OFDM Fundamentals

Course Objectives:
Understand the basic OFMD concepts Understand the OFMD fundamentals Understand the advantages and disadvantages of OFDM Understand the key technologies of OFDM Understand the application of OFDM in the uplink and do nlink

Contents
1 System Overview..........................................................................................................................................1 !"! #ireless Channel $ropagation Characteristics""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""! !"!"! %arge &cale Fading""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""' !"!"' &hado Fading""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""( !"!"( Multipath Fading"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""( !"!") *ime +arying ,ature and Doppler &hift of #ireless Channels""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!"' .asic Concepts /bout OFDM"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""0 !"( /dvantages and Disadvantages of OFDM"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!1 2 Key Technologies of OFDM......................................................................................................................13 '"! 2uard 3nterval and Cyclic $refi4"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!( '"' &ynchroni5ation *echnology""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!'"'"! Carrier &ynchroni5ation"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!6 '"'"' *imed &ymbol &ynchroni5ation""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!0 '"( Channel 7stimate"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!8 '") $/$9 9eduction *echnology"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'1 '")"! /mplitude %imiting"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'1 '")"' Compression and 74pansion"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'! 3 OFDM Applications...................................................................................................................................23 ("! OFDM /pplications in Do nlink""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'( ("' OFDM /pplications in Uplink"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""': ("'"! DF*;spread OFDM""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""': ("'"' &C;FDM/""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'6

1 System Overview
Knowledge points: #ireless channel propagation characteristics .asic OFDM concepts /dvantages and disadvantages of OFDM

1.1 Wireless Channel Propagation Chara teristi s

Compared ith other communication channels< the mobile channel is one of the most aves propagate mainly in the form of space ave< scattered ave< and their composite ireless channel bet een the ave< refracted complicated channels" 7lectromagnetic aves< including the direct

ave" Due to the motion of the Mobile &tation =M&>< the different fading effects hen passing through a

M& and the .ase &tation =.&> becomes variable and hard to control" &ignals suffer ireless channel" 2enerally< the received signal po er is given by: $=d> ? @d@;n &=d>9=d> here< d indicates the distance vector bet een the M& and the .&< and |d| indicates the distance bet een the M& and the .&" /ccording to the eAuation above< the impacts of ireless channels on signals can be classified into three types: !" *he path loss |d|-n of electromagnetic aves in free space is also called large

scale fading< here the value range of n is usually ()" '" *he shado fading S(d) indicates the fading due to blocking or shado ing from

buildings or other obstacles or topographic relief in propagation environments" (" *he multipath fading 9=d>< kno n as small scale fading< is a common phenomenon in radio signal transmission" #hen radio signals travel in space< they are subject to reflection< refraction and diffraction" 7ach signal component ill e4perience differences in delay< attenuation< and phase hile travelling from the source to the receiver via multiple paths" /t the receiver< superposition of multipath components ill result in a
1

ave increase for in;phase

aves and a

ave decrease for out;of;phase aves" *he follo ing figure illustrates these three types of fading:

Figure !"!;! &ignal propagation characteristics on ireless channels

.ecause of M& motion<

ireless channels e4perience varies over time< for e4ample< fading in free space mainly affect ireless area

Doppler shift" $ath loss and shado

coverage< hich can be eliminated by appropriate design"

1.1.1 !arge S ale Fading

#hen radio aves travel in free space< the signal po er level decreases ith the

increasing propagation distance" *his brings an unfavorable impact on data rate and system performance" *he simplest path loss model regarding large scale fading can be e4pressed as follo s:

here< Pi indicates the average local transmit signal po er< Pr indicates the receive po er< and d indicates the distance bet een the transmitter and the receiver" 3n a typical propagation environment< the path loss usually ranges from ' to )" *hus< the average &ignal ,oise 9atio =&,9> is given by:

Chapter rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here. rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here.

here< N0 indicates the single;sideband noise spectrum density< B indicates the signal band idth< and K indicates a constant independent from distance< po er< and band idth" 3f reliable receiving can be implemented< then it is reAuired that &,9 B &,91< here SNR0 denotes an &,9 threshold" $ath loss ill limit the bit rate:

and the signal coverage area:

3f no other special techniAues are adopted< the symbol rate and ave propagation scope ill be dramatically limited" 3n general cellular systems< ho ever< the impact of the large scale fading on mobile communications systems can be neglected because the cell scale is relatively small"

