the second unit time is allocated to the relay.

Another technique based on a superimposed modulation between two users ets proposed by E. Larsson and B. Vojcic ("Cooperative Transmits Diversity Based on Superposition Modulation," IEEE Communications Letters, pp. 778-780, 2005). According to this technique, each user transmits an overlay of his information and information received from his partner, which also requires two units of time for transmission because there are two users.

Such an alternative transmission over two time units is not optimal in terms of spectral efficiency.

Indeed, the performance of this type of techniques is illustrated in particular by the following relation:

with:

Ysd, Ysr, Yrd, the signal-to-noise ratio of the source-destination channel, relay-source, and relay-destination, respectively.

On the other hand, if the source and the relay transmit simultaneously this equation becomes:

min {C {), C \ Y _ra ) + Ci _sti ))

Thus, the techniques of the prior art previously described have a yield that is half as low with regard to techniques based on simultaneous transmission of the source and relay to the recipient.

In addition, when the source and the relay transmit simultaneously, the signals interfere in reception which makes their separation and recovery very difficult and complex.

There is therefore a need for a new relay transmission technique making it possible on the one hand to increase the transmission spectral efficiency, and furthermore to reduce interference and processing complexity upon reception by a destination entity.

3. Presentation of the invention The invention proposes a new solution that does not have all of these disadvantages of the prior art, in the form of a method of transmitting at least one source entity to a destination entity, via at least one entity relay,

According to the invention, such a method comprises:

a step of transmitting, by the at least one source entity, modulated symbols representative of the information sequence, said "source" modulated symbols, each "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation, of order n;

a step of transmitting, by said at least one relay entity, modulated symbols representative of an estimate of said information sequence, called modulated symbols

"Relay", each modulated "relay" symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation, of order m,

the points of the first and second constellations being all distinct,

In addition, according to the method according to the invention, the at least one source entity and the at least one relay entity simultaneously transmit at least one of the "source" modulated symbols and at least one of said "relay" modulated symbols.

The invention thus proposes a new cooperative emission technique implementing at least one relay entity, making it possible to improve the spectral efficiency of the techniques of the prior art by virtue of the fact that it implements a specific simultaneous transmission of a source entity and a relay entity.

Multi-source and / or multi-relay systems can be clearly transposed from the method according to the invention described above. Subsequently, to simplify the description, it is most often considered a transmission system comprising a source entity and a relay entity. The case of a multi-relay system comprising two relay entities will be described later in more detail within the description of an embodiment of the invention.

Indeed, according to the invention, the source entity and the relay entity simultaneously transmit two types of symbols, the "source" modulated symbols and the "relay" modulated symbols. A source modulated symbol corresponds to a point of a first constellation of order n, and a modulated symbol "relay" corresponds to a point of a second constellation of order m.

More precisely, according to the invention, the representative point of a modulated symbol

"Source" is distinct from the representative point of a "relay" symbol. Such a distinction between the modulated "relay" symbols and the "source" modulated symbols advantageously makes it possible to overcome the interference because it is possible on reception to determine the symbols coming respectively from the source entity and from the source. Relay entity.

Indeed, given the receiver, a symbol resulting from the simultaneous emission of a modulated symbol "source" and a modulated symbol "relay" corresponds to a point of a constellation of order n + m (including 2 ^{n + m} distinct points), the actual component of which is obtained by summation of the real components of the points associated with the source modulated symbol and the modulated symbol "relay" and whose imaginary component is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the source modulated symbol and with the modulated "relay" symbol. By a choice of constellations "sources" and "relay" ensuring the uniqueness of the coordinates of each point of the resulting constellation of order n + m, it is thus possible at the receiver to dissociate without interference modulated symbols "source" and "relay" of origin.

The simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity to the recipient thus makes it possible to increase the spectral efficiency because the destination entity receives information modulated in a distributed manner between the source entity and the relay entity .

According to a particular aspect, the "source" modulated symbol transmission step comprises a sub-step of encoding the information sequence, delivering at least one "source" codeword, and a modulation sub-step of at least one "source" code word, delivering the "source" modulated symbols.

In addition, the step of transmitting modulated symbols "relay" includes a sub-step of decoding the "source" modulated symbols, delivering an estimate of the information sequence, a substep of coding the sequence of estimated information, delivering at least one "relay" code word, and a sub-step of modulation of the at least one "relay" code word, delivering said "relay" modulated symbols.

Thus, for each transmission step implemented by the relay entity and the source entity respectively, comprises an encoding step and a modulation step.

In addition, according to the invention, there is an offset of one time unit between the source entity and the relay entity because the relay entity receives and decodes the information transmitted by the source entity before code it in turn and send it at the same time as the source entity in a second unit of time.

