2011 Third International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Modelling & Simulation

Development and Performance Evaluation of Hierarchical Quadrature Amplitude

Modulation (HQAM) for Image Transmission over Wireless Channels

Md. Abdul Kader, Farid Ghani and R. Badlishah

School of Computer and Communication Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)
Kanger, Perlis, Malaysia
kdr2k4@rediffmail.com, faridghani@unimap.edu.my and badli@unimap.edu.my

Abstract—Asymmetric modulation techniques like Quadrature
Amplitude Modulation system is one of the key techniques in
building a broadband mobile communication network because
of increasing shortage of wireless communication channels. It
provides alternative means of Equal Error Protection (EEP) to
the transmitted bits without increasing the bandwidth.
Hierarchical Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (HQAM), a
modification of QAM, provides Unequal Error Protection
(UEP) to the transmitted bits for increasing the protection to
the sensitive and non-sensitive bits and is also efficient in
power and bandwidth. This paper presents an analysis and
simulation of HQAM in order to bring out its merits over
QAM. The simulation is carried out using MATLAB &
Simulink for different values of modulation parameter. A
Simulink-based simulation system is designed for the
transmission of gray image as test image over AWGN wireless
channel.
Keywords-Wireless Channels, HQAM, Error Protection
I. INTRODUCTION
With the fast development of modern communication
techniques, the demand for reliable high data rate
transmission is increased significantly, which stimulate much
interest in modulation techniques. Different modulation
techniques allow us to send different bits per symbol and
thus achieve different throughputs or efficiencies. QAM is
one of widely used modulation techniques because of its
efficiency in power and bandwidth [1]. This modulation
technique assigns equal priority to all the generated bits,
hence are classified as EEP method of modulation [2]. The
use of EEP methods of modulation has the disadvantage that
it provides the same degree of protection to both the
significant and the non-significant bits of data. Thus UEP
modulation methods are to be preferred particularly for
image data transmission, as these will allow gradual
protection of the data with regard to its importance.
This paper has been proposed a simulink-based model of
the Hierarchical Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, HQAM
for the transmission of images over wireless channels,
HQAM that is a modification of QAM, is a method that
provides UEP. This is a simple and efficient approach in
which non-uniform signal-constellation is used to give
different degrees of protection. The advantage of this method
is that different degrees of protection are achieved without an
increase in bandwidth in contrast to channel coding that
increases the data rate by adding redundancy [3, 4].
To better understand the HQAM system, a MATLAB/
Simulink-based simulation system is designed and shown in
this paper. Actual performance is carried out through
computer simulation using 16-HQAM technique and using
gray image as test image. In case of HQAM bit error rate is
studied for different values of the modulation parameter.
The paper has been organized as follows: In Section II
and Section III, an overview of M-ary QAM and HQAM are
considered, respectively. 16-HQAM is briefly described in
Section IV. Simulink-based simulation is discussed in
Section V. Based on Simulinke-based simulation results; the
performance of HQAM is given in Section VI.
II. M-ARY QUADRATURE AMPLITUDE MODULATION
Modern modulation techniques exploit the fact that
digital baseband data may be sent by varying both envelope
and phase/frequency of a carrier wave. Because the envelope
and phase offer two degrees of freedom, such modulation
techniques map baseband data into four or more possible
carrier signals. Such modulation techniques are called M-ary
modulation, since they can represent more signals than if just
the amplitude or phase were varied alone.
In an M-ary signaling scheme, two or more bits are
grouped together to form symbols and one of M possible
signals is transmitted during each symbol period. Usually,
the number of possible signals is M =2n, where n is an
integer. Depending on whether the amplitude, phase, or
frequency is varied, the modulation technique is called M-ary
ASK, M-ary PSK, or M-ary FSK. Modulation which alters
both amplitude and phase is M-ary QAM. [1]
As with many digital modulation techniques, the
constellation diagram is a useful representation. It provides a
graphical representation of the complex envelop of each
possible symbol state. The constellation diagram of 16-QAM
is shown in Fig. 1. The constellation consists of a square
lattice of signal points. The general form of an M-ary signal
can be defined as [12] in (1).
2 E min 2 E min
s i (t ) = ai cos( 2πf 0 t ) + bi sin( 2πf 0t ) (1)
Ts Ts
0 ≤ t ≤ Ts , i = 1,2,..... M