1.1." Shadow Fading

#hen a large obstruction such as a hill or large building obscures the path of electromagnetic aves travelling in free space< the shado of the invisible magnetic field from such an obstacle leads to a median field strength change and thus causes fading< sometimes referred to as shado fading" Compared ith multipath fading< shado fading is a type of macro;fading measured at ith log;normal distribution<

larger spatial scales" 3ts fading characteristics comply

here local median field strength changes of received signals are subject to signal freAuency and obstruction conditions" Cigh freAuency signals can easily penetrate obstructions than lo freAuency signals< hich ho ever have a stronger diffraction capability than the former"

1.1.# Multipath Fading

/ primary characteristic of radio mobile channels is multipath propagation that results in signals reaching the receiver by different paths such as reflection< refraction< and direct radiation paths< as sho n in the figure belo "
3

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

Figure !"!;' Multipath propagation of radio signals

9adio

aves take different time and phases to travel different distances on differing hile destructive

paths" Multiple signals in different phases are superimposed each other at the receiver" Constructive superposition results in signal amplitude increase< received signals ill lead to fading" For e4ample< if the transmitter sends a narro band pulse signal< the receiver can receive multiple narro band pulses< hich have different fading conditions< time ireless delays and Auantities< and each corresponds to one transmitted pulse signal" *he follo ing figure sho s the signals received by the receiver" *his results in channel time dispersion< here Ema4 denotes the ma4imum delay spread" superposition results in signal amplitude decrease" Dramatic amplitude changes of

Figure !"!;( 9eceived multipath signals 4

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*he aveform of a symbol in the received signals may e4pand to other symbols due to delay spread during transmission< resulting in inter;symbol interference =3&3>" *o avoid the 3&3< the symbol rate must be larger than the reciprocal of the ma4imum delay spread" &ince the delay spreads measured at different time vary amounts of statistical data" *he follo ing table lists delay spreads in different channel environments:
*able !"!;! Delay spreads in different channel environments 7nvironment 3ndoor Outdoor Ma4imum Delay &pread )1nsF'11ns !GsF'1Gs Ma4imum $ath Difference !'mF!-m (11mF:111m

ith geographical

locations in comple4 mobile environments< e need to adopt the average value of large

/nother important concept related to delay spread in freAuency domain is coherence band idth hich is defined to be the reciprocal of the ma4imum delay spread:

From the frequency domain perspective, delay spread of multipath signals can result in freAuency;selective fading" #ireless channels make different random responses for freAuency components in signals" Different freAuency components e4perience different fading< so signal aveforms are distorted after fading" #hen signals are transmitted at a high freAuency and the signal band idth e4ceeds the coherence band idth of the ireless channel< freAuency components undergo different ireless channel< hich results in signal aveform changes after the signals pass the are transmitted at a lo band idth of the

distortion and 3&3" *his phenomenon is called freAuency;selective fading" #hen signals freAuency and the signal band idth is less than the coherence ireless channel" &uch fading does not lead to signal ireless channels" #hether signals hen passing a ireless ireless channel< freAuency components e4perience the same fading

after the signals pass the

aveform distortion or 3&3< and it is deemed flat fading or non;freAuency;selective fading" Coherence band idth is a characteristic of channel is subject to the signal band idth" ill e4perience flat fading or freAuency;selective fading

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

1.1.$ %ime &arying 'ature and Doppler Shi(t o( Wireless Channels

*he change of the freAuency of received signals caused by motion of an M& is called Doppler effect hich is a common feature in any ave process" *ake visible light as an e4ample" /ssume that a luminous object gives off light at a fi4ed freAuency in the distance< our received freAuency needs to be the same ith the freAuency of this object" #hen this object moves to ard us and produces the second from the object to us is shorter than that from the first time interval bet een the arrivals of these t o from us< our received freAuency diminishes" /stronomers judge that other gala4ies are moving a ay from us according to the Doppler effect< e4ample< hich leads us to an interpretation that the universe is e4panding" *he relationship bet een freAuency and rate in Doppler effect is Auite familiar to us" For hen a car approaches< its siren gets louder =the sound freAuency increases>H hen the car drives a ay< its sirenIs pitch gets lo er =the sound freAuency decreases>" *ime varying nature of channel indicates that the transfer function of a channel varies over time" 3n other ords< received signals are different for the same signals sent at different moments< as sho n in the figure belo " ave crest< the distance ave crest to us" *herefore< the

ave crests becomes short and our

received freAuency increases correspondingly" #hen the luminous object moves a ay

Figure !"!;) Time varying nature caused by multipath propagation

/n embodiment of time varying nature in mobile communications systems is Doppler shift" #hen monophonic signals pass a time varying fading channel< they have a certain band idth and freAuency envelop as sho n in the figure belo " *his property is also called freAuency dispersion"

