Adaptive Modulation and Coding

Master Universitario en Ingenierı́a de Telecomunicación

I. Santamarı́a
Universidad de Cantabria
Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Contents

Introduction

Rate adaptation

Power adaptation

Adaptive coding

Hybrid techniques

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Introduction
Goal: to adapt the transmitted power, constellation size, and/or
coding technique in order to maintain
Esquema a given fixed instantaneous
general
BER for each symbol while maximizing the average data rate

• Estimación del canal

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

System model
I SISO system with symbol period Ts and thus symbol rate
Rs = 1/Ts
I We assume ideal Nyquist pulses so the bandwidth is also
W = 1/Ts
I We assume a flat fading channel in which each channel use
corresponds to one symbol
I The channel power gain is g [n] = |h[n]|2 , with pdf p(g )
(exponential for a Rayleigh channel)
I The noise is AWGN with psd N0 /2
I The average transmitted power is P, and hence the
instantaneous SNR is
Pg [n]
γ[n] =
N0 W

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

I The average SNR is

PE [g ]
γ=
N0 W

I We estimate the power gain at time n, ĝ [n], (or received SNR

γ̂[n]) and then adapt the data rate R[n], coding parameters
C [n] and transmit power P[n]

Adaptive Mod. Power Adapt. r[n]

& Coding
P[n]
g[n] ⊕ Demod & Decoding
R[n], C[n]

Channel Est.
gˆ [n] or γˆ[n] gˆ [n] or γˆ[n]

I We assume that the estimate is perfect and that the feedback

channel involves no delay: ĝ [n] = g [n], γ̂[n] = γ[n]
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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

I For M-ary modulations R[n] = log(M[n])/Ts bps, where M[n]

is the constellation size
I The spectral efficiency (note that it might change with time)
is R[n]/W bps/Hz
I For simplicity, and to stress the dependence of the rate,
coding, and transmitted power with the SNR, we will omit the
time index and denote P(γ), R(γ), C (γ)
I The rate of channel variation dictates how often the Tx must
adapt its transmission parameters
I To further proceed we need to review the BER expressions for
the AWGN as a function of the SNR = γ for different
constellations

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

BER expressions for the AWGN channel

We assume that the average symbol energy is divided equally
among all bits and that Gray encoding is used, so
Ps
Pb ≈
log(M)

I BPSK p 
Pb = Ps = Q 2γ
I QPSK
√
Ps = 2Q ( γ)
I MPSK p 
Ps = 2Q 2γ sin(π/M)

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

I MPAM r !
2(M − 1) 6γ
Ps = Q 2
M M −1
I MQAM r !
3γ
Ps = 4Q
M −1
A useful approximation for the BER for MQAM modulations is

Pb ≤ 0.2e −1.5γ/(M−1) ,

which allows us to obtain M as a function of the target Pb

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Rate adaptation

I R(γ) is changed depending on the received SNR γ. How?

1. We fix the modulation (e.g., QPSK) and change the symbol
period → difficult to implement
2. We fix the symbol rate and change the constellation size or
modulation type → much simpler to implement, preferred
option
I The modulation parameters are typically fixed over a block of
symbols or frame
I The goal os to maintain a minimum BER: each constellation
is selected for a range of values of γ

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Example

An adaptive modulation system with a target Pb = 10−3 , uses two

modulation formats: QPSK and 8-PSK. If the target Pb cannot be
met, no data is transmitted.
I Find the range of SNR (γ) values associated to the 3 possible
transmission schemes (8PSK, QPSK, and no transmission)
I Find the average spectral efficiency of the system, assuming a
Rayleigh fading channel with γ = 20dB

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Continuous power adaptation

I P(γ) is changed depending on the received SNR γ
I The goal is to maintain a fixed BER or, equivalently, a
constant received SNR
I We’ve seen that the solution is channel inversion, which
converts the fading channel into an equivalent fixed-SNR
AWGN channel
β β
P(γ) = 2 =
|h| γ
where β is the constant (target) received SNR
I The average power constraint implies that
Z Z
β
P(γ)f (γ)dγ = f (γ)dγ = P
γ
I The constant SNR achieved with channel inversion is
β = P/E [1/γ]
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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

I Suppose we have a target BER of Pb , and we use a fixed

modulation. Then, if the value of β (constant SNR) needed
to meet that target is greater than P/E [1/γ] then this target
cannot be met
I Remember that for a Rayleigh channel 1/E [1/γ] = ∞ and no
BER target can be met
I A more practical alternative was truncated channel
inversion (
0, γ < γ0 ,
P(γ) = β
γ, γ ≥ γ0 .
where the cutoff value γ0 can be based on a desired outage
probability Pout = Prob(γ ≤ γ0 ) or on a desired target BER
I The constant SNR achieved when the channel is in use is
P
β = R∞ 1
γ0 γ f (γ)dγ

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Example

Find the power adaptation for BPSK modulation that maintains a

fixed Pb = 10−3 in non-outage for a Rayleigh fading channel with
γ = 10dB. The average power is P = 1 W. Find the resulting
outage probability.

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Discrete power adaptation

I For channel inversion or truncated channel inversion we
assume a continuous power variation, but sometimes only a
discrete set of power values is possible at the Tx side
PTx = {0, P1 , . . . , PNp }
where PTx = 0 means no transmission, and P1 > . . . > PNp
I The solution in this case consists of discretizing the fading
states of the channel and assign to each channel state a
transmitted power
γ
P3 Decreasing power
γ3
P2  P3 , γ 3 ≤ γ < ∞
γ2 P , γ ≤ γ < γ

P(γ ) =  2 2 3

P1 = Pmax  P1 , γ 1 ≤ γ < γ 2
γ1
 0, 0 ≤ γ < γ 1
0

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Discrete power adaptation

I For a given M-ary modulation (fixed), the levels are chosen to
guarantee the target BER: Pb
 
Pn γ n
BER = Pb , n = 1, . . . , Np
N0 W
N0 W
γn = BER −1 (Pb ), n = 1, . . . , Np
Pn

I The average transmitted power is

Np Z γn+1
X
P= Pn Prob(Sn ), Prob(Sn ) = p(γ)dγ
n=1 γn

I The spectral efficiency is (1 − Prob(E1 )) log(M)

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Example

Consider a transmitter with a set of discrete powers

PTx = {0, 0.1W , 0.05W , 0.01W }

The transmitter uses QPSK, the bandwidth is W = 1 MHz, and

N0 = 10−9 W/Hz. The channel is Rayleigh with γ = 5dB.
1. Find the rule to assign the power levels as a function of the
channel states to maintain a fixed Pb = 10−3 .
2. Find the probability of no transmission.
3. Find the average transmitted power.

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Adaptive coding
I In adaptive coding, different channel codes,C (γ), are used to
provide different amounts of channel protection against errors
to the transmitted bits
I Intuition: stronger error protection should be provided when γ
is small, whereas a weaker coder should be used when γ is
large
I Adaptive coding is typically achieved by puncturing: not
transmitting certain coded bits in convolutional encoders

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Introduction Rate adaptation Power adaptation Adaptive coding Hybrid techniques

Hybrid techniques
I Hybrid techniques can adapt multiple parameters of the
transmission scheme: rate, coding scheme, power, and even
the target BER
I Typical examples include
I Rate and power adaptation
I Adaptive modulation and coding (MCS)

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