Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

Frequency Selectivity of the Channel

System bandwidth vs. Coherence Bandwidth

Frequency Non-Selective Channel Frequency-Flat channel Channel impulse response is a simple impulse function. Detecting symbols at the MF output is optimum in the ML sense No need for an equalizer/MLSD. Generally low data rate.
Spring'09

Frequency Selective Channel Channel impulse response has a certain width in time, max. Detecting symbols at the MF output is NOT optimum in the ML sense An equalizer/MLSD required. Generally high data rate.

ELE 739 - OFDM

SC vs. MC
If we use a single carrier modulation scheme,
For relatively low bit rate there is no problem
Channel is flat, No equalizer is required.

For increased data rate, system bandwidth will increase

May cause ISI Gets worse as data rate (system BW) increases. ISI causes severe error in the detected symbols. An Equalizer/MLSD is required for better reception.

What if we have many independent low bit rate (system BW) transmissions in parallel? Single Carrier Multi-Channel (Carrier) no.chnl=1, Rk=R, Rk=R no.chnl=N, Rk=R/N, Rk=R W R >> Bc Wk R/N << Bc
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 3

FDMA
One way of generating independent multi-channel systems is to divide the frequency range into smaller parts subcarriers (freq. bins) How can we seperate subchannels in freq. so that they do not interfere
FDMA: Subcarriers must be separated at least by the BW of the xmission Waste of precious spectrum.

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

OFDM
Instead place the subcarriers at frequencies
Obviously, Pulse shape is rectangular spectrum is the sinc function. Spectra of the above pulses overlap but the sub-carrier frequencies are placed at the spectral nulls of all other pulses.

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

OFDM
How can we generate these pulses,
Analog way, have N oscillators at frequencies Many practical problems

(i+1)T

ci,0 ci,1

~ ci,0 ~ ci,1

ci,N-1

~ ci,N-1

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

OFDM
Alternative (digital) way, use the IFFT/FFT pair
Much easier to implement on a digital platform Overcomes the problems of the analog implementation
(i+1)T

ci,0 ci,1

~ ci,0 ~ ci,1

ci,N-1

~ ci,N-1

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

OFDM
Consider the transmitted signal
i: OFDM Symbol index n: Subcarrier index

where the normalized (rectangular) basis pulse gn(t) is

Now, w.l.o.g. consider only i = 0, and sample at instances

This is the IDFT of the transmit symbols {c0,n} If N is a power of 2, can be realized by IFFT.

N (n) freq.

IFFT

N (k) time
8

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

OFDM
{sk} are time samples transmitted sequentially in time P/S At the receiver, the procedure is reversed
Collect N samples in time S/P FFT ~ Obtain the estimates cn regarding the transmitted cn.

Works fine for the AWGN channel, subcarriers are orthogonal.

N data symbols

freq.

Guard Interval

N data symbols

freq.

Single Freq.

OFDM
Spring'09
OFDM Symbol (frame)

Delay dispersion

time ELE 739 - OFDM

Data Packet

Delay dispersion

time 9

Cyclic Prefix
Delay dispersion may destroy the orthogonality of the subcarriers.
Causes Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI).

Can be prevented by adding a Cyclic Prefix (CP) to the OFDM symbol.

Copy the last Ncp samples of the OFDM symbol to the beginning. Number of samples per OFDM symbol increases from N to N+Ncp.

If Ncp L-1 (delay dispersion of the channel (no. samples)) ICI is prevented.

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CP
Define a new basis function

where W/N is the carrier spacing and Ts=N/W. OFDM symbol duration is Ts=Ts+Tcp.
-Tcp < t < 0 ^ 0 < t < Ts : cyclic prefix part. : data part.

