Single-carrier FDMA

Single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) is a frequency-division multiple access scheme. It is also called linearly
precoded OFDMA (LP-OFDMA). Like other multiple access schemes (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, OFDMA), it
deals with the assignment of multiple users to a shared communication resource. SC-FDMA can be interpreted as a
linearly precoded OFDMA scheme, in the sense that it has an additional DFT processing step preceding the
conventional OFDMA processing.

SC-FDMA has drawn great attention as an attractive alternative to OFDMA, especially in the uplink
communications where lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) greatly benefits the mobile terminal in terms of
transmit power efficiency and reduced cost of the power amplifier. It has been adopted as the uplink multiple access
scheme in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), or Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA).[1][2][3]

The performance of SC-FDMA in relation to OFDMA has been the subject of various studies.[4][5][6] Although the
performance gap is small, SC-FDMA's advantage of low PAPR makes it desirable for uplink wireless transmission
in mobile communication systems, where transmitter power efficiency is of paramount importance.

Contents
Transmitter and Receiver Structure of LP-OFDMA/SC-FDMA
Useful properties
See also
References

Transmitter and Receiver Structure of LP-OFDMA/SC-FDMA

The transmission processing of SC-FDMA is very similar to that of OFDMA. For each user, the sequence of bits
transmitted is mapped to a complex constellation of symbols (BPSK, QPSK or M-Quadrature amplitude
modulation). Then different transmitters (users) are assigned different Fourier coefficients. This assignment is
carried out in the mapping and demapping blocks. The receiver side includes one demapping block, one IDFT block,
and one detection block for each user signal to be received. Just like in OFDM, guard intervals (called cyclic
prefixes) with cyclic repetition are introduced between blocks of symbols in view to efficiently eliminate inter-
symbol interference from time spreading (caused by multi-path propagation) among the blocks.

In SC-FDMA, multiple access among users is made possible by assigning different users different sets of non-
overlapping Fourier coefficients (sub-carriers). This is achieved at the transmitter by inserting (prior to IDFT) silent
Fourier coefficients (at positions assigned to other users), and removing them on the receiver side after the DFT.

The distinguishing feature of SC-FDMA is that it leads to a single-carrier transmit signal, in contrast to OFDMA
which is a multi-carrier transmission scheme. Subcarrier mapping can be classified into two types: localized
mapping and distributed mapping. In localized mapping, the DFT outputs are mapped to a subset of consecutive
subcarriers, thereby confining them to only a fraction of the system bandwidth. In distributed mapping, the DFT
outputs of the input data are assigned to subcarriers over the entire bandwidth non-continuously, resulting in zero
amplitude for the remaining subcarriers. A special case of distributed SC-FDMA is called interleaved SC-FDMA
(IFDMA), where the occupied subcarriers are equally spaced over the entire bandwidth.[7]

Owing to its inherent single carrier structure, a prominent advantage of SC-FDMA over OFDM and OFDMA is that
its transmit signal has a lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), resulting in relaxed design parameters in the
transmit path of a subscriber unit. Intuitively, the reason lies in the fact that where OFDM transmit symbols directly
modulate multiple sub-carriers, SC-FDMA transmit symbols are first processed by an N-point DFT block.[8]
In OFDM, as well as SC-FDMA, equalization is achieved on
the receiver side, after the DFT calculation, by multiplying
each Fourier coefficient by a complex number. Thus,
frequency-selective fading and phase distortion can be easily
counteracted. The advantage is that frequency domain
equalization using FFTs requires less computation than
conventional time-domain equalization, which require multi-
tap FIR or IIR-filters. Less computations result in less
compounded round-off error, which can be viewed as
numerical noise.
Localized Mapping and Distributed Mapping
A related concept is the combination of a single carrier
transmission with the single-carrier frequency-domain-
equalization (SC-FDE) scheme. [9] The single carrier transmission, unlike SC-FDMA and OFDM, employs no IDFT
or DFT at the transmitter, but introduces the cyclic prefix to transform the linear channel convolution into a circular
one. After removing the cyclic prefix at the receiver, a DFT is applied to arrive in the frequency domain, where a
simple single-carrier frequency-domain-equalization (SC-FDE) scheme can be employed, followed by the IDFT
operation.

DFT: Discrete Fourier Transform

IDFT: Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform
CP: Cyclic Prefix
PS: Pulse Shaping
DAC: Digital to analog Conversion
RF: Radio Frequency signal
ADC: Analog to Digital Conversion
LP-OFDMA: Linearly precoded OFDMA

Useful properties
1. Low PAPR (Crest Factor)
2. Low sensitivity to carrier frequency offset
3. Less sensitive to non-linear distortion and hence, it allows the use of low-cost power amplifiers
4. Greater robustness against spectral nulls
See also
Carrier Interferometry
3GPP Long Term Evolution
OFDMA
Time-division multiple access

References
1. Hyung G. Myung, Junsung Lim, and David J. Goodman, “Single Carrier FDMA for Uplink Wireless
Transmission (http://hgmyung.googlepages.com/SingleCarrierFDMA_VTmagSep06.pdf)”, IEEE
Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 1, no. 3, Sep. 2006, pp. 30–38
2. H. Ekström, A. Furuskär, J. Karlsson, M. Meyer, S. Parkvall, J. Torsner, and M. Wahlqvist, “Technical
Solutions for the 3G Long-Term Evolution,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 44, no. 3, March 2006, pp. 38–
45
3. 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP); Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network;
Physical Layer Aspects for Evolved UTRA, http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/25814.htm
4. M. Danish Nisar, Hans Nottensteiner, and Thomas Hindelang, “On Performance Limits of DFT-Spread
OFDM Systems (https://sites.google.com/site/mdanishnisar/pubs/16_DFT_Spread_OFDM_Nisar_IST
_2007.pdf)”, in Sixteenth IST Mobile Summit, July 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.
5. B.E. Priyanto, H. Codina, S. Rene, T.B. Sorensen, P. Mogensen, “Initial Performance Evaluation of
DFT-Spread OFDM Based SC-FDMA for UTRA LTE Uplink”, IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference
(VTC) 2007 Spring, Dublin, Ireland, Apr. 2007
6. N. Benvenuto and S. Tomasin, “On the comparison between OFDM and single carrier modulation with
a DFE using a frequency domain feedforward filter,” IEEE Trans. on Commun., vol. 50, no. 6, June
2002 pp. 947–955
7. Xixia Leader in Converged IP Testing, "Single Carrier FDMA in LTE", 915-2725-01 Rev A November
2009.
8. H. G. Myung, J. Lim, and D. J. Goodman, "Peak-to-Average Power Ratio of Single Carrier FDMA
Signals with Pulse Shaping", The 17th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and
Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC ’06), Helsinki, Finland, Sep. 2006
9. D. Falconer, S. L. Ariyavisitakul, A. Benyamin-Seeyar, and B. Eidson, “Frequency Domain
Equalization for Single-Carrier Broadband Wireless Systems,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 40, no. 4,
April 2002, pp. 58–66

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