OFDM Fundamentals

Course Objectives:
 Understand the basic OFMD concepts

 Understand the OFMD fundamentals

 Understand the advantages and disadvantages of OFDM

 Understand the key technologies of OFDM

 Understand the application of OFDM in the uplink and downlink

Contents

1 System Overview...........................................................................................................................................1

1.1 Wireless Channel Propagation Characteristics....................................................................................1

1.1.1 Large Scale Fading...................................................................................................................2

1.1.2 Shadow Fading.........................................................................................................................3

1.1.3 Multipath Fading......................................................................................................................3

1.1.4 Time Varying Nature and Doppler Shift of Wireless Channels...............................................6

1.2 Basic Concepts About OFDM.............................................................................................................8

1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of OFDM........................................................................................10

2 Key Technologies of OFDM.......................................................................................................................13

2.1 Guard Interval and Cyclic Prefix.......................................................................................................13

2.2 Synchronization Technology.............................................................................................................16

2.2.1 Carrier Synchronization..........................................................................................................17

2.2.2 Timed Symbol Synchronization.............................................................................................18

2.3 Channel Estimate...............................................................................................................................19

2.4 PAPR Reduction Technology............................................................................................................20

2.4.1 Amplitude Limiting................................................................................................................20

2.4.2 Compression and Expansion..................................................................................................22

3 OFDM Applications....................................................................................................................................23

3.1 OFDM Applications in Downlink.....................................................................................................23

3.2 OFDM Applications in Uplink..........................................................................................................25

3.2.1 DFT-spread OFDM.................................................................................................................25

3.2.2 SC-FDMA...............................................................................................................................28
1 System Overview

 Knowledge points:

Wireless channel propagation characteristics

Basic OFDM concepts

Advantages and disadvantages of OFDM

1.1 Wireless Channel Propagation Characteristics

Compared with other communication channels, the mobile channel is one of the most
complicated channels. Electromagnetic waves propagate mainly in the form of space
waves, including the direct wave, refracted wave, scattered wave, and their composite
wave. Due to the motion of the Mobile Station (MS), the wireless channel between the
MS and the Base Station (BS) becomes variable and hard to control. Signals suffer
different fading effects when passing through a wireless channel. Generally, the
received signal power is given by:

P(d) = |d|-n S(d)R(d)

where, d indicates the distance vector between the MS and the BS, and |d| indicates the
distance between the MS and the BS. According to the equation above, the impacts of
wireless channels on signals can be classified into three types:

1. The path loss |d|-n of electromagnetic waves in free space is also called large
scale fading, where the value range of n is usually 3–4.

2. The shadow fading S(d) indicates the fading due to blocking or shadowing from
buildings or other obstacles or topographic relief in propagation environments.

3. The multipath fading R(d), known as small scale fading, is a common

phenomenon in radio signal transmission. When radio signals travel in space,
they are subject to reflection, refraction and diffraction. Each signal component
will experience differences in delay, attenuation, and phase while travelling from
the source to the receiver via multiple paths. At the receiver, superposition of
multipath components will result in a wave increase for in-phase waves and a

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 wave decrease for out-of-phase waves.

The following figure illustrates these three types of fading:

Receive
power (dB)

Path loss
Shadow fading

Rayleigh fading

Logarithm distance

Wireless channel propagation

characteristics

Figure 1.1-1 Signal propagation characteristics on wireless channels

Because of MS motion, wireless channels experience varies over time, for example,
Doppler shift. Path loss and shadow fading in free space mainly affect wireless area
coverage, which can be eliminated by appropriate design.

1.1.1 Large Scale Fading

When radio waves travel in free space, the signal power level decreases with the
increasing propagation distance. This brings an unfavorable impact on data rate and
system performance. The simplest path loss model regarding large scale fading can be
expressed as follows:

where, Pi indicates the average local transmit signal power, Pr indicates the receive
power, and d indicates the distance between the transmitter and the receiver. In a
typical propagation environment, the path loss γ usually ranges from 2 to 4. Thus, the
average Signal Noise Ratio (SNR) is given by:

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

where, N0 indicates the single-sideband noise spectrum density, B indicates the signal
bandwidth, and K indicates a constant independent from distance, power, and
bandwidth. If reliable receiving can be implemented, then it is required that SNR ≥
SNR0, where SNR0 denotes an SNR threshold. Path loss will limit the bit rate:

and the signal coverage area:

If no other special techniques are adopted, the symbol rate and wave propagation scope
will be dramatically limited. In general cellular systems, however, the impact of the
large scale fading on mobile communications systems can be neglected because the cell
scale is relatively small.

