Ahmet Alperen Oznam;Chouaieb Farhati;Mohaned Chraiti;Ali Ghrayeb;Hasari Celebi;Fatma Abdelkefi;Korkut Kaan Tokgoz
{"title":"Bandwidth Expansion in N-Fold Frequency Multiplier: Is It N or √N?","authors":"Ahmet Alperen Oznam;Chouaieb Farhati;Mohaned Chraiti;Ali Ghrayeb;Hasari Celebi;Fatma Abdelkefi;Korkut Kaan Tokgoz","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556767","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556767","url":null,"abstract":"Frequency up-conversion is an essential step in wireless communication systems. Meanwhile, frequency multipliers are increasingly becoming an integral part of communication chains operating at millimeter-wave (mmWave) and sub-terahertz (sub-THz) frequencies. They offer a viable alternative to traditional mixers, which are highly constrained by their instability and high phase noise at such high frequencies. Despite the frequency multipliers’ advantages and the fact that they are commonly recommended by hardware designers, there is a lack of comprehensive theoretical guidelines detailing their impact on digital communications. One key aspect is their tendency to induce bandwidth expansion, a phenomenon not observed with mixers. When an N-fold frequency multiplier is used, a common practice among hardware designers is to allocate a bandwidth scaled by a multiple of N, which is deemed large enough to keep signals integrity. We provide an analytical framework to quantify the exact scaling factor of the bandwidth expansion. Contrary to common belief, we show that the bandwidth expansion scales as <inline-formula> <tex-math>$ sqrt {N} $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, using three counterexamples, namely Gaussian, Sinc, and raised cosine pulses. These findings can help conserve radio resources and further decrease the noise effect.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 6","pages":"1205-1209"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Pulse Timer Algorithm for Mobile Molecular Communication","authors":"Motoharu Nishino;Tadashi Nakano","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556545","url":null,"abstract":"This letter explores mobile molecular communication, where bio-nanomachines interact and coordinate movement using signal molecules in aqueous environments. In the system studied, a sender emits periodic pulses of signal molecules that propagate through the environment, while a receiver observes these pulses to determine the sender’s direction. We propose the Pulse Timer Algorithm (PTA), a novel approach that leverages the Doppler shift, where the observed intervals between pulses change depending on the receiver’s motion relative to the sender. By setting a timer upon pulse detection, the PTA enables the receiver to maintain its direction of movement toward the sender if pulses arrive before the timer expires or change direction if no pulse is detected. Comparative analysis with the Pulse Interval Comparison Algorithm (PICA) demonstrates the PTA’s superior performance in guiding the receiver to the sender efficiently.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 6","pages":"1196-1199"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Multi-Carrier Deep Learning CSK Communication System","authors":"Majid Mobini;Georges Kaddoum;Marijan Herceg","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556474","url":null,"abstract":"A new Multi-Carrier Deep Learning Chaos Shift Keying (MC-DLCSK) modulation is designed in this letter. The proposed receiver includes a Neural Network (NN)-based classifier that recovers MC-DLCSK signals. The results demonstrate that the MC-DLCSK system achieves a considerable Bit Error Rate (BER) gain compared to all existing similar systems under both Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh fading channels.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 6","pages":"1191-1195"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"FSIM-Net: Neural Network-Based Symbol Detector for Filter Shape Index Modulation","authors":"Shubham Anand;Haïfa Farès;Majed Saad;Preetam Kumar","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3556431","url":null,"abstract":"Filter shape index modulation (FSIM) is a promising approach that unlike most existing index modulation schemes does not sacrifice resource utilization by deactivating available resources but rather uses pulse shaping filters as indexing parameters. This principle is the key to enhance spectral efficiency and/or energy efficiency. However, the filter bank design relaxes the Nyquist criterion for zero intersymbol interference (ISI) to have more distinguishable filters and the inherent controlled ISI can be managed at the receiver side. This letter presents FSIM-Net, a simple neural network (NN)-based detector that enables joint detection of filter indices and QAM/PSK symbols in the presence of filters’ inherent ISI. FSIM-Net is trained offline in an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel and tested under various conditions by decoupling of inherent ISI and channel effect handling. The proposed receiver demonstrates superior performance especially in more realistic scenarios while simplifying the FSIM receiver architecture and avoiding potential error propagation compared to the conventional one.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 5","pages":"1141-1145"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143932262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hao-Bing Sun;Jian Li;Xing-Wang Chu;Jing-Yang Liu;Hua-Jian Ding;Qin Wang
