Orthogonal Frequency Division

Modulation (OFDM)

•  OFDM diagram
•  Inter Symbol Interference
•  Packet detection and synchronization
•  Related works
 Motivation
•  Signal over wireless channel
„  y[n] = Hx[n]
•  Work only for narrow-band channels, but
not for wide-band channels
„  e.g., 20 MHz for 802.11
20MHz

frequency
2.45GHz (Central frequency)
Capacity = BW * log(1+SNR)
 OFDM is a special OFDMcase isofaFrequency
special caseDivision Multiplex
of Frequency (FDM).
Division MultiplexAs an(F
Basic Concept of OFDM
(a) is like water flowisout likeofwater
a faucet,
(b) in contrast
flow out the in
of a faucet, OFDM signal
contrast is like sig
the OFDM as
(a) water comes in(b)onewaterbigcomes
streamin and
one cannot be sub-divided.
big stream and cannot beOFDM showO
sub-divided.
Fig. 1little
– (a) streams.
Wide-band channellittle
A Regular-FDM streams.
single Multiple
carrier narrow-band
– A whole channels
bunch of water coming all in one strea
Fig. 1 – (a)Orthogonal-FDM – Same
A Regular-FDM single amount
carrier of water
– A whole bunchcoming
of waterfrom a lot
coming allof
insmall streams.
one stream. (b)
Orthogonal-FDM – Same amount of water coming from a lot of small streams.
Think about what the advantage might be of one over the other? One obvious one is tha
Think about what the advantage might be of one over the other? One obvious one is that if I put
my thumb over the faucet hole, I can stop the water flow but I cannot do the same for th
my thumb over the faucet hole, I can stop the water flow but I cannot do the same for the shower.
So both
So although although
do theboth
samedo the they
thing, samerespond
thing, differently
they respond differently to interference.
to interference.
(a) (b)
(a) (b)
Fig. 1 – (a) A Regular-FDM single carrier – A whole bunch o
Fig. 1 – (a) A Regular-FDM single –carrier
Orthogonal-FDM – A whole
Same amount bunch
of water of water
coming fromcomin
a lot
Orthogonal-FDM – Same amount of water coming from a lot of small strea
Think about what the advantage might be of one over the o
Fig. 2 – All cargo on one truck vs. splitting the shipment into more than one.
Fig. 2Think about
– All cargo onwhat
one my thethumb
truck advantage
vs. splitting might
the
over the behole,
shipment
faucet ofinto
one over
Imore
can than
stopthethe
other?
one.waterOne
flowob
bu
Another way tomy see thumb over isthe
this intuitively to faucet
So although
use hole,
bothIofdo
the analogy can stop
the
making thething,
same water
a shipment flow
viathey but I cannot
respond
a truck. do
differentl
Another way tohire
see athis
big intuitively is to of
use the analogy of making acarry
shipment via a truc
We have two So although
options, one both do the
truck or asame
bunch thing,
smaller they
ones.respond
Both differently
methods the to interfere
exact sameWe have of
amount two options,
data. But in one
case hire
of anaaccident,
big truckonly
or a1/4bunch ofon
of data smaller ones.trucking
the OFDM Both methods car
exact same amount of data. But in case of an accident, only 1/4 of data on the OFDM tr
will suffer.
Send a sample using
will suffer. Send samples concurrently using
the entire band multiple orthogonal sub-channels
Copyright 2004 Charan Langton www.complextoreal.com
 Why OFDM is better? t
t

1  
0  
0  
f 1   0  
1  
0   0   1   1   0   0   0   1   …........   f
Wide-­‐band   Narrow-­‐band  

•  Multiple sub-channels (sub-carriers) carry

samples sent at a lower rate
„  Almost same bandwidth with wide-band channel
•  Only some of the sub-channels are
affected by interferers or multi-path
effect
 Importance of Orthogonality
•  Why not just use FDM (frequency division
multiplexing)
„  Not orthogonal Individual  sub-­‐channel  

