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ICT Express 5 (2019) 41–46
www.elsevier.com/locate/icte

Performance evaluation of PAPR reduction in FBMC system using nonlinear

companding transform
Imad A. Shaheen a , ∗, Abdelhalim Zekry a , Fatma Newagy a , Reem Ibrahim b
a Electronics and Communication Department, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
b Embedded System Design, Electronics Factory Department, Cairo, Egypt

Received 9 March 2017; received in revised form 18 December 2017; accepted 31 January 2018
Available online 27 March 2018

Abstract

Filter Bank Multicarrier with Offset Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (FBMC/OQAM) is one of the best waveforms used in 5G
communications. The FBMC is a multicarrier modulation system (MCM) which suffers from high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) causing
a reduction in power efficiency. Nonlinear companding techniques are widely used to reduce the peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR). In this
paper, we have evaluated the performance of different non-linear companding techniques to reduce the PAPR in FBMC/OQAM system while
achieving good Bit Error rate. We assessed the hyperbolic tangent, the error function, the logarithmic function, the A-law, and Mu-law companding
techniques. It is found that the best companding function is the Mu-law.
⃝c 2018 The Korean Institute of Communications Information Sciences. Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under
the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords: FBMC/OQAM; PAPR; Nonlinear companding

1. Introduction and low out-of-band interference inherent in FBMC/OQAM

In the multicarrier transmission, the subcarriers are indepen-
dent of each other in time domain such that their composite
signal has a large dynamic range as subcarriers may align to
produce constructive or destructive superposition. Constructive
superposition will result in a signal with high values of envelope
peaks whereas destructive superposition may fade the signal
completely. Such large variation in signal power is measured
in terms of peak to average power ratio [1]. Filter Bank Multi-
carrier with Offset Quadrature Amplitude Modulation System
(FBMC/OQAM) as one of the many new waveforms is pro-
posed for the next wireless communication system (5G). The
FBMC system is a multicarrier modulation scheme with relaxed
orthogonally, increased frequency efficiency, improved shape
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: imadshaheen@gmail.com (I.A. Shaheen),
aaazekry@hotmail.com (A. Zekry), fatma.newagy@eng.asu.edu.eg
(F. Newagy), engreem@yahoo.com (R. Ibrahim).
Peer review under responsibility of The Korean Institute of Communica-
tions and Information Sciences (KICS).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icte.2018.01.017
2405-9595/⃝ c 2018 The Korean Institute of Communications Information Sciences. Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
techniques.
The main drawback of FBMC/OQAM system is a high Peak
to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signal. To
overcome that, many researchers proposed schemes to reduce
PAPR for FBMC system [2]. Active Constellation Extensions
(ACE) with projection onto convex sets (POCS) and smart
gradient projection (SGP), are used for reducing PAPR of
FBMC system. But they increase the average power transmitted
leading to a decrease in the power efficiency and degrading the
bit error rate (BER) performance as well as they require more
implementation complexity [1,3,4].
Nonlinear Companding is one of the best PAPR reduction
techniques used in multicarrier modulation due to less com-
plexity and good bit error rate BER. The companding function
is used in order to attenuate the high peaks and amplify the low
amplitudes. At the receiver, the inverse companding function
is applied in order to recover the original signal. Moreover, by
choosing proper companding parameters, the average transmit-
ted power can be kept unchanged after companding. In this
42 I.A. Shaheen, A. Zekry, F. Newagy et al. / ICT Express 5 (2019) 41–46
paper, we used different nonlinear companding techniques to
reduce PAPR of FBMC system. The companding techniques
used are hyperbolic tangent (tanh), error function (erf), Loga-
rithmic Function (log), Mu-law and A-law companding.
The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the
proposed transceiver construction of FBMC/OQAM system