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Figure !"!;: Frequency dispersion caused by Doppler shift

#hen an M& moves to ard the incident in the opposite direction of the incident

ave direction< the Doppler shift is positive ave< the Doppler shift is negative and the ill decrease" Due to the Doppler shift<

and the freAuency of the signals received by the M& ill increase" #hen an M& moves freAuency of the signals received by the M&

hen a monophonic signal =f1> reaches the receiver< its spectrum is no longer the function J located at Kf1 on the freAuency a4is but the spectrum distributed in = > and ith a certain band idth" *able !"!;' lists the ma4imum Doppler shifts of t o carriers at different moving speeds"
*able !"!;' Ma4imum Doppler shift =C5> &peed Carrier 811 MC5 ' 2C5 0( !0: -' !(8 )' 8( '! )!11 kmLh 6: kmLh :1 kmLh ': kmLh

From the time domain perspective< another concept related to Doppler shift is coherence time" Coherence time is an average time duration over hich the channel impulse response is invariant< and in hich t o signals have strong potential for amplitude correlation" 3f ireless channels< signal aveform may e4perience the reciprocal of the baseband signal band idth< usually the symbol band idth< is greater than the coherence time of some changes< leading to signal distortion and time;selective fading< also called fast fading" 3f the symbol band idth is less than the coherence time< the signal goes non; time;selective fading< also called slo fading" Free space propagation loss and shado
7

fading mainly affect the coverage in radio

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

areas<

hich can be eliminated by appropriate design" 9adio communications systems

need to focus on removing the impact of time;selective fading and freAuency;selective fading hich can be achieved by using the OFDM technologies"

1." )asi Con epts *+out OFDM

*he total signal band idth< in a classical parallel data system< can be divided into , non;overlapping freAuency subchannels" 7ach subchannel is modulated ith a separate symbol and then the , subchannels are freAuency;multiple4ed" *he general practice of avoiding spectral overlap of subchannels as applied to eliminate inter;carrier interference =3C3>< but this resulted in insufficient utili5ation of the e4isting spectrum" From this constraint the idea of Orthogonal FreAuency Division Multiple4ing =OFDM> as born" OFDM is a multi;carrier transfer mode that fully utili5es spectral resources" Figure !"';- sho s the channel distribution in classical FDM and OFDM" From this figure< the OFDM mode can save at least a half of spectral resources"

Figure !"';6 Channel distribution in classical FDM and OFDM

OFDM principle: Divide a channel into several orthogonal subchannels" Convert high; rate data signals into lo ;rate parallel substreams and modulate them on each subchannel< as sho n in the figure belo "

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Figure !"';0 OFDM principle

The OFDM utili5es 3nverse Fast Fourier *ransform =3FF*> and Fast Fourier *ransform =FF*> to implement modulation and demodulation as sho n in the figure belo "

Figure !"';8 OFDM modulation and demodulation processes

OFDM modulation and demodulation processes are as follo s: !" *he transmitter converts high;rate serial data into lo ;rate parallel data for data transmission by using multiple orthogonal subcarriers" '" (" 7ach subcarrier adopts an independent modulator and a demodulator" *hese subcarriers are completely orthogonal to each other and synchronous in transmission and reception" )" *he transmitter and the receiver must be accurately co;channel and synchronous< and sample bits precisely" :" *he receiver performs bit sampling at the backend of the demodulator to acAuire and convert data into high;rate serial data" /s a key role in the evolution to .(2L)2< the OFDM can ma4imi5e system
9

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

performance by integrating diversity< spatiotemporal coding< interference< inter;channel interference suppression< and intelligent antenna technologies" The beginning of OFDM can be dated to !8:1s< but it is practically impossible to implement orthogonal subcarriers ith traditional analog techniAues due to constraints in steps ' and ( above" #ith advancement of digital signal processing technologies< &"."#einstein and $"M"7bert put for ard a method for implementing orthogonal carrier modulation by using FF*< hich laid a solid foundation for ide use of the OFDM" *o overcome the 3&3 caused by multipath effect and timing error< /"$eled and /"9ui5t raised an idea for adding a cyclic prefi4"