Normally, the signal arriving from a delay-dispersive channel is the linear convolution of the transmitted signal and the channel IR. CP converts this linear convolution to cyclical convolution.
If max Tcp.
ELE 739 - OFDM 11

Spring'09

Linear ISI CP

Cyclical ISI

CP

data

OFDM symbol i-1

OFDM symbol i

OFDM symbol i+1

At the receiver, to eliminate Linear ISI from the previous OFDM symbol (i-1), simply discard the CP part of the signal received corresponding to OFDM symbol i. We end up with cyclical ISI, totally contained in the i-th symbol. Assume that Tcp = max, also let i=0. In the receiver, there is bank of filters matched to the basis functions without the CP:

After removing CP, can be implemented by the FFT operation.

ELE 739 - OFDM 12

Spring'09

OFDM
The signal at the output of the MF is the convolution of the
Transmit signal (transmit data + IFFT), The channel impulse response, and The receive filter:

nn: noise at the MF output. Assume quasi-static channel, h(t, )=h()

Substituting gk(t) into the inner integral:

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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OFDM
Moreover, since the basis functions are orthogonal during 0 < t < Ts

The OFDM system is respresented by a number of parallel and orthogonal (non-interfering) non-dispersive (flat) fading channels, each with its own complex attenuation H(nW/N). Equalization is very simple:
Divide signal from each subchannel by the transfer function at that freq.

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OFDM

A simple structure which employs FFT/IFFT Very simple equalization (1-tap) if subcarriers are orthogonal ICI occurs when subcarriers are not orthogonal,
Happens when max Tcp

CP does not convey data, only used to prevent ISI/ICI

Decreases useful SNR Decreases throughput by Tcp/(Ts+Tcp)

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Another Perspective

Assume that a data block composed of N symbols. Consider two consequent data blocks.

c0,i-1 c1,i-1 cN-1,i-1

Spring'09

c0,i c1,i cN-1,i

ith data block.
ELE 739 - OFDM 16

(i-1)th data block.

Another Perspective
FFT matrix

IFFT matrix: Time-domain transmit signal:

Parallel-to-serial convert and trasmit through the channel.

ELE 739 - OFDM 17

Spring'09

Another Perspective
If we transmit both sequentially

c0,i-1 c1,i-1
(i-1)th OFDM symbol.

cN-1,i-1 c0,i

c1,i
ith OFDM symbol.

cN-1,i

In an ISI channel with length L taps

Last L-1 samples of the (i-1)th OFDM symbol will interfere the first L-1 samples of the ith OFDM symbol (in time). Causing ISI between OFDM symbols. ISI

L-1
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 18

Guard Period
In order to prevent ISI, place a guard period of at least L-1 samples between adjacent OFDM symbols. Place all-zeros in the guard period.
ISI ISI

GP
L-1 No ISI

No ISI between OFDM symbols ISI only within an OFDM symbol controllable Received signal is the convolution of the transmit signal and the channel.
ELE 739 - OFDM 19

Spring'09

discard discard

Collect these N samples for FFT

Collect these N samples for FFT

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Received Signal

ELE 739 - OFDM

GP

GP

20

Received Signal
This is equivalent to

GP

Example: N=8, L=3:

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HGP

H
ELE 739 - OFDM 21

FFT/IFFT
Now consider the system after removing CP

Taking FFT of yi, we obtain the estimates of cn,i

^ For a one-to-one relation between cn,i and cn,i, i.e. without ICI must be a diagonal matrix.

Q must diagonalize H.

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Diagonalization
Let us consider the Eigendecomposition of the matrix H

where E is a unitary matrix containing the eigenvectors of H, and is a diagonal matrix with the eigenvalues of H on the main diagonal. For an arbitrary H matrix E will also be arbitrary. To diagonalize the channel, we should use this matrix (EH more precisely) at the transmitter and at the receiver. Channel estimation is performed at the receiver, transmitter does not know the channel, hence E.
We need a feedback channel to move the E matrix to the transmitter, Not practical in many cases.
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 23

Diagonalization
As a special case, when the H is a circulant matrix, E becomes the FFT matrix. For our previous example with N=8, L=3,

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Cyclic Prefix
Instead of a Guard Period L-1 samples, repeat the last L-1 samples of si as the Cyclic Prefix at the beginning of and OFDM symbol.

same

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Diagonalization
The eigenvectors of Hcirc form the FFT matrix, hence the eigenvalues correspond to the samples of the transfer function of the channel

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Cyclic Prefix
FFT and IFFT (DFT/IDFT) are the pairs for
Circular convolution in the time domain, and Product of the transfer functions in the frequency domain.

