T Senescyt 01455

UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
OFDMA in 4G Mobile Communications
Candidate Number: 130013
Supervisor: Dr. Falah Ali
Submitted for the degree of
MSc. in Digital Communication Systems with Business Management
School of Engineering and Informatics
Department of Engineering and Design
Word count: 11840

DECLARATION
I hereby certify that the attached dissertation is my own work, except where specifically
indicated in the text. I have identified my resources and in particular I have put in quotation
marks any passages, identifying their origins.
I also declare that this dissertation has not been submitted, either in the same or different
form, to this or any other University for a degree.
Fanny Flores – September 2015
II
LIST OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .......................................................................................................................................... II
LIST OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................. III
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................... V
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... VII
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... VIII
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... XI
SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................................. XII
1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 AIMS, WORK AND ACHIEVEMENTS .......................................................................................... 1
1.2 MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EVOLUTION ............................................................................... 1
1.3 LTE-A OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................................... 3
1.3.1 Architecture and Protocol stack........................................................................................ 4
1.3.2 Uplink and Downlink Operation........................................................................................ 7
1.3.3 Frame Structures............................................................................................................... 9
1.3.4 Resource Block in OFDMA and SC-FDMA .......................................................................10
1.3.5 Bandwidth Management ................................................................................................13
1.3.5.1 Carrier Aggregation .....................................................................................................14
1.3.5.2 Spectrum Sharing ........................................................................................................16
1.3.6 Enhanced MIMO .............................................................................................................17
1.3.7 OFDMA and SC-FDMA Parameters .................................................................................18
1.4 DOWNLINK PHYSICAL CHANNELS AND SIGNALS ................................................................... 20
1.4.1 Downlink Physical Channels ............................................................................................20
1.4.2 Signals .............................................................................................................................22
1.5 IFFT AND FFT IMPORTANCE ................................................................................................... 24
1.6 LTE-A PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................................ 25
1.7 SOFTWARE SIMULATION PACKAGE ....................................................................................... 28
2 CHAPTER 2: DESIGN ....................................................................................................................... 31
2.1 OFDMA BLOCK DIAGRAM ...................................................................................................... 31
2.2 SC-FDMA BLOCK DIAGRAM .................................................................................................... 32
2.3 PARAMETERES ....................................................................................................................... 33
2.4 OFDMA 2 USERS (AWGN) ...................................................................................................... 34
2.5 OFDMA 5 USERS (AWGN) ...................................................................................................... 36
2.6 OFDMA 2 USERS (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading) ......................................................................... 37
III
2.8 SC-FDMA 2 USERS (AWGN) .................................................................................................... 37
3 CHAPTER 3: SIMULATION SETTINGS .............................................................................................. 43
3.1 OFDMA 2 USERS (AWGN) ...................................................................................................... 43
3.1.1 Transmitter .....................................................................................................................43
3.1.2 Channel ...........................................................................................................................50
3.1.3 Receiver...........................................................................................................................52
3.2 OFDMA 5 USERS (AWGN) ...................................................................................................... 56
3.2.1 Transmitter .....................................................................................................................57
3.2.2 Channel ...........................................................................................................................59
3.2.3 Receiver...........................................................................................................................59
3.3.1 Transmitter .....................................................................................................................60
3.3.2 Channel ...........................................................................................................................61
3.3.3 Receiver...........................................................................................................................62
3.4.1 Transmitter .....................................................................................................................63
3.4.2 Channel ...........................................................................................................................63
3.4.3 Receiver...........................................................................................................................63
3.5 SC-FDMA 2 USERS (AWGN) .................................................................................................... 63
3.5.1 Transmitter .....................................................................................................................64
3.5.2 Channel ...........................................................................................................................66
3.5.3 Receiver...........................................................................................................................66
4 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND ANAYLIS ............................................................................................... 68
4.1 OFDMA 2 USERS (AWGN) ...................................................................................................... 68
4.2 OFDMA 5 USERS (AWGN) ...................................................................................................... 73
4.3 BER RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 81
4.4 PAPR RESULTS ........................................................................................................................ 84
5 CHAPTER 5: CHALLENGES AND DESIGN IMPROVEMTS ................................................................. 86
5.1 CHALLENGES .......................................................................................................................... 86
5.2 IMPROVEMENTS .................................................................................................................... 87
6 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONSGN IMPROVEMTS ............................................................................... 90
6.1 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................ 90
6.2 FUTURE WORK ....................................................................................................................... 92
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 93
APPENDIX A .............................................................................................................................................. A
IV
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1.: Global mobile-cellular subscriptions [1] ................................................................................ 2

Figure 1.2: LTE-Advanced E-UTRAN architecture [6]................................................................................ 5
Figure 1.3: Protocol Stack [6].................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 1.4: FDM vs. OFDM [7] .................................................................................................................. 7
Figure 1.5: OFDM vs. OFDMA [7].............................................................................................................. 8
Figure 1.6: OFDMA vs. SC-FDMA in Time and Frequency domains [8] .................................................... 9
Figure 1.7: Frame structure type 1 [9]....................................................................................................10
Figure 1.8: Frame structure type 2 [9]....................................................................................................10
Figure 1.9: Resource grid [9], [10] ..........................................................................................................12
Figure 1.10: Channel bandwidth [11] .....................................................................................................14
Figure 1.11: FDD and TDD in CA [12] ......................................................................................................15
Figure 1.12: Carrier Aggregation modes [6] ...........................................................................................16
Figure 1.13: Spectrum sharing scenarios [6] ..........................................................................................16
Figure 1.14: Base station radiation pattern [6] ......................................................................................17
Figure 1.15: LTE-A main MIMO modes [6] .............................................................................................18
Figure 1.16: Cyclic Prefix [13] .................................................................................................................18
Figure 1.17: Overview of physical channel processing [9] .....................................................................20
Figure 1.18: Uplink vs. Downlink Reference signals allocation [14] .......................................................23
Figure 1.19: Mapping of downlink reference signals [9] ........................................................................24
Figure 1.20: IFFT and FFT [15].................................................................................................................25
Figure 1.21: SC-FDMA vs. OFDMA performance with QPSK [16] ...........................................................26
Figure 1.22: PAPR comparison for OFDMA and SC-FDMA [17] ..............................................................28
Figure 1.23: Simulink Library ..................................................................................................................28
Figure 1.24: Simulink Library Browser ....................................................................................................29
Figure 1.25: Simulink New Model...........................................................................................................29
Figure 1.26: Adding blocks and connecting ............................................................................................30
Figure 2.1: OFDMA Transmission and Reception model [18] ................................................................32
Figure 2.2: SC-FDMA Transmission and Reception model [18] ..............................................................33
Figure 2.3: OFDMA 2 Users Design .........................................................................................................39
Figure 2.4: OFDMA 2 Users (AWGN) Diagram .......................................................................................39
Figure 2.5: OFDMA 5 Users Design .........................................................................................................40
Figure 2.6: OFDMA 5 Users (AWGN) Diagram .......................................................................................40
Figure 2.7: OFDMA 2 Users (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading) Diagram ..........................................................41
Figure 2.8: OFDMA 5 Users (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading) Diagram ..........................................................41
Figure 2.9: SC-FDMA 2 Users Design ......................................................................................................42
Figure 2.10: SC-FDMA 2 Users Diagram .................................................................................................42
Figure 3.1: OFDMA 2 Users Transmitter.................................................................................................43
Figure 3.2: Source Block Parameters (OFDMA 2 users) .........................................................................44
Figure 3.3: Integer to Bit Converter / Bit to Integer Converter ..............................................................44
Figure 3.4: Rectangular QAM Modulator ...............................................................................................45
Figure 3.5: Zero constant vectors (OFDMA 2 Users) ..............................................................................45
V
Figure 3.6: Extension of zeros (OFDMA 2 Users) ....................................................................................46
Figure 3.7: Vectors Addition (OFDMA 2 Users) ......................................................................................46
Figure 3.8: Multiport Selector ................................................................................................................47
Figure 3.9: Null subcarriers constants ....................................................................................................48
Figure 3.10: Reference signals constant .................................................................................................48
Figure 3.11: Matrix concatenate (OFDMA) ............................................................................................49
Figure 3.12: IFFT (OFDMA) .....................................................................................................................49
Figure 3.13: Cyclic Prefix Addition ..........................................................................................................50
Figure 3.14: Channel (AWGN).................................................................................................................50
Figure 3.15: AWGN Channel (OFDMA 2 Users) ......................................................................................51
Figure 3.16: OFDMA 2 Users Receiver ....................................................................................................52
Figure 3.17: Cyclic Prefix Removal ..........................................................................................................52
Figure 3.18: FFT (OFDMA) ......................................................................................................................53
Figure 3.19: Frame Conversion ...............................................................................................................53
Figure 3.20: Null subcarriers removal ....................................................................................................54
Figure 3.21: Reference signals removal..................................................................................................54
Figure 3.22: Reference signals terminator .............................................................................................54
Figure 3.23: Users’ data separation (OFDMA 2 Users) ...........................................................................55
Figure 3.24: Rectangular QAM Demodulator .........................................................................................55
Figure 3.25: Error Rate Calculation.........................................................................................................56
Figure 3.26: OFDMA 5 Users Transmitter...............................................................................................57
Figure 3.27: Source Block Parameters (OFDMA 5 users) .......................................................................57
Figure 3.28: Zero constant vectors (OFDMA 5 Users) ............................................................................58
Figure 3.29: Vectors Addition (OFDMA 5 Users) ....................................................................................59
Figure 3.30: Receiver (OFDMA 5 Users) .................................................................................................59
Figure 3.31: Users’ data separation (OFDMA 5 Users) ...........................................................................60
Figure 3.32: Channel (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading) ...................................................................................61
Figure 3.33: AWGN Channel (OFDMA 5 Users) ......................................................................................61
Figure 3.34 AWGN Channel (OFDMA 5 Users) .......................................................................................62
Figure 3.35: SC-FDMA 2 Users Transmitter ............................................................................................64
Figure 3.36: FFT (SC-FDMA Transmitter) ................................................................................................64
Figure 3.37: Multiport Selector (SC-FDMA) ............................................................................................65
Figure 3.38: Null subcarriers constants (SC-FDMA)................................................................................65
Figure 3.39: Matrix Concatenate (SC-FDMA) .........................................................................................66
Figure 3.40: SC-FDMA 2 Users Receiver .................................................................................................66
Figure 3.41: Null subcarriers removal (SC-FDMA) ..................................................................................67
Figure 3.42: IFFT .....................................................................................................................................67
Figure 4.1: TX and RX Integer data (2 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c) ................................68
Figure 4.2: Error rate, Errors and Comparisons (2 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c) .............69
Figure 4.3: Modulated TX Data (User 1 of 2) ..........................................................................................70
Figure 4.4: Modulated RX Data (User 1) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b) and 80dB (c) .................................70
Figure 4.5: Modulated TX Data (User 2 of 2) ..........................................................................................71
Figure 4.6: Modulated RX Data (User 2) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b) and 80dB (c) .................................71
VI
Figure 4.7: Transmitted signal ................................................................................................................72
Figure 4.8: Received signal Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b) and 80dB(c) .......................................................72
Figure 4.9: TX and RX Integer data (5 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c) ................................74
Figure 4.10: Error rate, Errors and Comparisons (5 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c) ...........75
Figure 4.11: Modulated TX Data (User 1 of 5) ........................................................................................76
Figure 4.12: Modulated RX Data (User 1 of 5) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c) ..............................76
Figure 4.21: Transmitted signal (5 Users) ...............................................................................................81
Figure 4.22: Received signal (5 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c) ..........................................81
Figure 4.23: BER Curves for 2 and 5 Users (AWGN) ...............................................................................82
Figure 4.24: BER Curves for 2 Users (a), and 5 Users (b) (AWGN vs. AWGN + Fading) ..........................83
Figure 4.26: PAPR for 2 Users OFDMA (a) vs. SC-FDMA (b) (AWGN) .....................................................84
Figure 4.27: OFDMA Design Proposal.....................................................................................................88
Figure 4.28: OFDMA Diagram Proposal ..................................................................................................88
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1: 3GPP Releases Summary [3] .................................................................................................... 3