1.# *dvantages and Disadvantages o( OFDM

The OFDM system advantages: *he OFDM system converts high;rate serial data into lo ;rate parallel data to e4tend the symbol duration on each subcarrier< hich effectively reduces the 3&3 caused by time dispersion on instead of using any balancer" &ubcarriers are orthogonal and subchannels can be overlapping one another" *herefore< the OFDM system can make full use of spectral resources in contrast ith classical FDM systems" Orthogonal modulation and demodulation on subchannels can be implemented through FF* and 3FF*" 2enerally ireless data services such as ebpage bro sing and F*$ ireless channels and simplifies the receiver balance" &ometimes the 3&3 impact can be eliminated by adding a cyclic prefi4 ins increasingly ide attention because of its follo ing

do nloading are asymmetric< that is< the data volume in do nlink is much larger than that in uplink" *he M& po er is usually less than !# and the transfer rate in macro cellular environments is less than !1 kbitLs !11 kbitLs" *he .& transmit po er can be great and may provide over ! MbitLs of transfer rate" *herefore< the physical layer is e4pected to support asymmetric high;rate data transfer so as to meet the user data service demands and the mobile communications system reAuirements" *he OFDM system can easily implement different transfer rates in uplink and do nlink by using different amounts of subchannels"
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#ireless channels have freAuency selectivity and all subcarriers are less likely to be concurrently in deep fading" &ubchannels improving system performance" ith a higher &,9 can be fully utili5ed through dynamic bit allocation and dynamic subchannel allocation< thus

*he OFDM system can be easily combined ith other access methods including Multi;Carrier Code Division Multiple /ccess =MC;CDM/>< FreAuency Copping OFDM =FC;OFDM>< and OFDM;*DM/ and to comprise an OFDM/ system to enable multiple users to simultaneously transfer information by use of OFDM technologies"

,arro band interference affects only a small part of subcarriers< so the OFDM system can protect against such narro band interference to some e4tent"

*here are multiple orthogonal subcarriers in the OFDM system< but the output signals are generated by overlap of several subchannels" Compared disadvantages: ith &ingle Carrier FDM/ =&C;FDM/> systems< the OFDM system has the follo ing

7asy to be affected by freAuency deviation: &pectral overlap of subchannels raises a rigorous reAuirement for orthogonality bet een subcarriers" Due to the time varying nature of ireless channels< freAuency deviation< for e4ample< hich ill Doppler shift< may occur to radio signals during signal transmission or bet een the transmitterIs carrier freAuency and the receiverIs local oscillator< impair the orthogonality bet een subcarriers and lead to mutual interference bet een subchannels" $ool sensitivity to freAuency deviation is a major defect of the OFDM system"

Cigh $eak;to;/verage $o er 9atio =$/$9>: *he output of the multi;carrier modulation system is overlap of several subchannel signals" #hen several signals have the same phase< the instantaneous po er of overlapping signals is much greater than the average signal po er< resulting in a high $/$9" *his lays an e4tremely high reAuirement for linearity of the amplifier on the transmitter" 3f the dynamic range of the amplifier cannot adapt to signal changes< it ill lead to signal distortion and spectral change of the overlapped signals< thus impairing the orthogonality bet een subchannel signals and causing mutual interference and system performance deterioration"

11

" Key %e hnologies o( OFDM

Knowledge points: 2uard interval and cyclic prefi4 &ynchroni5ation technology Channel estimate $/$9 reduction technology

".1 ,uard -nterval and Cy li Pre(i.

OFDM is robust to multipath delay spread" 3t e4tends each symbol duration that is used for subcarrier modulation to be , times larger than the original symbol duration through serial;to;parallel data conversion and modulation on , parallel subchannels" %ike ise< the ratio of delay spread to symbol duration decreases by ," *o eliminate the 3&3 to the greatest e4tent possible< a guard interval can be inserted bet een OFDM symbols" *he guard interval length *g is usually larger than the ma4imum delay spread of the ireless channel to prevent the multipath components of a symbol interfering the ne4t symbol" 3f no signal is interpolated ithin this guard interval< this interval is deemed an idle transmission period" 3n this case< ho ever< multipath propagation produces the 3C3 hich impairs the orthogonality bet een subcarriers< as sho n in the figure belo "

Figure '"!;!1 ICI caused by idle guard interval

13

very OFDM symbol contains all non;5ero subcarrier signals and delay signals" *he figure above sho s the delay signals of the first and the second subcarriers" 3n the FF* calculation period< the difference of number of periods bet een the first subcarrier and the second subcarrier subcarrier ith a delay is no longer an integer" *herefore< the second hen the receiver attempts to modulate the first hen the receiver ill cause interference

subcarrier" &imilarly< the first subcarrier may cause interference attempts to modulate the second subcarrier"

