Interference alleviation equalizing apparatus of multi-carrier communication system and method thereof

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a communication system, and more specifically, to a multi-carrier communication system.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In a general communication system, such as a multi-carrier communication system, if there is interference occurring in a channel between a transmitter and a receiver, the interference will influence signals that will be transmitted to the receiver. Therefore, the signal received by the receiver is a mixed signal of the signal transmitted by the transmitter and an interference signal. In order to eliminate the above-mentioned influences on the received signal, an equalization circuit and a channel estimation circuit are installed in the receiver. The channel estimation circuit is utilized for estimating the weakening and interference resulting from the channel of the received signal according to preamble symbols in the received package. Because the preamble symbols are a series of known symbols, the influence degree of the channel (represented as a channel estimation value) can be determined by comparing the received signal and the known symbols. The operation of the conventional channel estimation circuit is described in the following equation (1):

Where R denotes the received signal, X denotes the known preamble symbol(s), and H denotes the above-mentioned channel estimation value. Next, the equalization circuit processes the received signal R using the channel estimation value H to render an equalized signal. The equalized signal is viewed as a reconstructed signal in which the channel responses are eliminated, and also approximates the signal transmitted by the transmitter.

In fact, a wireless communication system may receive accidental interference from other wireless communication systems. At that time, a change of an external circumstance cannot be compensated for with only a channel estimation value. If there is an accidental interference occurring during the channel estimation operation, the channel estimation value generated by the channel estimation operation may have a serious error, and will further affect an equalized signal generated according to the wrong channel estimation value.

It is therefore an objective of the claimed invention to provide an apparatus and a method applied in a multi-carrier for equalizing a received signal to generate an equalized signal to solve the above-mentioned problem.

According to the claimed invention, an apparatus for equalizing a received signal to generate an equalized signal is disclosed. The apparatus includes a channel estimator for generating a channel estimation value according to a preamble symbol in the received signal and for generating a channel response value according to the channel estimation value; an equalization circuit for equalizing the received signal according to the channel response value and an interference power estimate to generate the equalized signal; and an interference power estimation circuit for generating the interference power estimate according to a hard decision value, the channel response value, and the received signal; wherein, the hard decision value corresponds to the equalized signal.

In addition, according to the claimed invention, a method is disclosed for equalizing a received signal to generate an equalized signal. The method includes receiving the received signal and generating a channel response value according to a preamble symbol in the received signal; generating an interference power estimate according to the channel response value; and equalizing the received signal to generate the equalized signal according to the channel response value and a channel confidence value; wherein, the channel confidence value corresponds to the interference power estimate.

The apparatus according to the claimed invention equalizes the received signal according to the interference power estimate and the channel response value, and updates the interference power estimate accordingly to increase the accuracy of the equalized signal and substantially improve the error resistance ability of a receiver.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an equalizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart describing generating an equalized signal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 . FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an equalizing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The equalizing apparatus 10 is applied in a multi-carrier communication system, and an ultra-wideband (UWB) system utilizing the IEEE 802.15.3a standard is used as an example hereinafter. As shown in FIG. 1 , the equalizing apparatus 10 is utilized for equalizing a frequency domain signal R to generate an equalized signal {tilde over (X)}. Please refer to the IEEE 802.15.3a standard for the specification of the frequency domain signal R. In addition, an output end of the equalizing apparatus 10 is coupled to a de-mapping unit 20 . The de-mapping unit 20 is a known component for de-mapping the equalized signal {tilde over (X)} to generate a hard decision value {circumflex over (X)}. As shown in FIG. 1 , the equalizing apparatus 10 comprises a channel estimator 12 , an interference power estimation circuit 14 , and an equalization circuit 16 . The channel estimator 12 is utilized for generating a channel estimation value according to a preamble symbol in the frequency domain signal R. Two channel estimation values H′ j,k , H″ j,k are taken as examples in the present embodiment for describing the operation of the equalizing apparatus 10 , wherein j denotes a band index in a multi-carrier communication system; that is, a band j in the multi-carrier communication system. As for k, k denotes a sub-carrier index in the band j. Next, a channel response value H j,k is generated after a computation according to the channel estimation values H′ j,k , H″ j,k . In an embodiment, the computation is performed according to the following equation (2):

The interference power estimation circuit 14 according to the embodiment is utilized for generating an interference power estimate σ 2 according to the channel estimation values H′ j,k , H″ j,k and a hard decision value {circumflex over (X)}. Afterwards, the equalization circuit 16 is utilized for equalizing the frequency domain signal R according to the channel response value H j,k and the interference power estimate σ 2 to generate the equalized signal {tilde over (X)}. A detailed description of the operations of the interference power estimation circuit 14 and the equalization circuit 16 is described in the following.

