Delay-Doppler Communications: Principles and Applications

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has been the waveform of choice for most wireless communications systems in the past 25 years. This book addresses the "what comes next?” question by presenting the recently proposed waveform known as Orthogonal Time-Frequency-Space (OTFS), which offers a better alternative for high-mobility environments.

The OTFS waveform is based on the idea that the mobile wireless channels can be effectively modelled in the delay-Doppler domain. This domain provides a sparse representation closely resembling the physical geometry of the wireless channel. The key physical parameters such as relative velocity and distance of the reflectors with respect to the receiver can be considered roughly invariant in the duration of a frame up to a few milliseconds. This enables the information symbols encoded in the delay-Doppler domain to experience a flat fading channel even when they are affected by multiple Doppler shifts present in high-mobility environments.

Delay-Doppler Communications: Principles and Applications covers the fundamental concepts and the underlying principles of delay-Doppler communications. Readers familiar with OFDM will be able to quickly understand the key differences in delay-Doppler domain waveforms that can overcome some of the challenges of high-mobility communications. For the broader readership with a basic knowledge of wireless communications principles, the book provides sufficient background to be self-contained. The book provides a general overview of future research directions and discusses a range of applications of delay-Doppler domain signal processing.

With this book, the reader will be able to:

• Recognize the challenges of high-mobility channels affected by both multipath and multiple Doppler shifts in physical layer waveform design and performance;
• Understand the limitations of current multicarrier techniques such as OFDM in high-mobility channels;
• Recognize the mathematical and physical relations between the different domains for representing channels and waveforms: time-frequency, time-delay, delay-Doppler;
• Understand the operation of the key blocks of a delay-Doppler modulator and demodulator both analytically and by hands-on MATLAB examples;
• Master the special features and advantages of OTFS with regard to detection, channel estimation, MIMO, and multiuser MIMO;
• Realize the importance of delay-Doppler communications for current and future applications, e.g., 6G and beyond.

• This is the first book on delay-Doppler communications.
• It is written by three of the leading authorities in the field.
• It includes a wide range of applications.

Dr. Yi Hong is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Australia. She obtained her PhD in Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, and received the NICTA-ACoRN Earlier Career Researcher Award at the 2007 Australian Communication Theory Workshop, Adelaide. Yi Hong served as a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts in 2018–2020. She was an Associate Editor for 'IEEE Wireless Communication Letters' and 'Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies (ETT)'. She was the Tutorial Chair of the 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, held in Melbourne, and the General Co-Chair of the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshop on Orthogonal Time Frequency Space Modulation (OTFS) for 6G and Future High-mobility Communications, held in Montreal. She was the General Co-Chair of the 2014 IEEE Information Theory Workshop, held in Hobart; the Technical Program Committee Chair of the 2011 Australian Communications Theory Workshop, held in Melbourne; the Publicity Chair at the 2009 IEEE Information Theory Workshop, held in Sicily. Her research interests include communication theory, coding, and information theory with applications to telecommunication engineering.

Mr. Tharaj Thaj obtained his B.Tech. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India, in 2012 and his M.Tech. degree in Telecommunication Systems Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, in 2015. He is currently pursuing a PhD with the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Australia. From 2012 to 2013, he worked at Verizon Data Services India as a Software Engineer, focusing on network layer routing algorithms and protocols. From 2015 to 2017, he worked as a Senior Engineer in the Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) Department of Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab in Bengaluru. His current research interests include physical layer design and implementation of wireless communication systems for next-generation wireless networks.

Dr. Emanuele Viterbo is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University, Australia. He served as Head of Department and Associate Dean Graduate Research in the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University. Prof. Viterbo obtained his degree and a PhD in Electrical Engineering, both from the Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy. From 1990 to 1992, he worked at the European Patent Office, The Hague, The Netherlands, as a patent examiner in the field of dynamic recording and error-control coding. Between 1995 and 1997, he held a post-doctoral position at Politecnico di Torino. In 1997–1998, he was a post-doctoral research fellow in the Information Sciences Research Center of AT&T Research, Florham Park, NJ, USA. He later joined Dipartimento di Elettronica at Politecnico di Torino. From 2006 to August 2010, he was a Full Professor in DEIS at the University of Calabria, Italy. In September 2010, he joined the ECSE Department at Monash University as a Professor, where he is continuing his research. Prof. Viterbo is a Fellow of the IEEE, an ISI Highly Cited Researcher, and a Member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Information Theory Society (2011–2013 and 2014–2016). He served as an Associate Editor of 'IEEE Transactions on Information Theory', 'European Transactions on Telecommunications', and the 'Journal of Communications and Networks'. His main research interests are in lattice codes for Gaussian and fading channels, algebraic coding theory, algebraic space-time coding, digital terrestrial television broadcasting, and digital magnetic recording.