ec8652 wireless communication

unit 3
digital signaling in fading channels

S.Rosaline
AP/ECE
RMKEC
 Contents
 Structure of Wireless
 Communication Link
 Modulation Formats
BPSK
QPSK
OQPSK
π/4 QPSK
MSK
GMSK
 Error Performance in Fading Channels
 OFDM
 Structure of
Wireless
Communication
Link
Block diagram
Block diagram transmitter
 transmitter
The information source provides an analog
source signal and feeds it into the source ADC
(Analog to Digital Converter).
 ADC first band limits the signal from the
analog information source (if necessary), and
then converts the signal into a stream of digital
data at a certain sampling rate and resolution
(number of bits per sample)
 transmitter
 The source coder uses a priori information on the
properties of the source data in order to
reduce redundancy in the source signal. This
reduces the amount of source data to be transmit-
ted, and thus the required transmission time
and/or bandwidth
 The channel coder adds redundancy in order to
protect data against transmission errors. This
increases the data rate that has to be transmitted at
interface E
 transmitter
 Signaling adds control information for the
establishing and ending of connections, for
associating information with the correct users,
synchronization, etc. Signaling information is
usually strongly protected by error correction
codes.
 The multiplexer combines user data and signaling
information, and combines the data from
multiple users
 The baseband modulator assigns the gross data
bits (user data and signaling at interface D) to
complex transmit symbols in the baseband
 transmitter
 The TX Digital to Analog Converter (DAC)
generates a pair of analog, discrete amplitude
voltages corresponding to the real and imaginary
part of the transmit symbols, respectively.
 The analog low-pass filter in the TX eliminates the
(inevitable) spectral components outside the desired
transmission bandwidth
 The TX Local Oscillator (LO) provides an
unmodulated sinusoidal signal, corresponding to
one of the admissible center frequencies of the
considered system.
 transmitter
The upconverter converts the analog, filtered
baseband signal to a passband signal by
mixing it with the LO signal.
The RF TX filter eliminates out-of-band
emissions in the RF domain.
Block diagram receiver
 receiver
The (analog) propagation channel attenuates the
signal, and leads to delay and frequency dis-
persion. Furthermore, the environment adds
noise (Additive White Gaussian Noise – AWGN)
and co-channel interference.
The RX filter performs a rough selection of the
received band.
The low-noise amplifier amplifies the signal, so
that the noise added by later components of the
RX chain has less effect on the Signal-to-Noise
Ratio (SNR).
 receiver
 The RX LO provides sinusoidal signals
corresponding to possible signals at the TX LO.
The frequency of the LO can be fine-tuned by a
carrier recovery algorithm
 The RX downconverter converts the received
signal (in one or several steps) into baseband
 The RX low-pass filter provides a selection of
desired frequency bands for one specific user
 The Automatic Gain Control (AGC) amplifies the
signal such that its level is well adjusted to the
quantization at the subsequent ADC
 receiver
The RX ADC converts the analog signal into
values that are discrete in time and amplitude.
Carrier recovery determines the frequency and
phase of the carrier of the received signal,
and uses it to adjust the RX LO.
The baseband demodulator obtains soft-
decision data from digitized baseband data,
and hands them over to the decoder.
 receiver
 If there are multiple antennas, then the RX either
selects the signal from one of them for further
processing or the signals from all of the antennas
have to be processed (filtering, amplification, down
conversion).
 Symbol-timing recovery uses demodulated data to
determine an estimate of the duration of symbols,
and uses it to fine tune sampling intervals.
 The decoder uses soft estimates from the
demodulator to find the original (digital) source
data.
 receiver
 Signaling recovery identifies the parts of the data that
represent signaling information and controls the
subsequent demultiplexer.
 The demultiplexer separates the user data and signaling
information and reverses possible time compression of
the TX multiplexer
 The source decoder reconstructs the source signal from
the rules of source coding. If the source data are
digital, the output signal is transferred to the data sink.
 Otherwise, the data are transferred to the DAC, which
converts the transmitted information into an analog
signal, and hands it over to the information sink.
Model for Analysis of
Modulation Formats
 DIGITAL
MODULATION
TECHNIQUES
 Digital Modulation
Technique

Sender Destination

Message Message

Modulation Channel Demodulation

 Modulation Techniques
 Modulation is the process of encoding information from a
message source in a manner suitable for transmition.
 The ultimate goal of a modulation technique is to transport
the message signal through a radio channel with the best
possible quality while occupying the least amount of radio
spectrum.
Sender
Message Modulation Channel
D(t)
C(t)=A COS (wt+Φ)
 Modulation Techniques

 Modulation may be done by varying the amplitude, phase, or

frequency of a high frequency carrier in accordance with the
amplitude of the message signal.

C(t)=A COS (wt+Φ)

ASK FSK PSK

Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)

 Pulse shaping can be employed to remove spectral spreading.

 ASK demonstrates poor performance, as it is heavily affected by noise

and interference.
 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

 Bandwidth occupancy of FSK is dependant on the spacing of the two symbols.

A frequency spacing of 0.5 times the symbol period is typically used.

 FSK can be expanded to a M-ary scheme, employing multiple frequencies as

different states.
 Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

 Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) demonstrates better performance than ASK
and FSK.

 PSK can be expanded to a M-ary scheme, employing multiple phases and

amplitudes as different states.

 Filtering can be employed to avoid spectral spreading.