Table 1.2: SC-FDMA RB parameters [9] ..................................................................................................11
Table 1.3: OFDMA RB parameters [9] ....................................................................................................11
Table 1.4: 3GPP LTE-A OFDMA Parameters [10] ....................................................................................19
Table 1.5: Number of OFDM symbols used for PDCCH [9] .....................................................................21
Table 1.6: Targets for LTE-Advanced as set by 3GPP [5] ........................................................................25
Table 2.1: Simulation Parameters ..........................................................................................................34
VII
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ITU International Telecommunication Union

1G First Generation
2G Second Generation
3G Third Generation
4G Fourth Generation
D-AMPS Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
EV-DO Evolution Data Optimized
3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
LTE Long Term Evolution
LTE-A Long Term Evolution – Advanced
UE User Equipment
EPS Evolved Packet System
EPC Evolved Packet Core
E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
RAN Radio Access Network
eNodeB / Enb Enhanced Node B
MME Mobility Management Entity
S-GW Serving Gateway
P-GW/ PDN-GW Packet Data Network Gateway
PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol
RLC Radio Link Control
MAC Medium Access Control
PHY Physical layer
RRC Radio Resource Control
NAS Non-Access Stratum
AS Access Stratum
VIII
ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest
HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest
PDU Packet Data Unit
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio
ISI Inter Symbol Interference
ICI Inter Carrier Interference
TDD Time Division Duplexing
FDD Frequency Division Duplexing
MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
SU-MIMO Single-User Multiple Input Multiple Output
MU-MIMO Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output
RB Resource Block
𝑈𝐿
𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 Number of SC-FDMA symbols in an uplink slot
𝐷𝐿
𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 Number of OFDMA symbols in a downlink slot
𝑅𝐵
𝑁𝑠𝑐 Resource block size in the frequency domain, expressed as a
number of subcarriers
CP Cyclic Prefix
CA Carrier Aggregation
BER Bit Error Rate
FER Frame Error Rate
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
IX
MBSFN Multicast-Broadcast Single-Frequency Network
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel
PMCH Physical Multicast Channel
PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel
CRS Cell-specific Reference Signals
DM-RS Demodulation Reference Signals
PRS Positioning Reference Signals
CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference Signal
ACK Acknowledgement
NACK Negative Acknowledgement
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
TX Transmitter
RX Receiver
X
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to extend my gratitude to the government of Ecuador and to the University of
Sussex for this opportunity. I would also like to thank my supervisor Dr Falah Ali for his
accurate guide, encouragement and advice.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my loving parents, Juan and Fanny, without
whom, I would not be able to reach this achievement in my career. Thanks for their constant
support and for being my endless inspiration. Thanks to my siblings, Juan and Evelyn for
supporting me during this process. Finally, I would like to thank Antonio for his unconditional
support and love despite distance.
XI
SUMMARY
This project analyzes, designs and simulates “OFDMA in 4G Mobile Communications”.

The analysis and designs are based on “ETSI TS 136 211 V10.0.0” technical specification,
defined by 3GPP. The simulations have been developed with Simulink of Matlab R2014a.
Chapter 1, “Introduction”, includes a recapitulation of the evolution that mobile

communications has had. Besides, it contains a review of the concepts defined by 3GPP for
LTE-A; including uplink and downlink, frame structures, resources, parameters.
Chapter 2, “Design”, presents block diagrams and the LTE-A parameters that have been
considered for the design. This chapter is organized in five sections, each with a different
scenario. The number of users and the introduction of fading has been considered to create the
scenarios. At the end, the corresponding designs of OFDMA symbol and Simulink diagrams
are presented.
Chapter 3, “Simulation Settings”, describes the settings of each block used in Simulink.
This Chapter consists of five sections, presenting the settings of each scenario described in
Chapter 2. The analysis is based on transmitter, channel and receiver.
Chapter 4, “Results and Analysis”, studies the results obtained in simulations. The
transmitted and received integer data are shown; as well as the Error rate, errors and the
number of comparisons made by the corresponding blocks. Also, the modulated transmitted
and received data and signals are compared. This Chapter also analyses BER curves, and
compares PAPR for SC-FDMA and OFDMA.
Chapter 5, “Challenges and Design Improvements” includes some challenges that LTE-A
faces. Finally, the suppression of reference signals is assessed and suggested as a possible
improvement.
At last, Chapter 6 “Conclusions and Future work” presents the conclusions of the
investigation, analysis, design and simulation carried out in this project. It also contains topics
of interest for future study.
XII
1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 AIMS, WORK AND ACHIEVEMENTS
This project aims to investigate, design, simulate, analyze results and suggest possible
improvements related to OFDMA in LTE-A.
Initially, research and investigation were necessary in order to learn and understand LTE-
A technical specifications. Besides, the review of previous research was useful. Once the
standard was analyzed, the design of OFDMA was carried out. Then, the design was deployed
in Simulink with the aid of previous simulations to have some guide about the blocks that
execute the required functions. The results of different scenarios were analyzed to finally
suggest possible improvements.
Some achievements of this project include satisfactory simulations, confirming appropriate
designs. Also, the results that were obtained confirm what theory and LTE-A standard denote.
Furthermore, improvements to the current standard were presented based on the results.
1.2 MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EVOLUTION
According to the ITU, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions has exponentially
increased from 962 million in 2001 to 7,085 million in 2015, which means that 96,8 of 100
inhabitants are currently subscripted to the service [1], as shown in Figure 1.1.
MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 1 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

with Business Management
This accelerated growth has been the result of the mobile communications evolution in the
last years. As a matter of fact, four generations of mobile communications have been
developed since the 80’s to current days.
Global mobile-cellular subscriptions,

total and per 100 inhabitants, 2001-2015
Mobile-celullar subscriptions (millions)
7,000 100
90
6,000
Subscriptions (in millions) 80
5,000 Per 100 inhabitants 70
Per 100 inhabitants