1.1.2 Shadow Fading

When a large obstruction such as a hill or large building obscures the path of
electromagnetic waves travelling in free space, the shadow of the invisible magnetic
field from such an obstacle leads to a median field strength change and thus causes
fading, sometimes referred to as shadow fading.

Compared with multipath fading, shadow fading is a type of macro-fading measured at

larger spatial scales. Its fading characteristics comply with log-normal distribution,
where local median field strength changes of received signals are subject to signal
frequency and obstruction conditions. High frequency signals can easily penetrate
obstructions than low frequency signals, which however have a stronger diffraction
capability than the former.

1.1.3 Multipath Fading

A primary characteristic of radio mobile channels is multipath propagation that results

in signals reaching the receiver by different paths such as reflection, refraction, and
direct radiation paths, as shown in the figure below.

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OFDM Fundamentals

Building
Signals from BS

Reflected signal

Dispersive
signal
Building
obscuring LOS
MS

LOS: Line of Sight

Figure 1.1-2 Multipath propagation of radio signals

Radio waves take different time and phases to travel different distances on differing
paths. Multiple signals in different phases are superimposed each other at the receiver.
Constructive superposition results in signal amplitude increase, while destructive
superposition results in signal amplitude decrease. Dramatic amplitude changes of
received signals will lead to fading.

For example, if the transmitter sends a narrowband pulse signal, the receiver can
receive multiple narrowband pulses, which have different fading conditions, time
delays and quantities, and each corresponds to one transmitted pulse signal. The
following figure shows the signals received by the receiver. This results in wireless
channel time dispersion, where τmax denotes the maximum delay spread.

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

Power
Maximum delay spread

Time

Figure 1.1-3 Received multipath signals

The waveform of a symbol in the received signals may expand to other symbols due to
delay spread during transmission, resulting in inter-symbol interference (ISI). To avoid
the ISI, the symbol rate must be larger than the reciprocal of the maximum delay
spread. Since the delay spreads measured at different time vary with geographical
locations in complex mobile environments, we need to adopt the average value of large
amounts of statistical data.

The following table lists delay spreads in different channel environments:

Table 1.1-1 Delay spreads in different channel environments

Environment Maximum Delay Spread Maximum Path Difference

Indoor 40ns–200ns 12m–16m
Outdoor 1μs–20μs 300m–5000m

Another important concept related to delay spread in frequency domain is coherence

bandwidth which is defined to be the reciprocal of the maximum delay spread:

From the frequency domain perspective, delay spread of multipath signals can result in
frequency-selective fading. Wireless channels make different random responses for
frequency components in signals. Different frequency components experience different
fading, so signal waveforms are distorted after fading. When signals are transmitted at

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OFDM Fundamentals

a high frequency and the signal bandwidth exceeds the coherence bandwidth of the
wireless channel, frequency components undergo different changes after the signals
pass the wireless channel, which results in signal waveform distortion and ISI. This
phenomenon is called frequency-selective fading. When signals are transmitted at a
low frequency and the signal bandwidth is less than the coherence bandwidth of the
wireless channel, frequency components experience the same fading after the signals
pass the wireless channel. Such fading does not lead to signal waveform distortion or
ISI, and it is deemed flat fading or non-frequency-selective fading. Coherence
bandwidth is a characteristic of wireless channels. Whether signals will experience flat
fading or frequency-selective fading when passing a wireless channel is subject to the
signal bandwidth.

1.1.4 Time Varying Nature and Doppler Shift of Wireless Channels

The change of the frequency of received signals caused by motion of an MS is called

Doppler effect which is a common feature in any wave process. Take visible light as an
example. Assume that a luminous object gives off light at a fixed frequency in the
distance, our received frequency needs to be the same with the frequency of this object.
When this object moves toward us and produces the second wave crest, the distance
from the object to us is shorter than that from the first wave crest to us. Therefore, the
time interval between the arrivals of these two wave crests becomes short and our
received frequency increases correspondingly. When the luminous object moves away
from us, our received frequency diminishes.

Astronomers judge that other galaxies are moving away from us according to the
Doppler effect, which leads us to an interpretation that the universe is expanding. The
relationship between frequency and rate in Doppler effect is quite familiar to us. For
example, when a car approaches, its siren gets louder (the sound frequency increases);
when the car drives away, its siren’s pitch gets lower (the sound frequency decreases).