MODULATION
FORMATS
 MODULATION FORMATS
Requirements
High Spectral efficiency
Low Adjacent channel interference
Low sensitivity w.r.t noise
High robustness w.r.t delay and Doppler
dispersion
Energy efficient and easy hardware to
generate waveforms
 MODULATION FORMATS
 Linear Digital Modulation
 Non- Linear Digital Modulation

 Linear Digital Modulation- Amplitude of Transmitted signal

varies linearly with modulating digital signal

 Linear Digital Modulation- BW efficient so used in Wireless

Communication

 Limitations:
 No constant envelope
 Poor power efficiency by linear amplifiers
 Binary phase shift keying
(BPSK)
Phase of Carrier signal has 2 values m1 and
m2 for binary 1 and 0
2 phases are separated by 180ο
 If carrier amplitude is Ac and energy per bit is Eb =
1/2 Ac2 Tb
 BPSK
If we generalize m1 and m2 as m(t) – Binary
data signal with 2 possible pulse shapes
Transmitted Signal is given by

Similar to DSBSC AM so can be generated by

Balanced modulator
 BPSK
Complex envelope form

Power Spectral Density of Complex envelope

 BPSK
PSD at RF

BW = 2 Rb = 2/Tb
 BPSK
Received BPSK signal
BPSK
 BPSK
Output of multiplier

Threshold – minimum Pe
 BPSK
Probability of error

 For BPSK
 DIFFERENTIAL Phase Shift
Keying (DPSK)
Non-coherent form of PSK
Non- coherent receivers are easy and cheaper
to build so used in wireless communication
Input binary sequence is differentially
encoded and then modulated using BPSK
modulator
 DIFFERENTIAL Phase Shift
Keying (DPSK)
Example
 DIFFERENTIAL Phase Shift
Keying (DPSK)
Transmitter
 DIFFERENTIAL Phase Shift
Keying (DPSK)
Receiver
 DIFFERENTIAL Phase Shift
Keying (DPSK)
• Probability of error
PSK & DPSK
 Quadrature phase shift
keying (QPSK)
2 bits are transmitted per symbol
QPSK has twice the BW efficiency of BPSK
Phase values – 0, π/2, π, 3 π/2
QPSK

Ts = 2 Tb
 QPSK
If basis function is
 QPSK
 Distance between adjacent points is
 Each symbol corresponds to 2 bits so
 Average probability of error in AWGN channel is

 Same as BPSK but twice as much data as BPSK

can be sent
 PSD of QPSK is
 QPSK
BW = bitrate Rb
BW is half of BPSK
QPSK Transmitter
 QPSK receiver
•
 The binary data that is conveyed by this waveform is: 1 1 0 0 0
1 1 0.
 The odd bits, highlighted here, contribute to the in-phase
component: 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0. The even bits, highlighted here,
contribute to the quadrature-phase component: 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
.
 In the timing diagram for QPSK. The binary data stream is
shown beneath the time axis. The two signal components with
their bit assignments are shown the top and the total,
combined signal at the bottom. Note the abrupt changes in
phase at some of the bit-period boundaries which are not
satisfied.
 Disadvantages of QPSK
Ideally amplitude of QPSK signal is constant
But If pulses are shaped, then constant
envelope is lost and phase shift of π radians
causes waveform to go to zero briefly
If non-linear amplification is used causes
regeneration of side lobes and spectral widening
To avoid can only use less efficient linear
amplifiers
 Offset qpsk (OQPSK)
Offset quadrature phase-shift keying OQPSK is a
variant of Phase Shift Keying modulation using 4
different values of the phase to transmit. It is
sometimes called Staggered quadrature phase
shift keying SQPSK .
OQPSK limits the phase-jumps that occur at
symbol boundaries to no more than 90° and
reduces the effects on the amplitude of the signal
due to any low-pass filtering.
Even and odd bit streams are offset in their
relative alignment by half the symbol period
 OQPSK
•
 OQPSK
 Phase transition occurs only once every Ts = 2Tb s
 Bit transition occurs every Tb s
 Only one of the 2 bit streams is changing value
 Maximum phase shift of transmitted signal is
limited to +_90
 Eliminates 180 phase transition
 Envelope variation is less and hard limiting or non
linear amplification does not cause side lobes
 Spectrum is same and BW is same as QPSK
QPSK Vs OQPSK

Fahredd'n Sadikoglu 53
QPSK Vs OQPSK
0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1

Fahredd'n Sadikoglu 54
QPSK Vs OQPSK
 Disadvantages of
OQPSK
(1)OQPSK introduces a delay of half a symbol into the
demodulation process. In other words, using OQPSK
increases the temporal efficiency of normal QPSK.
The reason is that the in phase and quadrature
phase components of the OQPSK cannot be
simultaneously zero. Hence, the range of the
fluctuations in the signal is smaller.

(2)An additional disadvantage is that the quiescient

power is nonzero, which may be a design issue in
devices targeted for low power applications.
 π/4 QPSK
Dual constellation diagram for π/4-QPSK. This
shows the two separate constellations with
identical Gray coding but rotated by 45° with
respect to each other.
This final variant of QPSK uses two identical
constellations which are rotated by 45° (π / 4
radians, hence the name) with respect to one
another. Usually, either the even or odd data
bits are used to select points from one of the
constellations and the other bits select points
from the other constellation. This also reduces
the phase-shifts from a maximum of 180°, but
only to a maximum of 135° and so the
amplitude fluctuations of π / 4–QPSK are
between OQPSK and non-offset QPSK.
 π/4 QPSK
 Compromise between QPSK and OQPSK
 Maximum phase change is limited to +_ 135 compared
to 180 – QPSK and 90 – OQPSK
 Band limited π/4 QPSK preserves constant envelope
compared to QPSK but less than OQPSK
 Can be detected non-coherently so simplifies receiver
design
 Performs better in presence of multipath and fading
 Can be differentially encoded π/4 DQPSK
 Signal points are selected from 2 QPSK constellation
shifted by π/4 with each other
 π/4 QPSK
•
π/4 QPSK transmitter
 π/4 QPSK
 Amplitude of rectangular pulses in one
symbol duration is

 π/4 QPSK
π/4 QPSK
 π/4 QPSK receiver
Baseband differential detection
 π/4 QPSK receiver
Output of LPF are

