IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 14, NO.

3, MARCH 2010 193

Bit-Interleaved Coded Multilevel Modulation for

Single-Carrier Frequency-Domain Equalization
Chan-Ho Choi and Gi-Hong Im, Senior Member, IEEE
Information QPSK w0
Abstract—This paper proposes a bit-interleaved coded mul- bits

S/P
FEC +CP
tilevel modulation for single-carrier frequency-domain equal- QPSK w M/2-1
ization (SC-FDE). In the proposed system, multiple layers are
encoded and interleaved together, using one encoder and one (a)
interleaver, and then they are mapped by hierarchical symbol

IFFT
Soft QPSK Yes MAP

Decoupling layer l

P/S
mapping. A corresponding receiver structure is presented, where Demapper Decoder

MMSE EQ &
multiple layers can be decoupled by iterative frequency-domain No

FFT
-CP

FFT FFT
equalization with improved soft information. Simulation results Soft QPSK
Mapper
show that the proposed system has better performance than

S/P
conventional modulation schemes such as bit-interleaved coded Soft QPSK
Mapper
modulation (BICM) and multilevel BICM (MLBICM).
Index Terms—Bit-interleaved-coded modulation (BICM), high- (b)
order modulation, multilevel modulation, SC-FDE. Fig. 1. Transceiver block diagram of the proposed multilevel modulation for
SC-FDE. (a) Transmitter structure. (b) Receiver structure.
I. I NTRODUCTION order to solve this problem, we present an iterative frequency-
INGLE-CARRIER frequency-domain equalization (SC-
S FDE) has a similar structure and performance as orthogo-
nal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) [1]. Recently, the
domain equalization with improved soft information. The
equalization combines the equalizer outputs and a priori
information to enhance the reliability of estimates of multiple
SC-FDE has drawn great attention as an alternative to OFDM, layers. This is related to the partial soft information in [8],
especially in the uplink communications, where lower peak- [9]. However, we compute this soft information in a new
to-average power ratio (PAPR) benefits the mobile equipment way for the proposed multilevel modulation. Simulation results
in terms of power efficiency [1]-[3]. show that the proposed system outperforms the conventional
High-order modulations such as 16 and 64-QAM can be modulation schemes such as MLBICM and BICM.
used to increase the data rate of transmission. For high-
order modulations, a minimum mean square error (MMSE) II. P ROPOSED M ULTILEVEL M ODULATION
detector with bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) has Figure 1(a) depicts the transmitter structure of the proposed
been proposed in [4], [5]. This scheme requires the symbol-to- system for SC block transmissions. In the multilevel modu-
bit soft demapping in equalization of high-order modulations, lation, there are �/2 layers, each of which corresponds to a
resulting in high complexity. Based on multistage decoding, QPSK sequence. The symbol mapping constructs a 2� -QAM
a multilevel coding (MLC) technique was originally proposed constellation by weighting and adding the QPSK signals. Let
by Imai [6]. In [7], multilevel BICM (MLBICM) for single- x=[�(0) �(1)⋅ ⋅ ⋅�(�−1)]� and X=[�(0) �(1)⋅ ⋅ ⋅�(�−1)]�
carrier systems has been proposed. Iterative detection and denote the transmit blocks in the time and frequency domains,
decoding in MLBICM can detect and decode the multiple respectively. Here, (⋅)� is the transpose.
coded layers in parallel without the inter-decoder information All the information bits are encoded and interleaved to-
exchange of multistage decoders, which simplifies the receiver gether, with one encoder and one interleaver. The interleaved
structure. In MLBICM, the symbol-to-bit soft demapping bits are demultiplexed into �/2 multiple layers, {�� (�)}2� −1
�=0 ,
can be avoided due to the linearity of simple constellation � = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , �/2 − 1. Each layer’s sequence is mapped
mapping. However, since multiple layers have different min- to a QPSK sequence, because each layer transmits the sig-
imum distances (unequal error probability), the performance nals over the in-phase and quadrature channels. The QPSK
of MLBICM is dominated by errors at a layer with a small symbol of the �th layer at the �th symbol is obtained as
minimum distance, which degrades its performance. �� (�) = √12 (�� (2�) + ��� (2� + 1)), � = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , � −1,
√
In this paper, we propose a bit-interleaved coded multilevel where �= −1, and �� (�)∈{+1, −1}, � = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 2� − 1.
modulation for SC-FDE. In the proposed system, multiple Hierarchical symbol mapping is employed to construct the
layers are encoded and interleaved together, using one encoder 2� -QAM constellation. The transmit signal is expressed as
and one interleaver, and then they are mapped by hierarchical ∑�/2−1
symbol mapping. Unlike MLBICM, the detector cannot use �(�) = �� �� (�), x = (w� ⊗ I� )s = Ws, (1)
�=0
reliable data decisions due to the single-channel coding. In
where s = [s0 s1 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ s�/2−1 ]� , s� = [�� (0) �� (1) ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ �� (�−1)]� ,
Manuscript received October 29, 2009. The associate editor coordinating ⊗ denotes the Kronecker product, and I� is an � ×� identity
the review of this letter and approving it for publication was Z. Yan. matrix. In (1), the mapping vector w is given by
This work was supported by Brain Korea 21 Project in 2009. ⎧
The authors are with the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engi- ⎨ [1], √ � =2
neering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang
790-784, Korea (e-mail: {choic, igh}@postech.ac.kr). w� = [�0 �1 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ � � −1 ] = [2 1]/ 5,√ � =4 (2)
2 ⎩
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LCOMM.2010.03.092128 [4 2 1]/ 21, � = 6.
c 2010 IEEE
1089-7798/10$25.00 ⃝

