Time-reversal communication systems

1. A time reversal division multiple access (TRDMA) communication system comprising:

a memory communicatively coupled to at least one processor; and

the at least one processor configured to:

receive a first signal that comprises a preamble sent at a first sampling rate with a first modulation through a channel and a data frame sent at a second sampling rate with a second modulation through the channel, wherein the preamble comprises a received code sequence, and the data frame comprises a plurality of data symbols,

compute a second signal that represents an estimate of an equivalent channel response using at least one of a known code sequence and the received first signal,

wherein the received code sequence in the preamble sent at the first sampling rate with the first modulation through the channel is based on the known code sequence,

down-sample the second signal at the plurality of candidate timing offsets to generate a plurality of sub-signals,

compute signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios at a plurality of candidate timing offsets based on the plurality of sub-signals,

determine a largest computed signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio among the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios computed at the plurality of candidate timing offsets,

determine a symbol timing based on a particular timing offset associated with the largest computed signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, and

determine the data symbols in the data frame sent at the second sampling rate with the second modulation through the channel based on the determined symbol timing,

wherein the second signal to comprise N samples,

wherein the second signal is down-sampled by a factor of R×D, and

wherein R and D are integers not smaller than 1.

2. The communication system of claim 1 wherein the known code sequence comprises a pseudo-random sequence.

3. The communication system of claim 1 :

wherein at least part of the preamble in the received first signal is generated by up-sampling a second preamble, and

wherein at least part of the plurality of data symbols in the data frame in the received first signal is generated by up-sampling a plurality of second data symbols.

4. The communication system of claim 3 :

wherein the second preamble is up-sampled by a factor of R, with R being an integer not smaller than 1, and

wherein the second data symbols are up-sampled by a factor of R×D, with D being another integer not smaller than 1.

5. The communication system of claim 1 :

wherein each of the sub-signals comprises approximately N/(R×D) samples, and

wherein the plurality of sub-signals generated by down-sampling the second signal at the plurality of candidate timing offsets comprise R×D sub-signals.

6. The communication system of claim 1 :

wherein the computing of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios for each of the plurality of sub-signals comprises, for each sub-signal,

computing a signal power for each sample in the sub-signal,

identifying a sample having a maximum signal power among all samples in the sub-signal,

determining an inter-symbol interference power of the sub-signal, and

determining the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio based on the maximum signal power, the inter-symbol interference power, and an estimated noise power.

7. The communication system of claim 6 wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine a timing offset (i opt ) associated with a particular sub-signal that has the largest computed signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio among the plurality of sub-signals,

determine a second offset (sync i opt ) associated with a particular sample with largest signal power within the particular sub-signal, and

determine the symbol timing (sync) based on the timing offset and the second offset according to sync=sync i opt ×R×D+i opt .

8. The communication system of claim 1 :

wherein the second signal is computed by solving a least-square estimation using the received first signal and the known code sequence as inputs.

9. The communication system of claim 1 :

wherein the second signal is computed based on a cross-correlation between the received first sequence and a processed version of the known code sequence.

10. The communication system of claim 1 :

wherein the second signal is computed based on a cross-correlation between the received first sequence and an up-sampled version of the known code sequence.

11. The communication system of claim 10 :

wherein the data symbols in the data frame of the first signal is up-sampled by an up-sampling factor at a transmitter, and

wherein the known code sequence is up-sampled by another factor that is substantially the same as the up-sampling factor used at the transmitter to generate the data symbols in the data frame of the first signal.

12. The communication system of claim 1 :

wherein the equivalent channel response is obtained by convolution of an up-sampled location-specific signature waveform and a second equivalent channel response.

13. The communication system of claim 12 :

wherein the second equivalent channel response is obtained by convolutions of a first filter, a channel response, and a second filter.

14. An apparatus for use in a time reversal division multiple access (TRDMA) communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a memory communicatively coupled to at least one processor; and

the at least one processor configured to:

receive a first signal that comprises:

a preamble sent at a first sampling rate with a first modulation through a channel and

a data frame sent at a second sampling rate with a second modulation through the channel,

wherein the preamble comprises a first up-sampled version of a known code sequence, and

wherein the data frame comprises a second up-sampled version of a plurality of data symbols,

compute a second signal that represents an estimate of an equivalent channel response using the received first signal and the first up-sampled version of the known code sequence,

wherein the second signal to comprise N samples,

down-sample the second signal at the plurality of candidate timing offsets to generate a plurality of sub-signals,

compute values of a parameter based on information about signal power and interference power at a plurality of candidate timing offsets based on the plurality of sub-signals,

determine a largest computed value of the parameter among the values of the parameter computed at the plurality of candidate timing offsets, and

determine a symbol timing based on a particular timing offset associated with the largest computed value of the parameter,

wherein the second signal is down-sampled by a factor of R×D, and

wherein R and D are integers not smaller than 1.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the data symbols in the data frame based on the determined symbol timing.

16. A method for operating a time reversal division multiple access (TRDMA) communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a first signal that comprises a preamble sent at a first sampling rate with a first modulation through a channel and a data frame sent at a second sampling rate with a second modulation through the channel,

wherein the preamble comprises a known pseudo-random sequence, and the data frame comprises a plurality of data symbols;

computing a second signal that represents an estimate of an equivalent channel response using the received first signal and the known pseudo-random sequence;

down-sampling the second signal, and

computing signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios at a plurality of candidate timing offsets;

determining a largest computed signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio among the computed signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio at the plurality of candidate timing offsets; and

determining a symbol timing based on a particular timing offset associated with the largest computed signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio,

wherein the second signal to comprise N samples,

wherein the second signal is down-sampled by a factor of R×D, and

wherein R and D are integers not smaller than 1.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

using a first processor to compute the second signal, and

using a second processor to down-sample the second signal and to compute the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios.

18. The method of claim 16 in which the computing of the second signal comprises solving a least-square estimation problem using the received first signal and the known pseudo-random sequence as inputs.

19. The method of claim 16 in which the computing of the second signal comprises computing a cross-correlation between the received first signal and the known pseudo-random sequence.