Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) is a 2D modulation technique that transforms the information carried in the Delay-Doppler coordinate system. The information is transformed in the similar time-frequency domain as utilized by the traditional schemes of modulation such as TDMA, CDMA, and OFDM. [1] It was first used for fixed wireless, and is now a contending waveform for 6G technology due to its robustness in high-speed vehicular scenarios. [2]
OTFS is a modulation scheme where each transmitted symbol experiences a near-constant channel gain even in channels at high carrier frequencies (mm-wave) or with high Doppler. This OTFS signal is well localized in both time and frequency domain. The transmitted signal is in the delay-doppler domain. OTFS waveform remains invariant under the operation of the time and frequency domains. When we transmit an OTFS waveform in the delay-doppler domain, we use the Zak transform. This OTFS will satisfy Heisenberg Uncertainty principle (signal is localized in delay-doppler representation). [3] [4] [5]
It effectively transforms the time-varying multipath channel into a 2D channel in the Delay-Doppler domain. Using this transformation, along with equalization within this domain, each symbol experiences similar channel gain throughout the transmission. [6]
The modulation begins with first mapping the information symbols x[k,l] in the Delay–Doppler domain to symbols X [n, m] for creating the time-domain signal s(t) which is transmitted over a wireless channel. At the receiver end, the time-domain signal r(t) is mapped to the domain of time-frequency using the Wigner transform which is the inverse of Heisenberg transform and then for symbol demodulation uses the Delay–Doppler domain. [7]
The technology is being considered for 6G networks. [2]
In terms of transmission, the transmit signals of OTFS in either discrete time sequence or continuous time waveform are the same as that of single antenna vector OFDM (VOFDM) systems (Proceedings of ICC 2000, New Orleans, and IEEE Trans. on Communications, Aug. 2001), no matter a channel is stationary or not.
Low complexity equalization has been proposed based on Message Passing (MP), Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), and Linear equalization methods. [6] [8] [9] [10] [11] The diversity of OTFS modulation has been studied in. [12] [13] Channel estimation pilots are transmitted in the delay Doppler domain. [14] [15]
Iterative Rake decision feedback equalization achieves equivalent performance to message passing with a much lower complexity that is independent of the modulation size. [16] [17] [18] [19] The performance of OTFS modulation in static multi-path channels has also been studied. [20]
It is impossible to transmit an ideal pulse shape due to the time-frequency uncertainty principle. [21] This motivated some works for practical pulse shaped OTFS systems. [22] [23]
A pulsone (stands for pulse + tone) is the time realization of a quasi-periodic pulse in delay-Doppler and it serves as the carrier waveform of the OTFS modulation format. Of particular interest are pulsones in the crystalline regime (when the periods are greater than the spread of the channel). In this regime, the pulsone remains invariant under the operations of time delay and Doppler shift which results with non-fading and predictable channel interaction, rendering pulsones ideal for mobility and machine learning applications. [24] [25]
OTFS offers several advantages in particular environments where the dispersion is at high frequency. Environments such as these are encountered in mm-wave systems, due to both larger Doppler spreads and higher phase noise. [26] Application of OTFS waveforms for Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) have also been proposed recently. [27] [28]
High mobility scenarios, such as fast-moving vehicles or dynamic wireless networks, introduce severe channel impairments due to rapid time-varying fading, Doppler shift, and time dispersion. OFDM, with its fixed orthogonal subcarriers, struggles to cope with severe channel variations. As a result, the performance of OFDM degrades significantly, leading to reduced data rates and increased error rates. [29] [30]
OTFS addresses the challenges posed by high mobility scenarios by employing time and frequency transformations. OTFS converts the time-varying fading channel into a quasi-static channel, eliminating the need for Doppler compensation. This transformation turns the time-varying channel into stable flat fading, improving signal reception and reducing packet loss significantly. [31] [32]
OTFS achieves better spectral efficiency due to its ability to mitigate inter-symbol interference (ISI) and inter-carrier interference (ICI), which are common in OFDM systems under high mobility. [33] [34]
OTFS also demonstrates improved energy efficiency compared to OFDM in high mobility scenarios. The reduced packet loss and improved spectral efficiency in OTFS lead to fewer retransmissions, resulting in lower power consumption and increased battery life in mobile devices. [35] [36]
The idea for OTFS was first patented in 2010 by Ronny Hadani and Shlomo Rakib and transferred to Cohere Technologies Inc in 2011. [37] In December 2022, during the inaugural 6G Evolution Summit event opening keynote, Fierce Wireless moderator referred to Hadani as “The Father of OTFS.” [38]
In telecommunications, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a type of digital transmission used in digital modulation for encoding digital (binary) data on multiple carrier frequencies. OFDM has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital communication, used in applications such as digital television and audio broadcasting, DSL internet access, wireless networks, power line networks, and 4G/5G mobile communications.