Differential decoder rule

 Output of differential decoder

 π/4 QPSK receiver
Detector circuit
 π/4 QPSK receiver
IF Differential Detector
 π/4 QPSK receiver
FM Discriminator
QPSK TYPES
 QPSK

OQPSK

/4-QPSK
 Constant Envelope
Modulation
Non linear modulation
Amplitude of carrier is constant
Advantages :
Power efficient Class C amplifiers can be used
Low out-of-band radiation
Limiter-discriminator detection can be used
Limitation:
Occupy larger BW
 Binary Frequency Shift
Keying (BFSK)
Frequency of carrier has two values
 BFSK
BW given by Carson’s Rule is

For rectangular pulses

For raised cosine filter pulse

 BFSK

Coherent Receiver
 BFSK
Non coherent receiver
 Minimum Shift Keying(msk)
Continuous phase frequency shift keying
Frequency deviation is 1/4 bitrate
MSK is CP FSK with modulation index of 0.5
FSK modulation index = FM modulation index

Minimum frequency separation that allows

orthogonal detection
Two FSK signals are orthogonal if
 Msk – Fast fsk
Constant envelope
Spectral efficiency
Good BER performance
Self synchronizing capability
 msk
Special form of OQPSK with half sinusoidal
pulses
 msk
Constant amplitude
Phase continuity at bit transitions ensured by
choosing carrier frequency to be integral
multiple of 1/4th bit rate.
MSK is a FSK with binary signaling frequencies
of

Baseband pulse shaping function is

 msk
Normalized PSD of MSK is
 msk
Advantages:
 Faster Roll off - most of the power contained in BW of
1.2/T whereas in QPSK it is BW of 8/T
 No abrupt phase changes at bit transition period so
envelope remains constant even after band limiting
 Can be amplified using efficient non-linear amplifiers
 Has simple demodulation and synchronization circuits

Limitation:
 Main lobe is wider than QPSK and OQPSK so less spectral
efficient
msk
 msk
Transmitter
 msk
Receiver
 Gaussian Minimum Shift
Keying(GMSK)
 Derivative of MSK
 Side lobe levels of the spectrum reduced by passing
modulating data signal through pre modulation
Gaussian pulse shaping filter
 Smoothens phase trajectory of MSK and stabilizes
the instantaneous frequency variations
 Can be coherently detected like MSK or non-
coherently detected like FSK
 Power efficient due to constant envelope
 Spectral efficient
 GMSK
 Since lower time-bandwidth products produce a faster power-
spectrum roll-off, why not have a very small time-bandwidth
product. It happens that with lower time-bandwidth products the
pulse is spread over a longer time, which can cause intersymbol
interference.

 Therefore as a compromise between spectral efficiency

and time-domain performance, an intermediate time-
bandwidth product must be chosen.
 GMSK
Impulse response of pre modulation filter

Transfer function

Parameter
GMSK is defined by BT product – Bandwidth –
Bit duration product
GMSK
 GMSK
Bit error probability

ϒ is a constant related to BT product

Transmitter
 GMSK
Receiver
 GMSK
Logic circuit for demodulation
 Msk vs gmsk
The figure shows the 16-bit NRZ (Non-Return-to-Zero)
sequence (-1,-1,-1,+1,+1,-1,+1,+1,+1,+1,-1,+1,-1,+1,-1,-1)
and the corresponding phase trajectory of MSK (left)
and GMSK (right) signals. The phase increment per
symbol is for the MSK signal.
 The figure shows the in phase I (real) and
quadrature Q (imaginary) components of the
MSK (left) and GMSK (right) corresponding
base band equivalent signals.
 The figure shows the MSK and GMSK modulated
signals for two different symbols.
 Notice the slight difference of frequency between the

modulated signal of symbol (-1) and symbol (1). This

shows the FM nature of MSK and GMSK signals.
 Orthogonal
frequency division
multiplexing
(OFDM)
 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)
 Basic Concept of OFDM
Wide-band channel Multiple narrow-band channels

Send a sample using Send samples concurrently using

the entire band multiple orthogonal sub-channels
 Basic Concept of OFDM
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a digital
multi-‐carrier modulation technique extending the concept of
single subcarrier modulation by using multiple sub-‐carriers over
the channel.
 Rather than transmit a high-‐rate stream of data with a single
carrier, OFDM makes use of a large number of closely spaced
orthogonal sub-‐carriers that are transmitted in parallel.

 Each sub-‐carrier is modulated with a conventional digital

modulation scheme (such as QPSK, 16QAM, etc.) at a lower symbol
rate. However, the combination of many sub-‐carriers enables data
rates similar to conventional single-‐carrier modulation schemes
using equivalent bandwidths.
 Why OFDM is better?
t t

0 1
0 0
f 1
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
 Why OFDM is better?
 Q: What are the benefits of using OFDM?
 A: The first reason is spectral efficiency, also called bandwidth efficiency. What that
term really means is that you can transmit more data faster in a given bandwidth in the
presence of noise. The measure of spectral efficiency is bits per second per Hertz, or
bps/Hz.

 For a given chunk of spectrum space, different modulation methods will give you
widely varying maximum data rates for a given bit error rate (BER) and noise level.
Simple digital modulation methods like amplitude shift keying (ASK) and frequency shift
keying (FSK) are simple but don’t give the best BER performance. BPSK and QPSK do
much better. QAM is very good but more susceptible to noise and low signal levels
issues. Code division multiple access (CDMA) methods are even better performance.

 But none is better than OFDM with respect to attaining the maximum data capacity
out of a given channel bandwidth. It approaches the Shannon limit defining channel
capacity C in bits per second (bps).
Discrete Multitone (aka Frequency
Division Multiplexing)
The basic idea of Discrete Multitone (DMT) is to split the available bandwidth into
a large number of sub-‐channels. ADSL2 is an example application of DMT.