60
4,000
50
3,000
40
2,000 30
20
1,000
10
- 0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015*
Note: * Estimate
Source: ITU World Telecommunication /ICT Indicators database
Figure 1.1.: Global mobile-cellular subscriptions [1]
The first generation (1G) was based on analog technology, and its mobiles had limited
functions, as well as considerable size and weight. The multiple access method used by 1G
was FDMA, supporting one user per channel transmitting at the same time.
The second generation (2G) introduced digital technology, and it was based on the
following standards: D-AMPS, GSM and GPRS. TDMA was used in this generation,
supporting multiple users per channel, but transmitting one at a time.
Then, 3G was characterized for introducing CDMA; hence, multiple users with different
codes share the channel while transmitting at the same time. Furthermore, EV-DO allowed the

transmission of larger packets, while technologies as Carrier Aggregation increased
transmission data rates. In order to normalize 3G, seven telecommunications standard
development organizations created the 3GPP [2].
Finally, 4G was introduced by 3GPP as LTE in Release 8 and LTE-A in Release 10. The
purpose of this last generation is to reach very high data rates to satisfy users increasing
requirements associated with web applications and the Internet, in general. New technologies
as carrier aggregation and MIMO are the basis of LTE-A for higher data rates and spectral
efficiency. LTE-A has defined SC-FDMA as the access technique used in the uplink, and
OFDMA in the downlink. Table 1.1 shows a summary of the 3GPP releases from 2003 and
their main characteristics.
WCDMA HSPA HSDPA LTE

PARAMETER HSPA+ LTE
(UMTS) / HSUPA ADVANCED
Max downlink speed
384 k 14 M 28 M 100 M 1G
(bps)
Max uplink speed (bps) 128 k 5.7 M 11 M 50 M 500 M
Less than Less than 5
Latency round trip time 150 ms 100 ms 50 ms
10 ms ms
3GPP releases Rel 99/4 Rel 5/6 Rel 7 Rel 8 Rel 10
OFDMA / OFDMA /
Access methodology CDMA CDMA CDMA
SC-FDMA SC-FDMA
Table 1.1: 3GPP Releases Summary [3]
1.3 LTE-A OVERVIEW
LTE-A is the last generation of mobile communications, characterized by its high network
capacity, high data rate and a myriad of available services. Its technical specification has been
published by the 3GPP.

When comparing 3G and LTE-A, one of the main differences between both generations is
the downlink rate. Indeed, it is possible to reach 1 Gbps in LTE-A, while in 3G it was possible
to reach only 20 Mbps [4]. Moreover, the difference in the uplink rate is also considerable
with up to 500 Mbps in LTE-A and 10 Mbps in 3G. [4], [5]
This considerable increase in rate has been necessary to offer new services and
applications that require more resources and are not tolerant to delays; for instance,
multimedia, mobile TV, real time audio and video. Another reason by which it is possible to
use these new services and applications is the reduction of latency round trip time in LTE-A,
which is less than 5 ms. Furthermore, due to the increase of mobile service subscriptions
worldwide, LTE-A is based on a higher network capacity; thus, it is possible to have more
calls per cell at the same time. LTE-A supports up to 8 downlink transmit antennas and up to 4
uplink transmit antennas.
1.3.1 Architecture and Protocol stack
As part of the technical specifications, 3GPP has defined the next generation network,
including its main components: EPC, E-UTRAN and E-UTRA. They correspond to the core
network, radio access network and air interface, respectively. The EPS is responsible for IP
connection between a UE and an external packet data network using E-UTRAN [6]. Figure 1.2
presents the network architecture of E-UTRAN for LTE-A.
The eNB is a logical element, which is the main component in the E-UTRAN architecture.
It provides the air interface with user and control plane protocols towards the UE. X2 is the
interface interconnecting the eNBs.

Figure 1.2: LTE-Advanced E-UTRAN architecture [6]
The HeNB is an eNB of low cost used to improve indoor coverage. The HeNB could be
directly connected to the EPC or through a gateway if more HeNB have to be connected.
Relay nodes are used for performance enhancement, increased coverage and higher data rates.
The MME is a control plane element used for roaming, handling idle state mobility, selecting
the S-GW and P-GW nodes and executing security tasks, including authentication and
authorization. The S-GW, which is connected to the E-UTRAN through the S1-U interface, is
the termination of the EPC. This element performs packet routing, packet forwarding, inter-
operator charging and it is also in change of mobility. The node that assigns an IP address to
the UE is the P-GW. It also contributes with secure connection between UEs though IPSec
tunnels.

As mentioned before, the protocol stack encloses User and Control planes. Figure 1.3
provides an overview of the protocol stack. The user and control planes consist of PDCP,
RLC, MAC and PHY protocols; additionally, the control plane includes RRC protocols.
Figure 1.3: Protocol Stack [6]
(NAS) layer protocols exclusively belong to MME. Some of their functions include,
registration, authentication, location and connection management between UE and the core
network.
(AS) layer protocols are exclusive of eNB. To start, RRC establishes, maintains and
releases RRC connections. Others of its functions include mobility, key, QoS and reporting
management. Second, the PDCP compresses headers, duplicates detection and ciphers data.
Third, some of the functions that RLC has include error detection and correction by using
ARQ, segmentation and in-sequence delivery. Fourth, the MAC protocols functions include

multiplexing and demultiplexing of PDUs, scheduling, error correction through HARQ,
priorization and padding.
1.3.2 Uplink and Downlink Operation
Before defining SC-FDMA and OFDMA, it is convenient to review the differences
between FDM, OFDM and OFDMA. Figure 1.4 shows FDM and OFDM multiplexing
techniques; both allocate users in different frequency slots. OFDM achieves spectral efficiency
by using orthogonal carriers. Due to orthogonality, interference is minimized.
Figure 1.4: FDM vs. OFDM [7]
OFDMA is considered as an extension of OFDM, in which multiple users share resources
efficiently. In fact, in OFDM each user is assigned all the subcarriers during a subframe,
where a subframe is a number of OFDM symbols; while in OFDMA, more than one user is
assigned multiple subcarriers during the same subframe; thus, there is an efficient resource
sharing, as shown in Figure 1.5.

Figure 1.5: OFDM vs. OFDMA [7]
LTE defines SC-FDMA for the uplink and OFDMA for the downlink. In fact, the main
reason by which SC-FDMA is used in the uplink. This multiple access methodology has lower
PAPR than OFDMA; therefore, in general it is possible to require lower power levels. Indeed,
as that power is provided by the user equipment in the uplink, it is ideal to minimize it in order
to use limited transmit power devices.
OFDMA is used in the downlink with the purpose of exploiting efficiently the frequency
resource by orthogonally accommodating multiple subcarriers in a given band. As shown in
Figure 1.6, OFDMA has lower sensitivity to ISI due to the fact that all the subcarriers at a time
belong to the same symbol, unlike SC-FDMA. Hence, OFDMA is more scalable and suitable
to manage different users’ data at the same time. Furthermore, OFDMA provides immunity to
multi path and frequency selective fading.
First, in the case of the downlink (OFDMA), sub-carriers duration is longer than in the SC-
FDMA case, according to the Time axis in this figure. Also, each sub-carrier in OFDMA is
modulated by different data symbols; hence modulation and symbols have also considerable
time duration.

Figure 1.6: OFDMA vs. SC-FDMA in Time and Frequency domains [8]
Second, SC-FDMA is used in the uplink; this multiple access technique is actually a multi-
carrier method, but all the sub-carriers in a block are modulated with the same data. As shown
in Figure 1.6, in SC-FDMA all the sub-carriers of the same colour are modulated with the
same data, and their duration is shorter than in the OFDMA case; thus, symbols in SC-FDMA
are also shorter than in OFDMA.
1.3.3 Frame Structures
TDD and FDD are supported by LTE-A, which defines two different frame types based on
TDD and FDD. Frame Type 1 is used in FDD. As shown in Figure 1.7, frame type 1 lasts 10
ms., and it consists of 10 subframes, each lasts 1 ms. Besides, each subframe consists of 2
slots, the duration of each slot is 0.5 ms. Half duplex and full duplex are supported in FDD.

