A Joint Delay-and-Sum and Fourier Beamforming Method for High Frame Rate Ultrasound Imaging

Frame rate is an important metric for ultrasound imaging systems,and high frame rates(HFR)benefit moving-target imaging.One common way to obtain HFR imaging is to transmit a plane wave.Delay-and-sum(DAS)beamformer is a conventional beamforming algorithm,which is simple and has been widely implemented in clinical application.Fourier beamforming is an alternative method for HFR imaging and has high levels of imaging efficiency,imaging speed,and good temporal dynamic characteristics.Nevertheless,the resolution and contrast performance of HFR imaging based on DAS or Fourier beamforming are insufficient due to the single plane wave transmission.To address this problem,a joint DAS and Fourier beamforming method is introduced in this study.The proposed method considers the different distributions of sidelobes in DAS imaging and Fourier imaging and combines the angular spectrum and DAS to reconstruct ultrasound images.The proposed method is evaluated on simulation and experimental phantom datasets to compare its performance with DAS and Fourier beamforming methods.Results demonstrate that the proposed method improves image effective dynamic range and resolution while also retaining a high frame rate of the ultrasound imaging systems.The proposed method improves the effective dynamic range along axial and lateral directions by 10 dB,compared to standard DAS and Fourier beamforming.

Anti-Jamming Null Space Projection Beamforming Based on Symbiotic Radio

With the development of information technology,more and more devices are connected to the Internet through wireless communication to complete data interconnection.Due to the broadcast characteristics ofwireless channels,wireless networks have suffered more and more malicious attacks.Physical layer security has received extensive attention from industry and academia.MIMO is considered to be one of the most important technologies related to physical layer security.Through beamforming technology,messages can be transmitted to legitimate users in an offset direction that is as orthogonal as possible to the interference channel to ensure the reception SINR by legitimate users.Combining the symbiotic radio(SR)technology,this paper considers a symbiotic radio antijamming MIMO system equipped with a multi-antenna system at the main base station.In order to avoid the interference signal and improve the SINR of the signal received by the user.The base station is equipped with a uniform rectangular antenna array,and using Null Space Projection(NSP)Beamforming,Intelligent Reflecting Surface(IRS)can assist in changing the beam’s angle.The simulation results show that NSP Beamforming could make a better use of the null space of interference,which can effectively improve the received SINR of users under directional interference,and improve the utilization efficiency of signal energy.

Activation Distance and Capacity Analysis for Ambient Backscatter Communications with Sensitivity Constraint and Beamforming

Circuit sensitivity of sensors or tags without battery is one practical constraint for ambient backscatter communication systems.This letter considers using beamforming to reduce the sensitivity constraint and evaluates the corresponding performance in terms of the tag activation distance and the system capacity.Specifically,we derive the activation probabilities of the tag in the case of single-antenna and multi-antenna transmitters.Besides,we obtain the capacity expressions for the ambient backscatter communication system with beamforming and illustrate the power allocation that maximizes the system capacity when the tag is activated.Finally,simulation results are provided to corroborate our proposed studies.

Semi-supervised learning based hybrid beamforming under time-varying propagation environments

Hybrid precoding is considered as a promising low-cost technique for millimeter wave(mm-wave)massive Multi-Input Multi-Output(MIMO)systems.In this work,referring to the time-varying propagation circumstances,with semi-supervised Incremental Learning(IL),we propose an online hybrid beamforming scheme.Firstly,given the constraint of constant modulus on analog beamformer and combiner,we propose a new broadnetwork-based structure for the design model of hybrid beamforming.Compared with the existing network structure,the proposed network structure can achieve better transmission performance and lower complexity.Moreover,to enhance the efficiency of IL further,by combining the semi-supervised graph with IL,we propose a hybrid beamforming scheme based on chunk-by-chunk semi-supervised learning,where only few transmissions are required to calculate the label and all other unlabelled transmissions would also be put into a training data chunk.Unlike the existing single-by-single approach where transmissions during the model update are not taken into the consideration of model update,all transmissions,even the ones during the model update,would make contributions to model update in the proposed method.During the model update,the amount of unlabelled transmissions is very large and they also carry some information,the prediction performance can be enhanced to some extent by these unlabelled channel data.Simulation results demonstrate the spectral efficiency of the proposed method outperforms that of the existing single-by-single approach.Besides,we prove the general complexity of the proposed method is lower than that of the existing approach and give the condition under which its absolute complexity outperforms that of the existing approach.