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:54 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
194 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 14, NO. 3, MARCH 2010

A cyclic prefix (CP) is appended at the head of transmit where (⋅)� denotes the conjugate transpose. Under the MMSE
sequence x, and then the block is transmitted over a channel. criterion, the � ×1 equalizer vector g�� is given by
At the receiver, after the removal of CP, the received g�� = ���(r, r)−1 ���(r, �� (�))
sequence can be expressed as r = Hx + n = HWs + n, [ ]−1
where r = [�(0) �(1) ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ �(� −1)]� and n is a complex = HWVW� H� + ��2 I� �¯� (�)�� He� , (6)
additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) vector with each entry where V = ����[V0 V1 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ V�/2−1 ] represents the co-
having a zero-mean and variance of ��2 . H ≜ Circ� [h] is variance matrix of s, and e� = [01×� 1 01×(� −�−1) ]� .
an � × � circulant channel matrix with the first column V� = ����[�� (0) �� (1) ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ �� (� − 1)], and the (�, �) entry
h = [ℎ(0) ℎ(1) ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ℎ(��ℎ ) 0 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 0]� . of covariance matrix V� is given by
{
III. I TERATIVE F REQUENCY-D OMAIN E QUALIZATION FOR �˜� (�), � = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , �−1
�� (�) ≜ (7)
P ROPOSED M ULTILEVEL M ODULATION �¯� (�), � = �, �+1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , �/2−1.
In the single-channel coding scheme which encodes and Note that the estimate �ˆ� (�) depends on �� � (�� (2�)) and
interleaves all the layers in a block, decoding cannot be �� (� � (2�+1)) via �
¯ � (�) and �
¯� (�). In order that �ˆ� (�) is
�
done until all the layers are processed. Thus, the equalization independent from �� (� � (2�)) and � �
(� � (2�+1)), i.e., to
� �
cannot use reliable data decisions, and the residual interference compute the extrinsic information of �� (�), we set the LLRs to
between the layers degrades its performance. To overcome this 0 while computing �ˆ� (�), yielding �¯� (�) = 0 and �¯� (�) = 1
problem, we derive the iterative frequency-domain equaliza- in (6). For obtaining the frequency-domain equalizer vector
tion with improved soft information for the proposed system. G�� , � � matrix inversion is required for each �, since
Figure 1(b) shows the receiver block diagram of the pro- the covariance matrix V depends �. So, we
posed system. The detection order of multiple layers is de- ( ∑�on the index)
approximate V� by �� I� = �1
−1
�=0 � � (�) I� . Then, the
termined to adopt the successive detection. The layer with equalizer vector g�� in (6) can be rewritten as
the largest minimum distance (�0 ) is detected first. At the [∑ ]−1
�/2−1
�th detection stage, the extrinsic information of layers, �� (�), �
g� = �
�� �� HH + �� I� 2
�� He� . (8)
� = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , �−1, has already been computed by the equalizer. �=0