Figure 1.7: Frame structure type 1 [9]
Figure 1.8 shows frame type 2, which is used in TDD and its duration is also 10 ms. and
consists of 10 subrames. Each subframe has also 2 slots. The difference with frame type 1 is
that subframes in frame type 2 have reserved fixed positions for uplink, downlink and special
data.
Figure 1.8: Frame structure type 2 [9]
1.3.4 Resource Block in OFDMA and SC-FDMA
𝑈𝐿 𝑅𝐵 𝑈𝐿
According to 3GPP, a physical RB is defined as 𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 x 𝑁𝑠𝑐 resource elements (𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏
𝑅𝐵
consecutive SC-FDMA symbols in an uplink slot in the time domain and 𝑁𝑠𝑐 consecutive
𝐷𝐿
subcarriers in the frequency domain) [9]. An RB is also defined for the downlink as 𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 x
𝑅𝐵 𝐷𝐿
𝑁𝑠𝑐 resource elements (𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 consecutive OFDMA symbols in a downlink slot in the time
𝑅𝐵 𝑈𝐿 𝑅𝐵 𝐷𝐿
domain and 𝑁𝑠𝑐 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain) [9]. 𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 , 𝑁𝑠𝑐 , 𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏

𝑅𝐵
and 𝑁𝑠𝑐 are given by Tables 1.2 and 1.3. For SC-FDMA and OFDMA, the resource block
occupies 180 KHz in the frequency domain.
CONFIGURATION 𝑵𝑹𝑩
𝒔𝒄 𝑵𝑼𝑳
𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃 CONFIGURATION 𝑵𝑹𝑩
𝒔𝒄 𝑵𝑫𝑳
𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃
Normal Cyclic Prefix 12 7 Normal Cyclic Prefix ∆𝑓 = 15𝑘𝐻𝑧 7

12
Extended Cyclic Prefix 12 6 ∆𝑓 = 15𝑘𝐻𝑧 6
Extended Cyclic Prefix
∆𝑓 = 7.5𝑘𝐻𝑧 24 3
Table 1.2: SC-FDMA RB parameters [9] Table 1.3: OFDMA RB parameters [9]
𝐷𝐿
The number of 𝑁𝑅𝐵 depends on the downlink bandwidth arranged in the cell; such that
𝑚𝑖𝑛,𝐷𝐿 𝐷𝐿 𝑚𝑎𝑥.𝐷𝐿 𝑚𝑖𝑛,𝐷𝐿 𝑚𝑎𝑥.𝐷𝐿

𝑁𝑅𝐵 ≤ 𝑁𝑅𝐵 ≤ 𝑁𝑅𝐵 , where 𝑁𝑅𝐵 = 6 and 𝑁𝑅𝐵 = 110. Also, the number of
symbols in a slot is configured depending on the CP length. [9]
Figure 1.9 shows the relationship between a slot, a resource block, resource elements and
symbols. In this example, the slot consists of 7 symbols in the time domain. The resource
block consists also of 7 symbols in the time domain and 12 subcarriers in the frequency
domain. Each element of the resource block is called resource element.
Appendix A shows an OFDMA full frame, in which the horizontal and vertical axis
correspond to the time and frequency domain, respectively. As shown, each slot consists of 7
OFDMA symbols, in this case. Besides, each RB contains 12 subcarriers. In this example,
there are 180 occupied subcarriers per OFDMA symbol; therefore, each OFDMA symbol has
78 null subcarriers.

Figure 1.9: Resource grid [9], [10]
“An antenna port is defined such that the channel over which a symbol on the antenna port
is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which another symbol on the same antenna
port is conveyed. There is one resource grid per antenna port.” 1 Also, the possible
1
3GPP. “ETSI IS 136 211 V10.0.0 (2011-01) Technical Specification”. Release 10. France, 2011.

configurations for cell-specific reference signals are one, two or four antenna ports: 𝑝 = 0,
𝑝 ∈ {0,1} and 𝑝 ∈ {0,1,2,3}. [9]
Port 4 is used to transmit MBSFN reference signals. Ports 5, 7, 8 or one or several of 𝑝 ∈
{7,8,9,10, 11, 12, 13 14} are used for user equipment reference signals. Besides, port 6 is used
to transmit positioning reference signals. CSI reference signals are sent through 𝑝 = 15, 𝑝 =
15, 16, 𝑝 = 15, … ,18 or 𝑝 = 15, … ,22. [9]
1.3.5 Bandwidth Management
LTE-A technical specification is based on the use of bandwidths of up to 100 MHz. The
spectrum bands that LTE-A considers include 450-470 MHz, 698-860 MHz, 790-862 MHz,
2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-4.2 GHz and 4.4-4.99 GHz [6]. It is advisable to use the lower frequency
bands for demands of high mobility, low capacity and long range; while the higher frequency
bands for low mobility, high capacity and short range.
“Channel bandwidth is the width of the channel in frequency as measured from the lowest
channel edge to the highest channel edge.” 2

As shown in Table 1.4, the number of RB is
directly proportional to the channel bandwidth. Figure 1.10 shows the difference between
Channel Bandwidth, Transmission Bandwidth Configuration and Transmission Bandwidth.
The Transmission Bandwidth Configuration is the maximum number of RB that can be used
in a given channel bandwidth with guard band.
2
ANRITSU. “LTE Resources Guide” Rev 1010. Japan, 2010.

Figure 1.10: Channel bandwidth [11]
1.3.5.1 Carrier Aggregation
Along with LTE-A Release 10, component carriers can have different bandwidth, without
exceeding 20 MHz. Moreover, it is possible to aggregate up to five component carriers of
maximum 20 MHz for transmission in uplink or downlink; thus, bandwidth of up to 100 MHz
can be reached with CA. For instance, a 60 MHz system can be deployed with three 20 MHz
component carriers, allocated in already exploited bands or in new ones. As a result of

bandwidth optimization, it is possible to reach higher data rates, which is perceived by the end
user.
As shown in Figure 1.11, CA can be deployed with FDD or TDD either in uplink or
downlink transmissions. If the deployment uses FDD, one carrier is used for uplink traffic and
another for downlink traffic. When TDD is used, only one carrier frequency is required.
Figure 1.11: FDD and TDD in CA [12]
It is important to consider that in spite of the fact that LTE-A Release 10 terminals are
compatible with releases 8 and 9, just release 10 terminals support CA.
Due to the fact that there is not a unique standardized schema of bandwidth utilization for
providers, there are three different modes of component carriers’ allocation along the
spectrum, as shown in Figure 1.12. Hence, even in scenarios with complex designs, it would
be possible to deploy CA. Firstly, in intra-band contiguous allocation (a), component carriers
are allocated contiguously one beside the other in a unique bandwidth range. Second, in intra-
band non-contiguous allocation (b), some component carriers in the same bandwidth range
would be separated of each other. Lastly, inter-band non-contiguous allocation considers no
contiguous component carriers in different spectrum bands.

Figure 1.12: Carrier Aggregation modes [6]
1.3.5.2 Spectrum Sharing
Network and spectrum sharing are supported by 3GPP. When operators share network and
spectrum, they reduce initial investment. There are different spectrum sharing scenarios, as
presented in Figure1.13. For example, three operators in (a) have their own dedicated
spectrum bands, and they are also sharing a specific spectrum band. In (b), the shared
spectrum bands are located between the dedicated spectrum bands. Indeed, the center
spectrum band belongs to operator 2, and the bands next to it are shared between operator 2
and operator 1 and 3, respectively.
Figure 1.13: Spectrum sharing scenarios [6]

3GPP suggests operators to keep shared structure when operating in low density areas,
while deploy a dedicated structure in high density areas.
1.3.6 Enhanced MIMO
Enhanced MIMO is a technology considered in LTE-A which enhances the spectral
efficiency in scenarios with large number of users and high data rates. MIMO is based on the
use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver; thus, MIMO properties are applied for
both the uplink and the downlink.
With the purpose of getting the highest possible gain in the direction of each user, MIMO
technology uses SDMA so that it adapts the radiation pattern of the base station to each user,
as shown in Figure 1.14. Therefore, each base station analyzes the CSI of each UE in order to
allocate resources.
Figure 1.14: Base station radiation pattern [6]
LTE-A describes three main MIMO operating modes, as shown in Figure 1.15. SU-MIMO
is based on a single multi antenna transmitter communicating with a single multi antenna
receiver. In contrast, MU-MIMO consists of multiple users with one or more antennas

communicating with each other. The third mode defined by 3GPP is the Cooperative MIMO,
which is suitable for cell-edge users to improve their throughput by working with different
base stations at the same time.
Figure 1.15: LTE-A main MIMO modes [6]
1.3.7 OFDMA and SC-FDMA Parameters
As presented previously in Tables 1.2 and 1.3, the CP is an important concept in LTE-A. It
is defined as the fragment of the last part of a symbol, which is copied at the beginning of that
symbol in order to increase the separation between symbols, minimizing ISI, as shown in
Figure1.16.
Figure 1.16: Cyclic Prefix [13]