Thus, the same information, possibly encoded and / or modulated differently by the relay entity and the source entity, is transmitted by both the relay entity and the source entity with a time offset of one unit, the relay entity transmitting a first information when the source entity simultaneously transmits a second information that it will then process.

The relay entity and the source entity therefore transmit simultaneously but with a time offset for the same information.

Advantageously, the coding sub-steps of the information and coding sequence of the estimate of the estimated information sequence implement different coding techniques.

Thus, the method according to the invention is characterized by great flexibility of implementation. Indeed, the source entity and the relay entity can implement different or identical codings which allows many combinations of source entity and entity relay .

In addition, according to this aspect it is possible to combine source entities and existing relay entities regardless of the coding they implement respectively. According to another aspect of the invention, the modulation sub-steps of the at least one "source" code word and the modulation of the at least one "relay" codeword implement different modulation techniques.

This aspect is particularly advantageous because it allows a great flexibility of implementation of the invention.

Indeed, the source entity can for example implement a modulation represented by a constellation of order n = 1, for example a BPSK, while the relay entity implements a modulation represented by an order constellation m = 2, for example a QPSK, the points of the two constellations of these two modulations being all distinct.

The resulting constellation of the signal resulting from the simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity, respectively of a "source" modulated symbol and of a "relay" modulated symbol corresponds to a constellation of order m + not.

Thus, if we take again the two examples of constellations quoted above, we obtain a constellation of order m + n = 3 comprising eight points.

The real component of a point of this resulting constellation is obtained by summing a point of the real components of the points associated with the source modulated symbol and the modulated symbol "relay" while the imaginary component is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the modulated source symbol and the modulated symbol "relay".

Thus, it is possible to combine source entities and existing relay entities, regardless of the modulation they respectively implement, as long as the constellations associated with the source entity and the relay entity respectively have distinct points. .

In addition, it is obviously possible to use the same modulation in the source entity and in the relay entity because advantageously the constellation points implemented by the source entity and the constellation points put in place. implemented by the relay entity are distinct from the fact that in the case of identical modulations a rotation (e ^JC ' ⁾ ) is implemented between the relay entity and the source entity. Likewise, it is also possible to advantageously apply different amplitude weighting factors between the relay entity and the source entity, so that the points of the constellations implemented by the source entity and the relay entity are distinct. otherwise than by a rotation operation.

According to a particular embodiment, the modulation sub-steps of the at least one "source" codeword and modulation of the at least one "relay" codeword are respectively quadrature and phase modulations.

According to this particular embodiment, the modulated symbols "source" and "relay" are therefore orthogonal. Each point of the first constellation n order used by the entity "source" being placed on a direction orthogonal to that of a point of the second constellation of order m used by the entity "relay".

This example based on the orthogonality of the constellations implemented by the source entity and the relay entity is not limiting. Indeed, according to the invention it is possible to use any non-zero rotation and different from 2π (modulo 2) of a constellation implemented by the source entity with respect to that implemented by the relay entity.

Another aspect of the invention also relates to a signal representative of an information sequence, transmitted by a source entity to a destination entity, via at least one relay entity, according to the transmission method described above.

According to this embodiment, such a signal comprises at least one symbol resulting from the simultaneous transmission of a modulated "source" symbol by the source entity and of a "relay" modulated symbol by the relay entity,

the modulated "source" symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation of order n, the modulated "relay" symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation of order m, the points of the first and second constellations being all distinct ,

the resulting symbol corresponding to a point of a constellation of order n + m, whose real component is obtained by summation of the real components of the points associated with the modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay" and whose imaginary component is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay".

Thus, in the signal resulting from the simultaneous transmissions of the relay entity and the source entity, at least one symbol corresponding to a point of a higher order constellation associated with the first and second constellations of the invention is transmitted according to the invention. the source entity and the relay entity.

Since the points of the first and second constellations are all distinct, it is possible to easily separate on reception the two "superimposed" constellations in the higher order constellation of the signal.

This signal can be transmitted and / or stored on a data medium.

This signal may of course include the various characteristics relating to the transmission method according to the invention.

In another embodiment, the invention relates to a source entity capable of transmitting an information sequence to a destination entity, via at least one relay entity.

According to the invention, such a source entity comprises means for transmitting symbols modulated elements representative of the information sequence, said "source" modulated symbols, each "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation;

the transmission means being configured to transmit at least one of the "source" modulated symbols simultaneously to at least one "relay" modulated symbol representative of an estimate of the information sequence, each "relay" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation, the points of the first and second constellations being all distinct.

In another embodiment, the invention relates to a relay entity adapted to receive, from a source entity, at least one "source" modulated symbol representative of an information sequence, each "source" modulated symbol corresponding to one point of a first constellation, and to re-transmit the information sequence to a destination entity.