Robust adaptive radar beamforming based on iterative training sample selection using kurtosis of generalized inner product statistics

In engineering application,there is only one adaptive weights estimated by most of traditional early warning radars for adaptive interference suppression in a pulse reputation interval(PRI).Therefore,if the training samples used to calculate the weight vector does not contain the jamming,then the jamming cannot be removed by adaptive spatial filtering.If the weight vector is constantly updated in the range dimension,the training data may contain target echo signals,resulting in signal cancellation effect.To cope with the situation that the training samples are contaminated by target signal,an iterative training sample selection method based on non-homogeneous detector(NHD)is proposed in this paper for updating the weight vector in entire range dimension.The principle is presented,and the validity is proven by simulation results.

Beamforming Design for IRS-and-UAV-Aided Two-Way Amplify-and-Forward Relay Networks in Maritime IoT

In this paper,an intelligent reflecting surface(IRS)-and-unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)-assisted two-way amplify-and-forward(AF)relay network in maritime Internet of Things(IoT)is proposed,where ship1(S1)and ship2(S2)can be viewed as data collecting centers.To enhance the message exchange rate between S1 and S2,a problem of maximizing minimum rate is cast,where the variables,namely AF relay beamforming matrix and IRS phase shifts of two time slots,need to be optimized.To achieve a maximum rate,a low-complexity alternately iterative(AI)scheme based on zero forcing and successive convex approximation(LC-ZF-SCA)algorithm is presented.To obtain a significant rate enhancement,a high-performance AI method based on one step,semidefinite programming and penalty SCA(ONSSDP-PSCA)is proposed.Simulation results show that by the proposed LC-ZF-SCA and ONS-SDP-PSCA methods,the rate of the IRS-and-UAV-assisted AF relay network surpass those of with random phase and only AF relay networks.Moreover,ONS-SDP-PSCA perform better than LC-ZF-SCA in aspect of rate.

Joint Active and Passive Beamforming Design for Hybrid RIS-Aided Integrated Sensing and Communication

Integrated sensing and communication(ISAC) is considered an effective technique to solve spectrum congestion in the future. In this paper, we consider a hybrid reconfigurable intelligent surface(RIS)-assisted downlink ISAC system that simultaneously serves multiple single-antenna communication users and senses multiple targets. Hybrid RIS differs from fully passive RIS in that it is composed of both active and passive elements, with the active elements having the effect of amplifying the signal in addition to phase-shifting. We maximize the achievable sum rate of communication users by collaboratively improving the beamforming matrix at the dual function base station(DFBS) and the phase-shifting matrix of the hybrid RIS, subject to the transmit power constraint at the DFBS, the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio(SINR) constraint of the radar echo signal and the RIS constraint are satisfied at the same time. The builtin RIS-assisted ISAC design problem model is significantly non-convex due to the fractional objective function of this optimization problem and the coupling of the optimization variables in the objective function and constraints. As a result, we provide an effective alternating optimization approach based on fractional programming(FP) with block coordinate descent(BCD)to solve the optimization variables. Results from simulations show that the hybrid RIS-assisted ISAC system outperforms the other benchmark solutions.

A Single-Board Integrated Millimeter-Wave Asymmetric Full-Digital Beamforming Array for B5G/6G Applications

In this article,a single-board integrated millimeter-wave(mm-Wave)asymmetric full-digital beamforming(AFDBF)array is developed for beyond-fifth-generation(B5G)and sixth-generation(6G)communications.The proposed integrated array effectively addresses the challenge of arranging a large number of ports in a full-digital array by designing vertical connections in a three-dimensional space and successfully integrating full-digital transmitting(Tx)and receiving(Rx)arrays independently in a single board.Unlike the traditional symmetric array,the proposed asymmetric array is composed of an 8×8 Tx array arranged in a square shape and an 8+8 Rx array arranged in an L shape.The center-to-center distance between two adjacent elements is 0.54k0 for both the Tx and Rx arrays,where k0 is the free-space wavelength at 27 GHz.The proposed AFDBF array possesses a more compact structure and lower system hardware cost and power consumption compared with conventional brick-type full-digital arrays.In addition,the energy efficiency of the proposed AFDBF array outperforms that of a hybrid beamforming array.The measurement results indicate that the operating frequency band of the proposed array is 24.25–29.50 GHz.An eight-element linear array within the Tx array can achieve a scanning angle ranging from-47°to+47°in both the azimuth and the elevation planes,and the measured scanning range of each eight-element Rx array is–45°to+45°.The measured maximum effective isotropic radiated power(EIRP)of the eight-element Tx array is 43.2 dBm at 28.0 GHz(considering the saturation point).Furthermore,the measured error vector magnitude(EVM)is less than 3%when 64-quadrature amplitude modulation(QAM)waveforms are used.

