A Multi-User Detection Scheme Based on Polar Code Construction in Downlink Underwater Acoustic OFDM Communication System

In this paper, we propose a novel polar code construction scheme, suitable for the underwater acoustic (UWA) multi-user communication system using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). We use the polar codes because the code rate of a polar code can be arbitrarily designed. Moreover, the polar codes can also be used to create a nested code structure, divided into several subsets (codebook). We exploit this feature of the polar codes and place the information bits in the codebook to avoid superimposition of all the users. This helps to eliminate the influence of the power allocation coefficient and make full use of the power of the transducer at the transmitted node. Furthermore, the proposed scheme maximizes the utilization efficiency of the OFDM subcarrier resource for each user by avoiding null pilot tones that are usually required for channel equalization in the traditional schemes. The proposed scheme also does not depend on the channel state information (CSI) as prior information as each user can decode their own data independently by using their own codebook without successive interference cancellation (SIC). The simulation and tank experiment results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can significantly guarantee the reliability of all the users, and reduces the complexity of the receiver, thus making it most suitable for the downlink UWA multi-user communication systems.