{"title":"Optimized Qubit-Based Synchronization in Quantum Key Distribution","authors":"Hao-Bing Sun;Jian Li;Xing-Wang Chu;Jing-Yang Liu;Hua-Jian Ding;Qin Wang","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3554260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3554260","url":null,"abstract":"Quantum key distribution (QKD) enables the generation of information-theoretic secure keys between two remote parties. A critical component of successful QKD implementation is the effective synchronization of clocks between these users. Traditional methods of locking to a reference clock or transmitting a synchronization signal rely on auxiliary equipment, which increases the complexity and cost, thus hindering the widespread deployment of QKD. Here, we propose a method to achieve clock and pulse synchronization by exploiting a subset of the transmitted qubits. We demonstrate our scheme with a time-bin phase-coding BB84 QKD system and verify the realization of long-term stable key generation over distances of 50 km and 100 km. Our method simplifies the implementation of QKD systems and introduces new possibilities for synchronization algorithms in other quantum communication protocols.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 5","pages":"1087-1091"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143938024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Performance Analysis for mmWave Cell-Free Access Network Based on Terahertz Backhaul","authors":"Hongxin Lin;Yuanjian Li;Guanghui Chen;Zening Liu;Yongming Huang","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555748","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555748","url":null,"abstract":"This letter proposes a downlink cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) network architecture integrating terahertz (THz) backhaul and millimeter wave (mmWave) access, where a source server transmits signals to the central processing unit (CPU) via THz links, then enabling adaptive decode-and-forward transmission to multiple fiber-connected mmWave access points (APs). A novel fluctuating two-ray (FTR) fading model is adopted to characterize mmWave links for accurate performance analysis. Closed-form expressions for outage probability and ergodic capacity are derived for maximum ratio combining (MRC) receivers, complemented by asymptotic analysis in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes. Extensive simulations validate the analytical results and demonstrate a critical trade-off: while increasing the number of APs yields marginal outage probability improvement due to THz backhaul limitations, it substantially enhances ergodic capacity through effective spatial multiplexing.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 6","pages":"1181-1185"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Space-to-Ground Optical Communication Downlink Scheduling Under Uncertainty of Link Availability","authors":"Pei Lyu;Kanglian Zhao;Shihao Wang;Hangsheng Zhao","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555945","url":null,"abstract":"Space-to-ground optical communication (STGOC) utilizes laser beams to establish bidirectional links between satellites and ground stations (GSs), which are sensitive to cloud blockage. In practical STGOC downlink scheduling, the uncertainty of link availability caused by cloud motion and dissipation is inevitable. We are the first to address STGOC downlink scheduling under the uncertainty of link availability, where the objective function aims to maximize the amount of data downloaded from the satellites. We provide a formulation of the scheduling problem based on Scenario Generation Approximating (SGA) while preserving the formulation linearity. A Greedy Heuristic-based algorithm is designed to solve the problem. Simulation results indicate that considering uncertainty can enhance data throughput, with the average optimality gap being 0.61%, while the running time is reduced compared to Gurobi and Kuhn-Munkres-based methods.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 5","pages":"1136-1140"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143932263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Houfeng Chen;Shaohua Yue;Marco Di Renzo;Hongliang Zhang