According to the invention, such a relay entity comprises "relay" modulated symbol transmission means representative of an estimate of the information sequence, each "relay" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation, the transmission means being configured to transmit at least one of the "relay" modulated symbols simultaneously to at least one of the "source" modulated symbols, the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct.

Such a source entity and such a relay entity are particularly able to cooperate to implement the transmission method described above. Thus, the advantages and embodiments described above with regard to the method according to the invention are also applicable to each of these entities.

According to the invention, it is possible to use a conventional relay entity. In this case, the implementation of the invention consists in modifying the source entity so that the points of the constellations used respectively by the source entity and the relay entity are all distinct.

Reciprocally, it is possible to use a conventional source entity. In this case, the implementation of the invention consists in modifying the relay entity so that the points of the constellations used respectively by the source entity and the relay entity are all different.

In another embodiment, the invention relates to a method for receiving a signal representative of an information sequence transmitted by an entity, via at least one relay entity.

According to the invention, such a reception method comprises:

a signal reception step comprising, at least one symbol resulting from the simultaneous transmission of a "source" modulated symbol by said source entity and a "relay" modulated symbol by the relay entity,

the modulated symbol "source" corresponding to a point of a first constellation of order n,

the symbol modulated "relay" corresponding to a point of a second constellation of order m,

the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct,

the resulting symbol corresponding to a point of a constellation of order n + m, whose real component is obtained by summation of the real components of the points associated with said modulated symbol "source" and said symbol modulated "relay" and whose imaginary component is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay";

a demodulation step of said signal, delivering at least one "source" codeword representative of a "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of said first constellation and at least one "relay" codeword representative of a modulated symbol "Relay" corresponding to a point of said second constellation;

an iterative decoding step of said "source" and "relay" code words.

In this way, the reception method according to the invention makes it possible to receive the signal previously described, to demodulate and decode together the modulated "source" and "relay" symbols transmitted respectively by the "source" entity and the "relay" entity. ".

Indeed, the destination entity receives a signal resulting from the superposition of the signals emitted respectively by the source entity and the relay entity.

As has been seen previously, such a signal comprises at least one symbol resulting from the simultaneous emission of a modulated symbol "source" by said source and a symbol modulated "relay" by the relay entity.

According to one particular aspect, the demodulation step implements a demodulator having a demodulation order greater than or equal to the sum of the modulation commands of the modulators used by the source entity and the said at least one transmitting relay entity.

Indeed, since the received signal comprises symbols resulting from the simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity, the demodulator used to demodulate this resulting symbol and consequently perform a joint demodulation of the source entity. and the relay entity is of order greater than or equal to the sum of the modulation commands of the modulators used by the source entity and the relay entity.

Optimally in terms of complexity, the order of the demodulator is exactly equal to the sum of the modulation orders of the modulators used by the source entity and the relay entity.

However, it is also possible for an order demodulator greater than the sum of the modulation commands to be used to demodulate the received signal at the cost of an increase in the complexity implemented.

In another embodiment, the invention also relates to a destination entity able to receive a signal representative of an information sequence, transmitted by a source entity, via at least one relay entity, According to the invention, such a destination entity comprises:

means for receiving said signal comprising at least one symbol resulting from the simultaneous transmission of a "source" modulated symbol by the source entity and a symbol modulated "relay" by the relay,

the modulated symbol "relay" corresponding to a point of a second constellation of order m,

the points of the first and second constellations being all distinct,

the resulting symbol corresponding to a point of a constellation of order n + m, whose real component is obtained by summing the real components of the points associated with said modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay" and whose component imaginary is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay";

signal demodulation means, delivering at least one "source" code word representative of a "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of the first constellation and at least one "relay" code word representative of a symbol modulated "relay" corresponding to a point of said second constellation;

means for iteratively decoding the "source" and "relay" code words.

Such a destination entity is particularly adapted to implement the reception method described above.

The invention also relates to a system for transmitting an information sequence from a source entity to a destination entity, via at least one relay entity,

Such a system includes:

the source entity, emitting modulated symbols representative of the information sequence, said "source" modulated symbols, each "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation;

the at least one relay entity, emitting modulated symbols representative of an estimation of the information sequence, called "relay" modulated symbols, each "relay" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation, the points of the first and second constellations being all distinct,

and in that the source entity and the at least one relay entity simultaneously transmit at least one of the "source" modulated symbols and at least one of the "relay" modulated symbols.

This cooperative system may of course include the various characteristics relating to the transmission method according to the invention, which can be combined or taken isolation. Thus, the features and advantages of this system are the same as those of the emission process. Therefore, they are not detailed further.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions for implementing a transmission or reception method described above when this program is executed by a processor.

This program can use any programming language, and be in the form of source code, object code, or intermediate code between source code and object code, such as in a partially compiled form, or in any other form desirable shape.