model using nonlinear companding techniques. Section 3 in-
troduces the problem of the peak to average power ratio in
the built system. In Section 4, different nonlinear companding
techniques are highlighted where they are applied separately
to the proposed system. In Section 5, the simulation results of
FBMC system are presented. Section 6 concludes the paper.
2. FBMC/OQAM system model
Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of the proposed FBMC/
OQAM Transceiver with nonlinear companding. The transmit-
ter consists of the OQAM preprocessing block, IFFT block
followed by PolyPhase filter bank and companding block.
Consequently, the FBMC/OQAM system is used to transmit
the OQAM instead of QAM symbols. However, the input data
at the transmitter side is denoted by xm,n at the kth subcarrier
and nT /2 time instant [5,6] (m: sub-carrier index, n: symbol
index).
At the transmitter each complex data symbol is denoted by
Sk , for k = 0, 1, . . . .M − 1, where M = 2N is the number
of sub-carriers, and it can transmit at the rate F = 1/T . The
discrete time baseband signal Sk at the output of the Polyphase
filter can be written as
+∞ 2N −1
∑ ∑ 2π
sk = xm,n g [k − n N ] e j 2N m(k−D/2) e jφm,n (1)
n=−∞ m=0
where g[n] is the prototype filter used for design a PolyPhase
filter with a length of L, and d is a delay factor. The term
e jφm,n is used to make sure that there is a π/2 phase difference
between the input data xm,n . In general, φm,n is given as
π
φm,n = (m + n) (2)
2 function is applied at the transmitter to compand the output
where g [n] is defined by
2π
g[n] = g [k − n N ] e j 2N m(k−D/2) .
The output signals from Polyphase filter sk are compressed
by using nonlinear companding techniques before being trans-
mitted at transmitter through the channel. Hence, at the output
of the compressor, the companded signal vk is given by
vk = h (sk ) for 0 ≤ k ≤ M − 1.
The companding function is expressed as h(.) which is used
to compress the amplitude of FBMC signals at the receiver
input assuming additive White Gaussian Noise Channel [7,8].
The received signal rk can be expressed in the form:
rk = h(vk ) + wk
where wk is the AWGN.
In the receiver, the inverse companding function is applied
[6,9]. Then we obtain
sk∗ = h −1 (rk )
where h (−1) (rk ) expresses the inverse companding function at
the receiver side; that is the expansion process. Thus, the
receiver performs the inverse processing of the transmitter to
restore the original data again. So, its building blocks will
reflect this fact as depicted in Fig. 1.
3. The peak to average power ratio (PAPR)
The main issue in FBMC system is high PAPR which re-
duces the efficiency of the power amplifier. The FBMC system
is used to send complex symbols which modulate different
subcarriers resulting in a high PAPR. PAPR of an FBMC system
is defined as the ratio of peak power to the average power [1].
In general, the PAPR can be written as
max |sk |2
{ }
PAPR (sk ) = (7)
E |sk |2
[ ]
where E[.] denotes the expected value of the signal. PAPR in
dB can be written as:
PAPR (dB) = 10 log 10 (PAPR). (8)
The effectiveness of a PAPR reduction technique is mea-
sured by the complementary cumulative distribution function
(CCDF), which is the probability that PAPR exceeds some
threshold
CCDF = Prob(PAPR > X 0 ) (9)
where X 0 is the threshold.
4. Nonlinear companding techniques
Nonlinear Companding is a special type of clipping scheme
used to provide great PAPR reduction with better BER perfor-
mance and less implementation complexity required to build the
system. The companding transforms enlarge the small signals
while compressing the large signals to increase the immunity
of small signals from noise and interference. The companding
signals using strict monotone function and at the receiver, the
(3) inverse companding function is used to recover the signal in the
receiver [8,9].
4.1. Hyperbolic tangent companding
The first companding function applied to the end of the
(4) transmitter is given as [10]
h (sk ) = y1 tanh (y2 sk ) (10)
where the parameters y1 and y2 control the amount of com-
panding level and they must be positive numbers. The inverse
companding is given by
(5)
h ′ (rk ) = y1 y2 1 − tanh2 (y2rk )
[ ]
(11)
with
[
1 − tanh2 (y2 sk ) ≤ 1, ∀ y2 , sk
]
(12)
(6) and a sufficient condition to have 1 > y1 y2 . (13)
 I.A. Shaheen, A. Zekry, F. Newagy et al. / ICT Express 5 (2019) 41–46 43

Fig. 1. Proposed transceiver structure of FBMC with companding.