*o avoid the 3C3 caused by multipath delay effect< an OFDM symbol needs to be added ith a cyclic prefi4 ithin its guard interval< as sho n in the figure belo " *his can ensure that the delayed copies of an OFDM symbol contain an integral number of aveform periods in an FF* period and no 3C3 is caused during demodulation of the delay signals ith delays less than the guard interval *g"

Figure '"!;!! Cyclic prefi! of an OFDM symbol

"enerally, #hen the guard interval accounts for $%&, the po#er loss is not more than ! d. hile the data rate loss reaches up to '1M" 3n traditional 'C(FDM) systems< there are also data rate =band idth> losses" 2uard interval insertion can eliminate the 3&3 and the 3C3 caused by multipath delay effect< so such losses are orth hile" Figure '"!;!' sho s a block diagram of the 3DF* *3FF*>;based OFDM system ith a guard interval inserted"

14

Chapter rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here. rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here.

Figure '"!;!( IFFT(based OFDM modulation and cyclic prefi4 insertion

*he figure above sho s the process of OFDM modulation and cyclic prefi4 insertion: *he transmitter converts serial data signals into parallel output hich are the data symbols to be modulated on corresponding subcarriers and can be deemed as a group of data in the freAuency domain" /fter the 3FF*< the parallel data is transformed into the data located at dispersed time points" 3n this from freAuency domain to time domain" Figure '"!;!) sho s a group of Nuadrature $hase &hift Oeying =N$&O> symbols to be transmitted" ay< 3FF* implements conversion

Figure '"!;!: OFDM symbols

15

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

"." Syn hroni/ation %e hnology

&ynchroni5ation plays a vital role in communications systems" For e4ample< a receiver needs to e4tract a carrier that has the same freAuency and phase as the transmit carrier during synchronous demodulation and coherence detection< and needs to determine the start position of symbols" Common communications systems have the follo ing synchroni5ation problems: *he transmitter and the receiver have different carrier freAuencies" *he transmitter and the receiver have different sampling freAuencies" *he receiver does not kno the timed start position of symbols"

/n OFDM symbol consists of a group of overlapping subcarriers" &ubcarriers are distinguished by orthogonality hich is crucial for the OFDM system" *o ensure orthogonality< the OFDM system has a strict reAuirement for carrier synchroni5ation" *he OFDM system has the follo ing synchroni5ation reAuirements: Carrier synchroni5ation: *he oscillation freAuency at the receiver must be at the same freAuency and phase of the transmit carrier" &ample synchroni5ation: *he receiver and the transmitter must have the same sampling freAuency" *imed symbol synchroni5ation: *he 3FF* and the FF* must have the same start and end time" Compared #ith the 'C(FDM) system, the OFDM system has a higher reAuirement for synchroni5ation precision< because synchroni5ation deviation
system and the locations of various synchroni5ations in the system"

ill

cause the 3&3 and the 3C3" Figure '"';!- sho s the synchroni5ation reAuirements of the OFDM

16

Chapter rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here. rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here. Figure '"';!6 'ynchroni+ation diagram in the OFDM system

".".1 Carrier Syn hroni/ation

FreAuency deviation bet een the transmitter and the receiver leads to freAuency offset of received signals in the freAuency domain" 3f a freAuency offset is n times of the subcarrier interval =n is an integer>< although subcarriers can still maintain orthogonal< the freAuency already deviates n subcarriers a ay from the original value< spectrum" 3f a carrier freAuency deviation is not integral times of the subcarrier interval< there may e4ist energy leakage bet een subcarriers< .79 increase" Figure '"';!0 compares the system performance in the case of carrier synchroni5ation and out;of;synchroni5ation" hich impairs the orthogonality bet een subcarriers and leads to mutual interference bet een subchannels and system hich ill result in up to 1": bit error rate =.79> of data symbols mapped into the OFDM

Figure '"';!8 &ystem performance in the case of carrier synchroni5ation and out;of;synchroni5ation

Usually

e can achieve carrier synchroni5ation through t o processes: acAuisition and

tracing" 3n tracing mode< only freAuency fluctuations need to be handled" #hen the receiver is in acAuisition mode< the freAuency deviation may be as large as several times of the subcarrier interval" Carrier synchroni5ation can be e4ecuted through t o phases" 3n phase 3 =acAuisition>< the receiver roughly estimates the freAuency as soon as possible to acAuire the carrier" 3n phase 33 =tracing>< the receiver locks and traces the target" Dividing the synchroni5ation task into t o phases has advantages: *he algorithm in each phase only needs to consider the tasks to be e4ecuted in a specific period<
17

hich brings sufficient

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

freedom for synchronous structure design" 3n phase 3< the tracing performance" 3n phase 33< tracing performance"

e only need to consider ho

to

roughly estimate the carrier freAuency in a large acAuisition scope e only need to consider ho

ithout considering to achieve better

"."." %imed Sym+ol Syn hroni/ation

/ cyclic prefi4 guard interval is inserted bet een OFDM symbols< so the start time of synchroni5ation bet een OFDM symbols can change causing any 3C3 or 3&3< as sho n in the figure belo " ithin the guard interval ithout

