LELEC2795 – Communication Systems

Lab3: OFDM Modulation and Frequency Domain Equalisation

Groupe 10

December 15, 2021

1 Theoretical background
Question 1 : What is the subcarrier spacing in continuous time, i.e. the bandwidth dedicated
to one specific subcarrier?

The subcarrier spacing ∆f is

fs 1
∆f = = (1)
N N Ts

where N is the number of available subcarriers and fs is the sample rate.

Question 2 : What are the cyclic prefix and the OFDM symbol durations?

CP extension, used to convert the linear convolution into a circular convolution. In a way, we
make the block more periodic (start = end). Helps to for the ISI.

Ts
CPduration =
N + Lc + 1
1
ODF Mduration =
?

Question 3 : The introduction of cyclic prefixes and null tones has an impact on the achievable
rate of the system. Assuming that the input symbols are modulated using a M-QAM constellation,
what is the effective rate of the OFDM transmission? Compare it to the rate of a single carrier
transmission using the same constellation.

log2 M (N − K)
Bitrate =
Ts

where log2 M is the number of bits per symbol, N − K the used subcarriers and Ts the symbol
duration. à verifier
Question 4 : Where the hypothesis Lc > L − 1 has been made ?

1
At the equation (3.1) of the development, because if we take the extreme case when n = 0
and l = L − 1, that means that we have x̃i [−(L − 1)]. This last expression has a sense only
if x̃ is defined at this point, which is the case because Lc > L−1 and the support of x̃ is [−Lc , N ].

Question 5 : Based on the DFT of the channel taps, show that, with an OFDM system, the
channel is necessarily (strictly) flat if L = 1, and (strictly) frequency selective if L > 1.

If L = 1 :
−1
h[0] NX 2π
yi [n] = √ si [k]ej N kn
N k=0

We have only one tap (h[0]) and λ is constant. If L > 1 we have a sum with several taps and so
ISI. In the latter case, λ[k] is not constant for all the values and the channel is thus frequency
selective.
Question 7 : Based on (3.4) and Figure 3.3, link the following 4 constellation impairments to
their analytical explanation:
• Rotation of the whole constellation
• Rotation of successive OFDM symbols
• Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI)
• When  is large, shift of the transmitted symbols
Rewrite the equation (3.4) with the matching terms :
 
j 2π −1
Lc +jπ NN j2π(1+ LNc )i
X λ[k] νi [l]
ŝi [l] = e N

e si [l]ΓN (0, ) + si [k]ΓN (k − l, ) + (2)
k6=l
λ[l] λ[l]

Question 8 : Bonus: Starting from (3.3), obtain (3.4) which analyses the impact of a frequency
offset on the received symbols.

Question 9 : Discuss the common points and differences between ISI introduced by a symbol
timing error in the case of a single carrier transmission, and ICI introduced by a carrier frequency
offset in an OFDM transmission. What is the impact of each impairment on the received signal
constellation?

Question 10 : Desactivate the frequency domain equaliser in order to study the impact of a
frequency selective channel with OFDM modulation. What are the differences you can observe
on the constellation compared to the results of Lab 2?

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 Figure 1: Impact of the frequency selective channel on the constellation

Faire des graphes python en mettant en évidence l’effet de chaque partie dans la formule de
la question 7 ?

Question 11 : Observe the impact of the frequency offset on the received signal constellation.
Does it match your analytical developments?

Because N represents the FFT size and hence the number of subcarriers, if N increases, that
means that the number of subcarriers increases and the spacing ∆f between is decreasing. More
N is bigger, less the subcarriers contain symbols but greater is the risk of overlapping between
neighbouring subcarriers due to frequency offset.
When N = 64, a subcarrier contains twice the number of bits compare to N = 128 thus twice
the number of ODFM symbol within the constellation, as we can see on the next Figure. And
each OFDM symbol rotates correspondingly to the red term in equation 2 (because i increases).

N = 68 N = 124

Figure 2: Observed constellations with different FFT size (N )

Question 12 : Increase the number of transmitted bit. Evaluate the BER of the transmission
for different frequency offsets values. Which system is the most sensitive to frequency offset?
Why?

Si la constellation tourne tellement qu’elle redevient belle, on aura toujours un mauvais BER
parce qu’on se trompe de symbole ou on se trompe de phase (la constellation peut sembler bonne

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 Figure 3: lalala j’aime l’ananas

mais avoir tourné de 90◦ par exemple.

Essayer d’expliquer à quelle vitesse la constellation va tourner en fonction de la valeur de N.
C’est lié à la partie ΓN (0, ) dans la formule (2).
Essayer de mesurer la différence de phase entre deux clusters de symboles OFDM et vérifier dans
la grosse formule qu’on a théoriquement la même phase.