AMARA MUSTAPHA (DE)
KAMOUN MOHAMED (DE)
MEKKI SAMI (DE)
DUARTE GELVEZ MELISSA (DE)
LI QIANG ET AL: "Space Shift Keying With Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: Phase Configuration Designs and Performance Analysis", IEEE OPEN JOURNAL OF THE COMMUNICATIONS SOCIETY, IEEE, vol. 2, 4 February 2021 (2021-02-04), pages 322 - 333, XP011840034, DOI: 10.1109/OJCOMS.2021.3057118
KHALEEL AYMEN ET AL: "Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Empowered MIMO Systems", IEEE SYSTEMS JOURNAL, IEEE, US, vol. 15, no. 3, 7 August 2020 (2020-08-07), pages 4358 - 4366, XP011874627, ISSN: 1932-8184, [retrieved on 20210825], DOI: 10.1109/JSYST.2020.3011987
BI XIAOXIAO ET AL: "Space-Time Block Coded Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces-Based Generalized Spatial Modulation", 2022 IEEE/CIC INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMMUNICATIONS IN CHINA (ICCC), IEEE, 11 August 2022 (2022-08-11), pages 350 - 354, XP034191133, DOI: 10.1109/ICCC55456.2022.9880800
CLAIMS 1. A wireless communication system (100) comprising: at least one transmitter (102), configured to transmit a coded radiofrequency signal to at least one receiver (104) during a plurality of time slots (116); at least one digitally controllable scatterer, DCS, the DCS (106) comprising a scattering surface (107) that comprises a set of scattering elements (108), each scattering element having a controllable phase shift; a controller (110), configured to: - control, based on a space time DCS code (112), STDC, the at least one transmitter (102) to generate the coded radiofrequency signal during the plurality of time slots (116); - control, based on the STDC (112), the set of scattering elements (108) of the at least one DCS (106) during the plurality of time slots (116); and at least one receiver (104), configured to obtain by reception, during the plurality of time slots (116), the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter (102); wherein the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter (102) during the plurality of time slots (116) propagates from the at least one transmitter (102) to the at least one receiver (104) through one or more propagation channels (114), the one or more propagation channels (114) comprising one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS (106) and/or one or more direct propagation channels; and wherein the STDC (112) depends on a total number of the at least one DCS (106) and a maximum number of the plurality of time slots (116) ^^^^. 2. The wireless communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein the STDC (112) comprises a STDC matrix ^, the STDC matrix ^ having a dimension ^ × ^, wherein ^ is a total number of the at least one DCS (106), with ^ ≥ 1, and ^ ≤ ^^^^ is a total number of the plurality of time slots (116). 3. The wireless communication system (100) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the STDC (112) matrix ^ is defined based on ^ ≤ ^ complex values {^^, ^^, … , ^^}, wherein entries of a row ^ of the matrix ^ belong either to {±^ ∗ ∗ ∗ ^, ±^^, … , ±^^ , 0} or to {±^^ , ±^^ , … , ±^^ , 0} , wherein is the complex conjugate of and ^^^^ satisfies ^^^^ ≥ ^. 4. The wireless communication system (100) according to one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein a code for each of the at least one DCS (106) ^ , with ^ ∈ {1,2, … , ^}, is determined by a respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^, the ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ being denoted as ^^ . 5. The wireless communication system (100) according to one of the claims 1 to 4, wherein, for a time slot (116) ^^ ∈ {^^, ^^, … , ^^}, the controller (110) is configured to determine a coded configuration for each of the at least one DCS (106) ^ , with ^ ∈ {1,2, … , ^}, as ^^,^^^(^^), wherein ^^(^^) is a scattering pattern of the at least one DCS (106) ^, ^^ is a base phase shift configuration matrix of the at least one DCS (106) ^, and ^^,^ denotes an entry in an ^-th row of the respective code ^^. 6. The wireless communication system (100) according to one of the claims 1 to 5, wherein, for each time slot (116) ^^, with ^^ ∈ {^^, ^^, … , the at least one transmitter (102) is further configured to: transmit an information symbol ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal; wherein the coded radiofrequency signal comprises a transformation of the information symbol ^ based on the STDC matrix ^, the transformation of the information symbol ^ comprising: the information symbol ^ at the time slot (116) ^^ if entries of a respective ^-th row of the STDC matrix ^ belong an information symbol ^∗ at the time slot (116) ^^ if entries of the respective ^-th row of the STDC matrix ^ belong to {±^∗ ^ , ±^∗ ^ , … , ±^∗ ^ , 0}, wherein ^∗ is the complex conjugate of the information symbol ^. 7. The wireless communication system (100) according to one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the at least one receiver (104) is configured to: estimate the one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS (106) and/or the one or more direct propagation channels. 8. The wireless communication system (100) according to one of the claims 1 to 7, wherein for each time slot (116) ^^, with ^^ ∈ {^^, ^^, … , the at least one receiver (104) is further configured to: determine the information symbol ^ transmitted by the at least one transmitter (102) based on the STDC (112), based on the received coded radiofrequency signal, and based on the estimated one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS (106) and/or the estimated one or more direct propagation channels. 9. The wireless communication system (100) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein one of the controller (110), the at least one transmitter (102), the at least one receiver (104) or the at least one DCS (106) is further configured to: determine the STDC matrix ^; and send the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots (116) and the STDC matrix ^ by signaling to the controller (110) and/or the at least one transmitter (102) and/or the at least one receiver (104) and/or the at least one DCS (106); and/or send by signaling to the at least one DCS (106) ^ the respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ and the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots (116). 10. The wireless communication system (100) according to claim 9, wherein the STDC matrix ^ is determined offline, and the STDC matrix ^ and/or the ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^, is sent by signaling before the at least one transmitter (102) transmits the coded radiofrequency signal. 11. The wireless communication system (100) according to one of the claims 1 to 10, wherein the at least one transmitter (102) and the at least one DCS (106) are synchronized. 12. A wireless communication method (200) comprising: controlling, by a controller (110), based on a space time DCS code, STDC (112), at least one transmitter (102) to generate a coded radiofrequency signal during a plurality of time slots (116); controlling, by the controller (110), based on the STDC (112), a set of scattering elements (108) of at least one DCS (106) during the plurality of time slots (116), the at least one DCS (106) comprising a scattering surface (107) that comprises the set of scattering elements (108), each scattering element (108) having a controllable phase shift; transmitting, by the at least one transmitter (102), the coded radiofrequency signal to at least one receiver (104) during the plurality of time slots (116); and obtaining by reception, by the at least one receiver (104) during the plurality of time slots (116), the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter (102); wherein the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter (102) during the plurality of time slots (116) propagates from the at least one transmitter (102) to the at least one receiver (104) through one or more propagation channels (114), the one or more propagation channels (114) comprising one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS (106) and/or one or more direct propagation channels; and wherein the STDC (112) depends on a total number of the at least one DCS (106) and a maximum number of the plurality of time slots (116) ^^^^. 13. A computer program product comprising a program code for carrying out, when implemented on a processor, the wireless communication method (200) according to claim 12. |