4. List of figures

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a particular embodiment, given as a simple illustrative and nonlimiting example, and the appended drawings, among which:

FIG. 1, already described in relation with the prior art, illustrates the emission of conventional cooperative systems,

FIG. 2 shows the main steps of the transmission method according to the invention, FIG. 3 illustrates the simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity according to the invention,

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of the transmission system according to an example of the invention,

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of the transmission system according to the invention when two relay entities are for example taken into account,

FIGS. 6 to 9 illustrate different combinations of constellations implemented respectively by the source entity and the relay entity, as well as the resulting constellation resulting from the simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity,

FIG. 10 presents the main steps of the reception method according to the invention, FIG. 11 makes it possible to establish a comparison in terms of performances without and with cooperation of a relay entity according to the method of the invention.

5. Description of an embodiment of the invention

5.1 General principle

The general principle of the invention rests on the implementation of a decomposition of the coding and the modulation of a symbol to be transmitted. More specifically, the coding and modulation of an information symbol to be transmitted is performed in a distributed manner on at least one source entity and at least one relay entity that transmit simultaneously.

The symbol resulting from the simultaneous emission of the relay entity and the source entity corresponds to a point of an n + m order constellation resulting from the superposition of the signals respectively emitted by the source entity and by the Relay entity. By a choice of constellations "sources" and "relay" ensuring the uniqueness of the coordinates of each point of the resulting constellation of order n + m, it is thus possible at the receiver to dissociate without interference modulated symbols "source" and "relay" of origin.

Indeed, the signal emitted by the source entity comprises symbols called "source" modulated symbols, a "source" modulated symbol being represented by a point of a first constellation of order n.

Moreover, the signal emitted by the relay entity comprises symbols called "relay" modulated symbols, a "relay" modulated symbol being represented by a point of a second constellation of order m.

The points of the first and second constellations are furthermore all distinct.

In the channel, the resulting signal is obtained due to the superposition of the signals emitted simultaneously by the source entity and the relay entity respectively to the destination entity.

Due to the correlation between the relay entity and the source entity, the relay entity transmits a signal constructed from an estimate of the signal emitted by the source entity, the higher order constellation implemented at the source entity. transmission according to the invention comes from two correlated transmitting entities which are further able to transmit simultaneously.

Thus, the resulting constellation obtained during the superposition of the signals transmitted simultaneously by the source entity and the relay entity comes directly from the two complementary constellations implemented by the source entity and the relay entity.

Indeed, a point of the resulting constellation of order n + m, is characterized by a real part (respectively imaginary) equal to the sum of the real part (respectively imaginary) of a point of the first constellation "source" d order n and the real part (respectively imaginary) of a point of the second constellation "relay" of order m.

Thus, the invention relies on a complementarity of the source entity and the relay entity in order to increase the emission spectral efficiency while avoiding any risk of interference.

5.2 Description of an Embodiment of the Emitting Process According to the Invention In relation to FIG. 2, the main steps of the transmission method according to a first embodiment of the invention are presented.

This description of an embodiment taking into account a source entity (S), a relay entity (R) and a destination entity (D) can also be transposed to the multi-source or multi-relay case (as described by following with regard to Figure 4).

According to a first step of the method according to the invention, a step of transmission (21), by the source entity, of modulated symbols representative of the information sequence, called "source" modulated symbols, each symbol is implemented. modulated "source" (Ss) corresponding to a point of a first constellation (Cl), of order n. With regard to FIGS. 6 to 9 representing various examples of n-order constellations (C1) used by the source entity, the "source" points are represented by "x".

More specifically, the "source" modulated symbol transmission step (Ss) comprises a coding sub-step (211) of the information sequence, delivering at least one "source" code word, and a sub-step of coding (211) of the information sequence. modulation step (212) of this "source" code word, delivering "source" modulated symbols (Ss).

In parallel with the source entity (S), with the exception of the first transmission carried out by the source entity, the relay entity also implements a step of simultaneously transmitting (22) modulated symbols representative of a estimation (E) of said information sequence, called "relay" modulated symbols (Sr), each modulated "relay" symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation (C2), of order m.

With regard to FIGS. 6 to 9 representing various examples of n-order constellations (C1) used by the source entity, the source points are represented by "+".

More precisely, the step of transmitting modulated symbols "relay" (Sr) comprises a substep of decoding (221) modulated symbols "source" after reception (not shown) of the latter, delivering the estimate (E ) of the information sequence, a coding sub-step (222) of the estimate of said information sequence, delivering at least one "relay" codeword, and a modulation sub-step (223) of the at least one "relay" code word, delivering the modulated symbols "relay" (Sr).

As described below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9, the invention is characterized in that the points of the first and second constellations (C1 and C2) are all distinct, and in that the source entity (S) and the relay entity (R) simultaneously transmit in the H channel (with the exception of the first transmission made by the source entity) at least one of the source modulated symbols (S s) and at least one of said modulated symbols "Relay" (Sr).