According to table 1.3, when normal CP is used, the RB size is 7x12, and the subcarrier
spacing is ∆𝑓=15kHz; therefore, the bandwidth of an RB is 12x15kHz = 180kHz, as described
in section 1.2.3. If extended CP is used, the RB size could be 6x12 or 3x24, depending on the
∆𝑓 used (15kHz or 7.5kHz); even though, in both cases the bandwidth of an RB is 180kHz.
LTE defines different values to design OFDMA symbols, as presented in Table 1.4. The
current work will be based on the values marked in red. Chapter 2 will cover the designs and
simulations based on these parameters and values. The generation of the SC-FDMA signal is
similar to the OFDMA processing using the same parameters shown in Table 1.4.
PARAMETER VALUE
Channel bandwidth (MHz) 1.4 3 5 10 15 20
Resource Block RB 6 15 25 50 75 110
Occupied subcarriers 72 180 300 600 900 1200
IDFT/FFT size 128 256 512 1024 1536 2048
Subcarrier spacing ∆𝒇 (kHz) 15 or 7.5
CP SIZE
5.21 𝜇𝑠 (first symbol of the slot)
Normal CP (∆𝒇 = 𝟏𝟓 𝒌𝑯𝒛)
4.69 𝜇𝑠 (other symbols of the slot)
Extended CP (∆𝒇 = 𝟏𝟓 𝒌𝑯𝒛) 16.67 𝜇𝑠
Extended CP (∆𝒇 = 𝟕. 𝟓 𝒌𝑯𝒛) 33.33 𝜇𝑠
Table 1.4: 3GPP LTE-A OFDMA Parameters [10]
An OFDMA symbol is made up of null subcarriers (guard band and center subcarrier) and
data (user data and reference signals). The length of the symbol is equal to the FFT size; such
that the occupied subcarriers are part of the RBs, and the remaining subcarriers correspond to
the null subcarriers.

1.4 DOWNLINK PHYSICAL CHANNELS AND SIGNALS
1.4.1 Downlink Physical Channels
Six steps are used to define the baseband signal representing a downlink physical channel,
as shown in Figure 1.17. First, the coded bits in each codeword are scrambled. Second,
scrambled bits are modulated in order to create complex-valued symbols. Third, the complex-
valued modulation symbols are mapped into one or more layers. Fourth, complex-valued
modulation symbols on each layer are precoded preparing them to be transmitted on the
antenna ports. Fifth, complex-valued modulation symbols for each antenna port are mapped to
resource elements. Finally, complex-valued time domain OFDM signal is generated for each
antenna port.
Figure 1.17: Overview of physical channel processing [9]
The group of some resource elements with specific information from higher levels is
known as physical channel. There are six different downlink physical channels: PDSCH,
PBCH, PMCH, PCFICH, PDCCH and PHICH [9].
The PDSCH transports user data; thus, it supports high data rates. In order to send cell
specific identification and access control parameters, PBCH is used. The PMCH transports
multimedia information. The PCFICH informs the equipment the number of OFDM symbols
(1, 2 or 3) to be used for the PDCCH in a subframe. The PDCCH is in charge of allocating

resource scheduling, so its value corresponds to the number of symbols to be used for the
PDCCH. Finally, with the purpose of confirming or retransmitting uplink transmissions, the
PHICH transmits ACK/NACKs. The PDSCH and PMCH support QPSK, 16QAM and
64QAM modulation; while the PBCH, PCFICH and PDCCH support QPSK.
A group of downlink subcarriers supporting PDSCH can be configured as MBSFN
subframes. Each subframe has two regions: non-MBSFN region and MBSFN region. The non-
MBSFN region contains the first or two first OFDM symbols in an MBSFN subframe; while
the MBSFN region contains all the OFDM symbols that are not part of the non-MBSFN
region in a MBSFN subframe. Table 1.5 shows the number of OFDM symbols used for
PDCCH.
Number of OFDM symbols Number of OFDM symbols

𝐷𝐿 𝐷𝐿
SUBFRAME for PDCCH when 𝑁𝑅𝐵 > 10 for PDCCH when 𝑁𝑅𝐵 ≤ 10
Subframe 1 and 6 for frame structure
1, 2 2
type 2
MBSFN subframes on a carrier
supporting PDSCH, configured with 1, 2 2
1 or 2 cell-specific antenna ports
MBSFN subframes on a carrier
supporting PDSCH, configured with 2 2
4 cell-specific antenna ports
Subframes on a carrier not
0 0
supporting PDSCH
Non-MBSFN subframes (except
subframe 6 for frame structure type
1, 2, 3 2, 3
2) configured with positioning
reference signals
All other cases 1, 2, 3 2, 3, 4
Table 1.5: Number of OFDM symbols used for PDCCH [9]

1.4.2 Signals
On the other hand, the group of resource elements carrying information that is not
originated from higher layers is called downlink physical signal. There are two kinds of
downlink physical signals:
- Reference signal
- Synchronization signal
Reference signals are used for channel estimation. They are allocated in the first and fifth
symbols if normal CP is used, as shown in Figure 1.18 and Appendix A. In the case of
extended CP, reference signals use the first and fourth symbols. One reference signal is
transmitted per antenna port. There are five types of downlink reference signals:
- CRS
- MBSFN
- UE-specific reference signals or DM-RS
- PRS
- CSI-RS
Synchronization signals are used for frequency and timing acquirement when user
equipment are searching for a cell. They are transmitted on 62 subcarriers of 72 reserved
around DC on the sixth and seventh symbols in slots 0 and 10, as shown in Appendix A. They
use binary sequences of 31 bits and BPSK modulation.
The uplink and downlink reference signals are different, and their transmission allocation
is also different. Figure 1.18 shows the pattern for uplink and downlink reference signals.

Figure 1.18: Uplink vs. Downlink Reference signals allocation [14]
It is clear that there are exclusive symbols within a slot to transmit only reference signals
in the uplink; while in the downlink, reference signals and data share a symbol within a slot. It
is also clear that the reference signals are not transmitted in all symbols; indeed, only 4
subcarriers are used to transmit reference signals in a RB (7x12) in the downlink.
The current work focuses on the downlink (OFDMA); hence, it is important to consider its
reference signal allocation pattern, as it will be used during all simulations later. However, the
uplink pattern will also be discussed in order to present comparisons between SC-FDMA and
OFDMA.
The mapping of reference signals depends on the number of antenna ports to be used.
Figure 1.19 shows the mapping for one, two and four antenna ports.

Figure 1.19: Mapping of downlink reference signals [9]
1.5 IFFT AND FFT IMPORTANCE
Unlike TDMA or FDMA, OFDMA and SC-FDMA depend on the time and frequency
domains. Therefore, the use of tools that allow the signal conversion from one domain to the
other is essential. FFT and IFFT are the tools to accomplish this purpose. Figure 1.20 shows
the use of IFFT and FFT.
In the downlink (OFDMA), the transmitter executes an IFFT on the frequency domain in
order to generate the OFDM symbol in the time domain. Then, the receiver performs an FFT
on the OFDM symbol, returning it to the frequency domain.
Besides, FFT and IFFT guarantee orthogonal subcarriers because when these operations
are performed on each subcarrier, the result for the others is zero.

Figure 1.20: IFFT and FFT [15]
1.6 LTE-A PERFORMANCE
The targets of LTE-A specified in Release 10, in terms of performance, are presented in
Table 1.6.
PARAMETER Downlink Uplink
Capacity (Mbps) 1000 500
Normalized capacity (bps/Hz) 30 15
Average spectral efficiency (bps/Hz/cell) 2.6 2
Table 1.6: Targets for LTE-Advanced as set by 3GPP [5]
As it noted above, OFDMA is used for the downlink transmission and SC-FDMA for the
uplink. Therefore, according to Table 1.6, OFDMA has higher capacity than SC-FDMA; in
fact, it corresponds to the double. Likewise, normalized capacity is also higher for OFDMA
than for SC-FDMA. Also, the downlink has better average spectral efficiency per cell than the
uplink.

Another important parameter of performance is the BER, which states how reliable the
signal is, in terms of the bits and errors received. Figure 1.21 shows SC-FDMA and OFDMA
FER performance studied in a previous research.
Figure 1.21: SC-FDMA vs. OFDMA performance with QPSK [16]
From the research, some important conclusions were stated. First, OFDMA performance is
highly dependent on the coding rate. For instance, without code or with high coding rates,
OFDMA performance is poor. Nonetheless, when a strong code is employed; for instance, rate
½, OFDMA recovers performance, surpassing SC-FDMA performance.
With regard to the rate capacity, when the number of users is large, the best rate capacity is
achieved with adequate SNR values. “S/N is the ratio of average signal power to average noise
power. While the Eb/No is the ratio of average energy per bit to noise power spectral
density”3.
3
Dr Falah Ali. “Digital Modulation for Wireless Communications” lecture. Mobile Communications module.
University of Sussex, Brighton. 2014.