{"title":"Degrees of Freedom of Holographic MIMO in Multi-User Near-Field Channels","authors":"Houfeng Chen;Shaohua Yue;Marco Di Renzo;Hongliang Zhang","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555796","url":null,"abstract":"Holographic multiple-input multiple-output (HMIMO) is an emerging technology for 6G communications, in which numerous antenna units are integrated in a limited space. As the HMIMO array aperture expands, the near-field region of the array is dramatically enlarged, resulting in more users being located in the near-field region. This creates new opportunities for wireless communications. In this context, the evaluation of the spatial degrees of freedom (DoF) of HMIMO multi-user systems in near-field channels is an open problem, as the analytical methods utilized for evaluating the DoF in far-field channels cannot be directly applied. In this letter, we propose a novel method to calculate the DoF of HMIMO in multi-user near-field channels. We first derive the DoF for a single user in the near field, and then extend the analysis to multi-user scenarios. In this latter scenario, we focus on the impact of spatial blocking between HMIMO users. The derived analytical framework reveals that the DoF of HMIMO in multi-user near-field channels is not in general given by the sum of the DoF of the HMIMO single-user setting because of spatial blocking. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. In the considered case study, the number of DoF reduces by 21.2% on average due to spatial blocking.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 6","pages":"1186-1190"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yijian Hou;Kaisa Zhang;Gang Chuai;Weidong Gao;Xiangyu Chen;Siqi Liu
{"title":"Service Association and Subcarrier Allocation in Vehicular Slicing Networks With Dynamic Multi-Service","authors":"Yijian Hou;Kaisa Zhang;Gang Chuai;Weidong Gao;Xiangyu Chen;Siqi Liu","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555768","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555768","url":null,"abstract":"The vehicular slicing network with dynamic multi-service (VSN-DMS) enables vehicles to support multiple services with dynamically changing types. In this architecture, vehicles can access multiple base stations (BSs) and leverage different network slices (NSs) to meet the requirements of various services. However, frequent service variations and vehicle mobility introduce high handover (HO) costs and inefficient decision making. This letter proposes a novel two-timescale optimization framework to jointly optimize vehicle service (VS) association and subcarrier (SC) allocation. Specifically, in the long-timescale, we propose a federated deep reinforcement learning (FDRL) algorithm to optimize VS association. Unlike conventional reinforcement learning approaches that require centralized data collection, FDRL enables distributed model training across vehicles while aggregating parameters in the cloud. This mitigates the issue of insufficient training data caused by frequent VS changes, while also ensuring vehicle data privacy. In the short-timescale, we propose a versatile alternating coalitional game and swap-matching game algorithm (ACGSM) to optimize SC allocation. By iteratively executing coalitional formation and swap-matching mechanisms, ACGSM efficiently improves the quality of the solution while adapting to dynamic network conditions. Simulation results demonstrate the convergence of FDRL and show that the proposal outperforms benchmarks in improving long-term QoS and reducing the number of HOs.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 5","pages":"1131-1135"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143932261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xin Wang;Can Zheng;Pengjiang Hu;Junan Yang;Chung G. Kang
{"title":"A Sparsity-Agnostic SL0 Channel Estimation Approach for OTFS Systems","authors":"Xin Wang;Can Zheng;Pengjiang Hu;Junan Yang;Chung G. Kang","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3554379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3554379","url":null,"abstract":"Orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation has been shown to support reliable communication in high mobility scenarios. Due to the sparsity of the delay-Doppler (DD) domain, most existing algorithms utilize compressed sensing (CS) for OTFS channel estimation, while requiring a known channel sparsity. However, in cases that the sparsity is not readily accessible, the estimation accuracy of these CS algorithms decreases dramatically. In this letter, we propose a Smoothed <inline-formula> <tex-math>$ell _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (SL0) algorithm free of prior knowledge about channel sparsity for OTFS channel estimation. We obtain a novel vector expression of the input-output relationship in the DD domain and formulate it as a sparse signal recovery problem. In the case of unknown sparsity, a low-complexity SL0 algorithm is introduced to solve the problem with a faster reconstruction speed. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has significant advantages in estimation accuracy and complexity compared to algorithms that also do not require channel sparsity.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 5","pages":"1097-1101"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143937964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}