ADSL2

POTS

DMT uses available frequencies on the telephone line and splits them into
256/512 equal sized frequency bins of 4.3125 kHz each.
 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 f
•Need guard bands between
leakageadjacent frequency
interferenc
bands  extra overhead and lower throughput
e
Difference between FDM and
OFDM
guard band

f
Frequency division
multiplexing

Orthogonal sub-carriers in OFDM

Don’t need guard bands
Can we get rid of the guard-‐bands
in DMT?
Recall from Fourier Transform:

Spectrum of one OFDM Sub-‐channel OFDM Spectrum

YES
OFDM Packs Sub-‐channels Closer
Together

Four sub-‐channels shown

OFDM divides each channel into many narrower subcarriers. The

spacing is such that these subcarriers are orthogonal so they don’t
interfere with one another in spite of the lack of guard bands between
them. This results from the subcarrier spacing equal to the reciprocal of
symbol time. All subcarriers have a complete number of sine wave
cycles that sum to zero upon demodulation.
In OFDM the Sub-‐Carriers are
Orthogonal
 Orthogonal Frequency
Division Modulation
* x[1]

IFFT * x[2] transmit

f
* x[3]
t

…
Data coded in frequency domain Transformation to time domain: Channel frequency
each frequency is a sine wave response
In time, all added up

Decode each subcarrier

separately
receive FFT

Time domain signal Frequency domain signal

 Multi-Carrier Techniques
 In a single carrier modulation scheme each data symbol
is transmitted sequentially on a single carrier 
signalling interval equal to data symbol duration.

 In a single carrier modulation scheme the modulated

carrier occupies the entire available bandwidth.

 In a multi-carrier modulation scheme N sequential data

symbols are transmitted simultaneously on N multiple
carriers  signalling interval equal to N times data
symbol duration.

 In a multi-carrier modulation scheme each modulated

carrier occupies only a small part of the entire available
bandwidth.
 Multi-Carrier Techniques
Single carrier 1/TSC

0 TSC 2TSC 3TSC 4TSC

fc
Carrier
Spectrum
TSC: single carrier signal symbol duration

Multi-carrier Carrier 1
1/TMC 1/TMC 1/TMC

Carrier 2
...

s/p
0 TSC 2TSC 3TSC 4TSC .
Carrier N fc1 fc2 fcN
Spectrum
TMC=NTSC: multi-carrier signal symbol
duration
Multi-Carrier Techniques on
Multipath Channels
path 2
Two-path channel
Transmitter Receiverpath 1
relative delay = T’
 Time domain interpretation
path 1 path 1
... ... ... ...
0 TSC 2TSC 3TSC 4TSC 0 TMC 2TMC
Significant Negligible
path 2 ISI path 2 ISI
... ... ... ...
0 T’ TMC +T’ 2TMC +T’
0 T’ TSC+T’ 2TSC+T’ 3TSC +T’ 4TSC +T’

Single-carrier case Multi-carrier case

 Frequency domain interpretation

Two-path channel Two-path channel
frequency response
frequency response frequency response
...

Significant Negligible
fc distortion fc1 fc2 fcN distortion
Single-carrier case Multi-carrier case
 Multi-Carrier Techniques
on Multipath Channels
Multi-carrier modulation with coding and interleaving

frequency

Information conveyed in different

time and frequency slots is linked

DIVERSITY

TMC Tcoh
time
f Frequency separation greater than Bcoh
Time separation greater than Tcoh
Bcoh
 Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing

 OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation scheme.

 In OFDM the frequency spacing between adjacent sub-

carriers is f= 1/TMC=1/(NTSC).

 f=1/TMC is the minimum frequency separation that is

necessary to ensure orthogonality between the sub- carriers
over the signalling interval of length TMC.

 In OFDM the frequency spectrum of each sub-carrier

overlaps the frequency spectrum of adjacent sub- carriers.
Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing
OFDM Transmitter

Converte

Converte

Converte

Converte
D/A
P/S
S/P

Serial Data OFDM signal

Up
IFFT
...

...
Input
r

r
OFDM Receiver
Converte

Converte

Converte
Converte
Down

A/D

S/P

P/S
OFDM signal Serial Data
FFT
...

...
Output
r
r

r
r
 Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing
 Advantages of OFDM:
 Good performance under delay spread/frequency
selective fading conditions;
 Bandwidth efficiency;
 Efficient digital signal processor based generation/
detection techniques.

 Disadvantages of OFDM:
 Poor performance under Dopplerspread/time
selective fading conditions;
 Sensitive to non-linear distortion;
 Sensitive to timing and frequency offsets as
well as phase noise.
Binary Output

Binary Input
Decoder

Coder

Deinterleaver

Interleaver

Demapper

Mapper

Channel
Estimation
Pilot Insertion

P/S
Converte
r ... S/P
Converte
FFT r ...

...
IFFT

S/P Converter ...

OFDM Receiver

P/S Converter
OFDM Transmitter

Remove
Cyclic
Prefix Insert Cyclic
Prefix/Windo
Time/Frequenc w
y
Synchronisatio D/A Converter
n
A/D Converter

RF Transmitter

RF Receiver
To Channel
Communications System

From Channel
Elements of a Typical OFDM
 Oscillator Based OFDM
Generation
Oscillator Based OFDM Generation

1/√T·e-j2(N/2)t/T

S0

..
Equation:

To Up-Converter
1/√T
Converter
Modulatio

Symbols

SN/2 s(t)
Parallel
Serial-to-
n

..
1/√T·ej2(N/2-1)t/T

SN-1

N is the number of sub-carriers

T is duration of signalling interval
 Oscillator Based OFDM
Generation
 In OFDM the frequency separation between adjacent
sub-carriers is 1/T.

 This is the minimum frequency separation between

adjacent sub-carriers necessary to achieve
orthogonality and hence detectability.