For regular packet structure, ie. with the zero guard period, we have the linear convolution of the transmit signal and channel at the channel output.
Product of the transfer functions will not give what we want.

Cyclic prefix enables circular convolution

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Channel Estimation
We have seen the estimation of the Channel Impulse Response for single-carrier modulation. In OFDM, we have a number of narrowband (freq. flat) subcarriers
Each subcarrier channel can be represented by a single complex coefficient, Hn,i In total these coef.s give the Transfer Function of the channel.

We wish to obtain the estimates of the N samples of the Transfer Function. There are three approaches:
Pilot OFDM symbols, Scattered pilot symbols, Eigenvalue-decomposition based methods.

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

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Pilot-OFDM Symbol Based

We have a dedicated OFDM symbol containing known data.
Data on each subcarrier is known.

Appropriate for initial acquisition of the channel at the beginning of a transmission burst. If the known data on subcarrier n for OFDM symbol index i is cn,i, then

in the LS sense, or the Transfer Function is

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Pilot-OFDM Symbol Based

Linear MMSE estimator:

where is the covariance matrix bw. channel gains and the LS estimates of channel gains, and is the autocovariance matrix of the LS estimates. If the channel noise is AWGN

where
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 30

Pilot-OFDM Symbol Based

Produces very good estimates (the transfer function of the OFDM symbol of concern). Very high computational complexity. Suitable for initial channel acquisition. Uses all OFDM frame as pilot: no room for data. Less than N subcarrier can be used as pilot tones since neighbouring subcarriers are correlated (in frequency). Time correlation can be exploited: subsequent OFDM symbols are not used as pilots.
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 31

Scattered Pilots (in time & frequency)

We could use a grid structure for the pilots, i.e.
Pilots scattered in frequency and time What should be the spacing between the pilots?
Nt = ? Nf = ?

Sampling Theory:

Interpolate between the pilots to estimate the channel.

Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 32

Scattered Pilots (in time & frequency)

Interpolation can be done by MMSE estimation, Let be the LS estimates of the pilot tones, then

where Less complexity.

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Eigenvalue Decomposion Based Methods

Length of the Channel Impulse Response < OFDM symbol length Channel can be represented by less coefficients in the time domain. Consider the LMMSE estimator:

, approximately Ncp+1 eigenvalues of will have significant values, rest can be ignored.

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

34

Channel Shortening
Assume that the length of the communication channel is L taps, Then a CP of length at least L-1 is required in an OFDM symbol to eliminate ISI/ICI, Spectral Efficiency of OFDM with N subcarriers is

If L is fixed, N determines the efficiency, N (gets closer to 1) We cannot arbitrarily increase N due to the time-selectivity of the channel. Then we may decrease L ? Equalization effectively decreases L to 1. If the system allows taps for CP, we can have an equalized channel of length +1 taps more degrees of freedom.
ELE 739 - OFDM 35

Spring'09

Channel Shortening
[n]
x[n] Effective Channel, f + t[n] Filter, w z[n] ^ z[n] + [n]

Delay,

TIR, b

Complete Equalization
Forced to be these values.

Channel Shortening Equalization

Freely determined by the cost function.

{bk} are variable!

Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM

36

Channel Shortening (MMSE)

Design a receiver filter of nw taps

whose output is

Toeplitz Matrix

Same expressions as we have seen before.

Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 37

Cost Function
Now, the MMSE cost function is

For complete equalization we have

We can proceed with the same derivations as complete equalization by substituting

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ELE 739 - OFDM

38

Cost Function
Expanding the cost function

Using the property that data and noise are uncorrelated E{x*}=0

This is a quadratic function of w and b, first optimize wrt. w

ELE 739 - OFDM 39

Spring'09

Optimum Equalizer
Optimum equalizer coefficients are:

Substituting back to the MSE term

which is minimized by

OOPS!!!
It says: Do not transmit anything!

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ELE 739 - OFDM

40

Optimum TIR
To avoid the trivial solution, impose a constraint on the filters:
Unit norm constraint on w, wTw=1 Unit tap constraint on TIR, bk=1, bk: variable Unit norm constraint on TIR, bTb=1

Unit norm constraint on TIR gives better performance:

Hermitian symmetric

Cost and constraint are convex: Use Lagrangian method

This is the eigenvalue problem.

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Optimum TIR
defines a square windows in T

T=

Lagrangian becomes is the minimum eigenvalue of T and b is the corresponding eigenvector. Obviously, this still a function of delay . Above problem has to be solved for every possible .
ELE 739 - OFDM 42

Spring'09

Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR)

For frequency-time domain conversion we use the FFT/IFFT matrix:

Let the symbols to be transmitted be

Then the transmitted signal is ( + CP)

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

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Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR)

Most practical RF power amplifiers have limited dynamic range. They can be linear only in a limited range. There is no problem for a constant modulus signal since the amplitude of the signal does not change. But, even if the symbols to be transmitted are drawn from a constant modulus constellation (such as M-PSK), the output of the IFFT operator may have different amplitudes for every sample (in time). Example:
non-constant modulus constant modulus

Spring'09

time

ELE 739 - OFDM

IFFT

freq.

44

Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR)

The problem is; with the IFFT operation, the symbols on the subcarriers sometimes add constructively and at other times destructively.
Amplitude of the signal to be transmitted is proportional to N Power goes with N2

Another point of view is

We can consider the symbols on subcarriers as random variables If the number of subcarriers is large, adding these symbols up will result in a complex Gaussian distribution with a variance of unity (mean power), due to the central limit theorem. 4 times Absolute amplitude is Rayleigh distributed. Example: Probability that the peak power is 6 dB above the average power

Spring'09

ELE 739 - OFDM

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Impact of the Amplitude Distribution

An amplifier that can amplify nearly up to the possible peak value of the transmit signal is not practical
Requires expensive, inefficient class-A amplifiers.

Using a non-linear amplifier will cause distortions in the output signal.

Destroys the orthogonality of the subcarriers, causes ICI, increased BER. Nonlinearity causes spectral regrowth, increased out-of-band emissions interfering systems in the neighbouring frequency bands.

We may use PAPR reduction techniques.

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Coding for PAPR Reduction

In error control coding, for an (n,k) code and M-ary modulation,
There are Mn possible combinations of the symbols. But, we use a subset of these combinations of dimension Mk (#codewords) We choose one these Mk codewords of length n, i.e. For sending k symbols we use n symbols (n k)
Redundancy of (n - k) symbols.

Codewords chosen wisely, so that the distance between them is maximized.

We can think of an OFDM symbol as a possible combination of N, M-ary symbols (MN symbols)
Among these combinations, choose appropriate codewords so that PAPR is guaranteed to be below a certain level. Completely eliminates PAPR problem, Significant loss of throughput due to redundancy, Have some coding gain (but less than a dedicated ECC code).
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 47

Phase Adjustments
Define an ensemble of phase adjustment vectors I={n}l, l = 1,...,L, n = 1,...,N
Known both at the transmitter and receiver. Transmitter multiplies the OFDM symbol to be transmitted Ci by each of these phase vectors to get and then selects: to get the lowest PAPR possible. ^ ^ Instead of the sequence {cn}, {cn}l^is transmitted together with the index l. ^ Receiver undos phase adjustment by using the index l. Less overhead, Cannot guarantee a certain level of PAPR.
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 48

Correction by Multiplicative Function

Multiply the OFDM signal by a time-dependent function whenever the peak value is high.
Simplest example, Clipping (penalize by saturating the output)
If signal attains a level sk>A0, multiply the signal to be transmitted by A0/sk, i.e.