With the new phases as described in Equation (10) above and the new scaling as defined in Equation (6), the new obtained scattering pattern is given by Equation (11): ^ = = −^ ^ ∗ ^^ ( ^^ ) 5 that is the scattering pattern of the at least one DCS ^ 106, ^ ^ (^ ^ ), scaled by the negative conjugate of ^ ^ . The above examples for a DCS pattern scaling consider scaling by a complex scalar and, hence, modify the scattering amplitude and phase of the scattering unit elements 108 of the at least one 10 DCS 106. However, having the scattering elements 108 of the at least one DCS 106 with controllable scattering amplitude is challenging, and therefore most of the known DCS configurations are for DCSs that only provide scattering phase control. In cases where only the scattering phase of the scattering elements 108 of the at least one DCS 106 can be controlled, a procedure as described in the examples above applies by simply setting ^ ^ = 1. 15 FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of an example of a wireless communication system 100, which builds on the exemplary embodiment of shown in FIG. 4. Same elements are labelled with the same reference signs. In this example, the wireless communication system 100 may comprise the controller 110, one transmitter 102 with one transmitter antenna, one receiver with 20 one receiver antenna 104 and two DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Each DCS 106-1, 106-2 may comprise a scattering surface 107-1, 107-2, and each scattering surface 107-1, 107-2 may comprise a set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC 112, that is, the controller 110 25 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^. In this example, the total number of DCS is ^ = 2 and it may be considered that ^ ^^^ = 2 and ^ = 2, which meets the requirement of ^ ≤ ^. A well-known STBC matrix that maps two complex values { ^ ^ , ^ ^^^ } onto a ^ × ^ matrix ^ such that ^ ≤ ^ ^^^ is the 2 × 2 Alamouti STBC matrix, given in Equation (12): This matrix ^ meets the constraint that the entries of a given row belong either to { ±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0 } ±^∗ ^ , 0 } but not to both. This is easily verifiable by inspection, since the entries of row 1 of the matrix ^ given in Equation (12) are ±^ ^ , 0 } and the entries of row 2 of matrix ^ are 0 } . In this example, and ^ ^ are generally expressed as scalar complex values, and specific values for ^ ^ and ^ ^ are not assigned. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to choose the Alamouti matrix ^ of Equation (12) as the STDC matrix ^. Further, the controller 110 may be configured to send the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots 116 and the STDC matrix ^ by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Alternatively, instead of the full STDC matrix ^, the controller 110 may send by signaling to each of the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 the respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^ offline, and may send the STDC matrix ^, additionally or alternatively the ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^, by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 before the transmitter 102 transmits the coded radiofrequency signal to the receiver 104 during the plurality of time slots 116. Alternatively, the controller 110, the transmitter 102, the receiver 104, additionally or alternatively the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 may be configured to store one or more tables comprising one or more STDC matrices ^. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, a code identifier. The code identifier may comprise information that specifies a STDC matrix ^ of the one or more STDC matrices ^ in a table to be used. The indication information may be implemented, for example, by an index that may specify the STDC matrix ^ of the one or more STDC matrices ^ in the table to be used. The controller 110 may be further configured to determine the base phase shift configuration matrices ^ ^ , ^ ^ for each DCS 106-1, 106-2 respectively. The base phase shift configuration matrices ^ ^ , ^ ^ may be obtained by the controller 110 via any arbitrary, or random fashion or from a predefined list or using any available previous knowledge about the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Then, the controller 110 may control, based on the STDC 112, the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2 of the DCS 106-1, 106-2 during the ^ = 2 time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ ∈ { ^ ^ , ^ ^ } of the ^ = 2 time slots, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the coded configuration for the DCS ^, with ^ = 1, 2, by setting a scattering pattern equal to ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) = ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , with ^ ^ = ^ ^,^ , where ^ ^,^ is the entry in the ^-th row and ^ -th column of matrix ^ as disclosed above, and ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) is the scattering pattern of each DCS ^ 106-1, 106-2. Alternatively, the controller 110 may control each DCS 106-1, 106-2 to choose the respective code ^ ^ and to determine the respective coded configuration. For the STDC matrix ^ defined in Equation (12), for the time slot ^ ^ , the code for the DCS ^ = 1 106-1 is determined by the first entry of the respective code ^ ^ , i.e., the entry in the first row and the first column of the STDC matrix ^ provided in Equation (12) sets ^ ^ = thus, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 1106- 1, as ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , which is equal to ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) . At time slot ^ ^ , the code for the DCS ^ = 2106- 2 is determined by the first entry of the respective code ^ ^ , and the controller 110 may determine the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 2106-2 as ^ ^,^ ^ ^ (^ ^ ) that is equal to where ^ ^ is the first entry of the respective code ^ ^ , i.e., the entry in the first row and the second column of the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (12) sets ^ ^ = ^ ^ . Further, for the time slot ^ ^ , the code for the DCS ^ = 1106-1 is determined by the second entry of ^ ^ , the entry in the second row and the first column of the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (12) sets ^ ∗ ^ = −^ ^ ; thus the coded configuration or scattering pattern is ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) = Similarly, for the time slot ^ ^ , the code for the DCS ^ = 2106-2 is determined by the second entry of ^ ^ , the entry in the second row and the second column of the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (12) sets ^ ^ = and the coded configuration or scattering pattern for the DCS ^ = 2 106-2 is ^ ∗ ^ ,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) = ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) . The resulting coded configuration for each time slot 116 and for each DCS 106-1, 106-2 is shown in Table 1. Table 1. In this example with a single transmitter 101 and a single receiver 104, each with a single antenna respectively hence ^ = 1 and ^ = 1, the one or more propagation channels via the two DCSs 106-1, 106-2 are denoted as ℎ ^ = ℎ ^,^,^ and ℎ ^ = ℎ ^,^,^ , which are based on Equation (1), are defined as Equation (13) and Equation (14): Using Equation (3), which defines that for a DCS ^with scattering pattern equal to ^ ^ ^ ^ (^ ^ ), the resulting propagation channel via the DCS ^ from the at least one transmitter 102 ^ = 1 to the at least one receiver 104 ^ = 1 is Further, for brevity of notation, it is defined ^ ^ = ^ ^,^,^ = . The expressions for the propagation channels via each DCS 106-1, 106-2 are shown in Table 2. Table 2. As it can be seen from Table 2, the value of ^ ^ changes as a function of the STDC 112 that is specified by the ^ ≤ ^ complex values … , ^ ^ } of the STDC matrix ^ and, thus, provides channel programming with STDC 112 having the controlled channel variations shown in Table 2. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to control, based on the STDC 112, the transmitter 102 to generate the coded radiofrequency signal. That is, for each time slot 116 , the transmitter 102 may be configured to transmit an information symbol ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal. The coded radiofrequency signal may comprise the transformation of the information symbol ^ based on the STDC matrix ^, ^ ^^ (^, ^, ^ ^ ). For the time slot ^ ^ , since the entries of the first row of matrix ^ given in Equation (12) are {^ ^ , ^ ^ } ∈ ±^ ^ , 0}, then the transmitter102 may be configured to send the symbol ^ at time slot ^ ^ . For time slot ^ ^ , since the entries of the second row of matrix ^ are {^∗ , −^ ∗ } ∈ ∗ ∗ ^ ^ {±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0} then the transmitter 102 may be configured to send the symbol ^ ∗ . The transmitted symbol for each time slot 116 is summarized in Table 3. Table 3. In the example of FIG. 6, the transmitter 102 may be further configured, based on the STDC 112, to transmit training pilots ^ during additional or training time slots. Said training pilots ^ sent during the training time slots may be needed for the receiver 104 in order to estimate the one or more propagation channels 114, in case that the estimates of the one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS and/or one or more direct propagation channels are not yet available at the receiver 104. Table 4 shows the coded signal transmitted by the transmitter 102 including the extra time slots for transmission of training pilots ^ for channel estimation, and the time slots ^ ^ and ^ ^ 116 for transmission of the coded signal transmitted by the transmitter 102 (or the transformation of the information symbol sent by the transmitter 102). The value of ^ ^ for each DCS 106-1, 106-2 is also shown in Table 4. As explained above, during the two time slots 116 ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ depends on the STDC matrix ^. During the additional time slots for training, the controller 110 may be configured to control the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2 of the DCSs 106-1106-2 by setting values of ^ ^ , for example, in a predetermined