In an embodiment, the interference power estimation circuit 14 comprises an error estimator 22 and an interference computing unit 24 . The error estimator 22 is utilized for generating an error amount e according to the received signal R, the channel response value H j,k , and the hard decision value {circumflex over (X)} generated according to the channel response value H j,k . The operation of the error estimator 22 is described in the following equation (3):

e i,j,k =R i,j,k −H j,k ·{circumflex over (X)} j,k   Equation (3)

In equation (3), i denotes a symbol index of band j, j denotes a band index, and k denotes a sub-carrier index. Here the error amount e represents accidental interference in the channel. Ideally, a result generated by multiplying a reconstructed signal (represented as the hard decision value {circumflex over (X)}) of the receiver by the channel response value H j,k should be equal to the received signal R. Hence, it is reasonable to presume that the error amount e results from the accidental interference in the channel. Hence, the error amount e is transmitted to the interference computing unit 24 for updating the original interference power estimate. The operation is described as follows:

σ 2 i+1,j,k =λ·σ 2 i,j,k +(1−λ)·| e i,j,k | 2   Equation (4)

In equation (4), λ is a weighting factor. The smaller λ is, the larger the range adjusted for the interference power estimate σ 2 is. In the present embodiment, the original interference power estimate σ 0 2 is generated by the interference computing unit 24 according to the channel estimation values H′ j,k , H″ j,k . The operation is described in the following equation (5):

In equation (5), j denotes a band index, and k denotes a sub-carrier index. H′ j,k is utilized for representing the channel estimation value generated according to a first symbol of the header symbols, and H″ j,k is utilized for representing the channel estimation value generated according to a second symbol of the header symbols.

In the present embodiment, the equalization circuit 16 comprises a channel confidence value computing unit 26 and an equalizing unit 28 . The channel confidence value computing unit 26 generates a weighting factor μ according to the interference power estimate σ 2 . In an embodiment, when the interference power estimate σ 2 is smaller than a threshold limit value, the weighting factor μ is set to be 1. When the interference power estimate σ 2 is not less than the threshold limit value, the weighting factor μ is set to be 10. The weighting factor μ can be determined according to a design consideration, and is not limited to the values “1” or “10”. The channel confidence value computing unit 26 generates a channel confidence value K according to the channel response value H j,k , the weighting factor μ, and the interference power estimate σ 2 . The operation of the channel confidence value computing unit 26 is described in the following equation (6):

In equation (6), the channel confidence value K is utilized for representing the reliability of the equalized signal {tilde over (X)}; that is, an effect results from the interference occurring in the channel (represented as the interference power estimate σ 2 ) on the equalized signal {tilde over (X)}. There may possibly be a great difference between the channel response value H j,k estimated by the receiver and the actual channel response value H j,k . Therefore, according to this embodiment, the weighting factor μ is utilized for adjusting the interference power estimate σ 2 in order to increase an influence provided by the interference power estimate σ 2 on the channel confidence value K when the interference is very great; that is, equivalently decreasing the weight of the channel response value H j,k in the channel confidence value K . Eventually, the channel confidence value K is transmitted to the equalizing unit 28 . The equalizing unit 28 then equalizes the received signal R according to the channel response value H j,k and the channel confidence value K to generate the equalized signal {tilde over (X)}. The above-mentioned operation is described as follows:

The principles of the operations of the equalizing apparatus 10 in the embodiment are described using the above equations (2) to (7). However, a clear description of the interference equalizing apparatus 10 is provided in FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 is a flowchart describing generating an equalized signal according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flow contains the following steps:

Step 101 : Generate a channel response value H i,j,k according to equation (2), and generate an original value of an interference power estimate σ 2 (an original interference power estimate σ 0 2 ) according to equation (5). Step 102 : Determine if the interference power estimate σ 2 is greater than the threshold limit value; if so, proceed to step 103 ; otherwise, proceed to step 104 . Step 103 : Set a weighting factor μ to be 10, and then proceed to step 105 . Step 104 : Set the weighting factor μ to be 1, and then proceed to step 105 . Step 105 : Generate a channel confidence value K according to equation (6), and generate the equalized signal {tilde over (X)} according to equation (7). Step 106 : Generate an error amount e according to equation (3), and update the interference power estimate σ 2 according to equation (4); then proceed to step 102 .

The equalizing apparatus according to the present invention generates an equalized signal {tilde over (X)} and adjusts the equalized signal {tilde over (X)} according to a channel confidence value K . The channel confidence value K represents interference occurring in the channel (represented as an interference power estimate σ 2 ). When the interference is excessively great, the interference power estimate σ 2 is adjusted using a weighting factor μ in order to decrease an influence provided by the interference power estimate σ 2 on the channel confidence value K, and the weight of a channel response value H j,k in the channel confidence value K are decreased accordingly. Therefore, the equalizing apparatus described above can substantially decrease the influences resulting from the interference on the receiver, and improve the interference alleviation ability of the receiver.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.