Cooperative Distributed Beamforming Design for Multi-RIS Aided Cell-Free Systems

Cell-free systems significantly improve network capacity by enabling joint user service without cell boundaries,eliminating intercell interference.However,to satisfy further capacity demands,it leads to high-cost problems of both hardware and power consumption.In this paper,we investigate multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces(RISs)aided cell-free systems where RISs are introduced to improve spectrum efficiency in an energy-efficient way.To overcome the centralized high complexity and avoid frequent information exchanges,a cooperative distributed beamforming design is proposed to maximize the weighted sum-rate performance.In particular,the alternating optimization method is utilized with the distributed closed-form solution of active beamforming being derived locally at access points,and phase shifts are obtained centrally based on the Riemannian conjugate gradient(RCG)manifold method.Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed design whose performance is comparable to the centralized scheme and show great superiority of the RISs-aided system over the conventional cellular and cell-free system.

Joint Beamforming Design for Dual-Functional Radar-Communication Systems Under Beampattern Gain Constraints

The joint beamforming design challenge for dual-functional radar-communication systems is addressed in this paper.The base station in these systems is tasked with simultaneously sending shared signals for both multi-user communication and target sensing.The primary objective is to maximize the sum rate of multi-user communication,while also ensuring sufficient beampattern gain at particular angles that are of interest for sensing,all within the constraints of the transmit power budget.To tackle this complex non-convex problem,an effective algorithm that iteratively optimizes the joint beamformers is developed.This algorithm leverages the techniques of fractional programming and semidefinite relaxation to achieve its goals.The numerical results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

一种改善beamforming“延迟求和”算法精度的方法

分析了传统"延迟求和"波束形成(beamforming)相控空间扫描原理,并进行了仿真实验研究,仿真表明由于旁瓣、栅瓣等问题的存在使信号源方位识别不准确。针对此问题本文提出了一种基于beamforming方向图矩阵进行声源定向的方法,理论分析和实验表明该方法能够有效地提高分辨率,提高定位的准确性,并基于该原理提出了用于工程的算式。

时延反馈下的自适应STBC-Beamforming跨层设计

为提高无线通信网络的频谱效率,提出一种自适应空时分组编码波束成形(STBC-beamforming)跨层设计方案.该方案利用自适应编码调制技术与混合自动重传技术交互协作,使发射端可以根据反馈延时信息自适应调节调制模式,选择发射权以及自动重传数据.推导了系统在时延反馈条件下的频谱效率和中断概率的闭合表达式,分析了时延反馈对系统性能的影响.仿真结果表明,对比单发/单收跨层系统和Alamouti’s跨层系统,自适应STBC-beamforming跨层系统的性能有明显提高.

Downlink cooperative beamforming for MIMO cellular systems

In downlink cellular multiple users in multiple cells systems using beams, the should cooperate to generate beams to improve the spectrum efficiency. A mathematical model for the multi-cell multi-user downlink transmission is established, and the gradients of the variables including beamfonning filters, receiving filters and transmitting power are calculated. Then, a gradient-project-based cooperative beamforming scheme is proposed in which each user iteratively adjusts bearnforming variables in the direction of the gradients and projects onto feasible spaces. The information exchange protocol needed to support the scheme is also described. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve an average spectral efficiency of about 5 bit/（ s · Hz · cell）. The results show that cooperative beamforming can improve the spectrum efficiency of the cellular systems.

Method of combining space-time block coding with adaptive beamforming

A method of space-time block coding （STBC） system based on adaptive beamforming of cyclostationarity signal algorithm is proposed.The method uses cyclostationarity of signals to achieve adaptive beamforming,then constructs a pair of low correlated transmit beams based on beamform estimation of multiple component signals of uplink.Using these two selected transmit beams,signals encoded by STBC are transmitted to achieve diversity gain and beamforming gain at the same time,and increase the signal to noise ratio （SNR） of downlink.With simple computation and fast convergence performance,the proposed scheme is applicable for time division multiple access （TDMA） wireless communication operated in a complex interference environment.Simulation results show that the proposed scheme has better performance than conventional STBC,and can obtain a gain of about 5 dB when the bit error ratio （BER） is 10-4.