Leakage  interference  from  

adjacent  sub-­‐channels   f  
guard  band  
Guard  bands  protect  
leakage  interference  
f  
•  Need guard bands between adjacent frequency
bands à extra overhead and lower throughput
Difference between FDM and OFDM
guard  band  
(b) Guard bands protect leakage from adjacent frequencies

f  
Figure 9: Frequency Division Multiplexing
Frequency division multiplexing

f  

Orthogonal sub-carriers in OFDM

Don’t  need  guard  bands  
Figure 10: Sub-carriers in OFDM
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation
rd bands protect leakage from adjacent frequencies

ure 9: Frequency Division Multiplexing

rs
*  x[1]  
Symbol: 2 periods of f0

IFFT   [2]   transmit  

*  xTransmit
f   +
f Symbol: 4 periods of f0 *  x[3]  
t   f

…  
Data  c10:
Figure oded   in  frequency  
Sub-carriers in OFDMdomain   TransformaNon  to  Nme  domain:   Channel  frequency  
each  frequency  is  a  sine  wave    
Symbol: 8 periods of f0 response    
Channel frequency
In  Nme,  all  added  up  
efrequency
sub-carriers domain
are orthogonal, i.e. they do not interfere
Transformation to timewith each
domain: response
each frequency is a sine wave
N/2 1 Decode  each  subcarrier  
k p
t in time, all added up.
= e j2 N
t j2
e N = 0 (p ⇥= k) (6) separately  
receive  
t= N/2 FFT  
al e⇥ciency without causing interference between the sub-carriers.
Decode each frequency
ram bin separately
n input - a stream of Dtime bits. Suppose we have nfft sub-carriers.
Time   d omain   s ignal  
fft = nsym symbols, where each symbol hasFrequency   fsignal  
nfft bits.domain  
Here we
dnfft
the stream is numbers
complex serializedto
and output.
produce theAsymbol.
basic outline of this
The bits are
d the OFDM
stream is Transmitter and
serialized and output. Receiver
A basic outline of this

Figure 11: Basic view of the OFDM Transmitter and Receive

Figure 11: Basic view of the OFDM Transmitter and Receive
 Orthogonality of Sub-carriers
IFFT
Encode: frequency-domain samples à time-domain sample
N 2−1
x(t) = ∑ X[k]e j 2 π kt N

k=−N 2

Time-domain Frequency-domain

N 2−1
1
X[k] = ∑
N t=N 2
x(t)e − j 2 π kt N

FFT
Decode: time-domain samples à frequency-domain sample
N 2−1

Orthogonality of any two bins : ∑ e− j 2 π kt N e− j 2 π pt N

= 0, ∀p ≠ k
t=N 2
 Example
•  Say we use BPSK and 4 sub-carriers to transmit
g. 7 – A bit stream that will be modulated using a 4 carrier OFDM.
a stream of samples
st few bits are 1, 1, -1, -1, 1, 1, 1, -1, 1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 1, -1, -1, -1, 1,…
•  Serial to parallel conversion of samples
t’s now write these bits in rows of fours, since this demonstration will use only four sub-
Frequency-­‐domain  signal   Time-­‐domain  signal  
rriers. We have effectively done a serial to parallel conversion.
                                   c1      c2        c3        c4     IFFT  
symbol1          1          1        -­‐1        -­‐1    0                          2  -­‐  2i                0                          2  +  2i  
ble I – Serial to parallel conversion of data bits.
symbol2          1          1          1        -­‐1    2                          0  -­‐  2i                2                          0  +  2i  
c1 symbol3   c2        1        -­‐c3 1        -­‐1        -­‐1  c4 -­‐2                          2                            2                          2  
1 symbol4   1      -­‐1          -11        -­‐1        -­‐1  -1 -­‐2                          0  -­‐  2i            -­‐2                          0  +  2i  
1 symbol5   1      -­‐1          11          1        -­‐1  -1  0                        -­‐2  -­‐  2i                0                      -­‐2  +  2i  
1 symbol6   -1      -­‐1        -­‐-1 1          1          1-1
   0                        -­‐2  +  2i              0                      -­‐2  -­‐  2i  
-1 1 -1 -1  
•  Parallel to serial conversion, and transmit time-
-1 1 1 -1
-1 domain
-1 samples
1 1
 0,  2  -­‐  2i,  0,  2  +  2i,  2,  0  -­‐  2i,  2,  0  +  2i,  -­‐2,  2,  2,  2,  -­‐2,  0  -­‐  2i,  -­‐2,  
0  +  2i,  0,  -­‐2  -­‐  2i,  0,  -­‐2  +  2i,  0,  -­‐2  +  2i,  0,  -­‐2  -­‐  2i,  …  
 Fig. 8 – Sub-carrier 1 and the bits it is modulating (the first column of Table I)
t1   t2   t3   t4  
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) Tutorial t5   t6  
Carrier 2 - The next carrier is of frequency 2 Hz. It is the next orthogonal/harmonic to frequency
6
of the first carrier of 1 Hz. Now take the bits in the second column, marked c2, 1, 1, -1, 1, 1, -1
and modulate this carrier with these bits as shown in Fig.