4.2. Error function companding where the Mu ratio is used to control the order of companding
level at the transmitter side, where u(Mu) is normalization
The second companding function applied to the end of the constant. At the receiver side, the inverse companding is given
transmitter is given by [8,9] by
h (x) = y1 erf (y2 sk )
( )
(14) 1 (
h ′ (rk ) = u(Mu)−1 sgn (rk ) (1 + Mu)|rk | − 1 . (22)
)
where the companding parameters y1 and y2 control the Mu
amount of companding level and they must be positive num-
bers. The inverse companding is given as 4.5. A-law companding
2y1 y2
h ′ (rk ) = √ exp −(y2rk )2
[ ]
(15)
π The fifth and last companding function applied to end of the
with transmitter is given by [1,2]
⎧
A |sk | |sk |max
exp − (y2 sk )2 ≤ 1 , ∀y2 , sk .
[ ]
(16) ⎪ , if |sk | <
1 + In (A)
⎪
A
⎨
a sufficient condition to have h (sk ) = k(A)sgn (sk ) (23)
1 + In (A |s k |) |sk |max
, if |sk | ≥
⎪
⎪
h (rk ) < a where
′
1 + In (A)
⎩
(17) A
2y1 y2 where sgn(y) = sign of the input, |sk | = absolute value of sk .
a> √ . (18)
π The A ratio is used to control the companding level applied to
The condition
√ to obtain h ′ (x) < 1 is easily found to be the signal sk . The A-law expansion applied at the receiver is
y1 y2 < π /2. In (8) the authors used
√ the values y1 = 0.6061
given by
and y2 = 1, hence y1 y2 = 0.6061 < π /2. h ′ (rk ) = k(A)−1 sgn (rk )
|rk | (1 + In (A))
⎧
|rk |max
4.3. Logarithm function companding ⎪ , |rk | <
1 + In (A)
⎪
A
⎨
× (24)
The third companding function applied to the end of the exp (|rk | (1 + In (A)) − 1) |rk |max
,
⎪
⎪ |rk | ≥
1 + In (A)
⎩
transmitter is express by [3] A
h (sk ) = y1 loge (1 + y2 sk ) (19) where k(A) is normalization constant.

where the companding parameters y1 and y2 control the

5. Performance evaluation
amount of companding level and they must be positive num-
bers. The inverse companding is given as In the previous section, we discussed the Effect of compand-
y1 y2 ing process on the FBMC.OQAM system and the parameters
h ′ (rk ) = . (20)
1 + y2rk influencing PAPR reduction.
The PAPR of FBMC/OQAM system for a continuous time
4.4. Mu-law companding technique signal is given as
Peak power
The fourth companding function applied to the end of the PAPR = (25)
Average power
transmitter is given by [11]
max |s(t)|2
In (1 + Mu |sk |) PAPR = (26)
h (sk ) = u(Mu) sgn (sk ) (21) E|s(t)|2
In (1 + Mu)
44 I.A. Shaheen, A. Zekry, F. Newagy et al. / ICT Express 5 (2019) 41–46

Fig. 3. FBMC/OQAM with different companding.

Fig. 2. PAPR OF FBMC/OQAM system with different subcarrier k.