Another example, multiply the signal by a Gaussian function centered at times when the level exceeds the threshold (penalized by the Gauss func.)

Multiplying by a Gaussian in time is equivalent to convolving with a Gaussian in frequency spectral regrowth controlled by t2 Causes significant ICI increased BER.

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Correcting by Additive Function

Instead of multiplicative, we can use an additive correction function.
Correction function acts as pseudo-noise increased BER.

No best PAPR reduction technique. There is trade-off between

PAPR Redundancy/Overhead Guaranteeing a certain PAPR level ICI/BER Out-of-band interference.

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ELE 739 - OFDM

50

Inter-Carrier Interference
Cyclic prefix completely eliminates Inter-Carrier Interference and InterSymbol Interference caused by the quasi-static frequency selective channel
If the channel delay spread is less than the cyclic prefix

If the channel is time-varying (time-selective) and changes within an OFDM symbol,

Orthogonality of subcarriers is destroyed, Doppler shift of one subcarrier causes ICI in many adjacent subcarriers.

Doppler shifted Subcarrier.

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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ICI
Impact of time-selectivity is mostly determined by
Product of maximum Doppler frequency and duration of the OFDM symbol.

Spacing between subcarriers is inversely proportional to symbol duration

Large symbol duration, a small Doppler shift can cause considerable ICI.

Delay dispersion can also be a source of ICI

if CP is shorter than the maximum excess delay.
Length of the channel maybe changing from time to time.

Tradeoff: Large excess delay requires long CP reduced spectral efficiency. Shorter CP ICI. CP does not have to be chosen to cope with the worst case channel if the loss due to ICI is amenable, to increase spectral efficiency.

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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ICI
Received signal in case of ICI occuring as a result of Doppler shift or insufficient CP.

h[n, l] : sampled version of the time-variant channel IR h(t, ) L : maximum excess delay in units of samples L = maxN/Ts. u[n] : unit step function.

For a time-invariant channel (h[q, l]=h[ l ][q-l]) and sufficiently long CP, above expression reduces to

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ICI
Optimum choice of carrier spacing and OFDM symbol length:
Tradeoff between ICI and spectral efficiency (N/(N+Ncp))

Short symbol duration (Ts) (large subcarrier spacing) is good for reducing Doppler-caused ICI, Long symbol duration (narrow spacing) is good for satisfactory spectral efficiency
TCP is limited by the maximum excess delay, CP should be around 10% of the OFDM symbol for high efficiency

Choose Ts (N) to maximize

: function of the channel

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ELE 739 - OFDM

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Adaptive Modulation
Transfer function of a frequency selective channel has peaks and valleys.
Subchannels at peaks are good (narrowband) channels Almost no information can be transmitter through valleys
Energy over subcarriers are the same for this example.

For satisfying a target BER e.g. 10-2, too much energy would be required at these subcarriers. Power is limited!.
Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 55

Adaptive Modulation
We see that fixed power allocation loads bad channels with low SNR (high BER and low capacity) waste of energy. Problem:
We want to maximize the capacity of the system by wisely distributing the energy over subchannels Under the constraint of limited power

Solution is the waterfilling algorithm

where is the water level chosen to satify

Spring'09 ELE 739 - OFDM 56

Adaptive Modulation
waterlevel,

Total power
Power allocated to subcarrier - 1 No power is allocated to this subcarrier

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Adaptive Modulation
We have found the power allocation for each subcarrier which maximizes the capacity. What modulation should we use in the subcarriers to get as close as possible to the assigned capacity?
This means, the transmitter has to adapt the data rate according to the SNR available for a subcarrier. A constellation with Na points has a capacity of log2(Na) bits/channel use A higher order modulation (64-128-QAM) can be used for a subcarrier with high SNR, For low SNR, modulation order has to be decreased.

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