Fig. 8 – Sub-carrier 1 and the bits it is modulating (the first column of Table I) bin1  
Carrier 2 - The next carrier is of frequency 2 Hz. It is the next orthogonal/harmonic to frequency
of the first carrier of 1 Hz. Now take the bits in the second column, marked c2, 1, 1, -1, 1, 1, -1
and modulate this carrier with these bits as shown in Fig.
Fig. 8 – Sub-carrier 1 and the bits it is modulating (the first column of Table I)

Carrier 2 - The next carrier is of frequency 2 Hz. It is the next orthogonal/harmonic to frequency
Fig.
of the9 first
– Sub-carrier
carrier of21and
Hz.the
Nowbitstake
thatthe
it isbits
modulating (the 2nd
in the second column
column, of Table
marked c2, I)1, 1, -1, 1, 1, -1
symbol1          1          1        -­‐1        -­‐1   and modulate this carrier with these bits as shown in Fig. bin2  
Carrier 3 – Carrier 3 frequency is equal to 3 Hz and fourth carrier has a frequency of 4 Hz. The
symbol2          1          1          1        -­‐1   third carrier is modulated with -1, 1, 1, -1, -1, 1 and the fourth with -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 1 from
Table I.
symbol3          1        -­‐1        -­‐1        -­‐1  
symbol4        -­‐1          1        -­‐1        -­‐1   Fig. 9 – Sub-carrier 2 and the bits that it is modulating (the 2nd column of Table I)
symbol5        -­‐1          1          1        -­‐1   Carrier 3 – Carrier 3 frequency is equal to 3 Hz and fourth carrier has a frequency of 4 Hz. The
symbol6        -­‐1        -­‐1          1          1   bin3  
third carrier is modulated with -1, 1, 1, -1, -1, 1 and the fourth with -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 1 from
Table I.
Fig. 9 – Sub-carrier 2 and the bits that it is modulating (the 2nd column of Table I)

Carrier 3 – Carrier 3 frequency is equal to 3 Hz and fourth carrier has a frequency of 4 Hz. The
third carrier is modulated with -1, 1, 1, -1, -1, 1 and the fourth with -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 1 from
Table I.

bin4  

Fig. 10 – Sub-carrier 3 and 4 and the bits that they modulating (the 3rd and 4th columns of Table I)
 If the path from the transmitter to the receiver either has reflections or obstructions

Multi-Path Effect
fading effects. In this case, the signal reaches the receiver from many different rou
copy of the original. Each of these rays has a slightly different delay and slightly d
The time delays result in phase shifts which added to main signal component (assu
one.) causes the signal to be degraded.

Faded path

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) Tutorial 13 Secondary path gain

1
0 Line of sight path gain
Tree
1 Secondary path delay
0 Path delay

0 Reflected multipath
1 k
k Secondary path gain
0
1 k Secondary path delay
k

Fig. 19 – Reflected signals arrive at a delayed time period and interfere with the main line of sight
signal, if there is one. In pure Raleigh fading, we have no Kmain
1 signal, all components are reflected.
hc (t ) k (t k)
In fading, the reflected signals that are delayed add to the
y(t) = h(0)x(t) + h(1)x(t −1) + h(2)x(t − 2) + k 0main signal and cause either gains in

the signal strength or deep fades. And by deep fades, we mean

Compl exthat thegain
p ath signal is nearly wiped out.
The signal level is so small that the receiver can not decide what was there. ⟺  
k
Y ( f ) = H ( f )X( f )
= ∑ h(Δ)x(t − Δ) = h(t) ⊗ x(t) 0 Normalized path delay relative to LOS
The maximum
Δ time delay that occurs is called thek delay 0 difference
k spread in path
of the signal time
in that environment.
This delay spread can be short so that it is less than symbol time or larger. Both cases,
time-domain frequency-domain
cause
different types of degradations to the signal.
Fig. 18The delay spread
– Fading of a signal
is big problem forchanges
signals.asThe
thesignal is lost and demodulation must
environment is changing as all cell phone userswith
dealing know.
it. Fading is particular problem when the link path is changing, such as
Current symbol + delayed-version symbol
à Signals are deconstructive in only certain frequencies
 Orthogonal
Orthogonal Frequency
Frequency Division
Division Multiplex
Multiplex (OFDM)
(OFDM) Tutorial
Tutorial 14 14