Figure '"';'1 &tart time of synchroni5ation bet een OFDM symbols

*he 3C3 and 3&3 e4ist only

hen the FF* calculation

indo

goes beyond the symbol e

boundary or falls in the symbol amplitude roll;off 5one" *his means that the OFDM system does not reAuire strict timed synchroni5ation bet een symbols" Co ever< must identify the optimal symbol timing in order to achieve the best system performance in a multipath propagation environment" /lthough the start time of synchroni5ation can be selected at discretion thus the tolerant delay spread of the system minimi5e this negative impact< synchroni5ation as much as possible" 3n most cases< timed symbol synchroni5ation and carrier synchroni5ation are implemented by inserting a pilot symbol< hich may result in aste of band idth and aste< e po er resources and system effectiveness decrease" 3n fact< almost all multi;carrier systems eliminate the 3&3 by inserting a guard interval" *o avoid resource
18

ithin the guard interval< any symbol ill be lo er than the preset value" *o

timing change may enhance the sensitivity of the OFDM system to delay spread and e need to reduce the deviation of timed symbol

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usually utili5e the information carried by the guard interval to implement the ma4imum likelihood estimation for symbol synchroni5ation and carrier synchroni5ation"

Figure '"';'! OFDM block diagram used in carrier synchroni5ation and symbol synchroni5ation

&ynchroni5ation is an essential issue for the OFDM system< and synchroni5ation performance directly determines hether the OFDM technology can be applied to the ireless communications field" *here are several synchroni5ation modes in the OFDM system: carrier synchroni5ation< timed symbol synchroni5ation< and sample synchroni5ation" *hey all affect the OFDM system performance" #e can choose an appropriate synchroni5ation method to lay a solid foundation for OFDM application in ireless communications systems"

".# Channel 0stimate

)n OFDM system ith a cyclic prefi4 is eAuivalent to , separate parallel subchannels" 9eceived signals on , subchannels ? *ransmitted signals on subchannels 4 &pectral feature of channel< if channel noise is not taken into account" 3f the spectral feature of channel is kno n through estimation< received signals can be correctly demodulated by dividing the received signals on subchannels by the spectral feature of channel" Channel estimate methods are commonly based on pilot channel and pilot symbol =reference symbol>" *he multi;carrier system has a time;freAuency t o;dimensional ='D> structure< so pilot symbol assisted channel estimate is more fle4ible" *his estimate method is to insert some kno n symbols and seAuences in several fi4ed locations of transmitter signals< so that the receiver can perform channel estimate using applicable algorithms based on these pilot symbols and seAuences" 3n a single;carrier system< pilot
19

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

symbols and seAuences can be inserted in the time a4is only and the receiver e4tracts pilot symbols to estimate the channel pulse response" 3n a multi;carrier system< pilot symbols can be inserted in both time and freAuency a4es and the receiver e4tracts pilot symbols to estimate the channel transfer function" #e can insert filters in a 'D structure to estimate the channel transfer function only if the interval of pilot symbols in time and freAuency directions is small enough as opposed to the channel band idth"

".$ P*P1 1edu tion %e hnology

.esides lo sensitivity to freAuency deviation< the OFDM system has another ith the single;carrier system< an OFDM disadvantage: overhigh $/$9" Compared

symbol is the sum of many independent modulated signals" &uch signals may produce larger peak po er hich ill cause a high $/$9" &ignal pre;distortion is the simplest for the signals ay to reduce the $/$9" .efore sent to an hich aims to perform pre;distortion

amplifier< signals undergo non;linear processing

ith a high $/$9 to prevent them from going beyond the dynamic

change scope of the amplifier" *he most popular signal distortion technologies include amplitude limiting and compression and e4pansion"