Time varying nature of channel indicates that the transfer function of a channel varies
over time. In other words, received signals are different for the same signals sent at
different moments, as shown in the figure below.

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Transmit Receive

Figure 1.1-4 Time varying nature caused by multipath propagation

An embodiment of time varying nature in mobile communications systems is Doppler

shift. When monophonic signals pass a time varying fading channel, they have a
certain bandwidth and frequency envelop as shown in the figure below. This property is
also called frequency dispersion.

Transmitter
Frequency

Receiver
Frequency

Figure 1.1-5 Frequency dispersion caused by Doppler shift

When an MS moves toward the incident wave direction, the Doppler shift is positive
and the frequency of the signals received by the MS will increase. When an MS moves
in the opposite direction of the incident wave, the Doppler shift is negative and the
frequency of the signals received by the MS will decrease. Due to the Doppler shift,
when a monophonic signal (f0) reaches the receiver, its spectrum is no longer the
function δ located at ±f0 on the frequency axis but the spectrum distributed in ( ) and
with a certain bandwidth. Table 1.1-2 lists the maximum Doppler shifts of two carriers
at different moving speeds.

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OFDM Fundamentals

Table 1.1-2 Maximum Doppler shift (Hz)

Speed 100 km/h 75 km/h 50 km/h 25 km/h

Carrier
900 MHz 83 62 42 21
2 GHz 185 139 93 46

From the time domain perspective, another concept related to Doppler shift is
coherence time.

Coherence time is an average time duration over which the channel impulse response is
invariant, and in which two signals have strong potential for amplitude correlation. If
the reciprocal of the baseband signal bandwidth, usually the symbol bandwidth, is
greater than the coherence time of wireless channels, signal waveform may experience
some changes, leading to signal distortion and time-selective fading, also called fast
fading. If the symbol bandwidth is less than the coherence time, the signal goes non-
time-selective fading, also called slow fading.

Free space propagation loss and shadow fading mainly affect the coverage in radio
areas, which can be eliminated by appropriate design. Radio communications systems
need to focus on removing the impact of time-selective fading and frequency-selective
fading which can be achieved by using the OFDM technologies.

1.2 Basic Concepts About OFDM

The total signal bandwidth, in a classical parallel data system, can be divided into N
non-overlapping frequency subchannels. Each subchannel is modulated with a separate
symbol and then the N subchannels are frequency-multiplexed. The general practice of
avoiding spectral overlap of subchannels was applied to eliminate inter-carrier
interference (ICI), but this resulted in insufficient utilization of the existing spectrum.
From this constraint the idea of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
was born. OFDM is a multi-carrier transfer mode that fully utilizes spectral resources.
Figure 1.2-6 shows the channel distribution in classical FDM and OFDM. From this
figure, the OFDM mode can save at least a half of spectral resources.

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

Frequency

Ordinary FDM

Save bandwidth resources

Frequency

OFDM Multi-Carrier Modulation

Figure 1.2-7 Channel distribution in classical FDM and OFDM

OFDM principle: Divide a channel into several orthogonal subchannels. Convert high-
rate data signals into low-rate parallel substreams and modulate them on each
subchannel, as shown in the figure below.

Figure 1.2-8 OFDM principle

The OFDM utilizes Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) and Fast Fourier Transform
(FFT) to implement modulation and demodulation as shown in the figure below.

Integration
Parallel/Serial
Serial/Parallel

Integration
Channel

Integration

Figure 1.2-9 OFDM modulation and demodulation processes

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OFDM Fundamentals

OFDM modulation and demodulation processes are as follows:

1. The transmitter converts high-rate serial data into low-rate parallel data for data
transmission by using multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

2. Each subcarrier adopts an independent modulator and a demodulator.

3. These subcarriers are completely orthogonal to each other and synchronous in

transmission and reception.

4. The transmitter and the receiver must be accurately co-channel and

synchronous, and sample bits precisely.

5. The receiver performs bit sampling at the backend of the demodulator to acquire
and convert data into high-rate serial data.

As a key role in the evolution to B3G/4G, the OFDM can maximize system
performance by integrating diversity, spatiotemporal coding, interference, inter-channel
interference suppression, and intelligent antenna technologies.

