Equalization

Costas N. Georghiades

Introduction
When the channel is not ideal, or when signaling is not Nyquist, there is ISI at the receiver side The optimum receiver is a ML Sequence Estimator, which often is too complex In practice, we equalize the channel response using an equalizer

Data

Transmit Filter, P(f)

Channel C(f)

Receive Filter, H(f)

Equalizer To Detector E(f)

n (t )
P ( f ) = H ( f ) = Grc ( f ), where Grc ( f ) is the raised - cosine response
Costas N. Georghiades

The Zero-Forcing Equalizer

The overall response at the detector input must satisfy Nyquists criterion for no ISI:
Grc ( f ) = P( f ) C ( f ) H ( f ) E ( f ) = Grc ( f ) C ( f ) E ( f ) 1 E( f ) = e ja ( f ) where a ( f ) is the phase of C ( f ) C( f )

The noise variance at the output of the equalizer is:

N0 Grc ( f ) 2 e = 2 df 2 C ( f )
Costas N. Georghiades

If the channel has spectral nulls, there may be significant noise enhancement
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Transversal-Filter Zero-Forcing Equalizer

Data Transmit Filter, P(f) Channel C(f)

g (kT ) Receive x (t ) Equalizer g (t ) Filter, H(f) E(f) t = kT

n (t )

X ( f ) = P( f ) C ( f ) H ( f )

If Ts <T, we have a fractionally-spaced equalizer

e( t ) =
g (kT ) =
n= N
N

cn (t nTs ) E ( f ) =
c x[(kT nT )] ,
n s

n= N

cn e j 2 fnTs

n= N

k = 0, 1, 2, L, N

For no ISI, let:

Costas N. Georghiades

1 k = 0 g ( kT ) = 0 k = 1, 2,L, N

Thus...

X c = g c = X 1 g

Example: Consider a baud-rate sampled equalizer for a system for which 1 x (t ) = 2 t 1+ T

-5T 0 5T

Design a zero-forcing equalizer having 5 taps.

1.0 0.5 X = 0.2 0.1 0.059 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.059 0 0 1.0 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.5 1.0 0.5 0.2 , g = 1 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.5 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.1142 0.7796 1 c = X g = 1.7339 0.7796 0.1142
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Costas N. Georghiades

To Probe Further...
Zero-forcing equalizers ignore the additive noise and may significantly amplify noise for channels with spectral nulls Minimum-mean-square error (MMSE) equalizers minimize the mean-square error between the output of the equalizer and the transmitted symbol. They require knowledge of some auto and cross-correlation functions, which in practice can be estimated by transmitting a known signal over the channel Adaptive equalizers are needed for channels that are timevarying Blind equalizers are needed when no preamble is allowed Decision-feedback equalizers (DFEs) use tentative symbol decisions to eliminate ISI Ultimately, the optimum equalizer is a maximum-likelihood sequence estimator
Costas N. Georghiades