Due to the simultaneous transmission of the source entity (S) and the relay entity (R), the resultant symbols (Sd) corresponding to a point of a constellation (Ceq) are obtained in the H channel by superposition. of order n + m resulting from the superposition of the signals respectively emitted by the source entity (S) and by the relay entity (R).

A point of the resulting constellation (Ceq) of order n + m, is characterized by a real part (respectively imaginary) equal to the sum of the real part (respectively imaginary) of a point of the first constellation "source" d order n and the real part (respectively imaginary) of a point of the second constellation "relay" of order m.

Examples of resulting constellations will be illustrated in particular with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

FIG. 3 illustrates, in particular, the simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity according to the invention. In fact, with regard to this figure, the source entity and the relay entity transmit simultaneously. The relay entity transmits a coded version of the information of the source entity received in the previous time unit. There is therefore a shift of one unit of time between the simultaneous transmissions of a relay entity and a source entity.

Thus, the comparison of FIG. 1 previously compared with regard to the prior art and of FIG. 3 illustrating the simultaneous emission according to the invention, it is possible to observe that according to the invention there is indeed for a unit of time considered (with the exception of the first considered as an initialization step of the method according to the invention) a simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity.

Thus, according to the invention, a twice as large amount of information is transmitted per unit of time with respect to the prior art described in connection with FIG.

The spectral efficiency is therefore highly optimized according to the method of the invention.

Furthermore, by transposing the general principle of the invention, a multi-source and / or multi-relay system implements as many simultaneous transmissions as there are source entities and relay entities in the system. transmission system considered.

According to this type of emission system according to the invention, the spectral efficiency is therefore even more improved.

5.3 Physical implementation of the emission process according to the invention

FIG. 4 corresponds to a schematic representation of the transmission system according to an example of the invention embodying the steps of the method according to the invention previously described in relation with FIG. 2.

Indeed, according to the example shown in FIG. 4, an information sequence u _s of length k _s bits is coded (211) in code word c _s within the source entity S by an encoder C _s of yield R _s . The code word c _s is then modulated (212) in x _s and transmitted on the H channel.

In the example of FIG. 4, a modulation of order n = 1 of BPSK (binary phase shift keying) type whose constellation Cl is represented by the points in "x" on the FIG. figure 6.

Next, with respect to FIG. 4, the relay entity receives a noisy version of the code word (c _s y _sj ^). This noisy code word is decoded (221) within the relay entity R by a decoder C _s ^_1 of yield R _s delivering an estimate û _s .

The estimate u _s is then interleaved by an interleaver Π to add redundancy and recoded (222) by an encoder C _r R _r _r c yield code word.

The encoder C _r of the relay entity may be according to a first variant or a variant identical to the coder C _s implemented within the source entity, which provides a great flexibility of implementation.

It is therefore possible to combine source entities and existing relay entities can the coding they implement respectively.

The code word c _r is then modulated (223) using a modulation according to a constellation C2 whose points are distinct from the constellation C1 used by the modulator of the source entity.

In the example of FIG. 4, a modulation of order m = 1 of the binary phase shift keying (BPSK) type whose constellation C2 is represented by the "+" points on the FIG. Thus, with respect to the first constellation C1 used by the source entity, the second constellation C2 used by the relay entity corresponds to the constellation C1 rotated by an angle φ. In the example according to FIG. 6, the constellations C1 and C2 are out of phase by an angle φ = 90 °, in other words the second constellation C2 is a rotation of a quarter turn of the first constellation C1.

Thus, according to this example, the modulations implemented on the one hand by the source entity and on the other hand implemented by the two relay entities are respectively quadrature and phase modulations.

According to the invention, other values of φ can be used. Various examples of value of φ are in particular illustrated by FIGS. 7 to 9 described later.

Thus, seen by the destination entity, the equivalent modulation (Ceq) distributed on the source entity and the relay entity is a modulation of order 2 (1 + 1) comprising 2 ² = 4 points of the QPSK type represented by the constellation (Ceq) whose points are "O" in Figure 6.

This "distribution" of the modulation on the source entity and the relay entity makes it possible in particular to maintain a robust "source-relay" link because a modulation of lower order n with respect to the equivalent modulation of n order + m is used between the source entity and the relay entity.

According to this example, the modulation implemented by the source entity corresponds to the modulation on the axis of the reals, while the modulation implemented by the relay entity corresponds to the modulation on the axis of the imaginary.

A resulting symbol (Sd) corresponds to a point 61 of the QPSK-type constellation (Ceq) of order 4, whose real (respectively imaginary) component is equal to the sum of the real (respectively imaginary) component of a point 62 in "x" of the first constellation Cl "source" of order n = 1 of the BPSK type and the real (respectively imaginary) component of a point 63 in "+" of the second constellation C2 "relay" of order m = 1 of the BPSK type.