In wireless communications, fading is variation of the attenuation of a signal with the various variables. These variables include time, geographical position, and radio frequency. Fading is often modeled as a random process. A fading channel is a communication channel that experiences fading. In wireless systems, fading may either be due to multipath propagation, referred to as multipath-induced fading, weather, or shadowing from obstacles affecting the wave propagation, sometimes referred to as shadow fading.
Ultra-wideband is a radio technology that can use a very low energy level for short-range, high-bandwidth communications over a large portion of the radio spectrum. UWB has traditional applications in non-cooperative radar imaging. Most recent applications target sensor data collection, precise locating, and tracking. UWB support started to appear in high-end smartphones in 2019.
Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) is a multi-user version of the popular orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) digital modulation scheme. Multiple access is achieved in OFDMA by assigning subsets of subcarriers to individual users. This allows simultaneous low-data-rate transmission from several users.
Multi-carrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) is a multiple access scheme used in OFDM-based telecommunication systems, allowing the system to support multiple users at the same time over same frequency band.
Single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) is a frequency-division multiple access scheme. Originally known as Carrier Interferometry, it is also called linearly precoded OFDMA (LP-OFDMA). Like other multiple access schemes, it deals with the assignment of multiple users to a shared communication resource. SC-FDMA can be interpreted as a linearly precoded OFDMA scheme, in the sense that it has an additional DFT processing step preceding the conventional OFDMA processing.
Carrier Interferometry(CI) is a spread spectrum scheme designed to be used in an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication system for multiplexing and multiple access, enabling the system to support multiple users at the same time over the same frequency band.
In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) is a method for multiplying the capacity of a radio link using multiple transmission and receiving antennas to exploit multipath propagation. MIMO has become an essential element of wireless communication standards including IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, HSPA+ (3G), WiMAX, and Long Term Evolution (LTE). More recently, MIMO has been applied to power-line communication for three-wire installations as part of the ITU G.hn standard and of the HomePlug AV2 specification.
Underwater acoustic communication is a technique of sending and receiving messages below water. There are several ways of employing such communication but the most common is by using hydrophones. Underwater communication is difficult due to factors such as multi-path propagation, time variations of the channel, small available bandwidth and strong signal attenuation, especially over long ranges. Compared to terrestrial communication, underwater communication has low data rates because it uses acoustic waves instead of electromagnetic waves.
The first smart antennas were developed for military communications and intelligence gathering. The growth of cellular telephone in the 1980s attracted interest in commercial applications. The upgrade to digital radio technology in the mobile phone, indoor wireless network, and satellite broadcasting industries created new opportunities for smart antennas in the 1990s, culminating in the development of the MIMO technology used in 4G wireless networks.
Gregory “Greg” Raleigh, is an American radio scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur who has made contributions in the fields of wireless communication, information theory, mobile operating systems, medical devices, and network virtualization. His discoveries and inventions include the first wireless communication channel model to accurately predict the performance of advanced antenna systems, the MIMO-OFDM technology used in contemporary Wi-Fi and 4G wireless networks and devices, higher accuracy radiation beam therapy for cancer treatment, improved 3D surgery imaging, and a cloud-based Network Functions Virtualization platform for mobile network operators that enables users to customize and modify their smartphone services.
Multiple-input, multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) is the dominant air interface for 4G and 5G broadband wireless communications. It combines multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology, which multiplies capacity by transmitting different signals over multiple antennas, and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), which divides a radio channel into a large number of closely spaced subchannels to provide more reliable communications at high speeds. Research conducted during the mid-1990s showed that while MIMO can be used with other popular air interfaces such as time-division multiple access (TDMA) and code-division multiple access (CDMA), the combination of MIMO and OFDM is most practical at higher data rates.