978-0-7695-4562-2/11 $26.00 © 2011 IEEE 227

DOI 10.1109/CIMSim.2011.47
Where Emin is the energy of the signal with the lowest
amplitude. ai and bi are a pair of independent integers chosen
according to the location of the particular signal point; f0 is
the carrier frequency; Ts is the symbol period.
Q transmitted bits. The advantages of using Hierarchical QAM
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
I
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Figure 1. 16-QAM Constellation Diagram
The coordinates of the ith message points are ai E min and
bi E min where (ai,bi) is an element of the L by L matrix
given by
(−L +1, L−1) (−L +3, L −1) " (L−1, L −1)
(−L+1, L −3) (−L+3, L−3) " (L −1, L−3) (2)
[(ai , bi )] =
# # # #
(−L +1, L−1) (−L+3,−L +1) " (L −1, L−3)
Where L = M
It can be shown that the average probability of error in an
AWGN channel for M-ary QAM, using coherent detection,
can be approximated by (3) [13]
⎛ 1 ⎞ ⎛⎜ 3 E av ⎞
⎟ (3)
Pe ≅ 4 ⎜ 1 − ⎟Q
⎝ M ⎠ ⎜⎝ (M − 1 )N 0 ⎟
⎠ conditions, since the highly sensitive data bits are mapped to
Where Eav / N0 is the average signal to noise ratio.
Although QAM appears to increase the efficiency of
transmission by utilizing both amplitude and phase
variations, it has a number of limitations specially in the
transmission of image data.
The first is that it is more susceptible to noise because the
states are closer together so that a lower level of noise is
needed to move the signal to a different decision point.
Receivers for use with phase or frequency modulation are
both able to use limiting amplifiers that are able to remove
any amplitude noise and thereby improve the noise reliance.
This is not the case with QAM [5].
The second limitation is also associated with the
amplitude component of the signal. When a phase or
frequency modulated signal is amplified in a transmitter,
there is no need to use linear amplifiers, whereas when using
QAM that contains an amplitude component, linearity must
be maintained. Unfortunately linear amplifiers are less
efficient and consume more power, and this makes them less
attractive for mobile applications [5].
228
In order to overcome the limitations of QAM that
provides equal error protection (EEP) in the transmitted bits,
Hierarchical Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (HQAM)
can be effectively used. HQAM is a modification of QAM
and provides unequal error protection (UEP) in the
over QAM summarized below and the details are considered
in the next section.
• HQAM provides different degree of protection
without increase in bandwidth
• More effective transmission through noisy wireless
channel
• Enable greater coverage area for important
information
• Provides basic communication in all channel
conditions
• It works on the existing QAM transmission system
III. HIERARCHICAL QUADRATURE AMPLITUDE
MODULATION (HQAM)
A more spectrally efficient, dc-free modulation scheme is
Hierarchical Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (HQAM)
[5]. Hierarchical transmission system is composed of a
hierarchical source coder and the corresponding channel
coder divides the information into several layers according to
their significance, and transmits each layer with different
reliability according to the layers [6].
HQAM is another way of providing UEP to the
transmitted data bits, in which the high priority data bits
(HP) of the image are mapped to the most significant bits
(MSB) in the modulation constellation points while the low
priority data bits (LP) of the image are mapped to the least
significant bits (LSB) in the modulation constellation points
[7-9]. Using HQAM will, therefore, result in improved
image quality at low channel signal to noise ratio (SNR)
the MSBs of the HQAM with low bit error rate (BER). M-
tuple Hierarchical Quadratic Amplitude Modulation (M-
HQAM) is an efficient modulation mode that achieves
additional compression by assigning more than one bit to
each transmission symbol. However, for the sake of
simplicity only 16-HQAM is considered in this paper.
IV. 16-HQAM
The conventional HQAM with signal constellation size
M (M-HQAM) offers two levels of priority. HP data
occupies the first two most significant bits (MSBs) of each
point Fig. 2(a) for 16-HQAM. Gray code labelling permits
all points belonging to the same quadrant to have the same
HP bits. This means that if the received point is de-mapped
erroneously to a neighbouring point but remains within its
constellation quadrant, the HP bits will remain uncorrupted.