Thus, the extrinsic information is fed back and added to From (8), it is observed that (g�� )� is the �-point circular
the soft output channel decoder’s extrinsic information to right-shift vector of (g�0 )� , since H is a circulant matrix. For
enhance the estimation of transmit symbols. The improved simplicity, we compute the equalizer vector g�� at � = 0 (g� ≜
soft information can be computed as follows g�0 ). After subtracting the influence of the � ������ information
�� (�� (�)) = �� �
� (�� (�)) + �� (�� (�)), �¯� (�) on �ˆ� (�), the estimate vector ŝ� is expressed as
( �−1 �/2−1
)
� = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 2� −1, � = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , � − 1, (3) ∑ ∑
�
ŝ� = Δ� r− �� Hs̃� − �� Hs̄� +�� g�� He0 s̄� , (9)
where �� �
� (�� (�)) and �� (�� (�)) are the a priori and extrinsic �=0 �=�
LLR computed by the decoder and equalizer, respectively.
where Δ� = Circ� [g� ]. The frequency-domain equalizer
Here, the superscript � of �� � represents the equalizer. The
vector G� is given by
subscripts � and � represent the input and output of the (∑ )−1
equalizer, respectively. To perform MMSE equalization, the �/2−1
� −1 G� = Fg� = �� �� ΛΛ� +��2 I� �� Λ1� ×1 , (10)
mean and variance of coded symbols {�� (�)}�=0 are required, �=0
which are obtained as
where F is the � � discrete Fourier transform (DFT) matrix,
for � ≤ � < �/2, Λ = FHF−1 , and 1� ×1 is the � × 1 all one vector. The
�¯� (�) = �[�� (�)∣�� (�� (�)), � = 2�, 2�+1] frequency-domain estimate vector Ŝ� is obtained as
( (� � ) ( � )) ( ∑�−1 ∑�/2−1 )
1 � (�� (2�)) � (�� (2�+1))
= √ tanh � +�tanh � Ŝ� =����[G� ]� R− �� ΛS̃� − �� ΛS̄�
2 2 2 �=0 �=�
�
�¯� (�) = ���[�� (�), �� (�)∣�� (�� (�)), � = 2�, 2�+1] 1 ∑� −1 ∗
+ (�� (�)Λ(�))�� S̄� , (11)
�� (�)∣2 ,
= 1 − ∣¯ � �=0

and for 0 ≤ � < �, where (⋅)∗ is the complex conjugate. From (10) and (11), the
equalizer coefficient �� (�) and the estimate �ˆ� (�) at the �th
�˜� (�) = �[�� (�)∣�� (�� (�)), � = 2�, 2�+1]
( ( ) ( )) subcarrier can be expressed as
1 �� (�� (2�)) �� (�� (2�+1))
= √ tanh +�tanh �� Λ(�)
2 2 2 �� (�) = ∑�−1 ∑�/2−1 , (12)
�˜� (�) = ���[�� (�), �� (�)∣�� (�� (�)), � = 2�, 2�+1] �� + �=0 �˜� �� ∣Λ(�)∣2 + �=�
2 �¯� �� ∣Λ(�)∣2
=1 − ∣˜�� (�)∣2 . (4) �ˆ� (�) = �∗� (�)�(�)+�� �¯� (�),
(∑ ∑�/2−1 )
�−1
The one-tap MMSE equalizer for each iteration computes −�∗� (�)Λ(�) �� �˜� (�)+ �� �¯� (�) , (13)
�=0 �=�
the frequency-domain estimates {�ˆ� (�)}�=0
� −1
by minimizing
the mean square error �{∣�� (�) − �ˆ� (�)∣2 }. The estimates ∑� −1
� −1
where �� = �1 �=0 �� �∗� (�)Λ(�). The time-domain es-
�� (�)}�=0
{ˆ can be written as [10] �� (�)}�=0
timates {ˆ � −1
are obtained by performing inverse
�ˆ� (�) = �{�� (�)} + (g�� )� (r − �{r}), 0 ≤ � < �, (5) DFT (IDFT) on {�ˆ� (�)}�=0
� −1
. By assuming that �ˆ� (�) has