The beginning of OFDM can be dated to 1950s, but it is practically impossible to

implement orthogonal subcarriers with traditional analog techniques due to constraints
in steps 2 and 3 above. With advancement of digital signal processing technologies,
S.B.Weinstein and P.M.Ebert put forward a method for implementing orthogonal
carrier modulation by using FFT, which laid a solid foundation for wide use of the
OFDM. To overcome the ISI caused by multipath effect and timing error, A.Peled and
A.Ruizt raised an idea for adding a cyclic prefix.

1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of OFDM

The OFDM system wins increasingly wide attention because of its following
advantages:

· The OFDM system converts high-rate serial data into low-rate parallel data to
extend the symbol duration on each subcarrier, which effectively reduces the ISI
caused by time dispersion on wireless channels and simplifies the receiver
balance. Sometimes the ISI impact can be eliminated by adding a cyclic prefix
instead of using any balancer.

· Subcarriers are orthogonal and subchannels can be overlapping one another.

Therefore, the OFDM system can make full use of spectral resources in contrast
with classical FDM systems.

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

· Orthogonal modulation and demodulation on subchannels can be implemented

through FFT and IFFT.

· Generally wireless data services such as webpage browsing and FTP

downloading are asymmetric, that is, the data volume in downlink is much
larger than that in uplink. The MS power is usually less than 1W and the transfer
rate in macro cellular environments is less than 10 kbit/s–100 kbit/s. The BS
transmit power can be great and may provide over 1 Mbit/s of transfer rate.
Therefore, the physical layer is expected to support asymmetric high-rate data
transfer so as to meet the user data service demands and the mobile
communications system requirements. The OFDM system can easily implement
different transfer rates in uplink and downlink by using different amounts of
subchannels.

· Wireless channels have frequency selectivity and all subcarriers are less likely to
be concurrently in deep fading. Subchannels with a higher SNR can be fully
utilized through dynamic bit allocation and dynamic subchannel allocation, thus
improving system performance.

· The OFDM system can be easily combined with other access methods including
Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA), Frequency
Hopping OFDM (FH-OFDM), and OFDM-TDMA and to comprise an OFDMA
system to enable multiple users to simultaneously transfer information by use of
OFDM technologies.

· Narrowband interference affects only a small part of subcarriers, so the OFDM

system can protect against such narrowband interference to some extent.

There are multiple orthogonal subcarriers in the OFDM system, but the output signals
are generated by overlap of several subchannels. Compared with Single Carrier FDMA
(SC-FDMA) systems, the OFDM system has the following disadvantages:

· Easy to be affected by frequency deviation: Spectral overlap of subchannels

raises a rigorous requirement for orthogonality between subcarriers. Due to the
time varying nature of wireless channels, frequency deviation, for example,
Doppler shift, may occur to radio signals during signal transmission or between
the transmitter’s carrier frequency and the receiver’s local oscillator, which will
impair the orthogonality between subcarriers and lead to mutual interference
between subchannels. Pool sensitivity to frequency deviation is a major defect of

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OFDM Fundamentals

the OFDM system.

· High Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR): The output of the multi-carrier

modulation system is overlap of several subchannel signals. When several
signals have the same phase, the instantaneous power of overlapping signals is
much greater than the average signal power, resulting in a high PAPR. This lays
an extremely high requirement for linearity of the amplifier on the transmitter. If
the dynamic range of the amplifier cannot adapt to signal changes, it will lead to
signal distortion and spectral change of the overlapped signals, thus impairing
the orthogonality between subchannel signals and causing mutual interference
and system performance deterioration.

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2 Key Technologies of OFDM

 Knowledge points:

Guard interval and cyclic prefix

Synchronization technology

Channel estimate

PAPR reduction technology

2.1 Guard Interval and Cyclic Prefix

OFDM is robust to multipath delay spread. It extends each symbol duration that is used
for subcarrier modulation to be N times larger than the original symbol duration
through serial-to-parallel data conversion and modulation on N parallel subchannels.
Likewise, the ratio of delay spread to symbol duration decreases by N. To eliminate the
ISI to the greatest extent possible, a guard interval can be inserted between OFDM
symbols. The guard interval length Tg is usually larger than the maximum delay spread
of the wireless channel to prevent the multipath components of a symbol interfering the
next symbol. If no signal is interpolated within this guard interval, this interval is
deemed an idle transmission period. In this case, however, multipath propagation
produces the ICI which impairs the orthogonality between subcarriers, as shown in the
figure below.