Carrier frequency offset (CFO) is one of many non-ideal conditions that may affect in baseband receiver design. In designing a baseband receiver, we should notice not only the degradation invoked by non-ideal channel and noise, we should also regard RF and analog parts as the main consideration. Those non-idealities include sampling clock offset, IQ imbalance, power amplifier, phase noise and carrier frequency offset nonlinearity.
Electromagnetic radio frequency (RF) convergence is a signal-processing paradigm that is utilized when several RF systems have to share a finite amount of resources among each other. RF convergence indicates the ideal operating point for the entire network of RF systems sharing resources such that the systems can efficiently share resources in a manner that's mutually beneficial. With communications spectral congestion recently becoming an increasingly important issue for the telecommunications sector, researchers have begun studying methods of achieving RF convergence for cooperative spectrum sharing between remote sensing systems and communications systems. Consequentially, RF convergence is commonly referred to as the operating point of a remote sensing and communications network at which spectral resources are jointly shared by all nodes of the network in a mutually beneficial manner. Remote sensing and communications have conflicting requirements and functionality. Furthermore, spectrum sharing approaches between remote sensing and communications have traditionally been to separate or isolate both systems. This results in stove pipe designs that lack back compatibility. Future of hybrid RF systems demand co-existence and cooperation between sensibilities with flexible system design and implementation. Hence, achieving RF convergence can be an incredibly complex and difficult problem to solve. Even for a simple network consisting of one remote sensing and communications system each, there are several independent factors in the time, space, and frequency domains that have to be taken into consideration in order to determine the optimal method to share spectral resources. For a given spectrum-space-time resource manifold, a practical network will incorporate numerous remote sensing modalities and communications systems, making the problem of achieving RF convergence intangible.
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Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi is an Indian professor, education administrator and former director of IIT Roorkee. Previously, he has been the Dean (R&D), and former Deputy Director at IIT Kanpur. He has largely contributed to waveform shaping and sequence design, MIMO systems. Recently, he has been bestowed with additional charge of director (acting) of newly established IIT Mandi and served the office till January 2022.Thereafter, he was succeeded by Professor Laxmidhar Behera.
Ronny Hadani is an Israeli-American mathematician, specializing in representation theory and harmonic analysis, with applications to signal processing. He is known for developing Orthogonal Time Frequency and Space (OTFS) modulating techniques, a method used for making wireless 5G communications faster, that is also being considered for use in 6G technology. The technology is being used by several wireless 5G related companies and Cohere Technologies, a company he has co-founded.
Shlomo Rakib is an Israeli electrical engineer known for his work on Orthogonal Time Frequency and Space (OTFS) and other engineering topics. He is the holder of several patents and co-founder and current Chief Technology Officer of Cohere Technologies, which he had co-founded with Ronny Hadani. He also co-founded Terayon in 1993.
Delay Doppler coordinates are coordinates typically used in a radar technology-inspired approach to measurement. When used in wireless communication, the Delay Doppler domain mirrors the geometry of the reflectors comprising the wireless channel, which changes far more slowly than the phase changes experienced in the rapidly varying time-frequency domain.
Cohere Technologies is a telecoms software company based in San Jose, California that develops technology for boosting the network performance of 4G and 5G spectrum in wireless networks. Cohere holds the patents for the Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) 2D modulation technique used to improve the performance of 4G and 5G networks and is being considered as a waveform for the future 6G wireless standard.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)https://amsayeed.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/otfs_vs_stf_gcom21_final.pdf A. Sayeed, How is Time Frequency Space Modulation Related to Short Time Fourier Signaling?, IEEE Globecom 2021, Dec. 7-11, 2021, Madrid. arXiv:2109.06047.
https://amsayeed.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/otfs_vs_stf_gcom21_final.pdf K. Liu, T. Kadous, and A. Sayeed, Orthogonal Time-Frequency Signaling Over Doubly Dispersive Channels, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, pp. 2583-2603, Nov. 2004.