 In OFDM the frequency spectrum of each sub-carrier

overlaps the frequency spectrum of adjacent sub-
carriers.
 Oscillator Based OFDM
Generation
Spectrum of an OFDM Symbol

1/T 1/T 1/T

Spectrum of an OFDM symbol consists of several sinc functions

The maximum of each sinc function corresponds to the zero- crossings of all the others

f
 Oscillator Based OFDM
Detection
Oscillator Based OFDM Detection

1/√T·ej2(N/2)t/T

R0
Integrator

..
From Down-Converter

Equation:

Parallel-to-Serial
1/√T

Converter

Symbols
Modulatio
r(t) RN/2
Integrator

n
..
1/√T·e-j2(N/2-1)t/T

RN-1
Integrator
 Oscillator Based OFDM
Detection
 The operation of an OFDM receiver can be viewed from two
different perspectives.

 From one view point, the receiver

correlates the OFDM symbol with a local
version of each complex sub-carrier.

 Orthogonality implies that the correlation between any two

different complex sub-carriers is zero but when the complex
sub-carriers have the same frequency.

 Therefore, the correlation operation yields

the information conveyed by each sub-carrier
without ICI.
 Oscillator Based OFDM
Detection
 From another view point, the receiver evaluates the Fourier
transform of an OFDM symbol at specific frequencies.

 The spectrum of an OFDM symbol consists of a series of

sinc() functions where the maximum of each function
corresponds to the zero-crossings of all the other sinc()
functions.

 Or, the spectrum of an OFDM symbol fulfils Nyquist’s

criterion for an ISI free pulse shape, where in the OFDM
case the pulse shape is present in the frequency domain
instead of the time domain.

 Therefore, the Fourier transformation operation yields the

information conveyed by each sub-carrier without ICI.
Oscillator Based OFDM
Detection
Information Recovery

R0 R1 R2 RN-3 RN-2 RN-1

..
..

-(N/2)/T -(N/2-1)/T -(N/2-2)/T (N/2-3)/T (N/2-2)/T (N/2-1)/T

f
Multicarrier Communication Systems (Uses
Multiple Oscillators)
What is the problem with this architecture?

Answer: It is nearly impossible to keep multiple oscillators in

synchronization with each other. And it is difficult to have
hundreds of oscillators in a practical system.
 FFT Based OFDM
Generation/Detection
 OFDM generation/detection is achieved using the IDFT and
the DFT, or, the IFFT and the FFT, respectively.

 The scaled samples sk=√(T/N)·s(kT/N),k=0,…,N-1, of the

transmit OFDM symbol are generated by taking the IDFT of
the “re-ordered” modulation symbols,

1 N 1 j 2kn
sk 
N
 SnN 2   N
e N ,k  0,1,..., N  1
n0

 The “re-ordered” modulation symbols are detected by

taking the DFT of the scaled samples
rk=√(T/N)·r(kT/N),k=0,…,N-1, of the receive OFDM symbol,
N 1 j 2kn
1
RnN 2N 
N
 rk e N , n  0,1,..., N  1
k 0
 Modulatio
From Down-Converter
n
Symbols

D/A Converter S/P Converter

SN/2 SN/2+1

RN/2 RN/2+1
.
.
SN-1

SN/2-1
S0 S1

S/P Converter
IFFT

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

IFFT
P/S Converter

.
.
RN-1

RN/2-1
R0 R1

P/S Converter
FFT Based OFDM Detection

D/A Converter
FFT Based OFDM Generation
Transceiver
FFT Based OFDM

Modulatio
n To Up-Converter
Symbols
 Zero Padding
 With an N point IDFT, it is only possible to generate
an N sub-channel OFDM symbol sampled at the
Nyquist rate.
 In this case, it is difficult to recover the continuous
time signal from the sampled signal with filters with
realisable passband-to-stopband transition regions.
 With an N’>N point IDFT, it is possible to generate an
N sub-channel OFDM symbol sampled at a rate higher
than the Nyquist rate.
 In this case, it is easier to recover the continuous time
signal from the oversampled signal using filters with
realisable passband-to-stopband transition regions.
 The zero padding technique achieves oversampling.
 Zero Padding
Spectrum of a Non-Oversampled IFFT Output
SN/2
Signal is not
SN/2+1 filter
recovered
. .
SN-1 S
IFFT

… …
N

S1

. -2N/T -N/T 0 N/T 2N/T f

.
N/T
SN/2-1

SN/2
Spectrum of an Oversampled IFFT Output
SN/2+1
filter Signal is recovered
.

.
IFFT

SN-1 0
N’-N

… …
N’

.
0
S0 S1
-N’/T 0 N’/T f
.
N/T
.
SN/2-1
 Cyclic Prefix
 To eliminate ISI in OFDM a guard time is inserted with a
duration longer than the multipath channel maximum
delay.
 Moreover, to eliminate ICI in OFDM the guard time is
cyclically extended.
 Note that in a multipath channel an appropriate guard
time avoids ISI but not ICI, unless it is cyclically
extended.

 Cyclic Extension of an OFDM Symbol

 copy

t
TCP TCP

T
 Cyclic Prefix
OFDM Signal with “Empty” Guard Time
Two-path channel
relative delay = T’
path 2
path 1
Transmitter Receiver
ISI is eliminated but ICI is not

Path 1 T+TCP
Path 2

T’ TCP T
 Cyclic Prefix
OFDM Signal with Cyclic Extended Guard Time
Two-path channel
relative delay = T’
path 2
path 1
Transmitter Receiver
Both ISI and ICI are eliminated

Path 1 T+TCP
Path 2

T’ TCP T
 Cyclic Prefix
 With a cyclic prefix, the received symbol in frame k
and sub-channel n, Rk,n, is related to the transmitted
symbol in the same frame and sub-channel, Sk,n, by

 Rk,n=Hk,nSk,n+Nk,n
 where Hk,n is the channel frequency response in frame
k and sub-channel n and Nk,n is the noise.