ICI caused by the second

subcarrier to the first
subcarrier
First subcarrier

Second subcarrier with delay

Guard interval Integration interval of OFDM signal

Figure 2.1-10 ICI caused by idle guard interval

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Every OFDM symbol contains all non-zero subcarrier signals and delay signals. The
figure above shows the delay signals of the first and the second subcarriers. In the FFT
calculation period, the difference of number of periods between the first subcarrier and
the second subcarrier with a delay is no longer an integer. Therefore, the second
subcarrier will cause interference when the receiver attempts to modulate the first
subcarrier. Similarly, the first subcarrier may cause interference when the receiver
attempts to modulate the second subcarrier.

To avoid the ICI caused by multipath delay effect, an OFDM symbol needs to be added
with a cyclic prefix within its guard interval, as shown in the figure below. This can
ensure that the delayed copies of an OFDM symbol contain an integral number of
waveform periods in an FFT period and no ICI is caused during demodulation of the
delay signals with delays less than the guard interval Tg.

Cyclic prefix
Amplitude

Time

OFDM symbol length

Guard interval

Figure 2.1-11 Cyclic prefix of an OFDM symbol

Generally, when the guard interval accounts for 20%, the power loss is not more than 1
dB while the data rate loss reaches up to 20%. In traditional SC-FDMA systems, there
are also data rate (bandwidth) losses. Guard interval insertion can eliminate the ISI and
the ICI caused by multipath delay effect, so such losses are worthwhile. Figure 2.1-12
shows a block diagram of the IDFT(IFFT)-based OFDM system with a guard interval
inserted.

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

Figure 2.1-13 IFFT-based OFDM modulation and cyclic prefix insertion

The figure above shows the process of OFDM modulation and cyclic prefix insertion:
The transmitter converts serial data signals into parallel output which are the data
symbols to be modulated on corresponding subcarriers and can be deemed as a group
of data in the frequency domain. After the IFFT, the parallel data is transformed into
the data located at dispersed time points. In this way, IFFT implements conversion
from frequency domain to time domain.

Figure 2.1-14 shows a group of Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols to be
transmitted.

Figure 2.1-15 OFDM symbols

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OFDM Fundamentals

2.2 Synchronization Technology

Synchronization plays a vital role in communications systems. For example, a receiver
needs to extract a carrier that has the same frequency and phase as the transmit carrier
during synchronous demodulation and coherence detection, and needs to determine the
start position of symbols.

Common communications systems have the following synchronization problems:

· The transmitter and the receiver have different carrier frequencies.

· The transmitter and the receiver have different sampling frequencies.

· The receiver does not know the timed start position of symbols.

An OFDM symbol consists of a group of overlapping subcarriers. Subcarriers are

distinguished by orthogonality which is crucial for the OFDM system. To ensure
orthogonality, the OFDM system has a strict requirement for carrier synchronization.

The OFDM system has the following synchronization requirements:

· Carrier synchronization: The oscillation frequency at the receiver must be at the

same frequency and phase of the transmit carrier.

· Sample synchronization: The receiver and the transmitter must have the same
sampling frequency.

· Timed symbol synchronization: The IFFT and the FFT must have the same start
and end time.

Compared with the SC-FDMA system, the OFDM system has a higher requirement for
synchronization precision, because synchronization deviation will cause the ISI and the
ICI. Figure 2.2-16 shows the synchronization requirements of the OFDM system and the locations
of various synchronizations in the system.

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

Carrier
modulation

Symbol Sample Carrier

synchronization synchronization synchronization Channel

Carrier
demodulation

Figure 2.2-17 Synchronization diagram in the OFDM system

2.2.1 Carrier Synchronization

Frequency deviation between the transmitter and the receiver leads to frequency offset
of received signals in the frequency domain. If a frequency offset is n times of the
subcarrier interval (n is an integer), although subcarriers can still maintain orthogonal,
the frequency already deviates n subcarriers away from the original value, which will
result in up to 0.5 bit error rate (BER) of data symbols mapped into the OFDM
spectrum.

If a carrier frequency deviation is not integral times of the subcarrier interval, there
may exist energy leakage between subcarriers, which impairs the orthogonality
between subcarriers and leads to mutual interference between subchannels and system
BER increase.

Figure 2.2-18 compares the system performance in the case of carrier synchronization
and out-of-synchronization.

(a) Without frequency deviation (b) With frequency deviation

Figure 2.2-19 System performance in the case of carrier synchronization and out-of-synchronization

Usually we can achieve carrier synchronization through two processes: acquisition and
tracing. In tracing mode, only frequency fluctuations need to be handled. When the
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OFDM Fundamentals

receiver is in acquisition mode, the frequency deviation may be as large as several

times of the subcarrier interval.

