OFDM Basics for

Wireless
Communications

Institute of Darmstadt
Microelectronic University of
Systems Technology
 Single Carrier vs. Multicarrier

Data
Single Carrier
Data
bits Noise bits

TX RX
MOD
MOD
TX
Filter
Filter
h(t,τ)τ)
h(t,
+ RX
Filter
Filter
DEMOD
DEMOD
e.g., QAM
Wireless Channel

Multicarrier
Data Data
TX
TX RX
RX
bits MOD
MOD Filter Noise Filter DEMOD
DEMOD bits
1 Filter Filter

Σ h(t,τ)τ)
h(t,
+
TX Wireless Channel RX
MOD TX RX DEMOD
MOD Filter
Filter Filter
Filter DEMOD
N

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 2 L.D. Kabulepa

 Multicarrier Transmission
f Single Carrier (SC)

Basic principle:

| h(f) |2
• Split the transmision bandwidth FSC
into many narrow subchannels
which are transmitted in parallel
Tsymb, SC t
• (Ideally) Each subchannel is | h(τ) |2
narrow enough so that it
experiences a flat fading τ
although the overall radio f
propagation environment is
frequency-selective.
| h(f) |2 FSC
F= N
The time dispersion effects
are less significant as the
symbol duration increases
Multicarrier t
TS = N Tsymb, SC
VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 3 L.D. Kabulepa
 Benefit of Multicarrier Transmission
The multicarrier transmission allows to achieve high data rate
in frequency-selective radio propagation environment

By assuming the same data rate:

• Single-Carrier

1
> BC ⇒ Distortion, interference (ISI)
Tsymb,SC
Large amount of signal processing
required in the equalizer
• Multicarrier
1
< BC ⇒ No interference
N Tsymb,SC - Data rate can be increased by using
a larger number of subcarriers
- Less equalization effort (as ISI is reduced
(BC = Coherence bandwidth)
by a factor N)
VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 4 L.D. Kabulepa
 Benefit of Multicarrier Transmission: Example

• A data rate of 10 Mbit/s is targeted in a multipath radio environment by

using the BPSK modulation. Maximum spread delay = 5 µs

5 Mbit/s with BPSK ⇒ Bandwidth = 5 MHz

• Single Carrier Scenario

Tsymb,SC = 0.2 µs ⇒ τmax = 25 Tsymb,SC
⇒ Intersymbol-Interference (ISI) is extended over 25 symbols

• Multicarrier Scenario
Number of subcarriers: 128
Symbol duration = N Tsymb,SC ⇒ τmax = 0.039 NTsymb,SC
⇒ ISI significantly reduced

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 5 L.D. Kabulepa

 Orthogonal Multicarrier

Orthogonality between the sub

-carriers allows their overlapping
Frequency
while disabling the occurrence of
crosstalks.

Thus, a significant power saving

can be achieved by using an
orthogonal multicarrier technique
Bandwidth saving

Frequency

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 6 L.D. Kabulepa

 Orthogonal Multicarrier (cont‘d)
The orthogonality between the subcarriers can be achieved by letting the
transmit filters gi(t) and the receive filters ri(t) fulfill the following conditions
(i ∈ {1, ... , N})

1. Matched filter condition

ri (t ) = K ⋅ g ∗i (T0 − t )
2. Convolution condition
+∞
c j,n (t = 0 ) = ∫ g j (τ ) ⋅ h n (t − τ ) dτ
τ = −∞
+∞ ⎧1 , j=n
= ∫ g j (τ ) ⋅ g (t − τ ) dτ = δ j,n = ⎨
∗
n
τ = −∞
⎩0 , j≠ n
(Assumption: Perfect synchronization, T0 = 0, K = 1)
VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 7 L.D. Kabulepa
 Conventional OFDM
OFDM = Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

• In a conventional OFDM system, the orthogonality between the subcarriers

is achieved by means of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT)