6. Power spectral density

where E {.} denotes expectation operator, t is a symbol time
Power spectral density (PSD) of discrete random process of
and E|s(t)|2 is the average power of s(t) that can be expressed
by FBMC signal, is given in the following
( )
∫ MT 2 k
s( f ) = |G( f )| A f (32)
E|s(t)|2 = 1/M T
⏐ ⏐
⏐x(t)2 ⏐ dt. (27) 2
0
where A k2 f is the PSD of the signal, G( f ) is the Fourier
( )
For a discrete FBMC signal sk , the PAPR is computed from
L times oversampled FBMC signal as transform of the prototype filter g[n], and f is the normalized
frequency with respect to the sampling frequency f s .
max |sk |2 max |sk |2
{ } { }
PAPR (sk ) = = } . (28)
E |sk |2
{
Pavg (sk )
7. Simulation result
The parameter affecting the PAPR reduction in FBMC/
OQAM signal is divided into two parameters. First one is the After building the Matlab model of the proposed FBMC
number of subcarrier used in FBMC system and the second transceiver, we have evaluated the performance of FBMC/
parameter is modulation order used. To analyze the effect of OQAM system with the different companding techniques ex-
both on the FBMC system, the highest value of PAPR is given plained in the previous section which applied separately in
by the transceiver. We consider that the number of subcarriers
amounts to 512, modulation order used 128 OQAM and the
k |sk |2
{ }
P A P Rhighest = max { 2 } . (29) input data size is 2200 source bits. The prototype filter is
E |sk | Square Root Raised Cosine (SRRC) Pulse shaping filter with
Let ζ be a PAPR of the input modulation order defined as an overlapping factor of 6 and Roll-off factor set to 0.53. Also,
{ 2} we consider additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel
|sk |
ζ = max { 2 } . (30) in our simulation. The companding parameters are set as y1 =
E |sk | 0.6061, and y2 = 1 for hyperbolic tangent, error function and
Then the highest PAPR can be rewritten as logarithm function while the Mu companding parameter is set
to 255 and the A companding parameter is set to 87.7.
P A P Rhighest = kζ. (31) Fig. 3 shows the simulated CCDF as a function of the PAPR
From the above equation we can observe that, the PAPR is for the FBMC/OQAM system at the different companding
directly proportional to the number of subcarriers (k) used in techniques. Table 1 depicts the PAPR at CCDF = 10−3 for
the FBMC/OQAM system. the different companding techniques. From Fig. 2 and Table 1,
Fig. 2, shows the CCDF as a function of the PAPR of we can observe that for Mu companding, the PAPR is reduced
FBMC/OQAM system for different number of subcarriers 128, by about 11.781 dB from the original FBMC system at 10−3
256, 512, and 1024. From the figure we can observe that the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) and
PAPR increases as the number of subcarrier increases. The for A-law companding, the PAPR is reduced by about 10.531
highest PAPR of 19.16 dB is obtained at CCDF = 10−3 for dB at 10−3 of the complementary cumulative distribution func-
M = 1024, for M = 128, 256, and 512 the obtained PAPRs are tion (CCDF), whereas the tanh, erf and log companding give a
15.21 dB, 16.5 dB, and 18.41 dB, respectively. smaller reduction in the PAPR.
 I.A. Shaheen, A. Zekry, F. Newagy et al. / ICT Express 5 (2019) 41–46 45

Table 1
PAPR at CCDF = 10−3 .
Schemes PAPR (dB)
Conventional FBMC 18.41
FBMC with MU law Companding 6.629
FBMC with A law Companding 7.879
FBMC with erf Companding 12.51
FBMC with log Companding 12.99
FBMC with tanh Companding 17.29

Fig. 5. The power spectral density PSD of conventional signal and various
nonlinear companding signals.