manner. The resulting direct propagation channels, denoted as ℎ ^ between the transmitter 102 and the receiver 104 , the propagation channels via the two DCSs 106-1106-2 ℎ ^ and ℎ ^ , as well as the coded radiofrequency signal received by the receiver 104 are also included in Table 4. Table 4. The transmitted pilots ^ may be known at the receiver 104. Then, for each training time slot the receiver 104 may be configured to estimate the one or more propagation channels via the DCS 106-1, 106-2, ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , additionally or alternatively to estimate the one or more direct propagation channels ℎ ^ , based on the received training pilots ^ and on the received signals ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ and ^ ^^ .These channels are just scalars, so their estimation is easier compared to estimating channels whose sizes depend on the number of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2 of each DCS 106-1106-2, as it is the case in customary algorithms that use DCSs. Further, the receiver 104 may be configured to determine the information symbol ^ transmitted by the transmitter 102 based on the STDC 112, based on the received coded radiofrequency signals during the time slots 116 and based on the estimated one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS 106, additionally or alternatively the estimated one or more direct propagation channels. To that end, the receiver 104 may proceed as follows. The received signal vector ^ is constructed by stacking the signal received at the first time slot, namely ^ ^^ and using the conjugate of the signal received at the second time slot, namely ^ ∗ ^ ^ . The signal received in the second time slot is conjugated because the information symbol transmitted in the second time slot was sent as the conjugate ^ ∗ . Following this approach, in the present disclosure the received signal vector ^ may be expressed as provided in Equation (15): Since the one or more propagation channels ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ and ℎ ^ have been estimated by the receiver 104, an overall channel matrix ^ can be constructed as in Equation (16): The channel matrix ^ can be used to write a received signal vector as in Equation (17): Then, a combining matrix ^ can be computed as in Equation (18): where ^ ∗ is used to denote the transpose conjugate of ^, and by applying this matrix to the received signal vector ^, Equation (19) is obtained: ℎ∗ ^ ℎ ^ ℎ ℎ ℎ ^ ^ ^ ^^ = ^ ℎ∗ ^ −ℎ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ℎ∗ ^ −ℎ∗ ∗ ^ ℎ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ℎ∗ ℎ ^ ^ ^ ^ ∗ (19) ^ ℎ ^ + ℎ ^ 0 ∗ ^ (| ^ | | ^ | ) ℎ ^ ℎ ^ + ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ^ = ^ 0 ^^ (| ℎ^ |^ + | ℎ^ |^) ℎ ∗ ∗ ^ℎ ^ − ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ . ^ ∗ ^ ( ℎ ^ ℎ ^ + ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ∗) ^^ ( ℎ ∗ ^ℎ ^ − ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ∗) 2 | ℎ^ | ^ ^ The diagonal terms in Equation (19) show that the received and combined signals using the combining matrix ^ given in Equation (18) offer diversity combining of direct paths between the transmitter 102 and the receiver 104 and paths between the transmitter 102 and the receiver 104 via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. The diagonal terms contribute to coherent combining contributions of the direct paths and the paths via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Since the STDC matrix ^ and its complex values ^ ^ and ^ ^ may be known at the receiver 104, the receiver 104 can be configured to construct a normalizing matrix as in Equation (20): 1 1 1 ^ = diag ^ , , ^ (20) ^ ^ (|ℎ ^ | ^ + |ℎ ^ | ^ ) ^ ^ (|ℎ ^ | ^ + |ℎ ^ | ^ ) 2|ℎ ^ |^ . Using the received signal vector ^, the combining matrix ^ and the normalizing matrix ^, the receiver 104 may obtain three initial estimates ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ of the information symbol ^ transmitted by the transmitter 102 in the coded radiofrequency signal, given in Equation (21): ^ ^^^^,^ ^ ^ ^^^^,^ ^ = ^^^ ^ ^^^^,^ The three initial estimates can be combined in order to obtain the final estimate of ^ as in Equation (22): = ^ + ^^ where the scaling term ^ is given by Equation (23): The noise term ^^ depends on both the information symbol ^ and the scaling term ^. Since the propagation channels ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ and ℎ ^ may be independent and random, their combination as in the expression (23) for ^ is expected to result in a variable with zero mean distribution as ^ ∼ ^(0, ^ ^ ), where ^(0, ^ ^ ) is a Gaussian distribution with mean zero and variance ^ ^ which will depend on the channel statistics and the combination of terms in Equation (23). If the direct propagation channels ℎ ^ is much weaker than the propagation channels via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, as it is customarily considered in DCSs, and as can be assessed after the channel estimation, then the receiver 104 may not take into account the terms proportional to ℎ ^ and the combining matrix ^ is simplified as shown in Equation (24): and the normalization matrix takes the form of Equation (25): ^ = diag Thereby, the initial estimates are given by Equation (26): ^ ^ ^^^^,^ ^^,^ ^ ∗ ^ ^^ = ^^^ and the final estimate of the information symbol ^ is given by Equation (27): 1 ℎ∗ℎ + ℎℎ∗ ℎ∗ ∗ = ^ + ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ℎ ^ − ℎ ^ ℎ ^ (27) ^ ^ ^ | ^ |^ + ^ (| ^ |^ | ^ |^ ^ ^ 2 ^ (| ℎ | + ℎ ) ^ ℎ + ℎ ) = ^ + ^^ where the term ^ is given by Equation (28): In this case, since ℎ is weak and s ∗ ^ ince ℎ ^ or its conjugate ℎ ^ multiplies each of the terms in Equation (28), then ^ given by Equation (28) is also expected to be weak. In other words, the term ^^ is much smaller than ^ , which further facilitates improving the estimate of the information symbol ^ from Equation (27). Optionally, Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), which is always present in a received signal, may be added to the received signal vector in Equation (15) in order to estimate the information symbol ^. Thereby, the processing for combining with ^, normalizing with ^ and combining the initial estimates to obtain the final estimate of ^ as disclosed above, also takes into account additional noise terms having lower magnitude than ^. In this example, as explained above, ^ ^ and ^ ^ have been considered as having a general, complex value. The value of ^ ^ and ^ ^ may be assigned depending on the capabilities or properties of the at least one DCS 106-1, 106-2. For example, for DCSs that only provide control of scattering phase shifts, the values of ^ ^ and ^ ^ may be of unit magnitude. Given specific values of ^ ^ and ^ ^ , further simplifications or modifications of the channel estimation and of the estimation of the information symbol ^ at the at least one receiver 104 can be implemented. In a further example, the at least one receiver 104 may combine the received signals by processing the received signal vector ^ of Equation (15) via a pseudoinverse of ^, denoted by ^ ^ and may further compute the initial estimates as in Equation (29): FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of another example of a wireless communication system 100, which builds on the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG.4. Same elements are labelled with the same reference signs. In this example, the wireless communication system 100 may comprise the controller 110, one transmitter 102 with one transmitter antenna, one receiver 104 with one receiver antenna and a single DCS 106. The DCS 106 may comprise a scattering surface 107, and the scattering surface 107 may comprise a set of scattering elements 108. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC 112. That is, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^. In this example, the total number of DCS is ^ = 1 and it may be considered that ^ ^^^ = 2 and ^ = 2, which meets the requirement of ^ ≤ ^. The STDC matrix ^ may be based on the Alamouti STBC matrix in Equation (12) with values ^ ^ = ^ ^ = 1 and ignoring the second column, given in Equation (30): Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots 116 and the STDC matrix ^ by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCS. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^ offline, and may send the STDC matrix ^, by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCS 106 before the transmitter 102 transmits the coded radiofrequency signal to the receiver 104 during the plurality of time slots 116. Alternatively, the controller 110, the transmitter 102, the receiver 104, additionally or alternatively the DCS 106 may be configured to store one or more tables comprising one or more STDC matrices ^. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCS 106, a code identifier. The code identifier may comprise information that specifies the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (30) of the one or more potential STDC matrices ^ stored in a lookup table to be used. The indication information may be implemented, for example, by an index that may specify that the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (30) of the one or more STDC matrices ^ in the table is to be used. The controller 110 may be further configured to determine the base phase shift configuration matrix ^ ^ for the DCS 106, for example by any arbitrary, or random manner, or from a predefined list or using any available previous knowledge of the DCS 106 or a priori information about the propagation channels. Then, the controller 110 may control, based on the STDC 112, the set of scattering elements 108 of the DCS ^ = 1106 during the ^ = 2 time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ ∈ { ^ ^ , ^ ^ } of the ^ = 2 time slots, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 1 by setting a scattering pattern equal to = ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , with ^ ^ = ^ ^,^ , where ^ ^,^ is the entry in the ^-th row and ^-th column of matrix ^ and ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) is the scattering pattern of the DCS ^ 106. Since the first (and only) column of matrix ^ in Equation (30) is [ ^ ^ , −^ ^ ∗]^ = [ 1, −1 ]^ , then at the time slot ^ ^ the code for the DCS sets ^ ^ = 1, and the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 1106 is equal to the scattering pattern ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) . At the time slot ^ ^ , it is obtained ^ ^ = −1 and, thus, the coded configuration for the DCS is equal to −^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) . The scattering pattern via the DCS 106 and the propagation channel via the DCS 106 are as shown in Table 5, where Table 5. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to control, based on the STDC 112, the transmitter 102 to generate a coded radiofrequency signal during the plurality of time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ , ^ ^ , the transmitter 102 may be configured to transmit an information symbol ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal, where the coded radiofrequency signal may comprise the transformation of the information symbol ^ based on the STDC matrix ^, ^ ^^ ( ^, ^, ^ ^ ) . For the STDC matrix ^ specified in Equation (30), the transmitter 102 may be configured to send the information symbol ^ at the time slot 116 ^ ^ , since the entries of the first row of the STDC matrix ^ is { ^ ^ } ∈ {±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0}, and the transmitter 102 may be configured to send the ^ ∗ at the time slot 116 ^ ^ , since the second row of the STDC matrix ^ is { −^ ^ ∗} ∈ {±^∗ ∗ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0}) The resulting one or more direct propagation channels and one or more propagation channels via the DCS 106 between the transmitter 102 and the receiver 104, as well as the transmitted and received signals for each time slot 116 are shown in Table 6. Table 6. The transmitter 102 may send pilot symbols ^ using extra time slots. The transmitted pilots may be known at the receiver 104. The receiver 104 may use the transmitted pilots together with the received signals ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ and then may estimate the one or more channels via the DCS 106, additionally or alternatively the one or more direct channels ℎ ^ as disclosed above in the previous examples. The estimated one or more channels 114 are scalars, thereby their estimation is easier compared to estimating channels whose size depends on the number of scattering elements 108 of the DCS 106, as it is the case in customary algorithms that use DCSs. The received signal vector ^ after conjugation of the signal received by the receiver 104 in after the second time slot ^ ^ is given in Equation (31): ^ ^^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ^ ^ = ^ ^ ∗ ^ ^ = ^ ^ ∗ ∗ ^ ℎ −ℎ ^ ^ ^^ = ^ ^ ^^. ^ ^ Then, a combining matrix ^ can be easily computed as in Equation (32): The matrix ^ of Equation (32) can be applied to the received signal vector ^, as shown in Equation (33): ℎ∗ ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ^ ^^ = ^ ^ ℎ∗ ^ −ℎ ^ ^ ^ ℎ∗ ^ −ℎ ∗ ^ ^ ^ ^^ (33) |ℎ | ^ + |ℎ | ^ 0 ^ = ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^^ 0 |ℎ ^ | + |ℎ ^ | which after being normalized, by multiplying all the terms by (| ^^ | ^ ^ | ^^ |^ ), gives two initial estimates ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ of the transmitted symbol ^ given in Equation (34): that are averaged to obtain the final estimate of symbol ^ as in Equation (35): Optionally, AWGN can be added to the received signal vector in Equation (31), which includes an additional noise term in the Equations above. FIG.8a) shows a schematic diagram of another example of a wireless communication system 100, which builds on the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG.4. Same elements are labelled with the same reference signs. In this example, the wireless communication system 100 may comprise the controller 110, two transmitters 102-1, 102-2, two transmitter antennas i.e., ^ = 1, 2, each transmitter having a single transmitter antenna, one receiver 104 having a single receiver antenna i.e., ^ = 1, and two DCSs ^ = 1, 2106-1, 106-2. Each DCS 106-1, 106-2 may comprise a scattering surface 107-1, 107-2, and each scattering surface 107-1, 107-2 may comprise a set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC 112. That is, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^. In this example, ^ = 2 and it may be considered that ^ ^^^ = 2 and ^ = 2, which meets the requirement of ^ ≤ ^. The STDC matrix ^ may be chosen as the Alamouti STBC matrix given in Equation (12) above. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots 116 and the STDC matrix ^ by signaling to the transmitters 102-1, 102-2, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Additionally or alternatively, the controller 110 may send by signaling to each DCS 106-1, 106-2 the respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ and the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots 116. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^ offline, and may send the STDC matrix ^, additionally or alternatively the ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^, by signaling to the transmitters 102-1, 102-2, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 before each transmitter 102-1, 102-2 transmits a coded radiofrequency signal to the receiver 104 during the plurality of time slots 116. Alternatively, the controller 110, the transmitters 102-1, 102-2, the receiver 104, additionally or alternatively the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 may be configured to store one or more tables comprising one or more STDC matrices ^. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send by signaling to the transmitters 102-1, 102-2, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, a code identifier. The code identifier may comprise information that specifies the STDC matrix ^ provided in Equation (12) of the one or more STDC matrices ^ stored in a lookup table to be used. The indication information may be implemented, for example, by an index that may specify the STDC matrix ^ provided in Equation (12) of the one or more STDC matrices ^ in the table to be used. The controller 110 may be further configured to determine the base phase shift configuration matrix ^ ^ for each DCS ^ 102-1, 102-2, for example in an arbitrary, or random manner, or from a predefined list or using any available previous knowledge of the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Then, the controller 110 may control, based on the STDC 112, the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2 of the DCS 106-1, 106-2 during the ^ = 2 time slots 116, as disclosed above in the example of FIG.6. The details are not repeated again. The coded configuration for each DCS 106-1, 106-2 is independent of the number of transmitters 102-1, 102-2 and transmitter antennas and is also independent of the information symbols sent by the transmitters 102-1, 102-2. The coded configuration for each time slot 116 and for each DCS 106-1, 106-2 is the same as for the example of FIG.6 and is shown in Table 1 above. In this example, since there are two single antenna transmitters 102-1, 102-2 and two DCSs 106-1, 106-2, there may be a total of four propagation channels via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 given in Equations (36) to (43): and ^ ^ = ^ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^ (40) where Equation (3) has been used for obtaining ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , which defines that for a DCS ^ 106-1, 106-2 with coded configuration equal to ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , the resulting channel via the DCS ^ from a transmitter antenna ^ of one of transmitters 102-1 and 102-2, to the receiver antenna ^ of receiver 104 The one or more propagation channels from the transmitters 102-1, 102-2 via the DCSs 102-1, 102-2 for each time slot 116 are shown in Table 7. Table 7. As can be seen from Table 7, the propagation channels ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ change as a function of the values of the STDC matrix ^ given in Equation (12), thus providing channel programming with the STDC 112. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to control, based on the STDC 112, each transmitter 102-1, 102-2 to generate a coded radiofrequency signal during the plurality of time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ , each transmitter 102-1, 102-2 may be configured to transmit an information symbol ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal, where the coded radiofrequency signal may comprise a transformation of the information symbol ^ based on the STDC matrix ^, denoted as ^ ^^ ( ^, ^, ^ ^ ) . The information symbol transmitted from each transmitter 102-1, 102-2 is denoted as ^ ^ , with ^ = 1, 2. The two symbols ^ ^ and ^ ^ can be completely independent. Each transmitter 102- 1, 102-2 may transmit the same information symbol ^ ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal during the two time slots 116 and ^ ^ . Using the STDC matrix ^ specified in Equation (12), for the time slot ^ ^ , the transmitter antenna ^ of transmitter 102-^ may be configured to send the symbol ^ ^ since the entries of the first row of the STDC matrix ^ are { ^ ^ , ^ ^ } ∈ {±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0}. For time slot ^ ^ , the transmitter antenna ^ of transmitter 102-^ may be configured to send the symbol ^ ^ ∗ at time slot ^ ^ , since the entries of the second row of the STDC matrix ^ are ∗ ∗ ∈ {±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0}. The symbol transmitted by the transmitters 102-1, 102-2 for each time slot 116 is summarized in Table 8. Table 8. In the example of FIG.8a), the transmitters 102-1, 102-2 may be further configured, based on the STDC 112, to transmit training pilots ^ during additional or training time slots. Said training pilots ^ transmitted during the training time slots may be needed for the receiver 104 in order to estimate the one or more propagation channels 114, in case that the estimates of the one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS and/or one or more direct propagation channels are not yet available at the receiver 104. Table 9 shows the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the transmitters 102-1, 102-2 including the extra time slots for transmission of training pilots ^, for the two time slots 116 ^ ^ , ^ ^ . The value of ^ ^ for each DCS 106-1, 106-2 is also shown in Table 9. During the two time slots ^ ^ and ^ ^ , the value of ^ ^ depends on the STDC matrix ^. During the training time slots, the controller 110 may be configured to control the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108- 2 of the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 by setting values of ^ ^ , for example, in a predetermined manner. The resulting direct propagation channels between the transmitters 102-1, 102-2 and the receiver 104 denoted as ℎ ^,^ , ℎ ^,^ , and the propagation channels via the two DCSs 106-1106-2 are also shown in Table 9. Table 9. The transmitted pilots ^ may be known at the receiver 104. Then, for each training time slot, the receiver 104 may be configured to estimate the one or propagation channels via the DCS 106-1, 106-2, ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , additionally or alternatively the one or more direct propagation channels ℎ ^,^ , ℎ ^,^ based on the received training pilots ^ and on the received signals ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ and ^ ^^ . The propagation channels 114 are scalars, and their estimation is easier compared to estimating channels whose size depends on the number of scattering elements 108- 1, 108-2 of each DCS 106-1106-2, as in customary algorithms that use DCSs. Further, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ , ^ ^ , the receiver 104 may be configured to determine the information symbols ^ ^ transmitted by one of the transmitters 102-1, 102-2 based on the STDC 112, based on the received coded radiofrequency signals, and based on the estimated one or more propagation channels via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, additionally or alternatively the estimated one or more direct propagation channels. To that end, the receiver 104 may proceed as follows. The received signal vector ^ is constructed by stacking the signal received at the first time slot, namely ^ ^^ and using the conjugate of the signal received at the second time slot, namely ^ ∗ ^ ^ . The signal received in the second time slot is conjugated because the information symbols transmitted in the second time slot were sent as the conjugates ^∗ ∗ ^ and ^ ^ . Following this approach, the received signal vector ^ may take the form of Equation (44): ^ ^ ^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^,^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^,^ ^ ∗ ^^ ^ = ^ ℎ∗ ^ −ℎ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ^ [^ ^ ^ ^ , ^ ^ ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ ^ ^ , ^ ^ ^ ^ ] ^ ^ ℎ ^,^ ℎ ^ −ℎ ^ ℎ ^,^ , ^ ^ . (44) Since ℎ ^,^ , ℎ ^,^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ and ℎ ^ have been estimated by the receiver 104, the overall channel matrix ^ can be constructed as in Equation (45): The channel matrix of Equation (45) can be used to write the received signal vector as Equation (46): ^ = ^ [^ ^ ^ ^ , ^ ^ ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ ^ ^ , ^ ^ ^ ^ , ^ ^ ] ^ (46) A combining matrix ^ and a normalizing matrix ^ can be computed as shown in Equation (47) and Equation (48) respectively, ^ = ^ ∗ (47) where ^ ∗ is used to denote the transpose conjugate of ^. Using the received signal vector ^ in Equation (44), the combining matrix ^ in Equation (47) and the normalizing matrix ^ in Equation (48), three initial estimates ^ ^^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^^,^ of the transmitted symbol ^ ^ and three initial estimates ^ ^^^^^,^ of the transmitted symbol ^ can be obtained in Equation (49): ^ é ^^^^^,^ ù ê ^ ^^^^^,^ ú ê ^ ^^ ú ê ^^^,^ ú ^ = ^^^. (49) ê ^^^^^,^ ú ê ^ ^^^^^, ú ê ^ ú ë ^ ^^^^^,^û The three initial estimates ^ ^^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^^,^ can be combined to obtain the final estimate of ^ ^ given in Equation (50): ^ 1 ^ ^ = ^ ^ 3 ^^^^^,^ ^^^ (50) = ^ ^ + ^ ^ Similarly, the three initial estimates can be combined to obtain the final estimate of ^ ^ given in Equation (51): = ^ ^ + ^ ^ Since the propagation channels ℎ ^,^ , ℎ ^,^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ and ℎ ^ are independent random variables, the resulting noise terms ^ ^ and ^ ^ in Equations (50) and (51) are expected to be Gaussian random variables with zero mean distribution, ^ ^ ∼ ^^0, ^ ^^ ^ and ^ ^ ∼ ^^0, ^ ^^ ^ . It is expected that as the number of at least one transmitters in the wireless communication system 100 increases, the variance of these noise terms decreases and the values of ^ ^ and ^ ^ get very close to their mean, i.e., very close to zero. This may provide further advantages when the wireless communication system 100 may comprise multiple low complexity transmitters, for example multiple independent IoT devices. Adaptation to multiple antenna transmitters is straightforward following the example of FIG. 8a) with two transmitters, as depicted in FIG. 8b). FIG. 8b) shows an example of a wireless communication system 100, which builds on the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG.4, for a case with a single transmitter 102 with two transmitter antennas. Same elements are labelled with the same reference signs. Following the example of FIG.8a), the same propagation channels as in Table 7 are obtained, the same transmitted symbols per antenna as in Table 8 and Table 9 are obtained, and same received signals as in Table 9 are obtained. The signal processing at the receiver 104 is the same as described in relation to Equation (44) to Equation (51). Extension to more than two transmitters is straightforward following the examples of FIG.8a) with two transmitters 102-1102-2 and FIG 8b) with multiple antenna transmitter. FIG.9 shows a schematic diagram of a further example of a wireless communication system 100, which builds on the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG.4. Same elements are labelled with the same reference signs. In this example, the wireless communication system 100 may comprise the controller 110, a transmitter 102, with a single transmitter antenna ^ = 1, a receiver 104, with a single receiver antenna i.e., ^ = 1, and three DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3, i.e., ^ = 1, 2, 3. Each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 may comprise a scattering surface 107-1, 107-2, 107-3, and each scattering surface 107-1, 107-2, 107-3 may comprise a set of scattering elements 184-1, 108-2, 108-3. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC 112. That is, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^. In this example, ^ = 3 and it may be considered that ^ ^^^ = 4 and ^ = 3, which meets the requirement of ^ ≤ ^. A STBC matrix that maps three complex values ^ ^^^ } onto a ^ × ^ matrix ^ such that ^ ≤ ^ ^^^ is given in Equation (52): (52) The matrix ^ given in Equation (52) meets the constraint that the entries of a given row belong to either to {±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0} or to {±^∗ ^ , ±^ ^ , ±^∗ ^ , 0} but not to both. This is easily verifiable by inspection. The quantities ^ ^ , ^ ^ , and ^ ^ are kept generally as scalar complex values. Further, the controller 110 may be configured to send the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots 116 and the STDC matrix ^ by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3. Alternatively, instead of the full STDC matrix ^, the controller 110 may send by signaling to each DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 the respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ and the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots 116. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^ offline, and may send the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (52), additionally or alternatively the ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ , by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 before the transmitter 102 transmits the coded radiofrequency signal to the receiver 104 during the plurality of time slots 116. Alternatively, the controller 110, the transmitter 102, the receiver 104, additionally or alternatively DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 may be configured to store one or more tables comprising one or more STDC matrices ^. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3, a code identifier. The code identifier may comprise information that specifies the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (52) of the one or more STDC matrices ^ stored in a lookup table to be used. The indication information may be implemented, for example, by an index that may specify the STDC matrix ^ in Equation (52) of the one or more STDC matrices ^ in the table to be used. The controller 110 may be further configured to determine the base phase shift configuration matrices ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ for each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3. The base phase shift configuration matrices ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ may be obtained by the controller 110 via any arbitrary, or random manner or from a predefined list or using any available previous knowledge of the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3. Then, the controller 110 may control, based on the STDC 112, the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2, 108-3 of the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 during the ^ = 4 time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ ∈ { ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ } , the controller 110 may be configured to determine the coded configuration for the DCS ^, with ^ = 1, 2, 3, by setting a scattering pattern equal to ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) = ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , with ^ ^ = ^ ^,^ , where ^ ^,^ is the entry in the ^-th row and ^ -th column of matrix ^ as disclosed above, and ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) is the scattering pattern of each DCS ^ 106-1, 106-2, 106-3. The resulting coded configuration for each time slot 116 and for each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 is shown in Table 10. Table 10. A scattering pattern equal to zero (^) may be obtained by using a DCS surface whose scattering properties can be turned off, or using a specific DCS configuration such that the energy scattered by the scattering elements is minimized, this is known for example in the context of radars as minimizing radar cross section. In this example with a single antenna transmitter 102 and a single antenna receiver 104, hence ^ = 1 and ^ = 1, the one or more propagation channels via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 denoted as ℎ ^ = ℎ ^,^,^ , ℎ ^ = ℎ ^,^,^ and ℎ ^ = ℎ ^,^,^ are based on Equation (1) and are given by Equations (53) to (55): Using Equation (3), which defines that for a DCS ^ with scattering pattern equal to ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , the resulting propagation channel via the DCS ^ from the transmitter antenna ^ = 1 to the receiver antenna ^ = 1 is ^ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^,^,^ . Further, for brevity of notation, it is defined ^ ^ = ^ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^ , ^ ^ = ^ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^ and ^ ^ = ^ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^,^,^ = ^ ^ ℎ ^ . The propagation channels via each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 are shown in Table 11. Table 11. The controller 110 may be configured to control, based on the STDC 112, the transmitter 102 to generate the coded radiofrequency signal. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ , the transmitter 102 may be configured to transmit an information symbol ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal. The coded radiofrequency signal may comprise a transformation of the information symbol ^ based on the STDC matrix ^ given in Equation (52), denoted as ^ ^^ (^, ^, ^ ^ ). For the time slot ^ ^ , if the entries of the ^ -th row of the STDC matrix ^ belong to ±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0} , then the transmitter 102 may be configured to send the symbol ^ otherwise, if the entries of the ^-th row of the STDC matrix ^ belong to {±^∗ ∗ ∗ ^ , ±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , 0}, then the transmitter 102 may be configured to send the symbol ^ ∗ . Consequently, based on the STDC matrix ^ given in Equation (52) for this example, the symbol transmitted by the transmitter for each time slot 116 is shown in Table 12.
Table 12. In the example of FIG. 9, the transmitter 102 may be further configured to transmit training pilots ^ during additional or training time slots. Said training pilots ^ transmitted during the additional or training time slots may be needed for the receiver 104 to estimate the one or more propagation channels 114, in case that the estimates of the one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS and/or one or more direct propagation channels are not yet available at the receiver 104. Table 13 shows the coded signal transmitted by the transmitter 102 including the training time slots for transmission of training pilots ^ for channel estimation and including the signal transmitted during the four time slots 116 , ^ ^ , ^ ^ . The value of ^ ^ for each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 is also shown in Table 13. As explained above, during the four time slots 116 ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ depends on the values of the STDC matrix ^. During the training time slots 116, the controller 110 may be configured to control the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2, 108-3 of the DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 by setting values of ^ ^ , for example, in a predetermined manner based on the STDC matrix B. The resulting direct propagation channels between the transmitter 102 and the receiver 104, the propagation channels via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 as well as the coded radiofrequency signal received by the receiver 104 for each time slot 116 as well as the training slots are also included in Table 13. Table 13. The transmitted pilots ^ may be known at the receiver 104. Then, for each training time slot the receiver 104 may be configured to estimate the one or more propagation channels via the DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3 ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , additionally or alternatively to estimate the one or more direct propagation channels ℎ ^ , based on the received training pilots ^ and on the received signals ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ , ^ ^^ and ^ ^^ . These channels are just scalars, so their estimation is easier compared to estimating channels whose size depends on the number of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2, 108-3 of each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-3, as in customary algorithms that use DCSs. Further, the receiver 104 may be configured to determine the information symbol ^ transmitted by the transmitter 102 based on the STDC 112, based on the received coded radiofrequency signal during the time slots 116, and based on the estimated one or more propagation channels via the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3, additionally or alternatively the estimated one or more direct propagation channels. To that end, the receiver 104 may proceed as follows. The decoding of the chosen 4 × 3 STDC matrix ^ given in Equation (52) involves using the signal received at the first time slot of the plurality of timeslots 116, namely ^ ^^ , and also using the conjugate of the signal received at the following time slots, namely ^ ∗ ^ ^ , ^ ∗ ^ ^ and ^ ∗ ^ ^ . Following this approach, the received signal vector ^ may be written as Equation (56): Since the one or more propagation channels ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ and ℎ ^ have been estimated by the receiver 104, the overall channel matrix ^ can be constructed as in Equation (57): The channel matrix ^ of Equation (57) can be used to write a received signal vector as in Equation (58): A combining matrix ^ and normalizing matrix ^ can be easily computed as shown in Equation (59) and Equation (60) respectively: ℎ∗ ^ ℎ ^ −ℎ ^ 0 ℎ∗ ^ = ^ ∗ = ^ ^ −ℎ ^ 0 −ℎ ^ ℎ∗ ^ 0 ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ^ (59) ℎ∗ ^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ℎ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ = diag ^ ^^ (| ^^ |^ ^ | ^^ |^ ^ | ^^ |^ ) , ^^ (| ^^ |^ ^ | ^^ |^ ^ | ^^ |^ ) , ^^ (| ^^ |^ ^ | ^^ |^ ^ | ^^ |^ ) , ^ | ^^ | ^ ^. (60) Using the received signal vector ^ in Equation (58), the combining matrix ^ in Equation (59), and the normalizing matrix ^ in Equation (60), four