 Insertion of an appropriate cyclic prefix eliminates ISI

and ICI in a multipath channel but it also introduces a
loss in the SNR and data rate.

 The SNR loss is equal to 10×log10(1+TCP/T) (dB)

 The data rate loss is equal to (1+TCP/T)-1 (×100%)

 Windowing
OFDM Signal with Rectangular Window

Sharp phase transitions High out-of-band radiation … Delay spread tolerance=TCP

TCP T

OFDM Signal with Raised Cosine Window

Smooth phase transitions Low out-of-band radiation … Delay spread tolerance=TCP-T

TCP T

t
T T
 Windowing
Power Density Spectrum of
“Windowed” OFDM Signals

20
=0
 = 0.025
 = 0.05
 = 0.1
0

−20
PDS (dBr)

−40

−60

−80

−100
−2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
(f−fcentre)/B3dB
 Coding and Interleaving
Techniques
 In an OFDM system, the received symbol in frame k
and sub-channel n, Rk,n, is related to the transmitted
symbol in the same frame and sub-channel, Sk,n, by

 Rk,n=Hk,nSk,n+Nk,n
where Hk,n are the channel transfer factors and Nk,n is
 the noise.
 Occasional deep fades in the channel cause groups
of adjacent frames/sub-channels to be less reliable
than other groups and hence errors to occur in
burst rather than independently.
 Coding and interleaving provides a link between
independently fading frames/sub-channels, so that
strongly received ones correct for weakly received
ones.
 Coding and Interleaving
Techniques
OFDM with coding and interleaving

frequency

Information conveyed in different

time and frequency slots is linked

DIVERSITY

T Tcoh
time
 Frequency separation greater than Bcoh
Time separation greater than Tcoh
Bcoh
 Coding Methods
 A number of coding methods have been proposed for
OFDM systems including block, convolutional,
concatenated and turbo coding.

 Trellis-coded modulation methods have also been

proposed for OFDM systems, where the coding and
modulation operations are merged together.

 Hard and soft decision decoding techniques can be

used.

 Hard decision decoding performs worse than soft

decision decoding. However, the former is less
complex than the later.
 Interleaving
Methods
 A number of interleaving methods have been
proposed for OFDM systems including block and
convolutional interleaving.

 In block interleaving, the bits/symbols are written into

a matrix column by column.

 These are subsequently read out from the matrix row

by row to produce the interleaved bits/symbols.

 In convolutional interleaving, the bits/symbols are

cyclically written into one of K shift registers that
introduce a delay of 0 to K-1.

 These are subsequently read out cyclically to produce

the interleaved bits/symbols.
 Mapping/Demapping
Techniques
 At the transmitter, the bits at the output of the
encoder and interleaver are mapped to modulation
symbols, which will constitute the input to the IFFT.
 The transmitter uses either non-differential or
differential encoding to map bits to modulation
symbols.
 At the receiver, the modulation symbols at the output
of the FFT are demapped to bits or “soft” bits, which
will constitute the input to the deinterleaver and the
decoder.
 The receiver uses coherent of differential detection to
demap modulation symbols to bits/soft bits,
depending on the mapping scheme used at the
transmitter.
 Non-Differential
Encoding
 For mappings with no differential encoding, the encoded and
interleaved bits are directly mapped to modulation symbols
 Sk,n.
 Examples of this mapping technique include M-ary phase
shift keying (M-PSK) or M-ary quadrature amplitude
modulation (M-QAM).

No Differential Encoding
Gray Coded
QPSK Mapping
Q

P/S Converter
Binary Input

Interleaver

(01) ej3/4 ej/4 (11)

Converte
Mapper

… 001110 … … ej5/4 ej/4 ej7/4…

Coder

…
S/P

IFFT
r ...

...
I

(00) ej5/4 ej7/4 (10)

 Differential
Encoding
 For mappings with differential encoding, the encoded
and interleaved bits are mapped to the quotient Bk,n of
two successive modulation symbols.

 If performed in the time direction, the modulation

symbol Sk,n=Sk-1,nBk,n., and each sub-carrier of the first
OFDM symbol conveys a known/reference value.

 If performed in the frequency direction, the modulation

symbol Sk,n=Sk,n-1Bk,n, and the first sub-carrier of each
OFDM symbol conveys the known/reference value.

 Examples ofthis mapping technique include M-ary

differential phase shift keying where
(M-DPSK), Bk,n{ej2m/M; m=0,…,M-
1}.
 Differential
Encoding
Differential Encoding in Time
DQPSK Mapping
Q

P/S Converter
N symbols
Binary Input

ej/2 (01)
Interleaver

Converte
… 1110 … Mapper …ejej0… ej ej…
Coder

… (00) ej ej0 (11)

S/P

IFFT
r ...

...
I
N symbols
ej3/2 (10)

Differential Encoding in Frequency

DQPSK Mapping
Q

P/S Converter
ej/2 (01)
Binary Input

Interleaver

Converte
Mapper

… 1110 … … ej ej0 ej…

Coder

… (00) ej
S/P

ej0 (11)
IFFT
r ...

...
I

ej3/2 (10)
 Coherent
Detection
 For mappings with no differential encoding coherent
detection is used at the receiver, whereby the decision
is based on the quotient Dk,n given by

 Dk,n=Rk,n/Ĥk,n=(Hk,nSk,n+Nk,n)/Ĥk,n=Sk,n+Nk,n/Ĥk,n
where Ĥk,n is an estimate of the channel transfer
factor Hk,n.

 Note that in OFDM systems an equaliser corresponds

to a bank of complex multipliers.

 The principal advantage of OFDM

systems follows from this simple
equalisation operation.
 Coherent
Detection
Coherent Detection Followed by Hard Decoding Q

(01) ej3/4 ej/4 (11)

S/P Converter
Binary Output

Deinterleaver

noise?