LP data occupies the rest of the bits in the point label. For M-
point constellation, the number of LP bits in each symbol is
given by log2M – 2. [14]
Hierarchical 16-QAM constellation is shown in Fig. 2(a),
among the four bits of each symbol, the first two bits
represent the HP bits which have lower bit error rates than against the channel errors than the lower portion of the
the last two bits. Last two bits are representing LP bits [10]. transmitter power. This is a simple unequal error protection
The modulation location of HP bits and LP bits are without introducing any redundancy to the modulated data.
depicted in Fig. 2(a) for the fixed value of signal power In this UEP scheme, the performance of the HP will be
(k=9). This mapping scheme is different to the traditional improved at the expense of LP. However, by increasing the
gray mapping, it can be seen that the four symbols in every degree of non-uniformity, (b > c) the improvement of the HP
quadrant have the same HP bits but different LP bits; this is performance is significant, at the expense of the LP sub-
also called constellation overlapping which ensure the HP channel.
bits to be transmitted correctly [11].
V. HQAM SIMULATION MODEL
Q HP LP Simulink (simulation and link), developed by The
1001 1011 0001 00 11 MathWorks, is an environment for multi-domain simulation
♦ ♦9 ♦ ♦ and Model-based Design for dynamic and embedded
1000 1010 0000 0010 systems. It provides an interactive graphical environment and
♦ ♦3 ♦ ♦ a customizable set of block libraries that let us design,
I
simulate, implement, and test a variety of time-varying
-9 -3 3 9 systems, including communications, controls, signal
♦ ♦ -3 ♦ ♦
1101 1111 0101 0111 processing, video processing, and image processing [1].
With Simulink, models are built by dragging and
♦ ♦ -9 ♦ ♦ dropping blocks from the library browser onto the graphical
1100 1110 0100 0110
editor and connecting them with lines that establish
(a) mathematical relationships between blocks. It can be set up
simulation parameters by double clicking the blocks.
Q The modulation library in Communication Blockset of
Simulink contains four sub-libraries: digital baseband
♦ ♦ 9 ♦ ♦ modulation, analog baseband modulation, digital passband
modulation, and analog passband modulation. For a given
♦ ♦ 4.5 ♦ ♦ modulation technique, two ways to simulate modulation
c b I
techniques are called baseband and passband. Passband
-9 -4.5 4.5 9 simulation requires higher sample rate since it contains the
♦ ♦-4.5 ♦ ♦ carrier wave. Baseband simulation, also known as the
lowpass equivalent method, requires less computation.
♦ ♦ 9 ♦ ♦ Because baseband simulation is more prevalent [1]. This
paper focuses on baseband simulation.
(b) The baseband simulation model of 16-HQAM is given in
Fig. 3. The parameter settings for each block are given in
Table 1 to Table 6.
Figure 2. Constellation diagram of (a) 16-HQAM for α = 1, k=9 (b) 16-
HQAM for α = 2, k=9
TABLE I. PARAMETER SETTING FOR IMAGE SOURCE BLOCK
In Hierarchical 16-QAM, it is possible to give the higher Parameter Value
protection to the most important data (significant bits) by File Name Lena.pgm
changing the value of modulation parameter α. Where α is Sample Time inf
ratio of the distance between quadrants b to the distance Image Signal One multidimentional Signal
between the points within a quadrant c in the constellation Output Data Types Unsigned Integer (uint8)
diagram with b/2+c being a constant (k- maximum signal
TABLE II. PARAMETER SETTING FOR OUTPUT IMAGE VIEWER BLOCK
power) Fig. 2(b) shows the constellation diagram for α=2 i.e.
b=2c and k=9. Parameter Value
There is a limit for the maximum value of α. It must be Colourmap Matrix Gray(256)
less than the square root of the carrier power. Otherwise, the Minimum Input Value 0
constellation points of the same quadrant will overlap. By Maximum Input Value 255
Axis Origin Upper Left Corner
mapping the high priority (HP) and the low priority (LP)
data to the constellation points as shown in the Fig. 2(a), then
TABLE III. USER DEFINED SETTINGS FOR PARTITIONING AND
by varying the ratio of α one can distribute the transmitter MERGING BLOCK
power between the HP and LP data.
When α = 1, i.e. b=c HQAM results in QAM as can be Parameter Value
Data Type Conversion Decimal to Binary and Binery to Decimal
seen from Fig. 2(a) for k=9. When α increases, the distance Data Partioning Higher Priority (HP) and Lower Priority (LP)
between the quadrants constellation points increases. Higher Symbol Size 4 bits
portion of the transmitter power means better protection