5.4 Description of a multi-relay transmission system according to the invention

FIG. 5 schematically represents a transmission system according to the invention when two relay entities (R1 and R2) are for example taken into account. Such a multi-relay system is an obvious transposition of the general principle of the invention.

According to this transmission system, the source entity S transmits towards the two relay entities RI and R2 and also directly towards the destination entity D.

In fact, the direct transmission of the source entity to the recipient makes it possible, in particular, to ensure transmission from the source entity to the recipient, in particular in the event of a malfunction (failure, discharged battery, destruction) of the relay entity.

In the system represented in FIG. 5, the source entity emits in particular a "source" modulated symbol (Ss) by using a modulation type constellation Cl of n = 2 at four amplitude states (points) (MA- 4) to each relay entity (RI) and (R2) represented by "x" points on the same figure.

Relay entities R1 and R2 respectively emit a modulated "relay" (Sr) symbol by using a C2 constellation of amplitude modulation type in order n = 2 at four amplitude states (points) (MA-4) to Destination of the destination entity represented by "+" points on this same figure. The constellation C2 used by the relay entities being turned by an angle φ = 90 ° with respect to the constellation Cl. Thus, according to this example, the modulations on the one hand implemented by the source entity and on the other hand implemented by the two relay entities are respectively quadrature and phase modulations.

Thus, a point PI (62) of Cl having for coordinates (a = -l, and b = 0) corresponds to a point P2 (63) of c2 having for coordinates (a '= a * e ^ = 0, and b '= b * e ^ = 1), the point PR (61) resulting in the equivalent constellation has for coordinates (a "= a' + a = -1, and b" = b '+ b = 1).

Thus, the second C2 constellations used by each relay entity have points distinct from the first constellation C1 used by the source entity. The equivalent constellation (Ceq) observed by the destination entity (D) corresponds to a 16 MAQ type constellation corresponding to a quadrature amplitude modulation of order 4.

According to an alternative embodiment (not shown), relay entities R1 and R2 could also use constellations C2 and C2 'whose points would be distinct from a "relay" constellation C2 to the other "relay" constellation C2' and also distinct from the "source" constellation C 1.

5.5 Examples of Distributed Modulations According to the Invention

Figures 7 to 9 illustrate on the one hand other constellations used respectively by the relay entity and by the source entity and the resulting constellation of each of these combinations.

According to these representations, the points of the "source" constellations are represented by "x", the points of the "relay" constellations are represented by "+" and the points of the constellations resulting from the simultaneous emission of the source entity and of the relay entity are represented by "O". FIG. 7 corresponds in particular to the modulation distribution described above in relation with FIG. 5, the resulting fourth-order 16-MAQ constellation comprises sixteen points.

The real (respectively imaginary) component of each of these 16 points is equal to the sum of the real (respectively imaginary) component of a point in "x" of the first constellation Cl "source" of order n = 2 of type MA-4 and the real (respectively imaginary) component of a point in "+" of the second constellation C2 "relay" of order m = 2 also of type MA-4.

FIG. 8 illustrates another example according to which the source entity and the relay entity use two constellations Cl and C2 of order n = m = 2 of QPSK type. According to the invention, the constellation C2 implemented by the relay entity is a rotation of an angle φ = 30 ° of the constellation Cl implemented by the relay entity.

Thus, according to this example, the modulations implemented on the one hand by the source entity and on the other hand by the relay entity are not quadrature and phase modulations as represented in the examples described above.

The coordinates of the points of the constellations C1 and C2 are indicated below:

Thus, the coordinates of the 16 points of the equivalent constellation of order obtained during the simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity are:

Ceq

-1.66 0.96

-0.44 1.66

0.26 0.44

-0.96 -0.26

-0.26 0.96

0.96 1.66

1.66 0.44

0.44 -0.26

-0.26 -0.44

0.96 0.26

1.66 -0.96

0.44 -1.66

-1.66 -0.44

-0.44 0.26

0.26 -0.96

Figure 9 illustrates another example in which the source entity and the relay entity use two constellations C1 and C2 of different order, namely n = 2 for the source entity and m = 1 for the entity. relay.

According to this example, the modulations implemented on the one hand by the source entity and on the other hand by the relay entity are quadrature and phase modulations. In addition, the modulation implemented by the source entity corresponds to the modulation on the axis of reals, while the modulation implemented by the relay entity corresponds to the modulation on the axis of the imaginary.

Thus, seen by the destination entity, the equivalent modulation (Ceq) distributed on the source entity and the relay entity is a modulation of order 3 (2 + 1) comprising 2 ³ = 8 points represented by the constellation (Ceq ) whose points are "O" in Figure 9.

5.6 Description of an embodiment of the reception method according to the invention In relation to FIG. 10, the main steps of the reception method according to one embodiment of the invention are presented.