• Baseband OFDM signal

N −1
s(t) = ∑ a k j2π k ∆f t
,0≤ t ≤T
k =0
• Passband OFDM signal
⎧ N −1 ⎫
s(t) = Re⎨∑ a k j2π (f C + k ∆f ) t
⎬ ,0≤ t ≤T
⎩ k =0 ⎭
ak = complex-valued modulated symbols (e.g., QAM)
N = number of subcarriers
fC = carrier frequency 1 1
Ts = sampling period, f = subcarrier spacing ∆f = =
The inverse DFT is used at the transmitter side T N TS
VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 8 L.D. Kabulepa
 Conventional OFDM(cont‘d)
1 subcarrier

6 subcarriers

• The receiver is expected to compute the spectra values at those points

corresponding to the maxima of individual subcarriers
• As a maximum of a subcarrier corresponds to zeros of other subcarrier,
each subcarrier can demolutated independently of the others (by assuming
a perfect synchronization)
VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 9 L.D. Kabulepa
 Impact of a Wireless Channel

i-1 i i+1 i+2

OFDM Symbol OFDM Symbol OFDM Symbol OFDM Symbol

t
Channel Power
Delay Profile
|h(τ)|2
Interference
Symbol (i-1)

Symbol (i)

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 10 L.D. Kabulepa

 Cyclic Extension
Cyclic Extension

i-1 i i+1
G OFDM Symbol G OFDM Symbol G OFDM Symbol G
t
Channel Power
Delay Profile
|h(τ)|2

Symbol (i-1) Interference induced by

the channel are canceled
Symbol (i)
by inserting a cylic extension
with Tg > τmax
(at the expense of the data
Tg T Rate)

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 Circular Convolution
• In the presence of interference induced by the channel

DFT {h(k) ∗ s(k)}N ≠ DFT{h(k)}N ∗ DFT{s(k)}N

• The cyclic extension (with Tg > τmax) allows to apply the circular
convolution

DFT {h(k)ˆ
∗ s(k)}N = DFT{h(k)}N ˆ
∗ DFT{s(k)}N
ˆ
∗ = Circular Convolution
This property allows the use of a simple equalization scheme in the
receiver
⇒ ˆ y(n) = H(n) ⋅ y(n) Relationship between transmitted
and detected symbol

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 12 L.D. Kabulepa

 OFDM Transceiver
s‘k
Transmitter
sk
xk

Transmit
Transmit
P/S Filter

IDFT
Filter
S/P
Channel

Multipath
Propagation
Environment

Receiver
Remove CP { +
AWGN
η

Receive
Receive
S/P Filter
Filter
DFT

P/S

yn rk

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 13 L.D. Kabulepa

 OFDM Drawbacks
1. High sensitivity to synchronization errors
Synchronization errors ⇒ Interference, loss of orthogonality

Frequency
Timing Errors Q ∆Φ = 2π fC δt
FFT Window

Time
I
δt
f (t − δ t ) F (f ) ⋅ e
− j 2 π f δt

Frequency Offset Errors ζ f ∆f

Frequency

fC
FFT Window
ζ f ∆f
Time Frequency

∆f f-1 f0 f1 f2
f (t ) ⋅ e F (f ) ∗ δ (f − ξ f ∆f )
− j 2 π t ξ f ∆f

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 14 L.D. Kabulepa

 OFDM Drawbacks(cont‘d)
2. Occurrence of very high peak values

Amplitude Peak amplitude A reduction of

the PAPR is highly
RMS amplitude desirable. The higher
the PAPR, the lower
The efficiency of circuits
such as power amplifiers
and analog-to-digital
time converters

Peak amplitude Peak power

CR = PAPR = CR2 =
RMS amplitude Average power

CR: Crest Factor PAPR: Peak-to-Average Power Ratio

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 15 L.D. Kabulepa

 OFDM Drawbacks(cont‘d)
DLC
DLC Append
(MAC) Tx
TxAnalog
Analog
(MAC) Cyclic
Prefix Append
Preambles DAC
Scrambling DAC
Encoding
Interleaving
Inter-
Inter- Shaping
Shaping
MPX
MPX polation Filter
P/S polation Filter

S/P IFFT
Mapping

Nonlinear effects generated

DAC
DAC
by the power amplifier I/Q
I/Q
may introduce intercarrier- Mod.
Mod.
DAC
interfrence and thus destroy DAC
PA
Transmit
Filter
the orthogonality
LO1 LO2

VLSI_Comms WS03-04/Generalities 16 L.D. Kabulepa