Biased-Power Allocation and Shared-Antenna Selection Techniques for Spatial Modulation-Based Layer Division Multiplexing Systems

This study proposes two approaches for improving the effectiveness of spatial modulation integrated into layer division multiplexing (SM-LDM) in broadcasting systems: biased-power allocation (Bi-PA) and shared antenna selection (SAS). Even though different data rates are employed in SM-LDM systems, Bi-PA enhances bit error rate (BER) fairness across layers. The ideal power ratios are adaptively determined by balancing signal-to-interference plus noise ratios with a preference for the lower layer (LL) that involves a higher modulation order. SAS alleviates the complexity of successive interference cancellation and enhances spectral and energy efficiencies. Both the LL and upper layer (UL) share the antenna selection decision and transmit using a single antenna. The UL carries a space shift keying signal while the entire power is allocated for the LL. We analyze the spectral efficiency for the SAS-based SM-LDM system with finite alphabet inputs. Numerical results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed approaches. Compared to pre-assigned-PA (Pre-PA), Bi-PA shows nearly identical BERs for both layers and solves the error floor problem. The sharing property and common layer transmission of SAS-based SM-LDM yield a significant BER reduction relative to conventional SM-LDM. It provides gains ranging from 7 to 15 dB for LL at BER equal to 10−3, while UL performance ranges from slight gain to minor loss. Furthermore, both Bi-PA and SAS techniques enhance the achievable LL rate and sum-rate at low and intermediate signal-to-noise ratio values. They can achieve an improvement of up to two bits in LL rate and less than one bit in sum-rate at a signal-to-noise ratio of −0.5 dB. These findings show that both proposed techniques have a considerable impact on enhancing the fairness, BER performance, and feasible rates of SM-LDM systems, making them promise for broadcast system designs.