Frequency Selective Fading

Frequency   selecNve  
Fig. 20 – (a) The fading:  
signal we want to send andO nly  
the some  
channel sub-­‐carriers  
frequency get  a(b)
response are well matched. ffected  
A
fading channel has frequencies that do not allow anything to pass. Data is lost sporadically. (c) With
OFDM, where we have many little sub-carriers, only a small sub-set of the data is lost due to fading.
 Symbol 1 Symbol 2

Increase distance from car in front to avoid splash. The reach of splash is same as
Inter Symbol Interference (ISI)
Fig. of
spread 21a–signal.
fading,
noise
Delay Fig.
the front
and affect
spread
22aisshows
thesymbol
like the
theundesired
similarly
beginning of the throws
splash
symbol and
a splash
next symbol
you might
its splash.
backwards
as shown
get from the
In composite, car sa
these
which we wish to
in (b).

•  The delayed version of a symbol overlaps

Increase distance from car in front to avoid splash. The reach of splash is same
spread of a signal. Fig. 22a shows the symbol and its splash. In composite, these

with the adjacent symbol

noise and affect the beginning of the next symbol as shown in (b).

Fig. 21 – The PSK symbol and its delayed version.

(a) The delayed, attenuated signal and (b) composite interference.

•  One simple
To mitigatesolution
this noise at theto
front avoid
of the symbol, this
we willismovetoour symbol further
region
Fig. of
21 delay
– The spread as shown
PSK symbol below.
and its A little
delayed bit of blank space has been added
version.
introduce (a) a
symbolsThetoguard-band
catch the
delayed, delay spread.
attenuated signal and (b) composite interference.

To mitigate this noise at the front of the symbol, we will move our symbol furth
region of delay spread as shown below. A little bit of blank space has been adde
symbols to catch the delay spread.

Fig 22Guard  
– Movebthe
and  symbol back so the arriving delayed signal peters out in the gray r
interference to the next symbol!
 Cyclic Prefix (CP)
•  However, we don’t know the delay spread
exactly
„  The hardware doesn’t allow blank space because it needs
to send out signals continuously

•  Solution: Cyclic Prefix

„  Make the symbol period longer by copying the tail and
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) Tutorial 17
glue it in the front
Symbol 1 Symbol 2 Copy this part at front

Copy this part at front

In  802.11,  
Portion added in CP:data  =  1:4  
the front

Original symbol Extension Original symbol

 not want the start of the symbol to fall in this region, so lets just sli
that the start of the original symbol lands at the outside of this zone
something. Cyclic Prefix (CP)

•  Because
Fig. of
24 –the
If weusage ofsymbol
move the FFT, back
the and
signal is periodic
just put in convenient filler
have a continuous signal but one that can get corrupted and we don’t
anyway before demodulating.
FFT(                       )    
Slide the symbol to start at the edge of the delay spread time and th
=      exp(-­‐2jπΔ f)*FFT(                     )  
copy ofvwhat
delayed   ersion  turns out to be tail end of theoriginal  
symbol. signal  

•  Delay1.inWethe
wanttime domain
the start corresponds
of the symbol to delay spread zon
to be out of the
2. We start the signal at the new boundary such that the actual sym
rotation
zone.
in the frequency domain
•  Can still obtain the correct signal in the frequency
We will
domain bybe extending the symbol
compensating so it is 1.25 times as long, to do t
this rotation
symbol and glue it in the front. In reality, the symbol source is cont
 Cyclic Prefix (CP)

w/o  mulNpath  y(t)  à  FFT(                          )  àY[k]  =  H[k]X[k]              

original  signal  

w  mulNpath   y(t)  à  FFT(                          )  àY[k]  =  α(1+exp(-­‐2jπΔk))*X[k]  

                           =  H’[k]X[k]                  
original  signal  +  delayed-­‐version  signal   Lump  the  phase  shid  in  H  
 We extend the symbol into the empty space, so the actual symbol i
Side Benefit of CP
But now the start of the symbol is still in the danger zone, and this
•  Allowthing
theabout
signal to be since
our symbol decoded
the slicereven
needs if
it inthe
order to make a d
not want the start of the symbol to fall in this region, so lets just sli
packet is detected after some delay
that the start of the original symbol lands at the outside of this zone
something.

Fig. 24undecodable
– Ifdecodable
we move the symbol back and just put in convenient filler
have a continuous signal but one that can get corrupted and we don’t
anyway before demodulating.