Estimation
Demapper

Converte
Channel
Decoder

noise? Dk,n=Rk,n/Ĥk,n
… 11 … … Rk,n …
…

P/S

FFT
r ...

...
I
noise?
noise?
(00) ej5/4 ej7/4 (10)

QPSK
Channel Estimates Demapping

Coherent Detection Followed by Soft Decoding Q

|N1|2 (01) ej3/4 ej/4 (11)

S/P Converter
Binary Output

Deinterleaver

|N2|2 N2 N11
Estimation
Demapper

|N3|2
Converte
Channel
Decoder

|N4|2 Dk,n=Rk,n/Ĥk,n
… … … R k,n …
…
P/S

FFT
r ...

...
N3 I
N4

(00) ej5/4 ej7/4 (10)

QPSK
Channel Estimates Demapping
 Differential
Detection
 For mappings with differential encoding differential
detection is used at the receiver.

 If differential encoding is performed

in the time direction, the decision is
based on the quotient:

 Dk,n=Rk,n/Rk-1,n=(Sk-1,nBk,nHk,n+Nk,n)/(Sk-1,nHk-1,n+Nk-1,n)
 If differential encoding is performed in the frequency
direction, the decision is based on the quotient:

 Dk,n=Rk,n/Rk,n-1=(Sk,n-1Bk,nHk,n+Nk,n)/(Sk,n-1Hk,n-1+Nk,n-1)
 In the absence of noise, the symbol containing the
information is recovered provided that Hk,n≈Hk-1,n or
Hk,n≈Hk,n-1, i.e. signalling interval is smaller than Tcoh
or frequency separation is smaller than Bcoh.
 Differential
Detection
Differential Detection (in the Time Direction) Q
Rk,n-1 ej/2 (01)

Rk,n

S/P Converter
Binary Output

Deinterleaver

Demapper Dk,n=Rk,n/Rk,n-1

Converte
Decoder

… 11 … … Rk-1,n … Rk,n …
… ej0 (11)

P/S
(00) ej

FFT
r ...

...
I
N symbols

ej3/2 (10)
DQPSK
Demapping

Differential Detection (in the Time Direction) Q

Rk,n-1 ej/2 (01)

Rk,n

S/P Converter
Binary Output

Deinterleaver

Demapper

Dk,n=Rk,n/Rk,n-1
Converte
Decoder

… 11 … … Rk,n-1 Rk,n … (00) ej ej0 (11)

…
P/S

FFT
r ...

...

ej3/2 (10)
DQPSK
Demapping
 Merits/Demerits of
Differential and Non-
Differential Schemes
 Differential schemes require less complex receivers
than non-differential schemes, as channel estimation
is not necessary.

 Differential schemes are more robust than non-

differential schemes to residual phase offsets caused
by imperfect synchronisation.

 However, non-differential techniques require up to 3

dB less power than differential techniques to achieve
a specific target error rate in noise.
 Channel Estimation
Operations
 In coherent detection schemes, information recovery
requires an estimate of the channel response.
Estimation of the channel consists of two steps:

 The first step involves the insertion of known symbols

or a pilot structure into the OFDM signal, that yield
point estimates of the channel frequency response.

 The second step involves an interpolation operation,

that yields the remaining points of the channel
frequency response from the point estimates.

 The performance of channel estimation operations

depends both on the pilot structure and on the
interpolation method.
 Channel Estimation
Operations
Example of a Pilot Structure to Track Channel Variations
in Time and Frequency

…
Frequency (OFDM sub-carriers)

High density of pilots gives good channel

estimation accuracy, but higher loss in
bandwidth efficiency/SNR
…
Low density of pilots gives lower loss in
bandwidth efficiency/SNR, but poorer
channel estimation accuracy

Maximum pilot separation in frequency=

=Channel coherence bandwidth, Bcoh

Maximum pilot separation in time=

=Channel coherence time, Tcoh
Time (OFDM Symbols)
 Synchronisation
Operations
 Information recovery also requires accurate symbol
timing and carrier frequency synchronisation between
the OFDM transmitter and the OFDM receiver.

 Synchronisation in OFDM systems is performed before

detection and involves two phases: acquisition and
tracking.

 In the acquisition phase, the frequency and timing

errors are coarsely estimated and corrected.

 In the tracking phase, only small short-term

deviations are estimated and corrected.
 Synchronisation
Operations
 A number of techniques to perform symbol timing and
carrier frequency synchronisation have been
proposed.

 Synchronisation techniques based on the cyclic prefix

rely on the computation of the correlation of the
received OFDM signal with a delayed version of the
same received OFDM signal over an interval equal to
the cyclic prefix interval.

 Synchronisation techniques based on the transmission

of special OFDM training symbols rely on the
computation of the correlation of the received OFDM
signal with the known OFDM training symbols.

 The peaks of the correlation function yield the timing

information and the phase of the peaks of the
correlation function yield the frequency information.
 Synchronisation
Operations
Synchronisation Based on the Cyclic Prefix

Correlation main peak power Correlation sidelobes

AND Use special training symbols
varies from symbol to symbol are not negligible

T
TCP TCP

OFDM signal … …
t

T
Delayed … …
OFDM signal
t
TCP
Average over TCP
… …

Correlation … …

t
 Choice of OFDM Signal
Parameters
 How do we choose the parameters of an OFDM signal (e.g.,
T, Tcp, N) given specific data rate and bandwidth constraints
and a channel with a specific delay and/or Doppler spread?

 Channel delay spread Tm dictates length of the OFDM cyclic

prefix TCP…length of the OFDM cyclic prefix is approx. two to
four times channel delay spread to limit ISI/ICI.

