Learning in communication systems

Abstract

Apparatuses, methods and computer programs are described including receiving a sequence of messages at a correction module of a transmission system, wherein the transmission system includes a transmitter, a channel, the correction module and a receiver, wherein the correction module includes a correction algorithm having at least some trainable weights; converting the received sequence of messages into a converted sequence of messages using the correction algorithm; receiving a reward or loss function from the receiver based on the modified sequence of messages; and training at least some weights of the correction algorithm based on the received reward or loss function.

1 . An apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to perform,   receiving a sequence of messages at a correction module of a transmission system, wherein the transmission system comprises a transmitter, a channel, the correction module and a receiver, wherein the correction module includes a correction algorithm having at least some trainable weights;   converting the received sequence of messages into a converted sequence of messages using the correction algorithm;   receiving a reward or loss function from the receiver; and   training at least some weights of the correction algorithm based on the received reward or loss function.   
     
     
         2 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
 modifying the converted sequence of messages to provide a modified sequence of messages based on a random perturbation of the converted sequence of messages; and   providing the modified sequence of messages to the receiver of the transmission system,   wherein the reward or loss function is based on the modified sequence of messages.   
     
     
         3 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the modifying the converted sequence of messages makes use of a distribution to generate the perturbations. 
     
     
         4 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the perturbations are zero-mean Gaussian perturbations. 
     
     
         5 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform generating the reward or loss function. 
     
     
         6 . An apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to perform,   obtaining or generating a sequence of messages for transmission over a transmission system, wherein the transmission system comprises a transmitter, a channel, a correction module and a receiver, wherein the correction module includes a correction algorithm having at least some trainable weights;   receiving the transmitted sequence of messages at the correction module;   converting the received sequence of messages into a converted sequence of messages using the correction algorithm;   generating a reward or loss function at the receiver; and   training at least some weights of the correction algorithm based on the reward or loss function.   
     
     
         7 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform,
 modifying the converted sequence of messages to provide a modified sequence of messages based on a random perturbation of the converted sequence of messages; and   providing the modified sequence of messages to the receiver of the transmission system,   wherein the reward or loss function is based on the modified sequence of messages.   
     
     
         8 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the modifying the converted sequence of messages makes use of a distribution to generate the perturbations. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the perturbations are zero-mean Gaussian perturbations. 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the reward or loss function is related to one or more of block error rate, bit error rate, error vector magnitude, mean square error in estimation and categorical cross-entropy. 
     
     
         11 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform repeating the training of the at least some weights of the correction algorithm until a first condition is reached. 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the first condition is a defined number of iterations and/or a defined performance level. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the training further comprises optimising one or more of a batch size of the sequence of messages, a learning rate, and a distribution of perturbations. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the training at least some weights of the correction algorithm comprises using reinforcement learning. 
     
     
         15 . An apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the training at least some weights of the correction algorithm comprises using stochastic gradient descent. 
     
     
         16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A method comprising:
 receiving a sequence of messages at a correction module of a transmission system, wherein the transmission system comprises a transmitter, a channel, the correction module and a receiver, wherein the correction module includes a correction algorithm having at least some trainable weights;   converting the received sequence of messages into a converted sequence of messages using the correction algorithm;   receiving a reward or loss function from the receiver; and   training at least some weights of the correction algorithm based on the received reward or loss function.   
     
     
         18 . A method as claimed in  claim 17 , further comprising:
 modifying the converted sequence of messages to provide a modified sequence of messages based on a random perturbation of the converted sequence of messages; and   providing the modified sequence of messages to the receiver of the transmission system,   wherein the reward or loss function is based on the modified sequence of messages.   
     
     
         19 . A method comprising:
 obtaining or generating a sequence of messages for transmission over a transmission system, wherein the transmission system comprises a transmitter, a channel, a correction module and a receiver, wherein the correction module includes a correction algorithm having at least some trainable weights;   receiving the transmitted sequence of messages at the correction module;   converting the received sequence of messages into a converted sequence of messages using the correction algorithm;   generating a reward or loss function at the receiver; and   training at least some weights of the correction algorithm based on the reward or loss function.   
     
     
         20 . A method as claimed in  claim 19 , further comprising:
 modifying the converted sequence of messages to provide a modified sequence of messages based on a random perturbation of the converted sequence of messages; and   providing the modified sequence of messages to the receiver of the transmission system,   wherein the reward or loss function is based on the modified sequence of messages.   
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus including the processor to perform the following:
 receiving a sequence of messages at a correction module of a transmission system, wherein the transmission system comprises a transmitter, a channel, the correction module and a receiver, wherein the correction module includes a correction algorithm having at least some trainable weights;   converting the received sequence of messages into a converted sequence of messages using the correction algorithm;   receiving a reward or loss function from the receiver; and   training at least some weights of the correction algorithm based on the received reward or loss function.   
     
     
         22 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus including the processor to perform the following:
 obtaining or generating a sequence of messages for transmission over a transmission system, wherein the transmission system comprises a transmitter, a channel, a correction module and a receiver, wherein the correction module includes a correction algorithm having at least some trainable weights;   receiving the transmitted sequence of messages at the correction module;   converting the received sequence of messages into a converted sequence of messages using the correction algorithm;   generating a reward or loss function at the receiver; and   training at least some weights of the correction algorithm based on the reward or loss function.