229
 TABLE IV. USER DEFINED SETTINGS FOR 16-HQAM MODULATION VII. CONCLUSIONS
AND DEMODULATION TECHNIQUE
MATLAB/Simulink is a very powerful tool that can be
Parameter Value
M-ary Number 16
used for simulation in communication, control, DSP, etc.
Input(Mod.)/Output(Demod.) Type Integer This paper builds a simple simulation model to illustrate the
Constellation Ordering User-defined HQAM techniques and how the Communication Blockset of
Constellation Mapping [0:15] the Simulink allow to implement it. The simulation model
Phase Offset 0 verified the theory of HQAM and shows the suitability of
Modulation Parameter 1 to 5 using it from the simulation results for image transmission
Input(Demod.)/Output(Mod.) Type Double over erroneous wireless channels.
TABLE V. PARAMETER SETTING FOR AWGN CHANNEL
Parameter Value REFERENCES
Initial seed Any positive integer [1] Xiaolong Li, “Simulink-based Simulation of Quadrature Amplitude
Mode Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) Modulation (QAM) System”, Proceedings of IAJC-IJME
SNR (dB) 17 International Conference, USA, ISBN Paper 205, ENG105, 2008.
Input signal power (watts) 1 [2] Yoong Choon Chang; Sze Wei Lee; Komiya, R.; , "A low-complexity
Symbol period 1/symbol rate unequal error protection of H.264/AVC video using adaptive
hierarchical QAM," Consumer Electronics, IEEE Transactions on ,
TABLE VI. PARAMETER SETTING FOR ERROR RATE CALCULATION vol.52, no.4, pp.1153-1158, Nov. 2006.
[3] B.Barmada, M.M.Gandhi, E.V.Jones, M.Ghanbari, “Prioritized
Parameter Value transmission of Data Partitioned H.264 Video with HQAM” IEEE,
Receive delay 0 August 2005.
Computation delay 0 [4] M. Mahdi Ghandi and M. Ghanbari, "Layered H.264 video
Computation mode Entire frame transmission with hierarchical QAM," Elsevier J. Visual Commun.
Output data Workspace Image Representation, Special issue on H.264/AVC, vol. 17,
Variable name Name of a variable no. 2, pp. 451 - 466, April 2006.
[5] Mirabbasi, S.; Martin, K.; , "Hierarchical QAM: a spectrally efficient
dc-free modulation scheme," Communications Magazine, IEEE ,
VI. SIMULATION RESULTS vol.38, no.11, pp. 140- 146, Nov 2000.
In Table I and II, the parameters are shown for the [6] M. Morimoto, M. Okada, S. Komaki, “Robust mobile image
transmission using hierarchical QAM”, Signal Processing: Image
transmission of gray image. Table III shows user defined Communication, Volume 12, Issue 2, Pages 127-134, 27 April 1998.
settings for partitioning and merging transmitted and [7] Lee-Fang Wei, “Coded modulation with unequal error protection,”
received data, respectively. Table IV considers the user IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 41, no. 10, October
defined parameters used for the 16-HQAM technique. 1993.
AWGN channel parameters have been set according to the [8] Seamus O’Leary, “Hierarchical transmission and COFDM systems,”
Table V. Error rate calculation block calculates bit error rates IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 43, no. 2, June 1997.
and the parameters are shown in Table VI. [9] Chee-Siong Lee, Thoandmas Keller and Lajos Hanzo, “OFDM-Based
Fig. 4 shows the Bit Error Rate (BER) vs. channel SNR Turbo-Coded hierarchical and Non-Hierarchical terrestrial mobile
digital video broadcasting,” IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting,
(for AWGN channel) for High Priority (HP) and Low vol.46, no. 1, March 2000.
Priority (LP) data using hierarchical 16-QAM for different
[10] L. Hanzo, W. Webb, T. Keller, “Single and multi carrier quadrature
value of modulation parameter, α = 1 to 5. It is seen that by amplitude modulation: principles and applications for personal
increasing the value of α, the BER of the HP bits decreases communications, WLANs and broadcasting”, John Wiley and Sons,
and for LP bits increases. However, HP (significant) data are 2000.
highly protected for the larger value of α. [11] 3GPP TR 25.814 V7.1.0.Physical layer aspects for evolved Universal
Simulation of hierarchical 16-QAM (α = 1 to 5) Terrestrial Radio Access(UTRA)(Release 7)
techniques were used to transmit the gray image via an [12] Rappaport, T. S., “Wireless Communications: Principles & Practice”,
AWGN channel. The simulation results are shown in Fig. 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2003.
5(b) to 5(f). From the simulation results of the hierarchical [13] Ziemer, R. E. and Peterson, R. L., “Introduction to Digital
Communications”, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992.
16-QAM modulations in Fig. 5, it is easy to observe that the
[14] Khan, M.A.; Hasan, T.; Moinuddin, A.A.; Khan, E.; , "Physical layer
hierarchical modulation leads to a better quality of unequal error protection of wavelet coded video using Hierarchical
reconstructed image without increasing the channel SNR. In QAM," Industrial Electronics & Applications (ISIEA), 2010 IEEE
contrast, when applying hierarchical modulation, it is seen to Symposium on , vol., no., pp.217-221, 3-5 Oct. 2010.
yield considerable improvement in the noisy situation.

230
 Figure 3. Hierarchical Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16-HQAM) Simulation Model

Figure 4. Bit Error Rate (BER) vs. Channel SNR for High Priority (HP) and Low Priority (LP) Data Using Hierarchical 16-QAM for α = [1,…, 5]

231
 (a) Original transmitted image (b) received noisy image with α =1, SNR=17 dB

(c) received noisy image with α =2, SNR=17 dB (d) received noisy image with α =3, SNR=17 dB

(e) received noisy image with α =4, SNR=17 dB (f) received noisy image with α =5, SNR=17 dB

Figure 5. Simulation results (reconstructed images) for different values of modulation parameter

232