6G卫星网络中用数据驱动方法减少导频开销,提升频谱效率。
DRIFT: Joint Channel Estimation and Prediction Towards Pilotless 6G Non-Terrestrial Networks

- 只在初始时隙发导频,后续通过迭代预测更新信道估计。
- 实现12%频谱效率提升,且计算量低于20万次乘加操作。
- 适合星载设备部署,对信道模型差异有强鲁棒性。
非地面网络(NTNs)有望在第六代移动通信(6G)系统中发挥关键作用,实现广域覆盖与大规模通信。在此背景下,信道预测成为通过降低导频开销提升频谱利用效率的关键技术。然而,许多基于人工智能的预测方法存在高推理复杂度问题,难以在星上设备实现。本文针对低地球轨道(LEO)NTNs中严格的功耗约束,提出一种面向6G NTNs的轻量化联合信道估计与预测框架。所提方法仅在初始时隙发送导频,后续时隙依赖数据驱动处理完成信道跟踪。提出名为DRIFT(Data-driven Refinement and Iterative Forecast for wireless channel Tracking)的轻量级架构,可高效修正数据辅助信道估计并预测未来信道频率响应,显著降低误差传播。研究了基于卷积和长短期记忆网络的两种预测器变体。端到端仿真结果表明,相比传统导频系统,该方法在上行LEO NTN场景中实现最高12%的频谱效率增益,对训练-测试失配具有鲁棒性,并在不同信道模型下表现稳定。此外,DRIFT的计算需求低于200,000次乘加操作,满足星载设备在严苛功耗条件下的部署要求。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) are expected to play a pivotal role in sixth-generation (6G) systems by enabling ubiquitous connectivity and massive communication. In this context, channel prediction emerges as a key technique to improve the spectrum utilization efficiency by limiting the pilot overhead. However, many proposed predictors based on artificial intelligence (AI) are characterized by high inference complexity, posing challenges to onboard implementation. In this paper, we address the challenge of designing accurate yet computationally efficient channel prediction techniques tailored to low Earth orbit (LEO) NTNs, where strict power constraints limit model complexity, to enable spectral efficiency gains. We propose an iterative joint channel estimation and prediction framework in the context of 6G NTNs that significantly reduces pilot overhead by transmitting pilots only in the initial slot and relying on data-driven processing for subsequent slots. We introduce Data-driven Refinement and Iterative Forecast for wireless channel Tracking (DRIFT), a lightweight architecture that refines data-aided channel estimates and predicts future channel frequency responses with low computational cost and reduced error propagation. Two predictor variants based on convolutional and long short-term memory layers are investigated. Simulation results in an end-to-end simulation of an uplink LEO NTN scenario show that the proposed approach achieves up to 12% spectral efficiency gain compared to conventional pilot-based systems, with robustness to training-test mismatches and consistent performance across different channel models. Moreover, DRIFT requires fewer than 200k multiply-accumulate operations, making it suitable for on-board satellite implementation under stringent power constraints.
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