Combined RLS-LMS initialization for per tone equalizers in DMT-receivers

In discrete multitone receivers, the classical equalizer structure consists of a (real) time domain equalizer (TEQ) combined with complex one-tap frequency domain equalizers. An alternative receiver is based on a per tone equalization (PTEQ), which optimizes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on each tone separately and, hence, the total bitrate. In this paper, a new initialization scheme for the PTEQ is introduced, based on a combination of least mean squares (LMS) and recursive least squares (RLS) adaptive filtering. It is shown that the proposed method has only slightly slower convergence than full square-root RLS (SR-RLS) while complexity as well as memory cost are reduced considerably. Hence, in terms of complexity and convergence speed, the proposed algorithm is in between LMS and RLS.     

Adaptive bit rate maximizing time-domain equalizer design for DMT-based systems

The classical discrete multitone receiver as used in, e.g., digital subscriber line (DSL) modems, combines a channel shortening time-domain equalizer (TEQ) with one-tap frequency-domain equalizers (FEQs). In a previous paper, the authors proposed a nonlinear bit rate maximizing (BM) TEQ design criterion and they have shown that the resulting BM-TEQ and the closely related BM per-group equalizers (PGEQs) approach the performance of the so-called per-tone equalizer (PTEQ). The PTEQ is an attractive alternative that provides a separate complex-valued equalizer for each active tone. In this paper, the authors show that the BM-TEQ and BM-PGEQ, despite their nonlinear cost criterion, can be designed adaptively, based on a recursive Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. This adaptive BM-TEQ/BM-PGEQ makes use of the same second-order statistics as the earlier presented recursive least-squares (RLS)-based adaptive PTEQ. A complete range of adaptive BM equalizers then opens up: the RLS-based adaptive PTEQ design is computationally efficient but involves a large number of equalizer taps; the adaptive BM-TEQ has a minimal number of equalizer taps at the expense of a larger design complexity; the adaptive BM-PGEQ has a similar design complexity as the BM-TEQ and an intermediate number of equalizer taps between the BM-TEQ and the PTEQ. These adaptive equalizers allow us to track variations of transmission channel and noise, which are typical of a DSL environment.     

Linear and decision-feedback per tone equalization for DMT-based transmission over IIR channels

The per-tone equalizer (PTEQ) has been presented as an attractive alternative for the classical time-domain equalizer (TEQ) in discrete multitone (DMT) based systems, such as ADSL systems. The PTEQ is based on a linear minimum mean-square-error (L-MMSE) equalizer design for each separate tone. In this paper, we reconsider DMT modulation and equalization in the ADSL context under the realistic assumption of an infinite impulse response (IIR) model for the wireline channel. First, optimum linear zero-forcing (L-ZF) block equalizers for arbitrary IIR model orders and cyclic prefix (CP) lengths are developed. It is shown that these L-ZF block equalizers can be decoupled per tone, hence they lead to an L-ZF PTEQ. Then, based on the L-ZF PTEQ, low-complexity L-MMSE PTEQ extensions are developed: the linear PTEQ extension exploits frequency-domain transmit redundancy from pilot and unused tones; alternatively, a closely related decision-feedback PTEQ extension can be applied. The PTEQ extensions then add flexibility to a DMT-based system design: the CP overhead can be reduced by exploiting frequency-domain transmit redundancy instead, so that a similar bitrate as with the original PTEQ is achieved at a lower memory and computational cost or, alternatively, a higher bitrate is achieved without a considerable cost increase. Both PTEQ extensions are also shown to improve the receiver's robustness to narrow-band interference.     

Joint window and time domain equalizer design for bit rate maximization in DMT-receivers

In discrete multitone (DMT) receivers, as for instance in asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSLs), the classical equalizer structure consists of a (real) time domain equalizer (TEQ) combined with complex 1-tap frequency domain equalizers (FEQs). Additionally, receiver windowing can be applied to mitigate the bad spectral containment of the demodulating DFT sidelobes. We focus on a combined equalizer and windowing design procedure to maximize the achievable bit rate in DMT-based modems. Whereas the combination of a TEQ with a single window treats all the data carrying tones in a common way, the presented design method can also be used in a "per group" fashion, where smaller groups of tones receive each a different equalizer-window pair. When such groups contain only one single tone, the design procedure can be linked to the performance of an unbiased minimum mean square error (MMSE) per tone equalizer (PTEQ), which then also implicitly implements a per tone window. The general framework introduced Allows us to treat equalizer-only and window-only designs as well, which appear as special cases in a natural way. This set of bit rate maximizing techniques can serve either as practical design methods or as upper bounds for existing (suboptimal) methods. We will also show that for the same achievable bit rate, equalizer taps can be exchanged for windowing coefficients to reduce complexity during data transmission.     

Bitrate-maximizing time-domain equalizer design for DMT-based systems

A time-domain equalizer (TEQ) is inserted in discrete multitone (DMT) receivers to impose channel shortening. Many algorithms have been developed to initialize this TEQ, but none of them really optimizes the bitrate. We present a truly bitrate-maximizing TEQ (BM-TEQ) cost function that is based on an exact formulation of the subchannel signal-to-noise ratio as a function of the TEQ taps. The performance of this BM-TEQ comes close to the performance of the per-tone equalizer.