For Mu law companding scheme, the normalization constant

Fig. 4. BER performance of FBMC/OQAM.
u(Mu) is used to make sure that the average power of the
companded FBMC/OQAM signal is equal to the average power
of the uncompounded FBMC/OQAM signal.
A proposed approximation for u(Mu) for Mu law compand-
ing scheme is given by
In(1 + Mu)
u(Mu) ≈ . (33)
Mu

An example of a peak reduction associated with a data

Fig. 4 shows the simulated bit error rate performance
symbol before and after companding with Mu = 255 is shown
for FBMC/OQAM with different nonlinear companding tech-
in Fig. 6 where the companded signal is scaled to yield an
niques. It is clear from this figure that the Mu-law technique
average power equal to the uncompanded signal. The result
provides the best performance when the Mu parameter is set to
shows that companding process increases the low level signal
255. At a bit error rate of 10−3 which is the required minimum
components and reduces the high level signal components
bit error rate for voice services, the loss of the energy per bit to
where the peak power of companding FBMC/OQAM signal is
noise density ratio Eb/N0 for Mu = 255 companding is slightly
given by
greater than 2 dB. This means that one needs only to increase { ( ( )) }
the average power with Mu compression by only about 2 dBs to In 1 + Mu Ppeak
Pcomp peak = max . (34)
achieve the same bit error rate. At the same time one achieved 0≤k≤M−1 In (1 + Mu)
a gain of 11.8 dB in improving the peak to average power ratio.
Accordingly the net gain will be 9.8 dB. If one increases The average power of companded FBMC/OQAM signal is
the average value of the compressed signal by 2 dB, one will given by
still get a reduction of 9.8 dB in the peak to average power M−1
∑ { In (1 + Mu [Pk (t)]) }
ratio if one holds the peak power the same before and after Pcomp average = k . (35)
In (1 + Mu)
commanding. k=0

The simulated power spectral density PSD of the conven- The PAPR of the companded FBMC/OQAM signal with Mu
tional FBMC and that of the system with various nonlinear law companding is given by
companding techniques are illustrated in Fig. 5. It is clear from [ ( (
In 1 + Mu Ppeak
))]
the figure that the PSD remains almost unchanged after the Mu- PAPR = max k ∑ M−1 (36)
k=0 {ln (1 + Mu [Pk (t)])}
0≤k≤M−1
law companding used with the FBMC system. Even if the av-
erage power of the Mu companded signal is increased by 2 dB, where Pk (t) is the normalized instantaneous FBMC power of
the out of band emission growth will be still negligible. So, the the kth subcarrier and the Ppeak is the normalized FBMC power
Mu-law companding produces low out of band (OOB) spectrum from the compander.
and provides good spectrum characteristic than other nonlinear Fig. 7 shows the power spectral density of conventional
companding techniques. Thus the MU law companding is more FBMC signal and companded FBMC signal with Mu com-
localized in frequency domain compared to other companding panded scheme with set Mu = 255 it is clear that the PSD
techniques. remains unchanged after the Mu companding.
46 I.A. Shaheen, A. Zekry, F. Newagy et al. / ICT Express 5 (2019) 41–46
Fig. 6. Peak canceling of companded and uncompounded FBMC/OQAM
signals with equal average power with Mu equal to 255.
Fig. 7. PSD of companded and uncompounded FBMC signals with equal
average power and Mu equal to 255.
In summary, simulation results above demonstrate that the
proposed Mu law companding scheme can offer better perfor-
mances with respect to PAPR reduction, BER performance,
and out of band radiation. It is also clear that we can achieve
a favorable trade-off between PAPR reduction, BER and PSD
performance for FBMC/OQAM system by choosing the appro-
priate parameters for companding with the change process of
modulation order and number of subcarrier.
8. Conclusion
FBMC/OQAM is one of the best waveforms used for the
next wireless communication systems 5G, due to providing
good spectral efficiency and low out-of-band emission. The
main objective of this paper is to assess the system performance
at different nonlinear companding techniques to reduce a PAPR
of FBMC/OQAM system. The tried techniques are a hyperbolic
tangent, error function, logarithmic function, Mu law and A law
companding ones.
The computer simulation results verified that the Mu law
companding scheme offers more efficient PAPR reduction,
better BER and PSD performances than the others referred
schemes. Furthermore, we can make an effective trade-off
between PAPR reduction and BER performance by carefully
varying the Mu companding parameter to satisfy various system
requirements.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this
paper.
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