𝐸𝑏 𝑆𝑇𝑏 𝑆 𝑆𝐵 𝑆𝐵
= = = = (1.1)
𝑁𝑜 𝑁𝑜 𝑅𝑏 𝑁𝑜 𝑅𝑏 𝑁 𝑁𝑘𝑅𝑠
𝐸𝑠 𝑘𝐸𝑏
= (1.2)
𝑁𝑜 𝑁𝑜
Formulas 1.1 and 1.2 define the Eb/No ratio in terms of S/N ratio and viceversa, where 3:
Eb : Signal Energy per Bit Es : Energy per Symbol, Es = kEb
S: Average Signal Power No : Noise Power Spectral Density
Tb : Bit Period N0 = N⁄B
R b : Bit Rate, R b = 1⁄Tb N: Noise Power
R s : Symbol Rate, R b = kR s B: System Bandwidth
k: Number of Bits per symbol
Besides, increasing the number of receptor antennas does not increase significantly the
general capacity.
As stated in section 1.2.1, the power constraints at the user equipment imply the need to
use SC-FDMA for the uplink. Figure 1.22 presents a PAPR comparison between OFDMA and
SC-FDMA. It is evident that SC-FDMA has lower PAPR; hence, more efficient. In fact, in
this case, it is approximately 2dB lower than OFDMA.

Figure 1.22: PAPR comparison for OFDMA and SC-FDMA [17]
1.7 SOFTWARE SIMULATION PACKAGE
Simulink library of Matlab R2014a has been used for simulations in this project. When
opening Matlab, Simulink library is accessible through its button in the Home main menu, as
shown in Figure 1.23 or in the Matlab Command Window by entering simulink,
Figure 1.23: Simulink Library

Simulink library is made up of different intern libraries, as shown in Figure 1.24. Each
library has several blocks with different functions. Moreover, it is possible to search for a
specific subsystem or block in the Search toolbox.
Figure 1.24: Simulink Library Browser
In order to start creating a new Simulink model, select File – New – Model, as shown in
Figure 1.25.
Figure 1.25: Simulink New Model

Then, drag the required blocks from the Simulink Library to the model window to add
blocks to the model. Connections are established by dragging a wire from an output to an
input, as shown in Figure 1.26.
Figure 1.26: Adding blocks and connecting
By double clicking on each block, it is possible to configure its settings. Once the model is
ready, the Run button starts simulation.

2 CHAPTER 2: DESIGN
CHAPTER 2
2. DESIGN
This chapter includes the design of OFDMA in 4G, using 3GPP technical specification as
the main source and basis. As explained in Chapter 1, the multiple access technique used for
the uplink in 4G is SC-FDMA and OFDMA is used for the downlink. The purpose of this
Chapter focuses on the design of OFDMA, as it is the main topic of this project; however, a
simple design on SC-FDMA has also been made for comparison.
2.1 OFDMA BLOCK DIAGRAM
Figure 2.1 shows an OFDMA transmitter and receiver model. The main components in the
transmitter are the Modulator, the Subcarrier mapping, the IFT block and the addition of the
Cyclic Prefix. According to the LTE-A standard, there are three possible modulation schemes
in the downlink: QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM [9], as explained in Chapter 1. Then, the
subcarrier mapping is performed considering the Resource Block diagram shown in Figure
1.18. Also, the channels and signals allocation presented in Appendix A have to be considered
in order to map the subcarriers.
With regard to the IFT block, it permits the move from the frequency domain to the time
domain, which is necessary after the subcarrier mapping and before adding the cyclic prefix,
also known as guard interval. Finally, the CP is inserted, according to Table 1.4.

Figure 2.1: OFDMA Transmission and Reception model [18]
The receiver has four important blocks. The removal of the CP eliminates the information
contained in the last part of the OFDMA symbol that was added al the end of the transmitter.
The FT, which permits the move from the time domain to the frequency domain, after
removing de CP and before the Subcarrier mapping. The subcarrier mapping counteracts its
corresponding in the transmitter side, and the demodulator compensates the modulator
processing.
2.2 SC-FDMA BLOCK DIAGRAM
In spite of the fact that SC-FDMA is beyond the scope of this project, with the purpose of
comparing both techniques, its model is presented in Figure 2.2. It is clear that there are two
important differences compared to OFDMA. First, there is an FFT block after the modulator in
the transmitter. Second, there is an IFT block before the demodulator in the receiver.
By adding an FT block between the modulator and the subcarrier mapping in the
transmitter, the subcarrier mapping is executed in the frequency domain, modulating all the

subcarriers with the same data, unlike OFDMA. Consequently, this action has to be balanced
in the receiver with the aid of an IFT block.
Figure 2.2: SC-FDMA Transmission and Reception model [18]
2.3 PARAMETERES
Five different scenarios have been designed during this project. It has been possible to
ascertain the impact of increasing the number of users in OFDMA. Moreover, the impact that
fading has on BER in OFDMA. With the intention of comparing transmitted and received
signals transmitted through a channel configured with different Eb/No values, different
testings have been developed. Also, a comparison between OFDMA and SC-FDMA has been
feasible, in terms of PAPR.
The diagrams developed in Matlab R2014a Simulink, are based on the block diagrams
presented in Figures 2.1 and 2.2. The designs include the simulation of one OFDMA symbol,
based on the LTE-A parameters shown in Table 2.1. Due to space limitations on Simulink
screen, the design is based on FFT=256, which is the size of the OFDMA symbol.

PARAMETER VALUE
Resource Block RB 15
𝑅𝐵
𝑁𝑠𝑐 12
𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 7
Maximum occupied subcarriers 180
IFFT/FFT size 256
5.21 𝜇𝑠 (first
Normal CP (∆𝑓 = 15 𝑘𝐻𝑧)
symbol of the slot)
Modulation 16QAM
Table 2.1: Simulation Parameters
2.4 OFDMA 2 USERS (AWGN)
The following scenario is designed for two users in an AWGN environment. As OFDMA
is simulated, which corresponds to the downlink, the transmitters represent the base stations
and the receivers represent the final users. The symbol processing design is presented in
Figure 2.3, and its corresponding diagram in Figure 2.4.
FDD is used in this example, such that 100 of 150 subcarriers are assigned to User 1, and
the other 50 to User 2, as shown in Figure 2.3. Consistent with the standard, there are
maximum 180 occupied subcarriers; therefore, 30 subcarriers are used for reference signals
(180-150), which are allocated according to the first symbol of the pattern shown in Figure
1.18 (downlink).
Before adding the reference signals and the null subcarriers (not occupied subcarriers) to
the frame, it is necessary to join both users’ data. To achieve this, two vectors of size 150 have
been created filling them with the users’ data and zeros. Then, both vectors are added to have

a resulting vector of size 150, the first 100 elements of which correspond to User 1 data, and
the last 50 to User 2.
As the FFT size to be used is 256, there are 76 null subcarriers (256-180), which are
considered as guard subcarriers in both sides of the frame and are filled with zeros with the
purpose of building the Fourier signal walls. 38 of the 76 subcarriers are allocated as left guard
subcarriers, 37 as right guard subcarriers, and 1 remaining subcarrier corresponds to the center
subcarrier, which is not transmitted in the downlink [11].
Finally, in order to calculate the number of subcarriers to be added at the begging of the
symbol as CP, corresponding to 5.21𝜇𝑠, the following estimations have been considered:
1 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑡 → 0.5 𝑚𝑠 [9]
As 𝑁𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 = 7:
0.5 𝑚𝑠
1 𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏 → = 71.43 𝜇𝑠 (FFT Size = 256)
7
∴ 5.21 𝜇𝑠 → 19 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑠
At the receiver, the CP is removed, which corresponds to the information of the first 19
subcarriers of the received symbol. Then, the 76 null subcarriers are removed, including the
left guard subcarriers, right guard subcarriers and the center subcarrier. After removing the
null subcarriers, the 30 reference signals are also removed. Finally, the resulting vector of size
150 is divided into two parts. The first 100 subcarriers correspond to the data that belongs to
User 1 and the remaining 50 to User 2.

The following scenario is designed for five users in an AWGN environment. The symbol
processing design is presented in Figure 2.5, and its corresponding diagram in Figure 2.6.
FDD is used in this example, such that 30 of 150 subcarriers are assigned to each user.
According to the standard, there are maximum 180 occupied subcarriers; hence, 30 subcarriers
are used for reference signals (180-150), which are allocated according to the first symbol of
the pattern shown in Figure 1.18 (downlink).
Before adding the reference signals and the null subcarriers to the frame, it is necessary to
join the data of the five users. For this, five vectors of size 150 have been created, and they are
filled with the users’ data and zeros. As it is shown in Figure 2.5, the first vector has user 1
data at the beginning; the second vector has user 2 data from location 31 to 60, etc. The last
vector has user 5 data at the end. Then, the five vectors are added to have a resulting vector of
size 150, the first 30 elements of which correspond to User 1 data, and the last 30 to User 5.
As the FFT size to be used is 256 and there are 180 occupied subcarriers, there are 76 not
occupied subcarriers, which are the guard subcarriers and the center subcarrier, as in the
scenario presented in numeral 2.1.1. Also, the CP estimation is the same as in the previous
scenario.
At the receiver, as in the last scenario, the CP is removed. Then, the 76 null subcarriers are
removed. After this, the 30 reference signals are also removed. Finally, the resulting vector of
size 150 is divided into five parts. The first 30 subcarriers correspond to the data that belongs
to User 1, the next 30 to User 2, etc. until the last 30 that correspond to User 5.