Adaptive diagonal loaded minimum variance beamforming applied to medical ultrasound imaging

In order to enhance the robustness and contrast in the minimum variance(MV) beamformer, adaptive diagonal loading method was proposed. The conventional diagonal loading technique has already been used in the MV beamformer, but has the drawback that its level is specified by predefined parameter and without consideration of input-data. To alleviate this problem, the level of diagonal loading was computed appropriately and automatically from the given data by shrinkage method in the proposed adaptive diagonal loaded beamformer. The performance of the proposed beamformer was tested on the simulated point target and cyst phantom was obtained using Field II. In the point target simulation, it is shown that the proposed method has higher lateral resolution than the conventional delay-and-sum beamformer and could be more robust in estimating the amplitude peak than the MV beamformer when acoustic velocity error exists. In the cyst phantom simulation, the proposed beamformer has shown that it achieves an improvement in contrast ratio and without distorting the edges of cyst.

MmWave Beamforming for UAV Communications with Unstable Beam Pointing

Millimeter wave(mmWave) communications of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) have drawn dramatic attentions for its flexibility on a variety of applications.Recently,channel tracking base on the spatial features has been proposed to solve the problem of beam misalignments due to the UAV navigation.However,unstable beam pointing caused by the non-ideal beam tracking environment may impact the performance of mmWave systems significantly.In this paper,an improved beamforming method is presented to overcome this shortcoming.Firstly,the effect of the beam deviation is analyzed through the establishment of the equivalent data rate.Then,combining the quantification of spatial angle and the improved orthogonal matching pursuit(OMP) algorithm,an optimized beam corresponding to the beam deviation is obtained.Simulation results show that the optimized beam of the proposed approach can effectively improve the spectral efficiency without improving the complexity when the beam pointing is unstable.

Distributed Transmit Beamforming for UAV to Base Communications

Distributed transmit beamforming(DTB) is very efficient for extending the communication distance between a swarm of UAVs and the base,particularly when considering the constraints in weight and battery life for payloads on UAVs.In this paper,we review major function modules and potential solutions in realizing DTB in UAV systems,such as timing and carrier synchronization,phase drift tracking and compensation,and beamforming vector generation and updating.We then focus on beamforming vector generation and updating,and introduce a concatenated training scheme,together with a recursive channel estimation and updating algorithm.We also propose three approaches for tracking the variation of channels and updating the vectors.The effectiveness of these approaches is validated by simulation results.

Order selection in fractional Fourier transform based beamforming

Traditionally,beamforming using fractional Fourier transform（FrFT） involves a trial-and-error based FrFT order selection which is impractical.A new numerical order selection scheme is presented based on fractional power spectra（FrFT moment） of the linear chirp signal.This method can adaptively determine the optimum FrFT order by maximizing the second-order central FrFT moment.This makes the desired chirp signal substantially concentrated whereas the noise is rejected considerably.This improves the mean square error minimization beamformer by reducing effectively the signal-noise cross terms due to the finite data length de-correlation operation.Simulation results show that the new method works well under a wide range of signal to noise ratio and signal to interference ratio.

Minimum geometric power distortionless response beamforming against heavy-tailed noise of unknown statistics

A minimum geometric power distortionless response beamforming approach against impulsive noise （including all α- stable noise） of unknown statistics is proposed. Due to that definite logarithmic moments require no priori knowledge of impulsive noise, this new beamformer substitutes the logarithmic moments for the second-order moments and iteratively minimizes the ＂ge- ometric power＂ of the beamformer.s output snapshots, subjected to a linear constraint. Therefore, the proposed beamformer can provide significantly higher output geometric signal-to-noise-andinterference ratio. Moreover, the optimum weight vector is obtained by using a new iteration process. The simulation results prove that the new method is effective.

Implementation of broadband low-sidelobe beamforming in time domain

In modern active and passive sonar systems, broadband beamforming for acoustic arrays is widely used to suppress unwanted interference and to detect target signals of interest. A broadband low sidelobe beamforming scheme in time domain is proposed in this paper. The first step of this scheme is to delay the outputs of each element in the acoustic array by a tapped-delay-line (TDL) to accomplish the integer part of the time delay need to form a beam. Then, finite impulse response (FIR) digital filters are used to implement the fractional part of the time delay. The weighting coefficients for all array elements at different frequencies to realize the low sidelobe beams are also implemented with the FIR digital filters. Finally, the outputs of the digital filters are summed up to yield the time domain beam output. The design of low sidelobe beam pattern and that of the FIR digital filters are two crucial technical issues in this beamforming procedure. The low sidelobe beams of each sub-band are designed using the optimized beam synthesis approach based on the principle of MVDR beamforming. An improved adaptive approach are used for the design of FIR digital filters, and the design requirements of these filters were specified by the weights of low sidelobe beams of each sub-band over the broad frequency band. Results of computer simulation for a twelve-element arc array show that the beamforming scheme is very effective in forming low sidelobe broadband beam.