initial estimates ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ of the transmitted symbol ^ can be obtained as given in Equation (61): The four initial estimates ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ can be combined to obtain the final estimate of the transmitted symbol ^ as in Equation (62): The noise term ^^ depends both on the symbol ^ and the scaling term ^. Since the channels ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ , ℎ ^ and ℎ ^ are independent and random, the resulting expression for ^ is expected to result in a random variable with zero mean distribution as ^ ∼ ^ ( 0, ^ ^ ) , where ^ ( 0, ^ ^ ) is a Gaussian distribution with mean zero and variance ^ ^ , which will depend on the channel statistics and the combination of terms in that result in the term ^. It is mentioned that using more DCSs, the term ^ includes extra random terms adding; hence, the variance of ^ decreases and the value of ^ gets very close to the mean of zero, i.e., ^ would tend faster to zero as the number of used DCSs increases. Using more DCSs requires using more time slots; however, since more than one independent transmitter may be comprised in the wireless communication system 100 and those may transmit at the same time, this could compensate for the additionally required time slots. If the direct propagation channel ℎ ^ is weak, as it is customarily considered in DCSs and as can be assessed after the channel estimation, the receiver 104 may not take into account the terms proportional to ℎ ^ and the combining matrix ^ can be computed as in Equation (63): and the normalization matrix takes the form of Equation (64): ^ = diag ^ The value of ^ ^ , ^ ^ and ^ ^ in the STDC matrix ^, may be determined depending on the capabilities or properties of the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-3. For example, for DCSs that only provide control of scattering phase shifts, the values of ^ ^ , ^ ^ and ^ ^ may be of unit magnitude. Given specific values of ^ ^ , ^ ^ and ^ ^ , further simplifications or alternative implementations of the channel estimation and the estimation of the information symbol ^ at the at least one receiver 104 can be implemented.. Alternatively, the four initial estimates ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ , ^ ^^^^,^ of the transmitted symbol ^ can be obtained by applying the pseudoinverse of ^ in Equation (57) to the received signal vector. Optionally, AWGN may be added to the received signal vector in Equation (58) to estimate the information symbol ^. Thereby, the processing for combining with ^, normalizing with ^ and combining the initial estimates to obtain the final estimate of ^ as disclosed above, also take into account additional noise terms having lower magnitude than ^. FIG.10 shows an example of exchanged signaling in the wireless communication system 100 of FIG. 6. In particular, the example of FIG. 10 depicts a scenario where the radio wireless communication system 100 may comprise the controller 110, one transmitter 102, one receiver 104 and two DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Each DCS 106-1, 106-2 may comprise a scattering surface 107-1, 107-2, and each scattering surface 107-1, 107-2 may comprise a set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2. The transmitter 102 and the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 may be synchronized. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC 112, that is, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^, for example by following the flowchart disclosed above and shown in FIG.5. In this example, ^ = 2 and it may be considered that ^ ^^^ = 2 and ^ = 2, as disclosed above for the example of FIG.6. Further, the controller 110 may be configured to send the total number ^ = 2 of the plurality of time slots 116 and the STDC matrix ^ by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Additionally, the controller 110 may determine training time slots for channel estimation, and may send the training time slots by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^ offline, and may send the STDC matrix ^, by signaling, to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2 before the transmitter 102 transmits the coded radiofrequency signal to the receiver 104 during the plurality of time slots 116. The controller 110 may be further configured to control the transmitter 102, based on the STDC 112, to generate a coded radiofrequency signal during the ^ = 2 time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ , the transmitter 102 may be configured to transmit an information symbol ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal. The coded radiofrequency signal may comprise a transformation of the information symbol ^ based on the STDC matrix ^, denoted as ^ ^^ ( ^, ^, ^ ^ ) . Details regarding the coded information symbols by the transmitter 102 are as disclosed above for the example of FIG.6 and are not repeated here again. Further, the controller 110 may control, based on the STDC 112, the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2 of the DCS 106-1, 106-2 during the ^ = 2 time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ ∈ { ^ ^ , ^ ^ } of the ^ = 2 time slots, the controller 110 may determine the coded configuration of each DCS 106-1, 106-2 by setting a scattering pattern equal to ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) = ^ ^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , with ^ ^ = ^ ^,^ and with ^ = 1, 2, where ^ ^,^ is the entry in the ^-th row and ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ as disclosed above, and ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) is the scattering pattern of each DCS ^ 106-1, 106-2. Alternatively, the controller 110 may control each DCS 106-1, 106-2 to choose the respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ and to further determine its coded configuration mentioned above. Additionally or alternatively, the controller 110 may control each DCS 106-1, 106-2 during the plurality of time slots 116 in order to apply the determined coded configuration. The coded configuration for each DCS 106-1, 106-2 is the same as for the example of FIG.6. Details are not repeated again. Further, the transmitter 102 may be configured, based on the STDC 112, to transmit training pilots ^ during the training time slots to the receiver 104, and the receiver may be configured to estimate the one or more propagation channels. Then, the transmitter102 may be configured to send the symbol ^ at the time slot ^ ^ and the symbol ^ ∗ at the time slot ^ ^ . Then, the controller 110 may control the receiver 104 to obtain by reception, during the plurality of time slots 116, the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the transmitter 102. Then, the receiver 104 may be configured to determine the information symbol ^ transmitted by the at least one transmitter 102 based on the STDC 112, based on the received coded radiofrequency signal, and based on the estimated one or more propagation channels via the DCS 106-1, 106-2 additionally or alternatively the estimated one or more direct propagation channels. FIG.11 shows another example of exchanged signaling in the wireless communication system 100 of FIG. 6. The example of FIG. 11 is the same as the example of FIG. 10, except that in FIG. 11 the controller 110 may be further configured to determine the base phase shift configuration matrices ^ ^ for each DCS 106-1, 106-2. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send the base phase shift configuration matrices ^ ^ , ^ ^ by signaling to each DCSs 106-1, 106-2. Additionally, the controller 110 may be configured to send by signaling to each DCSs 106-1, 106-2 the respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^, instead of the full matrix STDC matrix ^. The remaining exchanged signaling between the controller 110, the transmitter 102, the receiver 104 and the DCS 106-1, 106-2, as well as their configuration, are the same as in the example of FIG.10, and are not repeated here. FIG.12 shows an example of exchanged signaling in the wireless communication system 100. The example of FIG.12 depicts a scenario where the radio wireless communication system 100 may comprise the controller 110, one transmitter 102, one receiver 104 and ^ DCSs, exemplary DCSs 106-1, 106-2 and 106-D. Each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D may comprise a scattering surface 107-1, 107-2, 107-D, and each scattering surface 107-1, 107-2, 107-D may comprise a set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2, 10-D. The transmitter 102 and the DCSs 104-1, 104-2, 104-D may be synchronized. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC 112, that is, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^, for example by following the flowchart disclosed above and shown in FIG.5. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the STDC matrix ^ offline, and may send the STDC matrix ^, by signaling, to the transmitter 102 and to the receiver 104 before the transmitter 102 transmits the coded radiofrequency signal to the receiver 104 during the plurality of time slots 116. Further, the controller 110 may be configured to determine the base phase shift configuration matrices ^ ^ , ^ ^ , … , for each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to send by signaling to each DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-D a respective piece of information denoted as ^(^ ^ , ^ ^ ). The piece of information ^(^ ^ , ^ ^ ) may comprise information for configuring the respective DCS ^ in several states and times specifying the base phase shift configuration matrix ^ ^ for each time slot 116 ^ ^ , ^ ^ , … , ^ ^ . For example, the piece of information ^(^ ^ , ^ ^ ) may comprise the base phase shift configuration matrix ^ ^ and the respective code for each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D, i.e., the respective ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^, denoted as ^ ^ . Additionally or alternatively, the piece of information ^(^ ^ , ^ ^ ) may comprise any other type of information that may facilitate to achieve the desired configuration for each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D. The controller 110 may be configured to determine the information ^(^ ^ , ^ ^ ) offline and may subsequently send it by signaling to the respective DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-D. Alternatively, the controller 110 may send each piece of information ^(^ ^ , ^ ^ ) at once or may send it at each time slot 116 ^ ^ , ^ ^ , … , ^ ^ , i.e., the controller 110 may be configured to send by signaling each piece of information ^(^ ^ , ^ ^ ) to each DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-D when the configuration of each DCS is required 106-1, 106-2, 106-D to be updated. Further, the controller 110 may be configured to send the total number ^ of the plurality of time slots 116 and the STDC matrix ^ by signaling to the transmitter 102 and to the receiver 104. Additionally, the controller 110 may determine training time slots for channel estimation, and may send the training time slots by signaling to the transmitter 102, to the receiver 104 and to the DCSs 106-1, 106-2, 106-D. Then, the controller 110 may be configured to control, based on the STDC 112, the set of scattering elements 108-1, 108-2, 108-D of the DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D during the plurality of time slots 116. That is, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ ∈ { ^ ^ , ^ ^ , … , ^ ^ } , the controller 110 may determine the coded configuration of each 106-1, 106-2, 106-D by setting a scattering pattern equal to ^ ^,^ ^ ^ (^ ^ ), with ^ = 1, 2, … , D and where ^ ^,^ is the entry in the ^-th row and ^-th column of the STDC matrix ^ and ^ ^ (^ ^ ) is the scattering pattern of each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D. For example, at the time slot ^ ^ , the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 1106-1 is equal to the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 2106-2 is equal to ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , and similar for each DCS ^, as shown in FIG.12. At the time slot ^ ^ , the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 1106-1 is equal to ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , the coded configuration for the DCS ^ = 2106- 2 is equal to ^ ^,^ ^ ^ ( ^ ^ ) , and similarly the coded configuration for the DSC D 106-D at the time slot ^ ^ , s equal Alternatively, the controller 110 may control each DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D to determine its coded configuration. Then, the controller 110 may control, based on the STDC 112, the transmitter 102 to generate the coded radiofrequency signal. Further, for each time slot 116 ^ ^ ∈ { ^ ^ , ^ ^ , … , ^ ^ } , the transmitter102 may be configured to transmit an information symbol ^ in the coded radiofrequency signal. The coded radiofrequency signal may comprise the transformation of the information symbol ^, denoted as ^ ^^ ( ^, ^, ^ ^ ) , based on the STDC matrix ^. The transformation ^ ^^ ( ^, ^, ^ ^ ) may comprise the information symbol ^ at the time slot 116 ^ ^ if entries of a respective ^-th row of the STDC matrix ^ belong to {±^ ^ , ±^ ^ , … , 0}, or an information symbol ^ ∗ at the time slot 116 ^ ^ if entries of the respective ^-th row of the STDC matrix ^ belong to {±^∗ ^ , ±^∗ ^ , … , where ^ ∗ is the complex conjugate of the information symbol ^. Then, the transmitter 102 may be configured to transmit training pilots ^ during the training time slots 116 to the receiver 104, and the receiver 104 may be configured to estimate the one or more propagation channels. The transmitter 102 may be further configured to transmit the transformation of the information symbol ^ ^^ (^, ^, ^ ^ ), at each time slot 116 ^ ^ ∈ {^ ^ , ^ ^ , … , ^ ^ }. Then, the controller 110 may control the receiver 104 to obtain by reception, during the plurality of time slots 116, the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the transmitter 102. Then, the receiver may be configured to determine the information symbol ^ transmitted by the at least one transmitter 102 based on the STDC 112, based on the received coded radiofrequency signal, and based on the estimated one or more propagation channels via the DCS 106-1, 106-2, 106-D and/or the estimated one or more direct propagation channels. The STDC 112 according to this disclosure can be extended in a straightforward and flexible way to the case where multiple information symbols are transmitted per time slot. The duration of each time slot 116 ^ ^ of the plurality of time slots { ^ ^ , ^ ^ , … , ^ ^ } can be adapted to span the duration of one information symbol, as schematically shown in FIG.13a), or the duration of multiple information symbols (sometimes also denoted as a frame) as schematically shown in FIG.13a). FIG.13a) shows an example of time slots 116 in the wireless communication system 100 of FIG.6 for the case of four information symbols 116 transmitted, exemplary ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , and where each time slot 116 spans the duration of one information symbol. FIG.13b) shows an example of time slots 116 in the wireless communication system 100 of FIG.6 for the case of four information symbols 116 transmitted, exemplary ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , ^ ^ , and where each time slot 116 spans the duration of multiple information symbols or a frame duration. FIG.14 shows a wireless communication method 200 according to this disclosure. The method 200 may be performed by the wireless communication system 100 of FIG.4 as disclosed above. The method 200 comprises a step S202 of controlling, by the controller 110, based on the space time DCS code 112, STDC, the at least one transmitter 102 to generate the coded radiofrequency signal during the plurality of time slots 116, where the STDC 112 depends on a total number of the at least one DCS 106 and a maximum number of the plurality of time slots 116 ^ ^^^ . The method 200 further comprises a step S204 of controlling, by the controller 110, based on the STDC 112, the set of scattering elements 108 of the at least one DCS 106 during the plurality of time slots 116. The at least one DCS 106 comprises a scattering surface 107 that comprises the set of scattering elements 108, each scattering element 108 having a controllable phase shift. Further, the method 200 comprises a step S206 of transmitting, by the at least one transmitter 102, the coded radiofrequency signal to the at least one receiver 104 during the plurality of time slots 116. The method 200 further comprises a step S208 of obtaining by reception, by the at least one receiver 104, during the plurality of time slots 116, the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter 102. The coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter 102 during the plurality of time slots 116 propagates from the at least one transmitter 102 to the at least one receiver 104 through one or more propagation channels 114, the one or more propagation channels 114 comprising one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS 106, additionally or alternatively one or more direct propagation channels. The method 200 may further comprise actions according to the described aforementioned exemplary embodiment of the wireless communication system 100. Hence, the method 200 achieves the same advantages as the wireless communication system 100 as disclosed above. The present disclosure further provides a computer program product comprising a program code for carrying out, when implemented on a processor, the method 200 shown in FIG.14. The computer program may be included in a computer readable medium of the computer program product. The computer readable medium may comprise essentially any memory, such as a ROM (Read-Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), a 15 EPROM (Erasable PROM), a Flash memory, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable PROM), or a hard disk drive. The computer program product may further comprise actions according to the described aforementioned method 200. Hence, the computer program product achieves the same advantages as the method 200 and as the wireless communication system 100. The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with various embodiments as examples as well as implementations. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed matter, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the independent claims. In the claims as well as in the description the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.
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