2.6 OFDMA 2 USERS (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading)
The design of this scenario is the same as the described in numeral 2.1.1, but including
fading. The purpose of designing this scenario is to see the effects of fading on BER curves in
an OFDMA scenario for 2 users. The design’s diagram is shown in Figure 2.7.
The design of this scenario is the same as the described in numeral 2.1.2, but including
fading. The purpose of designing this scenario is to see the effects of fading on BER curves in
an OFDMA scenario for 5 users. The design’s diagram is shown in Figure 2.8.
2.8 SC-FDMA 2 USERS (AWGN)
The last design is a SC-FDMA scenario, according to LTE-A parameters. As this
simulation corresponds to the uplink, it has to be considered that the transmitters represent
users starting communication and the receivers represent base stations that process the users’
requests. The symbol processing design is presented in Figure 2.9, and its corresponding
diagram in Figure 2.10.
The generation of the SC-FDMA signal is similar to the OFDMA signal processing using
the same parameters shown in Table 2.1 [10]. Even though, there are some differences to
consider. First, reference signals are not transmitted in the following simulation because in
SC-FDMA, the first symbol within a slot is used only to transmit data, as shown in Figure 1.18

(uplink). Also, as the center subcarrier is not transmitted only in the downlink, in this case it
has to be transmitted.
Before adding the null subcarriers, it is necessary to join both users’ data. To achieve this,
two vectors of size 150 have been created filling them with the users’ data and zeros, as in
scenario 2.1.1. Then, both vectors are added to have a resulting vector of size 150, the first 100
elements of which correspond to User 1, and the last 50 to User 2.
The FFT size is also 256 in this case; though, the number of occupied subcarriers is not
considered as the maximum that the standard defines (180). With the purpose of transmitting
the same data in the uplink as the transmitted in the downlink in scenario 2.1.1, the occupied
subcarriers in the uplink is equal to 150 due to the lack of reference signals in the first symbol
of the slot. Thus, there are 106 null subcarriers (256-150), 53 of which are allocated as left
guard subcarriers and the remaining 53 are the right guard subcarriers. In this case, the center
subcarrier is transmitted, for being the uplink, so it is one of the occupied subcarriers. As the
FFT and RB sizes are the same as in the other cases, the CP size does not change.
At the receiver, firstly, the CP is removed. Then, the 106 null subcarriers are removed.
After this, the resulting vector of size 150 is divided into two parts. The first 100 subcarriers
correspond to the data that belongs to User 1 and the remaining 50 to User 2.

Figure 2.3: OFDMA 2 Users Design
Figure 2.4: OFDMA 2 Users (AWGN) Diagram 4
4
Adapted from: [20], [21] and [22].
MSc. in Digital Communication Systems with Business Management Page 39 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013
Figure 2.5: OFDMA 5 Users Design
Figure 2.6: OFDMA 5 Users (AWGN) Diagram 5
5
Figure 2.7: OFDMA 2 Users (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading) Diagram 6
Figure 2.8: OFDMA 5 Users (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading) Diagram 6
6
Figure 2.9: SC-FDMA 2 Users Design
Figure 2.10: SC-FDMA 2 Users Diagram 7
7
3 CHAPTER 3: SIMULATION SETTINGS
CHAPTER 3
3. SIMULATION SETTINGS
This chapter describes the parameters configured in each block of Simulink for the
different scenarios.
Figures 3.1, 3.14 and 3.16 are extracts of Figure 2.4, and they correspond to the
transmitter, channel and receiver.
3.1.1 Transmitter
Figure 3.1: OFDMA 2 Users Transmitter

Random Integer (User 1), (User 2): As the modulation scheme to be used is 16QAM, the
M-ary number parameter is configured as 16 in both cases. For user 1, 100 samples per frame
are generated (a), and 50 samples per frame for user 2 (b).
(a) (b)
Figure 3.2: Source Block Parameters (OFDMA 2 users)
Integer to Bit Converter and Bit to Integer Converter: These blocks are necessary only to
obtain the BER calculation. As the source generates integers, it would cause confusion or
estimation errors while calculating the BER, which is based on bits; therefore, the change from
integer to bit is used. As the parameters of these blocks depend only on the modulation order,
they are the same for both users.
(a) (b)
Figure 3.3: Integer to Bit Converter / Bit to Integer Converter

Rectangular QAM Modulator: According to the LTE-A standard, 16QAM modulation
has been chosen for both users. Besides, Gray constellation ordering is configured.
Figure 3.4: Rectangular QAM Modulator
Constants for Zero extension: As explained in Chapter 2, in order to join the data of both
users, two vectors of size 150 are created, filling them with data and zeros. The constant
created to be used with the data of User 1 is a vector of 50 zeros (b), while the other constant
is a vector of 100 zeros (a), and it will be used for User 2 data.
(a) (b)
Figure 3.5: Zero constant vectors (OFDMA 2 Users)

Extension of zeros: Two vectors are created. The first vector contains the 100 samples
created by the Random Integer block for User 1 and 50 zeros originated by one of the constant
blocks. The second vector is created by 100 zeros originated by the other constant block and at
the end by the 50 samples of User 2. Both function blocks have the same configuration, as
shown in Figure 3.6. For this, the Vector Concatenate block was used.
Figure 3.6: Extension of zeros (OFDMA 2 Users)
Addition: The two previous vectors of size 150 are summed up to obtain another vector of
size 150, with User 1 data at the beginning and User 2 data at the end of the vector.
Figure 3.7: Vectors Addition (OFDMA 2 Users)

Multiport Selector: The signal entering into this block is divided into 30 groups; each
group contains 5 elements (1:5, 6:10, 11:15…..146:150), as shown in the configuration
parameter in Figure 3.8. This is to prepare the symbol to introduce the reference signals,
according to the pattern of the first OFDMA symbol shown in Figure 1.18 (downlink).
Figure 3.8: Multiport Selector
Null subcarriers constants: As explained in Chapter 2, 38 subcarriers are used as left
guard (a), 37 subcarriers correspond to right guard (b) and one remaining is the central
subcarrier (c), which is not transmitted in the downlink, so the design considers to fill the
subcarrier with zero. All these constants are configured as 38 (a), 37 (b) and 1 zero (c),
respectively, as shown in Figure 3.9.
(a) (b)

(c)
Figure 3.9: Null subcarriers constants
Reference signals constant: Thirty reference signals are generated to complete 180
occupied subcarriers. These signals are allocated one by one after each group generated by the
Multiport Selector block, according to the pattern shown in Figure 1.18. To accomplish the
scope of this project, the reference signals are set with 1, as shown in Figure 3.10; however, in
real scenarios, reference signals contain special information to estimate the channel.
Figure 3.10: Reference signals constant

Matrix Concatenate: 63 Inputs enter into this block, as shown in Figure 3.11. First, the
left guard subcarriers; second, a reference signal, then the first block of 5 subcarriers from the
Multiport selector, then another reference signal, etc. until completing the 63 inputs with the
last one, which corresponds to the right guard subcarriers input.
Figure 3.11: Matrix concatenate (OFDMA)
IFFT: Based on the standard, the FFT length to be used is 256 for this simulation. It is
important to note that the FFT length has to be the same as the frame size after the matrix
concatenate block.
Figure 3.12: IFFT (OFDMA)

Add Cyclic Prefix: As described in Chapter 2, the last 19 subcarriers of the OFDMA
symbol are copied and inserted at its beginning. As the FFT length is 256, the last 19
subcarriers are from 238 to 256, as presented in Figure 3.13. After specifying the CP, the
remaining symbol has to be transmitted, from 1 to 256. For this, the block Selector was used.
Figure 3.13: Cyclic Prefix Addition
3.1.2 Channel
Figure 3.14: Channel (AWGN)
AWGN Channel: First, with the purpose of comparing how the transmitted signal is
affected by the Eb/No ratio, three different values have been configured Eb/No = 30 dB (a), 43
dB (b) and 80 dB (c). Then, in order to obtain the BER curve, the Eb/No parameter has been
set to Eb/No in general, not a fixed value (d).