The recipient entity simultaneously receives (101) the signals from the source entity and the relay entity, and iteratively decodes (103) the information of the source entity using the additional redundancy of the relay entity.

More precisely, after reception, the destination entity implements a demodulation (102) by means of a demodulator having a demodulation order greater than or equal to the sum of the modulation commands of the modulators used by the at least one source entity and the at least one transmitting relay entity of the transmission system previously described .

Optimally, the order of the demodulator is exactly equal to the sum of the modulation commands of the modulators used in order to avoid any additional complexity of processing.

Such a demodulator jointly demodulates the signals received from the source entity and the relay entity to generate, for example, log likelihood ratios (LLRs) LLR (x _s ) and LLR (x _r ).

For example, for two BPSK modulations used on transmission by the source entity and the relay entity, the points of the constellations used respectively by the source entity and the relay entity being all distinct, the demodulator used is a demodulator. order n + m = 2 of type QPSK.

Due to the specific construction of the equivalent constellation resulting from the superposition of signals transmitted simultaneously by the source entity and the relay entity as described above, the demodulator easily separates the "source" modulated symbols from the "relay" modulated symbols. .

Indeed, as described above, the equivalent constellation resulting in the channel of the simultaneous transmission of the source entity and the relay entity is a constellation of order n + m = 2.

The likelihood logarithm ratios (LLRs) LLR (x _s ) and LLR (x _r ) are delivered by the demodulator respectively at the input of the decoders C _s ^_1 and C _r ^_1 , the decoders C _s and C _r respectively corresponding to the coders C _s and C _r .

The joint decoding (103) of the information of the source entity u _s is an iterative decoding by extrinsic information exchange between the decoders C _s ^_1 and C _r ^_1 .

It should be noted that taking into account the offset introduced from the start into the transmission scheme in order to allow the relay entity time to decode the stream coming from the source entity must be integrated into the iterative decoding process. This simply means that the iterative decoding will be done by crossing the extrinsic information from two consecutive code words and not those from the two simultaneous code words. This does not increase the complexity of decoding and only introduces latency during decoding.

5.7 Performances of the method according to the invention.

The method according to the invention makes it possible to achieve good performance in terms of minimizing the bit error rate. Indeed, the graph of FIG. 11 is a superposition of the impulse responses of the channel with (111) and without treatment (112), in other words without a relay entity, according to the cooperative emission method of the invention, These performance results are notably obtained by considering, for the implementation of the method according to the invention, that the source entity and the relay entity use a recursive convolutional code with 4 states of efficiency R = 1/2 and a modulation BPSK, applied to an information sequence u _s of length k _s = 128 bits with ten decoding iterations.

However, as we have seen above, different types of coding with different yields can be used by the relay entity and the source entity respectively.

To be comparable, the performance results of the method according to the invention are compared to the simulation case where a source entity uses a performance code R = 1/4 and a QPSK modulation.

With regard to FIG. 11, the performances in terms of bit error rate (BER) are plotted as a function of the signal ratio _sd the signal-to-noise ratio of the channel between the source entity and the recipient entity.

In addition, the channels used according to the simulation shown in FIG. 11 are fast fading Rayleigh channels.

It should be noted that the method according to the invention makes it possible to obtain a significant gain in terms of bit error rate with respect to a direct transmission (112) between the source entity and the destination entity.

For example, a gain of about 3 dB is obtained for a bit error rate of 10.

Claims

A method of transmitting an information sequence from at least one source entity (S) to a destination entity (D), via at least one relay entity (R),

characterized in that it comprises:

a transmission step (21), by said at least one source entity, of modulated symbols representative of said information sequence, said source-modulated symbols, each source-modulated symbol (Ss) corresponding to a point d a first constellation (Cl), of order n;

a transmitting step (22), by said at least one relay entity, of modulated symbols representative of an estimate of said information sequence, called modulated symbols

"Relay" (Sr), each modulated symbol "relay" corresponding to a point of a second constellation (C2), of order m,

the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct,

and in that said at least one source entity (S) and said at least one relay entity (R) simultaneously transmit at least one of said "source" modulated symbols (S s) and at least one of said "relay" modulated symbols (Sr ).

2. Transmitting method according to claim 1, characterized in that said step of transmitting modulated symbols "source" comprises a substep coding (211) of said information sequence, delivering at least one codeword "Source", and a modulation sub-step (212) of said at least one "source" code word, delivering said "source" modulated symbols,

and in that said step of transmitting "relay" modulated symbols comprises a decoding sub-step (221) of said "source" modulated symbols, delivering said estimate (E) of said information sequence, a sub-step of coding (222) said estimate of said information sequence, delivering at least one "relay" code word, and a modulation sub-step (223) of said at least one "relay" code word, delivering said modulated symbols " relay ".