 Length of the OFDM cyclic prefix TCP dictates total length of

the OFDM symbol T+TCP…total length of the OFDM symbol is
approx. five times length of OFDM cyclic prefix to limit SNR
loss to approx. 1dB.

 The number of sub-carriers N, code rate and modulation are

selected to meet the data rate and bandwidth constraints.

 Channel Doppler spread Bd may dictate a maximum number

of sub-carriers N.
 Choice of OFDM Signal
Parameters
 Design an OFDM system with the following requirements:
data rate=6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48 and 54Mbps, bandwidth<
20MHz and delay spread=200ns.

 Choose TCP=4×200ns=800ns and T+TCP=5×800ns=4000ns,

so T=3200ns and f=1/T=312.5kHz.

 Note that the maximum number of sub-carriers that can be

fit into the allocated bandwidth is 64.

 Choose size of IFFT (FFT) to be equal to 64 (power of 2) and

number of (data) sub-carriers to be equal to 48.

 Note that the remaining IFFT (FFT)

values are used for pilots and/or zero-padding.

 Finally, choose code rate and modulation to meet data rate

requirements.
 Choice of OFDM Signal
Parameters
Choice of OFDM Signal Parameters

Data Rate Bandwidth N Code Rate Modulation

6 Mbps 15 MHz 48 1/2 BPSK

9 Mbps 15 MHz 48 3/4 BPSK

12 Mbps 15 MHz 48 1/2 QPSK

18 Mbps 15 MHz 48 3/4 QPSK

24 Mbps 15 MHz 48 1/2 16-QAM

36 Mbps 15 MHz 48 3/4 16-QAM

48 Mbps 15 MHz 48 2/3 64-QAM

54 Mbps 15 MHz 48 3/4 64-QAM

Advantages/Disadvantage
s of OFDM
 Advantages of OFDM:
 Good performance under delay spread/frequency
selective fading conditions;
 Bandwidth efficiency;
 Efficient digital signal processor based generation/
detection techniques.

 Disadvantages of OFDM:
 Poor performance under Doppler spread conditions/time
selective fading conditions;
 Sensitive to non-linear distortion;
 Sensitive to timing and frequency offsets as
well as phase noise.
 Timing and Frequency
Offsets
 Timing offsets originate due to uncertainties to
establish the OFDM symbol boundaries.

 Timing offsets give rise to intersymbol interference

and interchannel interference or simply a phase offset
in desired data.

 Carrier frequency offsets originate from frequency

differences in the local oscillators at the transmitter
and the receiver used to convert the baseband signal
to a bandpass signal and vice versa.

 Frequency offsets give rise to interchannel

interference and a reduction in power in the desired
data.
 Timing Offset
Effects of Timing Offset
Timing offsets where FFT observation
Intersymbol and intercarrier interference
time overlaps adjacent symbols

FFT observation time 1 FFT observation time 2

T1 T2

Nominal FFT
observation time

TCP T
 Timing Offset
Effects of Timing Offset

Timing offsets where FFT observation

Phase offset n=2fnt, n=0,…,N-1
time does not overlap adjacent symbols

Earliest possible FFT observation

time

Latest possible FFT observation

time

TCP T
 Frequency Offset
Effects of Frequency Offset
f f f f f f

Reduction of desired power

..
Intercarrier interference

..

-(N/2)/T -(N/2-1)/T -(N/2-2)/T (N/2-3)/T (N/2-2)/T (N/2-1)/T

f
 Phase Noise

 In practice, the up-converter and down-converter

oscillators in the OFDM system do not produce a
carrier at exactly one frequency.

 Instead, these oscillators in the OFDM system produce

a carrier at a nominal frequency with a time-varying
frequency offset, i.e., phase noise.

 Phase noise introduces a phase offset common to all

sub-carriers as well as intercarrier interference.
 The PAPR
 OFDM signals are sensitive to non-linear distortion
due to its high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR)
or, its multi-carrier nature.

 From one view point, the saturation region of any

non-linear element in the system occasionally clips
the signal due to its high PAPR.

 From another view point, any non-linear element in

the system introduces severe intermodulation
distortion (IMD) due to the multi-carrier nature of the
signal.

 These effects result in signal error probability

degradation and signal spectral spreading.
 The PAPR
Effects of Non-Linearities

Non-Linear Element output

Distorted OFDM Signal

input t

Non-Distorted OFDM Signal

Large signal excursions hit saturation

region of non-linear element

Output signal is a distorted replica of

input signal
t
 The PAPR
Distorted OFDM Signal
Effects of Non-Linearities

Non-Distorted OFDM Signal

t t

Non-Linear
t Element t

Non-linear element introduces IMD

t
t
In-band IMD associated with signal
error probability degradation

Out-of-band IMD associated with

signal spectral spreading t
 The PAPR

 A number of techniques have been proposed to

improve the performance of non-linearly distorted
OFDM signals, e.g., PAPR reduction and pre-distortion.

 PAPR reduction techniques rely on the reduction of

the OFDM signal variability.

 Pre-distortion techniques rely on an appropriate prior

distortion of the OFDM signal such that the effect of
the non-linearity is undone.
 Applications of OFDM
 OFDM has been proposed for a number of systems
including wired and wireless applications.

 For example, OFDM has been selected for assymetric

digital subscriber line (DSL) systems under the
acronym of discrete-multitone (DMT).

 OFDM has also been selected for digital audio

broadcasting (DAB) and digital video broadcasting
(DVB) as well as wireless local area networks (LAN) –
in IEEE 802.11/HIPERLAN- and wireless metropolitan
area networks (MAN) – in IEEE 802.16/HIPERMAN.
 Summary
 Structure of Wireless Communication Link
 Digital Modulation Techniques
 Modulation Formats
 Linear Modulation Formats
 BPSK
 DPSK
 QPSK
 OQPSK
 π/4 QPSK
 Non linear modulation formats
 BFSK
 MSK
 GMSK
 OFDM