Carrier synchronization can be executed through two phases. In phase I (acquisition),

the receiver roughly estimates the frequency as soon as possible to acquire the carrier.
In phase II (tracing), the receiver locks and traces the target. Dividing the
synchronization task into two phases has advantages: The algorithm in each phase only
needs to consider the tasks to be executed in a specific period, which brings sufficient
freedom for synchronous structure design. In phase I, we only need to consider how to
roughly estimate the carrier frequency in a large acquisition scope without considering
the tracing performance. In phase II, we only need to consider how to achieve better
tracing performance.

2.2.2 Timed Symbol Synchronization

A cyclic prefix guard interval is inserted between OFDM symbols, so the start time of
synchronization between OFDM symbols can change within the guard interval without
causing any ICI or ISI, as shown in the figure below.

Earliest possible symbol timing

Latest possible symbol timing

OFDM symbol time

Guard interval FFT calculation time

Figure 2.2-20 Start time of synchronization between OFDM symbols

The ICI and ISI exist only when the FFT calculation window goes beyond the symbol
boundary or falls in the symbol amplitude roll-off zone. This means that the OFDM
system does not require strict timed synchronization between symbols. However, we
must identify the optimal symbol timing in order to achieve the best system
performance in a multipath propagation environment. Although the start time of
synchronization can be selected at discretion within the guard interval, any symbol
timing change may enhance the sensitivity of the OFDM system to delay spread and

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

thus the tolerant delay spread of the system will be lower than the preset value. To
minimize this negative impact, we need to reduce the deviation of timed symbol
synchronization as much as possible.

In most cases, timed symbol synchronization and carrier synchronization are

implemented by inserting a pilot symbol, which may result in waste of bandwidth and
power resources and system effectiveness decrease. In fact, almost all multi-carrier
systems eliminate the ISI by inserting a guard interval. To avoid resource waste, we
usually utilize the information carried by the guard interval to implement the maximum
likelihood estimation for symbol synchronization and carrier synchronization.

Serial/Parallel

Parallel/Serial
Channel

Figure 2.2-21 OFDM block diagram used in carrier synchronization and symbol synchronization

Synchronization is an essential issue for the OFDM system, and synchronization

performance directly determines whether the OFDM technology can be applied to the
wireless communications field. There are several synchronization modes in the OFDM
system: carrier synchronization, timed symbol synchronization, and sample
synchronization. They all affect the OFDM system performance. We can choose an
appropriate synchronization method to lay a solid foundation for OFDM application in
wireless communications systems.

2.3 Channel Estimate

An OFDM system with a cyclic prefix is equivalent to N separate parallel subchannels.
Received signals on N subchannels = Transmitted signals on subchannels x Spectral
feature of channel, if channel noise is not taken into account. If the spectral feature of
channel is known through estimation, received signals can be correctly demodulated by

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OFDM Fundamentals

dividing the received signals on subchannels by the spectral feature of channel.

Channel estimate methods are commonly based on pilot channel and pilot symbol
(reference symbol). The multi-carrier system has a time-frequency two-dimensional
(2D) structure, so pilot symbol assisted channel estimate is more flexible. This estimate
method is to insert some known symbols and sequences in several fixed locations of
transmitter signals, so that the receiver can perform channel estimate using applicable
algorithms based on these pilot symbols and sequences. In a single-carrier system, pilot
symbols and sequences can be inserted in the time axis only and the receiver extracts
pilot symbols to estimate the channel pulse response. In a multi-carrier system, pilot
symbols can be inserted in both time and frequency axes and the receiver extracts pilot
symbols to estimate the channel transfer function. We can insert filters in a 2D structure
to estimate the channel transfer function only if the interval of pilot symbols in time
and frequency directions is small enough as opposed to the channel bandwidth.

2.4 PAPR Reduction Technology

Besides low sensitivity to frequency deviation, the OFDM system has another
disadvantage: overhigh PAPR. Compared with the single-carrier system, an OFDM
symbol is the sum of many independent modulated signals. Such signals may produce
larger peak power which will cause a high PAPR.

Signal pre-distortion is the simplest way to reduce the PAPR. Before sent to an
amplifier, signals undergo non-linear processing which aims to perform pre-distortion
for the signals with a high PAPR to prevent them from going beyond the dynamic
change scope of the amplifier. The most popular signal distortion technologies include
amplitude limiting and compression and expansion.