3. A transmission method according to claim 2, characterized in that said coding sub-steps (211) of said information and coding sequence (222) of said estimate of said information sequence implement techniques. distinct coding.

4. Transmission method according to any one of claims 2 and 3, characterized in that said modulation substeps (212) of said at least one code word "source" and modulation (223) of said at least one code word "relay" implement different modulation techniques.

5. Transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said modulation substeps (212) of said at least one code word "source" and modulation (223) of said at least one Relay code word are respectively quadrature and phase modulations.

6. Signal representative of an information sequence, transmitted by at least one source entity (S) to a destination entity (D), via at least one relay entity (R), according to the transmission method of claim 1 ,

characterized in that it comprises at least one resulting symbol (Sd) of the simultaneous transmission of a modulated "source" symbol (Ss) by said at least one source entity and a "relay" modulated symbol (Sr) by said relay entity,

said modulated "source" symbol (Ss) corresponding to a point of a first constellation (Cl) of order n,

said modulated symbol "relay" (Sr) corresponding to a point of a second constellation (C2) of order m,

the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct,

said resulting symbol corresponding to a point of a constellation (Ceq) of order n + m, whose real component is obtained by summation of the real components of the points associated with said modulated symbol "source" and said symbol modulated "relay" and whose the imaginary component is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay".

7. Source entity (S) capable of transmitting an information sequence to a destination entity, via at least one relay entity,

characterized in that it comprises means for transmitting modulated symbols representative of said information sequence, said "source" modulated symbols, each "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation;

said transmitting means being configured to transmit at least one of said "source" modulated symbols simultaneously to at least one "relay" modulated symbol representative of an estimate of said information sequence, each "relay" modulated symbol corresponding to a point a second constellation,

the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct.

8. Relay entity (R) able to receive, from at least one source entity, at least one "source" modulated symbol representative of an information sequence, each "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation, and to re-transmit said information sequence to a destination entity,

characterized in that it comprises means for transmitting "relay" modulated symbols representative of an estimate of said information sequence, each modulated "relay" symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation,

said transmitting means being configured to transmit at least one of said "relay" modulated symbols simultaneously to at least one of said "source" modulated symbols,

the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct.

9. Method for receiving a signal representative of an information sequence, transmitted by an entity, via at least one relay entity,

characterized in that it comprises:

a step of receiving (101) said signal comprising at least one symbol resulting from the simultaneous emission of a "source" modulated symbol by said source and a symbol modulated "relay" by said relay,

said "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation of order n,

said modulated symbol "relay" corresponding to a point of a second constellation of order m,

the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct,

said resulting symbol corresponding to a point of a constellation of order n + m, whose real component is obtained by summation of the real components of the points associated with said modulated symbol "source" and said symbol modulated "relay" and whose imaginary component is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay";

a step of demodulating (102) said signal, delivering at least one "source" codeword representative of a "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of said first constellation and at least one representative "relay" codeword; a modulated "relay" symbol corresponding to a point of said second constellation; an iterative decoding step (103) of said "source" and "relay" codewords.

10. Reception method according to claim 9, characterized in that said demodulation step implements a demodulator having a demodulation order greater than or equal to the sum of the modulation commands of the modulators used by said at least one source entity and said at least one relay entity in transmission.

11. Destination entity (D) able to receive a signal representative of an information sequence, transmitted by at least one source entity, via at least one relay entity,

characterized in that it comprises:

means for receiving said signal comprising at least one symbol resulting from the simultaneous emission of a "source" modulated symbol by said source and of a "relay" modulated symbol by said relay,

the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct,

said resulting symbol corresponding to a point of a constellation of order n + m, of which the real component is obtained by summing the real components of the points associated with said modulated symbol "source" and said modulated symbol "relay" and whose imaginary component is obtained by summation of the imaginary components of the points associated with the modulated symbol "source" and the symbol modulated "relay";

means for demodulating said signal, delivering at least one "source" code word representative of a "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of said first constellation and at least one "relay" code word representative of a symbol modulated "relay" corresponding to a point of said second constellation;

iterative decoding means of said "source" and "relay" codewords.

12. System for transmitting an information sequence from at least one source entity to a destination entity, via at least one relay entity,

characterized in that it comprises:

said at least one source entity, emitting modulated symbols representative of said information sequence, said "source" modulated symbols, each "source" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a first constellation;

said at least one relay entity, emitting modulated symbols representative of an estimate of said information sequence, said "relay" modulated symbols, each "relay" modulated symbol corresponding to a point of a second constellation, the points of said first and second constellations being all distinct,

and in that said at least one source entity and said at least one relay entity simultaneously transmit at least one of said "source" modulated symbols and at least one of said "relay" modulated symbols.

13. Computer program comprising instructions for implementing a method according to claim 1 or claim 9 when the program is executed by a processor.