".$.1 *mplitude !imiting

/mplitude limiting before signals pass the non;linear components can reduce the peak signal level to be lo er than the e4pected ma4imum level" /mplitude limiting is Auite simple but also brings problems for the OFDM system" First< distortion of the OFDM symbol amplitude ill cause interference to the system itself< leading to .79 ill increase performance degradation" &econd< non;linear distortion of OFDM signals multiplying the OFDM sample symbol by a rectangular rectangular indo indo

the outband radiation po er" /mplitude limiting can be deemed as a process of function" #hen the amplitude of OFDM signals is less than the threshold value< the amplitude value of this function is !" #hen the signal amplitude needs to be limited< the indo function must be less than !" /s e all amplitude value of this rectangular

kno < time multiplied by freAuency is eAuivalent to freAuency domain convolution" *herefore< the limited OFDM symbol spectrum eAuals the convolution of the original OFDM symbol spectrum and the the rectangular indo function"
20

indo

function spectrum" Outband spectral features

are determined by the signal ith a large spectral band idth< that is< by the spectrum of

Chapter rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here. rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here.

To prevent overhigh outband radiation caused by the rectangular indo function< other non;rectangular figure belo " indo functions can be adopted< as sho n in the

Figure '");'' ,indo# adding for time domain OFDM symbols

*he principle for selecting a

indo

function: 7nsure that the

indo

function has

good spectral features and does not stay an overlong time in the time domain to prevent bringing an impact to more time domain sampling signals"

".$." Compression and 0.pansion

.esides amplitude limiting< signal compression and e4pansion is another choice for signal pre;distortion" 3n a classical e4pansion method< symbols of smaller amplitude are amplified hile those of larger amplitude remain unchanged" *his increases the average system transmit po er but also makes the symbol po er be closer to the non; linear change area of the po er amplifier< easily resulting in signal distortion" *o avoid signal distortion< this document presents an improved compression and e4pansion means through hich large;po er transmit signals are compressed and small;po er transmit signals are amplified to keep the average po er of transmit
21

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

signals relatively unchanged" *his not only reduces the system $/$9< but also enhances anti;interference capability of small;po er signals" G;la compression and e4pansion can be employed in this means" 3mplement compression and e4pansion on signals at the transmitter< and carry out reverse operations at the receiver to restore original data signals" Figure '");'( sho s the OFDM system baseband diagram compression and e4pansion changes" ith

Figure '");') OFDM system baseband diagram ith compression and e4pansion changes

22

# OFDM *ppli ations

#.1 OFDM *ppli ations in Downlin2
%*7 Do nlink systems adopt Orthogonal FreAuency Division Multiple /ccess =OFDM/> hich is an OFDM;based application" OFDM/ divides transmission band idth into several subcarrier sets that are orthogonal and allocates them to different users to fle4ibly achieve resource sharing among M&s< thus implementing multiple access bet een among users" OFDM/ can be considered as a multiple access mode combining OFDM< FDM/< and *DM/ technologies" )s sho#n in Figure ("!;':< there are three diagrams: =a>< =b>< and =c>" 3f e perceive the OFDM itself as a transfer mode< diagram =a> sho s that all resources including time and freAuency are allocated to a user" Diagram =b> sho s an OFDM -FDM/ mode that allo s subcarriers to be allocated to different users" One crucially important difference bet een the traditional FDM/ mode and the OFDMPFDM/ mode is that adjacent carriers allocated to different users are partially overlapping in the latter mode" The OFDMPFDM/P*DM/ mode is to dynamically allocate carriers in time domain" /s sho in diagram =c>< freAuency resources are dynamically allocated based on the data rate needed by each user and the current channel Auality<

Figure ("!;'- OFDM;based multiple access modes

In the OFDM/ system< every user can be allocated different ith each other< as sho n in the figure belo "
23

ith a fi4ed time;freAuency grid

diagram so that each user utili5es specific part of subcarriers and their subcarriers are

Figure ("!;'6 Time(frequency diagram of an OFDM/ scheme ith fi4ed subcarrier allocation

Frequency hopping *F./ can be easily introduced into the OFDM/ scheme" *he subcarrier freAuency used by each user can be selected based on the FC pattern in every timeslot" *his allo s each user to employ different FC patterns< hich converts the OFDM/ system into an FC;CDM/ system" *he greatest benefit brought by FC;OFDM/ is to design orthogonal FC patterns for multiple cellular users so as to eliminate interference in the cell< as sho n in the figure belo "

Figure ("!;'0 F.(OFDM/ scheme

OFDM/ integrates both FC and OFDM technologies to constitute a fle4ible multiple

24

Chapter rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here. rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here.

