Constellation Mapping for Physical-Layer Network Coding with M-QAM Modulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new constellation mapping scheme for physical-layer network coding using M-QAM modulation, improving error rates and enabling effective rate adaptation in wireless relaying networks.

Contribution

It proposes a flexible mapping scheme for M-QAM in PNC, supporting various constellation types and enabling rate adaptation for enhanced network performance.

Findings

The proposed mapping scheme improves symbol and bit error rates.

Rate adaptation enhances PNC performance across scenarios.

Simulation confirms the scheme's effectiveness in practical settings.

Abstract

The denoise-and-forward (DNF) method of physical-layer network coding (PNC) is a promising approach for wireless relaying networks. In this paper, we consider DNF-based PNC with M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) and propose a mapping scheme that maps the superposed M-QAM signal to coded symbols. The mapping scheme supports both square and non-square M-QAM modulations, with various original constellation mappings (e.g. binary-coded or Gray-coded). Subsequently, we evaluate the symbol error rate and bit error rate (BER) of M-QAM modulated PNC that uses the proposed mapping scheme. Afterwards, as an application, a rate adaptation scheme for the DNF method of PNC is proposed. Simulation results show that the rate-adaptive PNC is advantageous in various scenarios.