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:54 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
CHOI and IM: BIT-INTERLEAVED CODED MULTILEVEL MODULATION FOR SINGLE-CARRIER FREQUENCY-DOMAIN EQUALIZATION
0 0
10
1 1
10
BLER
2 I SI: Improved Soft Information
10
3 3
10
10
Fig. 2. BLER performance of BICM, MLBICM, and the proposed system
(16-QAM, � =256, TU channel, five iterations).
Gaussian distribution, the extrinsic LLRs, �� � (�� (�)), � =
0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 2� − 1, can be obtained as
√ √
� 8��{ˆ �� (�)} � 8��{ˆ �� (�)}
�� (�� (2�))= , �� (�� (2�+1))=
1 − �� �� 1 − �� ��
The extrinsic LLRs, {�� 2�−1
� (�� (�))}�=0 , are used in (3) for the
�+1th layer’s detection. After all the layers are detected by the
equalizer, the extrinsic LLRs of all the layers are deinterleaved
and fed to the MAP decoder. The MAP decoder computes
the extrinsic information for the coded bits, which is used
as the a priori information �� � (�� (�)) in (3) and (4) for ILI
cancellation and per-tone MMSE equalization.
IV. S IMULATION R ESULTS
We consider a coded SC block transmission with � =256,
and 16-QAM constellation. A 1/2-rate convolutional code with
a constraint length of 3 is employed, and random interleavers
are used. The CP length is set to the channel maximum delay.
For a time varying and frequency-selective fading channel, a
6-tap reduced typical urban (TU) channel is considered. In the
simulations, BICM uses the standard Gray-mapped 16-QAM.
For fair comparisons, the iterative equalizers presented in [4]
and [7] are applied to BICM and MLBICM, respectively. The
number of iterations is 5.
Figure 2 shows the block error rate (BLER) performance
of proposed system with or without the improved soft in-
formation. The proposed system without the improved soft
information detects the layers in parallel. We observe from Fig.
2 that the improved soft information significantly enhances the
performance of the proposed system, due to the improvement
in the reliability of the estimates. In Fig. 2, the proposed
system is also compared to MLBICM and BICM. It is shown
that the proposed system outperforms BICM. MLBICM has
unequal error protection capabilities because of the difference
in minimum distance between layers [7]. The BLER perfor-
mance of MLBICM is dominated by errors at the second layer.
In contrast, the proposed system averages the performance of
multiple layers with different minimum distances. As such, the
proposed system provides better performance than MLBICM.
Figure 3 shows the BLER performance of BICM, MLBICM,
and the proposed system for different iteration numbers. Be-
fore the second iteration, the proposed system shows the worst
performance, due to the residual interference between the
layers. However, by employing the iterative equalization with
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 13,20 at 1:54 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.
195
10
BICM
MLBICM
Proposed system w/o I SI
Proposed system w/ I SI
I SI: Improved Soft Information
10
BLER
2
10
BICM
MLBICM
Proposed system w/o I SI
Proposed system w/ I SI
10
11 12 13 14 15 16 0 2 4 6 8 10
SNR (dB) Number of Iterations
Fig. 3. BLER performance of BICM, MLBICM, and the proposed system for
different number of iterations (16-QAM, � =256, TU channel, SNR=15dB).
the improved soft information, the interference diminishes as
the number of iterations increases, and the proposed system
achieves a coding gain. In the simulations, we assumed perfect
channel state information at the receiver. Highly accurate
.
channel estimation can be done using the frequency-domain
multiplexed pilot technique proposed in [11].
V. C ONCLUSIONS
This paper proposed a bit-interleaved coded multilevel
modulation for SC-FDE. In order to average the performance
of multiple layers with different minimum distances, the pro-
posed system encodes and interleaves multiple layers together,
using one encoder and one interleaver. A corresponding re-
ceiver structure was presented to decouple the multiple layers
which are encoded and interleaved together. Simulation results
show that the proposed system achieves a coding gain by
using single-channel coding, and outperforms the conventional
modulation schemes.
R EFERENCES
[1] D. Falconer, S. L. Ariyavisitakul, A. Benyamin-Seeyar, and B. Eidson,
“Frequency domain equalization for single-carrier broadband wireless
systems,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 40, pp. 58-66, Apr. 2002.
[2] C. H. Choi, J. B. Lim, and G. H. Im, “Unique-word-based single-carrier
system with decision feedback equalization for space-time block coded
transmissions,” IEEE Commun. Lett., vol. 11, pp. 28-30, Jan. 2007.
[3] U. K. Kwon, D. Kim, and G. H. Im, “Amplitude clipping and iterative
reconstruction of MIMO-OFDM signals with optimum equalization,”
IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 268-277, Jan. 2009.
[4] A. Dejonghe and L. Vandendorpe, “Turbo-equalization for multilevel
modulation: an efficient low-complexity scheme,” in Proc. IEEE ICC
2002, New York, May 2002.
[5] M. Tüchler, A. C. Singer, and R. Koetter, “Minimum mean squared error
equalization using a priori information,” IEEE Trans. Signal Process.,
vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 673-683, Mar. 2002.
[6] H. Imai and S. Hirakawa, “A new multilevel coding method using error
correcting codes,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 371-377,
May 1977.
[7] K. Kansanen, C. Schneider, T. Matsumoto, and R. Thomä, “Multilevel-
coded QAM with MIMO turbo-equalization in broadband single-carrier
signaling,” IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 954-966, May
2005.
[8] C. Douillard, M. Jezequel, C. Berrou, A. Picart, P. Didier, and
A. Glavieux, “Iterative correction of intersymbol interference: turbo-
equalization,” European Trans. Telecommun., vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 507-511,
Sept.-Oct. 1995.
[9] H. Claussen, H. R. Karimi, and B. Mulgrew, “Improved max-log-
MAP turbo decoding by maximization of mutual information transfer,”
EURASIP J. Appl. Signal Process., vol. 2005, no. 6, pp. 820-827, 2005.
[10] S. Kay, Fundamental of Statistical Signal Processing: Estimation The-
ory. Prentice Hall, pp. 380-383, 1993.
[11] D. Kim, U. K. Kwon, G. H. Im, and C. Shin, “A pilot design technique
for single-carrier transmission over fast fading relay channels,” in Proc.
IEEE GLOBECOM 2008, New Orleans, LA, Nov. 2008.