access scheme" 3t has the follo ing advantages: The OFDM/ system is free from interference larger system capacity" OFDM/ can fle4ibly cater to the loan reAuirements" 3t can adapt to a specific transmission band idth by simply changing the number of subcarriers users" #hen a user transfer rate rises< OFDM/ can be adopted in combination ith the dynamic channel allocation technology to support high;rate data transfer" ithin the cell< so it can achieve

#." OFDM *ppli ations in 3plin2

The OFDM system output is superposition of multiple subchannel signals" 3f several signals have the same phase< the instantaneous po er of the overlapping signals is much greater than the average signal po er< resulting in a high $/$9" *his lays an e4tremely high reAuirement for transmitter linearity" *herefore< OFDM;based multiple access technologies are not applicable to the U7 side in uplinks" *he &C;FDM/ technology adopted in %*7 uplinks is based on the DF*;spread OFDM scheme and it has a lo er $/$9 compared ith the OFDM"

#.".1 DF%4spread OFDM

Figure ("';'8 sho s the DF*&;OFDM modulation process"

Figure ("';(1 DF*&;OFDM modulation

DF*&;OFDM modulation is implemented in the unit of data symbol clock of si5e M: !" /cAuire the freAuency domain seAuence of a time domain disperse seAuence through Discrete Fourier *ransform =DF*>" *his freAuency domain seAuence of si5e M needs to accurately describe the time domain signals represented by M
25

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

data symbol blocks" '" *he DF* output signals are sent to the ,;point 3nverse Discrete Fourier *ransform =3DF*>< here ,QM" .ecause the 3DF* is longer than the DF*< the e4cess input of the 3DF* is padded ith 5eros" (" /dd a cyclic prefi4 for this group of data after 3DF* to avoid the 3&3" /ccording to the modulation process above< DF*&;OFDM implementation has the same procedureR3DF*Ras OFDM implementation< so DF*&;OFDM can be deemed as an OFDM process ith precoding" 3f the length M of DF* eAuals the length , of 3DF*< then both DF* and 3DF* effects ill be cancelled after they are cascaded and the output signal 3DF* output signal has the follo ing features: !" '" *he $/$9 of the 3DF* output is less than that of the OFDM signal" *he freAuency domain location occupied by output signals can be changed by varying the mapping from DF* output to 3DF* input" /cAuire the spectrum of input signals through DF*" *he ,;point 3DF* can be deemed as an OFDM modulation procedure hich is actually to modulate the spectral information of input signals to multiple orthogonal subcarriers" OFDM subcarriers in %*7 do nlink carry data symbols directly< so the $/$9 of DF*&;OFDM can maintain the same $/$9 as the original data symbol" /n e4ample point< as sho n in the figure belo " ith ,?M can illustrate this ill be an ordinary ith 5eros< the single;carrier modulated signal" #hen ,QM and the 3DF* is padded

Figure ("';(! DF*&;OFDM symbol transmission 26

Chapter rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here. rror! "se the #ome ta$ to apply 1 to the te%t that yo& want to appear here.

*he spectrum of input data symbols can be moved to a different location by changing the mapping from DF* output to 3DF* input" Figure ("';) sho s t o mapping modes: centrali5ed mapping and distributed mapping"

Figure ("';(' Centrali+ed and distributed DF*&;OFDM modulation schemes

Figure("';: sho s the spectral distribution of output signals in these t o mapping modes"

Figure ("';(( 'ignal spectrum modulated in centrali+ed and distributed DF*&;OFDM schemes

#."." SC4FDM*
&C;FDM/ can be easily implemented by taking advantage of the DF*&;OFDM features above" Multiple access can be achieved by changing the mapping from DF* output to 3DF* input of different users hen several users reuse spectral resources" 3n addition< subcarriers are orthogonal to each other< avoiding multi;address interference" /s sho n in Figure ("';-< multiple access can be implemented by changing the mapping from DF* to 3DF*" &pectral resources can be fle4ibly configured by varying the data symbol block si5e M of input signals"

27

%*7DFDDDe,.DCD!! %*7 OFDM $rinciple

Figure ("';() DF*&;OFDM;based FDM/

/s sho n in Figure ("';6< &C;FDM/ supports t o resource allocation modes: centrali5ed mode and distributed mode hich are t o uplink access modes as discussed in (2$$" #e choose the centrali5ed distribution mode in order to obtain a lo $/$9 and reduce the U7 load" *o acAuire the freAuency diversity gain< e employ uplink FC as an alternative scheme of the uplink distributed transmission mode"

Figure ("';(: DF*&;OFDM;based centrali5ed and distributed FDM/

28