Index Modulation Techniques in Wireless Communication Systems
Summary
Index modulation techniques represent a paradigm shift in wireless communications by embedding information not only in conventional amplitude and phase symbols but also in the selection of transmission entities such as antennas, subcarriers, time slots or codes. This dual-layer information conveyance enhances spectral efficiency and energy efficiency while offering new dimensions of system flexibility. In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation (OFDM-IM), for example, subsets of subcarriers are activated according to information bits, yielding improvements in peak-to-average power ratio and bit-error performance. Spatial modulation and space–frequency index modulation exploit antenna and frequency dimensions to achieve high diversity gains with reduced radio-frequency chain requirements. Multi-dimensional index modulation schemes further combine spatial, frequency and time domains, striking customisable trade-offs between throughput, diversity and hardware complexity. Emerging extensions integrate reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to shape propagation environments, apply compressed sensing to reduce pilot overhead, and harness machine learning for adaptive link configuration. These advances position index modulation at the heart of fifth-generation and beyond systems, supporting millimetre-wave communications, Internet of Things applications and energy-constrained networks with an optimal balance of performance and complexity.
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Index Modulation Techniques in Wireless Communication Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in index modulation techniques in wireless communication systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Index Modulation (IM): A signalling technique that conveys information via the selection of transmission resources (such as antennas or subcarriers) in addition to conventional symbol constellations.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM): A multicarrier transmission scheme that divides available bandwidth into orthogonal subcarriers to mitigate frequency-selective fading.
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS): A planar array of passive elements capable of dynamically adjusting the phase of incident electromagnetic waves to improve link quality.
Compressed Sensing (CS): A signal processing framework that exploits sparsity to reconstruct signals from sub‐Nyquist measurements, reducing pilot and sampling requirements.
Channel State Information (CSI): Knowledge of the propagation characteristics of a wireless channel, essential for coherent detection and resource allocation.
References
- ABER Performance of OFDM-IM systems by RIS design in the presence of IQI and α - μ fading. Engineering Science and Technology an International Journal (2024).
- Reduced Complexity Learning-Assisted Joint Channel Estimation and Detection of Compressed Sensing-Aided Multi-Dimensional Index Modulation. IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology (2023).
- Millimeter Wave MIMO-OFDM With Index Modulation: A Pareto Paradigm on Spectral- Energy Efficiency Trade-Off. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (2021).
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