BEP Analysis of OFDM Relay Links

with Nonlinear Power Amplifiers

Taneli Riihonen , Stefan Werner , Fernando Gregorio ,

al
ainen

Risto Wichman , and Jyri Ham

Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Finland

Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina

IEEE WCNC 2010, Sydney, Australia

Introduction

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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 2 / 19

Motivation

Goal: study the effect of nonlinear distortion in OFDM relay links

.

Background: cheap power amplifiers vs. high PAPR in OFDM

Focus:
Fixed infrastructure-based relay node
. Amplify and forward (AF) protocol
. Frequency-domain processing
.

Relay node
Base station
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User

OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 3 / 19

System Model

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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 4 / 19

OFDM Signal with Nonlinear Distortion

xt ( )

x
t ( )

DFT

PA

Yr [n]

CP removal

P/S and D/A

htr ( )

A/D and S/P

t
CP insertion

inverse DFT

Xt [n]

Signal model from transmitter t {S, R} to receiver r {R, D}

Tx: Xt [n] in frequency domain, xt ( ) in time domain
Nonlinear power amplifier (PA) static and memoryless:
t [n] = Kt Xt [n] + Vt [n]
x
t ( ) = ft (xt ( )) = Kt xt ( ) + vt ( ), i.e., X

Power of distortion noise is t2 =

1
2}
E{|V
[n]|
t
Pt

Multipath channel: htr ( ) and in frequency domain Htr [n]

Rx: Yr [n] = Kt Htr [n]Xt [n] + Htr Vt [n] + Wr [n]

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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 5 / 19

Two-Hop Amplify-and-Forward OFDM Relay Link

x
R ( )

DFT

CP removal

PA

A/D and S/P

P/S and D/A

hRD ( )

xR ( )

YD [n]

R
CP insertion

inverse DFT

x
S ( )

XR [n]

amplification

xS ( )

CP removal

PA

A/D and S/P

P/S and D/A

hSR ( )

DFT

YR [n]

S
CP insertion

inverse DFT

XS [n]

Parallel processing of subcarriers in frequency domain

r

PR
2
2
2
(KS +S )PS |HSR [n]|2 +R

Amplification by [n] =

End-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) becomes

[n] =

KS2 SR [n]
S2 SR [n]+1
KS2 SR [n]
S2 SR [n]+1

2
KR
RD [n]
2
R RD [n]+1

2
KR
RD [n]
2
R
RD [n]+1

+1

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where

SR [n] =
RD [n] =

PS |HSR [n]|2
2
R
PR |HRD [n]|2
2
D

OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 6 / 19

Multipath Channels
The source and the relay are fixed nodes, and the destination is mobile

Relay node
Base station

User

Sourcerelay channel hSR ( ): stationary multipath components

Practical model: SR [n] = SR [n] = E {SR [n]}
. Not necessarily line-of-sight, i.e.,
SR [n] 6= SR [m]
.

Relaydestination channel hRD ( ): Rayleigh fading components

.

SNR distribution fRD [n] (s) = (1/

RD [n]) exp (s/
RD [n])
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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 7 / 19

BEP Analysis

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BEP Derivation

[n]RD [n]
in which
Reformulate the end-to-end SNR as [n] = 2 [n]
RD [n]+1

[n] =
[n] =

2
SR [n]
KS2 KR
1
2 (KS2 + S2 ) SR [n] + 1


2
2
2 2
2 2
2 2
+ R
KS R + S KR + S R SR [n] + KR
(KS2 + S2 ) SR [n] + 1

Omitting few steps, average bit-error probability (BEP) is

calculated as


Pe [n] =

X
(1)k k + 32
1
1

1
2 2 [n]
RD [n]
k!(k
+
2)
k=0
k+ 21 


[n]
1
3

U k + , 2,
[n]
2
[n]
RD [n]
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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 9 / 19

BEP Bounds
Linear PAs by substituting KS = KR = 1 and S2 = R2 = 0
Asymptotic lower bounds
e [n] P SR [n] with
. First hop limited by distortion: P

SR

SR

2
1 KS2 KR
,
[n] =
lim [n] =
2
2
2 KS + S

SR [n]

2
2
2
+ S2 R
+ S2 KR
KS2 R
[n] =
lim [n] =
KS2 + S2

SR [n]
r

Simpler bound by linear PAs: PeSR [n]

Second hop limited by distortion:

1
Pe [n] PeRD [n] = erfc
2
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[n]
[n]

1
2

1
erfc
2

1
2

RD [n]

RD [n]+2

SR [n]
2

OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 10 / 19

Discussion

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Soft Limiter PA Model

Transmitter t

Clipping the amplitude of PA input signal:

|
xt ( )| = ft (|xt ( )|) =
.

