CoDiPhy: A General Framework for Applying Denoising Diffusion Models to the Physical Layer of Wireless Communication Systems

Abstract: Generative models, including denoising diffusion models (DM), are gaining attention in wireless applications due to their ability to learn complex data distributions. In this paper, we propose CoDiPhy, a novel framework that leverages conditional denoising diffusion models to address a wide range of wireless physical layer problems. A key challenge of using DM is the need to assume or approximate Gaussian signal models. CoDiPhy addresses this by incorporating a conditional encoder as a guidance mechanism, mapping problem observations to a latent space and removing the Gaussian constraint. By combining conditional encoding, time embedding layers, and a U-Net-based main neural network, CoDiPhy introduces a noise prediction neural network, replacing the conventional approach used in DM. This adaptation enables CoDiPhy to serve as an effective solution for a wide range of detection, estimation, and predistortion tasks. We demonstrate CoDiPhy's adaptability through two case studies: an OFDM receiver for detection and phase noise compensation for estimation. In both cases, CoDiPhy outperforms conventional methods by a significant margin.