2.4.1 Amplitude Limiting

Amplitude limiting before signals pass the non-linear components can reduce the peak
signal level to be lower than the expected maximum level. Amplitude limiting is quite
simple but also brings problems for the OFDM system. First, distortion of the OFDM
symbol amplitude will cause interference to the system itself, leading to BER
performance degradation. Second, non-linear distortion of OFDM signals will increase
the outband radiation power. Amplitude limiting can be deemed as a process of
multiplying the OFDM sample symbol by a rectangular window function. When the
amplitude of OFDM signals is less than the threshold value, the amplitude value of this

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rectangular window function is 1. When the signal amplitude needs to be limited, the
amplitude value of this rectangular window function must be less than 1. As we all
know, time multiplied by frequency is equivalent to frequency domain convolution.
Therefore, the limited OFDM symbol spectrum equals the convolution of the original
OFDM symbol spectrum and the window function spectrum. Outband spectral features
are determined by the signal with a large spectral bandwidth, that is, by the spectrum of
the rectangular window function.

To prevent overhigh outband radiation caused by the rectangular window function,

other non-rectangular window functions can be adopted, as shown in the figure below.

Original signal
Peak value 2

Calculated signal
Peak value 1

Window
function level

Peak value 3
Signal amplitude

Multiplication function

Time sampling signal

Figure 2.4-22 Window adding for time domain OFDM symbols

The principle for selecting a window function: Ensure that the window function has
good spectral features and does not stay an overlong time in the time domain to prevent
bringing an impact to more time domain sampling signals.

2.4.2 Compression and Expansion

Besides amplitude limiting, signal compression and expansion is another choice for
signal pre-distortion. In a classical expansion method, symbols of smaller amplitude

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OFDM Fundamentals

are amplified while those of larger amplitude remain unchanged. This increases the
average system transmit power but also makes the symbol power be closer to the non-
linear change area of the power amplifier, easily resulting in signal distortion.

To avoid signal distortion, this document presents an improved compression and

expansion means through which large-power transmit signals are compressed and
small-power transmit signals are amplified to keep the average power of transmit
signals relatively unchanged. This not only reduces the system PAPR, but also
enhances anti-interference capability of small-power signals. μ-law compression and
expansion can be employed in this means. Implement compression and expansion on
signals at the transmitter, and carry out reverse operations at the receiver to restore
original data signals. Figure 2.4-23 shows the OFDM system baseband diagram with
compression and expansion changes.

C
transform

Calculate the average

amplitude value

C inverse
transform

Calculate the average

amplitude value

OFDM system baseband diagram with compression and expansion changes

Figure 2.4-24 OFDM system baseband diagram with compression and expansion changes

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3 OFDM Applications

3.1 OFDM Applications in Downlink

LTE Downlink systems adopt Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
(OFDMA) which is an OFDM-based application.

OFDMA divides transmission bandwidth into several subcarrier sets that are
orthogonal and allocates them to different users to flexibly achieve resource sharing
among MSs, thus implementing multiple access between among users. OFDMA can be
considered as a multiple access mode combining OFDM, FDMA, and TDMA
technologies.

As shown in Figure 3.1-25, there are three diagrams: (a), (b), and (c). If we perceive
the OFDM itself as a transfer mode, diagram (a) shows that all resources including
time and frequency are allocated to a user. Diagram (b) shows an OFDM+FDMA mode
that allows subcarriers to be allocated to different users. One crucially important
difference between the traditional FDMA mode and the OFDM+FDMA mode is that
adjacent carriers allocated to different users are partially overlapping in the latter mode.

The OFDM+FDMA+TDMA mode is to dynamically allocate carriers in time domain.

As show in diagram (c), frequency resources are dynamically allocated based on the
data rate needed by each user and the current channel quality,

OFDM modulation

Figure 3.1-26 OFDM-based multiple access modes

In the OFDMA system, every user can be allocated with a fixed time-frequency grid
diagram so that each user utilizes specific part of subcarriers and their subcarriers are
different with each other, as shown in the figure below.
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 Frequency

Time

Figure 3.1-27 Time-frequency diagram of an OFDMA scheme with fixed subcarrier allocation

Frequency hopping (FH) can be easily introduced into the OFDMA scheme. The
subcarrier frequency used by each user can be selected based on the FH pattern in
every timeslot. This allows each user to employ different FH patterns, which converts
the OFDMA system into an FH-CDMA system. The greatest benefit brought by FH-
OFDMA is to design orthogonal FH patterns for multiple cellular users so as to
eliminate interference in the cell, as shown in the figure below.
Frequency

Time

Figure 3.1-28 FH-OFDMA scheme

OFDMA integrates both FH and OFDM technologies to constitute a flexible multiple

access scheme. It has the following advantages:
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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

· The OFDMA system is free from interference within the cell, so it can achieve
larger system capacity.