At
|xt ( )|,
t

At Pt ,

|xt ( )| t Pt

|xt ( )| > t Pt

Adjustable input back-off t2

PA factors in closed form:

Kt

t2




At
t
1 exp t2 +
erfc (t )
t
2



A2t
2
2
1

exp

K
t
t
t2
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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 12 / 19

Optimization of Back-off Factors (1)

6

1.5
5
1.52
5
1.5
5
5
1.57

) = arg min

(S , R
(S ,R ) Pe [n]
subject to S > 0, R > 0

1.

1.6
1.625
1.65

25

1.6

75

62

2
R
[dB]

1.5

67

1.6

1.

1.69

1.6

67

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1.69

1.

25

1.65
2

S2 [dB]

1.6

1.5

1.5

1.

62

75

1.

S =S

1.675

65

1.

1.65

KS2 SR [n]
= arg min 2
, S > 0
S

[n]
+
1
S SR



R
= arg min Pe [n]
, R > 0

1.

4 1.6

Can be decomposed as

1.
5
52
1. 5
55

1.575

1.

1.55

Fig. 2. Contour plot for log10 Pe [n] in terms of the input back-off
factors when
SR [n] = 15dB,
RD [n] = 20dB, and AS = AR = 1. The
minimal bit error probability Pe [n] = 2.0 102 is reached with S2 =
2 = 2.18dB (marked with ).
2.85dB and R

OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 13 / 19

Optimization of Back-off Factors (2)

30

RD [n] [dB]
5

3
2

15

20

SR [n] [dB]
(a) S2 [dB]

25

30

3
2

15

1
10

1
1

2
5 3
4
5
6
0
0

10

2
3
4
5
6
15

RD [n] [dB]

1
2

2
1

10

5
4

3
3
5

4
6
5
5

RD [n] [dB]

4
0

20

20
1.75

1.5

15

1.25

1.25
10

75

2.25

0.

2.5

15

10

20

25

2.75

2.2

1.75
1.5

25

1.25

5
0.75

25

30

30

20

SR [n] [dB]
2 [dB]
(b) R

25

3
4
5
6
30

0.75
0.5

10

15

20

25

30

SR [n] [dB]
`

(c) log10 Pe [n]

Fig. 3. Contour plots for the optimized input back-off factors and the minimal bit error probability when AS = AR = 1. The SNR pair (
SR [n],
RD [n])
considered in Fig. 2 is marked with .

Numerical optimization validates the decomposition

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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 14 / 19

Numerical Results (1)

101

Pe [n]

102
2
S2 = 6dB, R
= 0.5dB
2
S2 = 2dB, R
= 3dB

10

2
2
S2 = S2 , R
= R
2
2
S linear, R
= R

S2 = S2 , R linear
Both PAs linear
104

10

15

20

25

30

[dB]
Fig. 4. Average bit error probability when
SR [n] =
,
RD [n] =
+ 5dB
and AS = AR = 1.

Input back-off adjustment is a trade-off between having closely

optimal BEP at low SNR or a low BEP floor at high SNR
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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 15 / 19

Numerical Results (2)

2
S2 = S2 , R
= 6dB
2
2
2
S = S , R
= 2dB
2
2
S2 = S2 , R
= R
2
2
S linear, R = R
S2 = S2 , R linear
Both PAs linear

2
S2 = 6dB, R
= 0.5dB
2
S2 = 2dB, R
= 3dB
2
2
S2 = S2 , R
= R
2
2
S linear, R
= R

101

101

S2 = S2 , R linear

Pe [n]

Pe [n]

Both PAs linear

102

102

10

15

SR [n] [dB]

20

25

30

Fig. 5. Average bit error probability in terms of the first hop SNR when the
second hop SNR
RD [n] = 20dB and AS = AR = 1.

10

15

RD [n] [dB]

20

25

30

Fig. 6. Average bit error probability in terms of the second hop SNR when the
first hop SNR
SR [n] = 15dB (hence S2 = 2.85dB) and AS = AR = 1.

PA nonlinearity causes both SNR loss and higher BEP floors

The performance is asymmetric: The second hop is more critical

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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 16 / 19

Conclusion

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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 17 / 19

Conclusion

Derivation of closed-form bit error probability expressions

Infrastructure-based amplify-and-forward OFDM relay link
. The effect of nonlinear power amplifiers
. The performance with ideal linear PAs is a special case
.

The results are applicable to any memoryless power amplifier

.

Soft limiter model was selected for the numerical illustrations

The adjustment of power amplifier input back-offs

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OFDM Relays with Nonlinear PAs 18 / 19

Thank you!

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