Slide the symbol to start at the edge of the delay spread time and th
copy of what turns out to be tail end of the symbol.
 OFDM Diagram
Transmitter
Modulation
Insert
S/P IFFT P/S D/A
CP

channel

+   noise
De-mod

remove
P/S FFT S/P A/D
CP

Receiver
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) Tutorial

Unoccupied Subcarriers

•  Edge sub-carriers are more vulnerable to

errors under discrete FFT
„  Frequency might be shifted due to noise or multi-path
•  Leave them unused
„  In 802.11, only 48 of 64 bins are occupied bins
•  Is it really worth to use OFDM when it costs so
many overheads (CP, unoccupied bins)?
 Packet Detection

Packet   Packet   Packet  

An   Bn  

Mn=An/Bn   threshold  

•  Double sliding window packet detection

•  Optimal threshold depends on the receiving
power
 Packet Detection

preamble   preamble  

An   Bn  

threshold  

•  Use cross-correlation to detect the

preamble
 Synchronization

DAC  (Tx)  

ADC  (Rx)  

•  DAC (at Tx) and ADC (at Rx) never have

exactly the sampling period
„  A slow shift of the symbol timing point, which
rotates subcarriers
„  Intercarrier interference (ICI), which causes loss
of the orthogonality of the subcarriers
 Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO)
ftx  
DAC  (Tx)  

frx  
ADC  (Rx)  

•  The oscillators of Tx and Rx are not typically

tuned to identical frequencies
„  Up-convert baseband signal sn to passband signal
yn=sn*ej2πftxnTs
„  Down-convert passband signal yn back to
rn=sn*ej2πftxnTs*e-j2πfrxnTs=sn*ej2πfΔnTs
„  Error accumulates
 Correct CFO in Time Domain

rn=sn*ej2πfΔnT   rn+N=sn+N*ej2πfΔ(n+N)T  
s s

sn   Sn+N  
L

Symbol  1   Symbol  2   z = ∑ rn rn+N

*

n=1
L

* j 2 π fΔ nTs * − j 2 π fΔ (n+N )Ts = ∑ e− j 2 π fΔ NTs sn sn+N

*

rr
n n+N = sn e s n+N e n=1
− j 2 π fΔ NTs * L
=e ssn n+N =e − j 2 π fΔ NTs
∑s n
2

− j 2 π fΔ NTs 2 n=1
=e sn 1
fΔ = ∠z
2π NTs
Sampling Frequency Offset (SFO)

DAC  (Tx)  

ADC  (Rx)  

tΔ  
•  The transmitter and receiver may sample the
signal at slightly different offset
„  Rotate the signal
•  Yi=HiXi * ej2πtΔiNs/Nfft
•  All subcarriers experience the same sampling
delay, but have different frequencies
Sample Rotation due to SFO

Symbol  3  

x   x  x   x  
Q  

x    
xx  x  
Symbol  2  

Symbol  1  
x  x   x  
x  x   θ   x   x  
x  x  
x   x  x   x  x  x  
x  
I  
x   xx  x    
x  xx     x
 

Ideal  BPSK  signals  (No  rotaNon)  

Signals  keep  rotaNng  

 Correct SFO in Frequency Domain

2πtΔNs/Nn  (SFO)  
1    

2πδfTs  (Residual  CFO)  

Change  in  phase  between  Tx  and  Rx  ader  CFO  correcNon    

•  SFO: slop; residual CFO: intersection of y-axis

 Data-aided Phase Tracking
x  
2πtΔNs/Nn  (SFO)  
1    
x  
x  
x   2πδfTs  (Residual  CFO)  
regression  

Change  in  phase  between  Tx  and  Rx  ader  CFO  correcNon    

•  Using pilot bits (known samples) to compute

Hi*ej2πtΔiNs/N =Yi/Xi
fft

•  Find the phase change experienced by the pilot bits using

regression
•  Update HI = Hi*ej2πtΔiNs/N for every symbol
fft
After Phase Tracking

Q  

Symbol  2  

x  x   x  
x  x   θ   x   x  
x  x   Symbol  1  
x   x  x   x  x  x  
x  
I  

Ader  correcNon  
Nondata-aided Phase Tracking

Q  

Symbol  1  
x  x   x  
x  x   θ   x   x  
x  x  
x   x  x   x  x  x  
x  
I  
 OFDM Diagram
Transmitter

Modulation
Insert
S/P IFFT P/S D/A
CP

channel

+   noise

Correct CFO
Phase track
De-mod

remove
P/S FFT S/P A/D
CP

Receiver