Covariance matrix calculation on application specific instruction set processor and performance comparison with DSP in a 5G base station

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Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu | Master's thesis

Authors

Date

2023-08-21

Department

Major/Subject

Esen Aysegul Karagöz

Mcode

ELEC3029

Degree programme

CCIS - Master’s Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences (TS2013)

Language

en

Pages

60

Series

Abstract

The 5G mobile network is developed to provide huge network capacity, ultra-low latency, extreme data throughput, and high speeds to its wide range of users. The base station of the 5G network needs to be developed robustly with state-of-the-art hardware and software as a consequence of the low latency and high-reliability expectations. Digital signal processing requires the use of more specialized processors such as Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and hardware accelerator in the base station receiver for better system performance. Application-Specific Instruction Set Processor (ASIP) also offers high performance for a specific application domain, and recently they are being utilized often by 5G and beyond networks to decrease signal processing time. A successful uplink data transmission between the user equipment and the base station requires a prompt and successful channel estimation process. Channel covariance matrix calculation based on the received reference pilots is an indispensable requirement to recover the received signal from the undesired effects created by the uplink air interface. This thesis work is sponsored by an employer who provided a base station receiver model that calculates the channel covariance matrix with general-purpose DSP. This work aims to determine whether the ASIP, specialized in performing complex matrix operations, offers better performance for channel covariance matrix calculation compared to an existing algorithm developed for DSP. This work designs a new algorithm for covariance matrix calculation to get the benefits of parallel vector processing of an ASIP. The feasibility of the new algorithm used in the ASIP was evaluated based on the performance and accuracy comparison against the existing algorithm used in the DSP. The accuracy of the channel covariance matrix with this implementation meets the criteria given in this work. The performance measurements demonstrate that the ASIP vector processor provides an outstanding performance upgrade in certain system configurations. This thesis proposes that an ASIP can be a strong candidate as a substitute for the general-purpose DSP.

Description

Supervisor

Wichman, Risto

Thesis advisor

Ebeling, Tuomas

Keywords

Covariance Matrix, 5G, ASIP, base station receiver, physical layer, digital communication systems

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Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202308275227

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[dipl] Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu / ELEC