Iterative multi-level equalization and decoding

Abstract

A wireless communication method for transmitting wireless signals from a transmitter includes receiving information bits for transmission, segmenting the information bits into a stream of segments, applying a corresponding forward error correction (FEC) code and an interleaver to each of the stream of segments and combining outputs of the interleaving to generate a stream of symbols, processing the stream of symbols to generate a waveform, and transmitting the waveform over a communication medium.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A wireless communication method for transmitting orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulated wireless signals from a transmitter, comprising:
 receiving information bits for transmission;   segmenting the information bits into a stream of segments;   applying a corresponding forward error correction (FEC) code to each of the stream of segments and combining outputs of the FECs to generate a stream of symbols;   processing the stream of symbols to generate a waveform; and   transmitting the waveform over a communication medium.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each segment in the stream of segments has an equal bit length. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing the stream of symbols includes:
 transforming the stream of symbols to orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) domain by performing an OTFS transform on the stream of symbols.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the FEC codes have different block sizes from each other. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each stream of segments is applied to one or more of the constellation symbol label. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the combining the outputs of the FECs includes:
 performing, on an output of each FEC, a corresponding interleaving operation; and   combining outputs of the interleaving operations to generate the stream of symbols.   
     
     
         7 . A wireless communication method, implemented at a receiver-side, for receiving a signal comprising multiple symbols; comprising:
 performing channel equalization on the signal to generate a channel equalized signal;   logically dividing the channel equalized signal into a first number of segments, wherein the number of segment is equal to a second number of segments used at a transmitter-side to generate the signal;   demodulating and symbol de-mapping the channel equalization signal in successive steps such that each step operates to recover one or more bits of one of the number of the segments to generate a demodulated bitstream;   wherein an order in which the successive steps are performed depends on a reliability of success of recovering the one or more bits in each of the successive steps;   processing the demodulated bitstream to generate information related to the bits from the signal; and   providing a feedback signal to the channel equalization operation based on the processing of the demodulated bitstream.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the processing the demodulated bitstream comprises forward error correction decoding using a plurality of forward error correction codes, at least some of which have different block sizes. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the providing the feedback path comprises performing symbol mapping and orthogonal time frequency space transformation to generate a feedback signal. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the order of which the successive steps are performed is from the most reliable bit to the least reliable bit. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the processing the demodulated bitstream comprises deinterleaving each segment of the first number of segments, and forward error correction decoding using a plurality of forward error correction codes, at least some of which have different block sizes, outputs of the deinterleaving of the first number of segments. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the providing the feedback signal comprises interleaving, the recovered one or more bit-related information from each of the first number of segments using a corresponding interleaver depth. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the equalized signal is processed to an inverse orthogonal time frequency space transform prior to performing symbol demapping. 
     
     
         14 . A wireless communication device comprising a processor configured to implement a method comprising:
 receiving information bits for transmission;   segmenting the information bits into a stream of segments;   applying a corresponding forward error correction (FEC) code to each of the stream of segments and combining outputs of the FECs to generate a stream of symbols;   processing the stream of symbols to generate a waveform; and   causing transmission of the waveform over a communication medium.   
     
     
         15 . The wireless communication device of  claim 14 , wherein the processing the stream of symbols includes transforming the stream of symbols to orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) domain by performing an OTFS transform on the stream of symbols. 
     
     
         16 . The wireless communication device of  claim 14 , wherein the combining the outputs of the FEC includes:
 performing, on an output of each FEC, a corresponding interleaving operation; and   combining outputs of the interleaving operations to generate the stream of symbols.   
     
     
         17 . A wireless communication device comprising a processor configured to implement a method comprising:
 performing channel equalization on the signal to generate a channel equalized signal;   logically dividing the channel equalized signal into a first number of segments, wherein the number of segment is equal to a second number of segments used at a transmitter-side to generate the signal;   demodulating and symbol de-mapping the channel equalization signal in successive steps such that each step operates to recover one or more bits of one of the number of the segments to generate a demodulated bitstream;   wherein an order in which the successive steps are performed depends on a reliability of success of recovering the one or more bits in each of the successive steps;   processing the demodulated bitstream to generate information related to the bits from the signal; and   providing a feedback signal to the channel equalization operation based on the processing of the demodulated bitstream.   
     
     
         18 . The wireless communication device of  claim 17 , wherein the processing the demodulated bitstream comprises forward error correction decoding using a plurality of forward error correction codes, at least some of which have different block sizes. 
     
     
         19 . The wireless communication device of  claim 17 , wherein the providing the feedback path comprises performing symbol mapping and orthogonal time frequency space transformation to generate a feedback signal. 
     
     
         20 . The wireless communication device of  claim 17 , wherein the processing the demodulated bitstream comprises deinterleaving each segment of the first number of segments, and forward error correction decoding using a plurality of forward error correction codes, at least some of which have different block sizes, outputs of the deinterleaving of the first number of segments.