· OFDMA can flexibly cater to the loan requirements. It can adapt to a specific
transmission bandwidth by simply changing the number of subcarriers users.

· When a user transfer rate rises, OFDMA can be adopted in combination with the
dynamic channel allocation technology to support high-rate data transfer.

3.2 OFDM Applications in Uplink

The OFDM system output is superposition of multiple subchannel signals. If several
signals have the same phase, the instantaneous power of the overlapping signals is
much greater than the average signal power, resulting in a high PAPR. This lays an
extremely high requirement for transmitter linearity. Therefore, OFDM-based multiple
access technologies are not applicable to the UE side in uplinks. The SC-FDMA
technology adopted in LTE uplinks is based on the DFT-spread OFDM scheme and it
has a lower PAPR compared with the OFDM.

3.2.1 DFT-spread OFDM

Figure 3.2-29 shows the DFTS-OFDM modulation process.

Figure 3.2-30 DFTS-OFDM modulation

DFTS-OFDM modulation is implemented in the unit of data symbol clock of size M:

1. Acquire the frequency domain sequence of a time domain disperse sequence

through Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). This frequency domain sequence of
size M needs to accurately describe the time domain signals represented by M
data symbol blocks.

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OFDM Fundamentals

2. The DFT output signals are sent to the N-point Inverse Discrete Fourier
Transform (IDFT), where N>M. Because the IDFT is longer than the DFT, the
excess input of the IDFT is padded with zeros.

3. Add a cyclic prefix for this group of data after IDFT to avoid the ISI.

According to the modulation process above, DFTS-OFDM implementation has the

same procedure—IDFT—as OFDM implementation, so DFTS-OFDM can be deemed
as an OFDM process with precoding.

If the length M of DFT equals the length N of IDFT, then both DFT and IDFT effects
will be cancelled after they are cascaded and the output signal will be an ordinary
single-carrier modulated signal. When N>M and the IDFT is padded with zeros, the
IDFT output signal has the following features:

1. The PAPR of the IDFT output is less than that of the OFDM signal.

2. The frequency domain location occupied by output signals can be changed by

varying the mapping from DFT output to IDFT input.

Acquire the spectrum of input signals through DFT. The N-point IDFT can be deemed
as an OFDM modulation procedure which is actually to modulate the spectral
information of input signals to multiple orthogonal subcarriers. OFDM subcarriers in
LTE downlink carry data symbols directly, so the PAPR of DFTS-OFDM can maintain
the same PAPR as the original data symbol. An example with N=M can illustrate this
point, as shown in the figure below.

Figure 3.2-31 DFTS-OFDM symbol transmission

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 2 Key Technologies of OFDM

The spectrum of input data symbols can be moved to a different location by changing
the mapping from DFT output to IDFT input. Figure 3.2-32 shows two mapping
modes: centralized mapping and distributed mapping.

Figure 3.2-33 Centralized and distributed DFTS-OFDM modulation schemes

Figure 3.2-34 shows the spectral distribution of output signals in these two mapping
modes.

Figure 3.2-35 Signal spectrum modulated in centralized and distributed DFTS-OFDM schemes

3.2.2 SC-FDMA

SC-FDMA can be easily implemented by taking advantage of the DFTS-OFDM

features above. Multiple access can be achieved by changing the mapping from DFT
output to IDFT input of different users when several users reuse spectral resources. In
addition, subcarriers are orthogonal to each other, avoiding multi-address interference.

As shown in Figure 3.2-36, multiple access can be implemented by changing the

mapping from DFT to IDFT. Spectral resources can be flexibly configured by varying
the data symbol block size M of input signals.

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OFDM Fundamentals

Figure 3.2-37 DFTS-OFDM-based FDMA

As shown in Figure 3.2-38, SC-FDMA supports two resource allocation modes:

centralized mode and distributed mode which are two uplink access modes as discussed
in 3GPP. We choose the centralized distribution mode in order to obtain a low PAPR
and reduce the UE load. To acquire the frequency diversity gain, we employ uplink FH
as an alternative scheme of the uplink distributed transmission mode.

Figure 3.2-39 DFTS-OFDM-based centralized and distributed FDMA

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