(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 3.15: AWGN Channel (OFDMA 2 Users)

3.1.3 Receiver
Figure 3.16: OFDMA 2 Users Receiver
Remove Cyclic Prefix: The Selector block is used to remove the CP. After adding the CP,
the frame size is 275 (256+19); hence, in order to remove the CP, only the subcarriers 20 to
275 have to be transmitted, as shown in Figure 3.17.
Figure 3.17: Cyclic Prefix Removal
FFT: The FFT length to be used is 256 to contrast the effect of the IFFT block in the
transmitter and due to the frame size.

Figure 3.18: FFT (OFDMA)
Frame Conversion: This block does not make any change to the input, only changes the
output sampling mode. In this case, the FFT block allows the change from the time domain to
the frequency domain; therefore, before removing the null subcarriers, it is advisable to set the
sampling mode to frame – based to avoid any mismatch.
Figure 3.19: Frame Conversion
Remove Null Subcarriers: This Selector block removes the first 38 subcarriers, the center
subcarrier and the last 37 subcarriers of the frame; thus, the null subcarriers.

Figure 3.20: Null subcarriers removal
Remove Reference signals: This Multiport Selector block removes the reference signals.
The first output port of the block is configured with all the subcarriers to be transmitted: 2:6
8:12 14:18 20:24….176:180. The second output port is used to send the reference signals to be
discarded: 1, 7, 13, 19, 25….175.
Figure 3.21: Reference signals removal
Terminator: This block is used to discard the 30 reference signals configured in the
second port of the Multiport Selector block. This block does not have parameters to be set;
though, it is advisable to terminate the reference signals to avoid any mismatch during
simulation.
Figure 3.22: Reference signals terminator

Separate Users data: This Multiport Selector block is used to separate the frame of size
150 into two streams. The first stream corresponds to the first 100 modulated subcarriers, and
the other to the last 50 modulated subcarriers.
Figure 3.23: Users’ data separation (OFDMA 2 Users)
Rectangular QAM Demodulator: The setting of both demodulators is the same. As
16QAM was used in modulation during transmission, 16QAM is also used in demodulation
during reception. Also, Gray constellation is used, as in modulation.
Figure 3.24: Rectangular QAM Demodulator

Integer to Bit Converter: The configuration of this block is exactly the same as the Integer
to Bit Converter block shown in Figure 3.3 (a). This block is used to avoid conflicts during the
Error rate calculation.
Error Rate Calculation: The variables maxNumErrs and maxNumBits were defined in the
Matlab workspace to stop the simulation.
Figure 3.25: Error Rate Calculation
transmitter, channel and receiver. The following description corresponds to the parameters that
differ from scenario 1 (OFDMA 2 Users AWGN), so all the blocks that are not described in
this section in spite of being in the corresponding diagrams, were configured with the same
parameters of scenario 1.

3.2.1 Transmitter
Figure 3.26: OFDMA 5 Users Transmitter
Random Integer (All Users): As the modulation scheme to be used is 16QAM, the M-ary
number parameter is 16. For all users, 30 samples per frame are generated in this example;
however it is possible to design different sizes per user, as in the previous scenario.
Figure 3.27: Source Block Parameters (OFDMA 5 users)

Constants for Zero extension: Four constants were included in the design. The first one
generates 120 zeros (a), the second 90 (b), the third 60 (c) and the last one generates 30 zeros
(d), as shown in Figure 3.28.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 3.28: Zero constant vectors (OFDMA 5 Users)
Extension of zeros: Five vectors are created. The first vector for instance, contains the 30
samples created for User 1 by the Random Integer block and 120 zeros originated by one of
the constant blocks (a). The generation of the five vectors is shown in Figure 2.5. Two of the
three function blocks concatenate 2 inputs, while the remaining three blocks concatenate 3
inputs.

Addition: The five vectors of size 150 are summed up to obtain another vector of size 150,
with User 1’s data at the beginning and User 5’s data at the end of the resulting vector.
Figure 3.29: Vectors Addition (OFDMA 5 Users)
3.2.2 Channel
The channel configuration is the same as the previous case with 2 Users.
3.2.3 Receiver
Figure 3.30: Receiver (OFDMA 5 Users)
Separate Users data: This Multiport Selector block is used to separate the frame of size
150 into five streams, each one of size 30.

Figure 3.31: Users’ data separation (OFDMA 5 Users)
differ from scenario 1 (OFDMA 2 Users AWGN), so all the blocks that are not described in
3.3.1 Transmitter
The configuration of all the blocks in the transmitter is the same as the described in section
3.1.1.

3.3.2 Channel
Figure 3.32: Channel (AWGN + Rayleigh Fading)
AWGN Channel: In order to obtain the BER curve, the Eb/No parameter has been set to
Eb/No in general, not a fixed value.
Figure 3.33: AWGN Channel (OFDMA 5 Users)
Rayleigh Fading: This block is the main component of this design because its purpose is
to evaluate the impact of fading in the transmission. The parameters shown in Figure 3.34
were configured.

Besides, the Math function (conj) and a product block were used to combine the effect of
the fading block with the AWGN block. This part of the design was developed and tested
during the Mobile Communications module.
Figure 3.34 AWGN Channel (OFDMA 5 Users)
3.3.3 Receiver
The configuration of all the blocks in the receiver is the same as the described in section
3.1.3
transmitter, channel and receiver. All the blocks were configured with the same parameters of

scenario 2 (OFDMA 5 Users AWGN) in the case of transmitter and receiver, and scenario 3
(OFDMA 2 Users AWGN + Fading) for the channel.
3.4.1 Transmitter
The configuration of all the blocks in the transmitter is the same as the described in section
3.2.1.
3.4.2 Channel
All the channel configuration is the same as the described in section 3.3.2 (2 Users AWGN
+ Fading).
3.4.3 Receiver
The configuration of all the blocks in the receiver is the same as the described in section
3.2.3.
3.5 SC-FDMA 2 USERS (AWGN)
differ from scenario 1 (OFDMA 2 Users AWGN); thus, all the blocks that are not described in

3.5.1 Transmitter
Figure 3.35: SC-FDMA 2 Users Transmitter
FFT: It is important to note that in previous versions of Simulink, the FFT length must be
a power of two. In this case, the signal length entering into the FFT block is 150, which is not
a power of two. Hence, it was necessary to use the last version of the software and configure
FFT implementation as Auto, which permits to work with any input dimension, as shown in
Figure 3.36.
Figure 3.36: FFT (SC-FDMA Transmitter)
Multiport Selector: As explained in Chapter 1, Figure 1.6, the first symbol of a SC-FDMA
slot does not contain reference signals, so the configuration of this block is simpler than in
OFDMA because it is not necessary to create groups of five subcarriers. In fact, it could even

be omitted. In this case, it was configured just to show that the data of the users is not divided
in groups and is continuously transmitted without interruption.
Figure 3.37: Multiport Selector (SC-FDMA)
Null subcarriers constants: As explained in Chapter 2, 53 subcarriers are used as left
guard and also as right guard. For the uplink, the central subcarrier is transmitted, so in this
case there is not a null subcarrier in the center as in OFDMA. These constants are configured
as 53 zeros, as shown in Figure 3.38.
Figure 3.38: Null subcarriers constants (SC-FDMA)

Matrix Concatenate: There are 4 inputs; two for the null subcarriers and the others for the
data subcarriers, as shown in Figure 3.39.
Figure 3.39: Matrix Concatenate (SC-FDMA)
3.5.2 Channel
The configuration of the channel is the same as case 1 (OFDMA 2 Users AWGN).
3.5.3 Receiver
Figure 3.40: SC-FDMA 2 Users Receiver
Remove Null Subcarriers: This Selector block removes the first and final 53 subcarriers,
respectively.

Figure 3.41: Null subcarriers removal (SC-FDMA)
IFFT: The input length of this block is not a power of two, so it is configured as Auto, and
“Inherit FFT length from input dimensions”, as presented in Figure 3.42.
Figure 3.42: IFFT

4 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND ANAYLIS
CHAPTER 4
4. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Figure 4.1 shows a portion of the integer data transmitted by two base stations (TX1 and
TX2), and a portion of the integer data received by the corresponding users (RX1 and RX2).
Three different values of Eb/No were configured as explained in Chapter 3 Eb/No = 30dB (a),
43dB (b) and 80dB (c).
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4.1: TX and RX Integer data (2 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c)
Twenty samples have been taken of the 100 random integers generated by TX1; as well as
20 samples of the 50 random integers that TX2 generates. In the first case, 30dB (a), RX1

received 2 errors and RX2 received 4 errors. With Eb/No = 43dB (b), both RX1 and RX2 did
not receive any error, as in the last case when Eb/No = 80dB (c).
Accordingly, as the Signal to Noise ratio Eb/No increases, the number of wrong values or
errors decreases. In this case, it was possible to reach no errors from values close to 40dB.
Figure 4.2 shows the Error rate, number of errors and number of comparisons that the block
made for both users. Three different values of Eb/No have been configured Eb/No = 30dB (a),
43dB (b) and 80dB (c) to have these results.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 4.2: Error rate, Errors and Comparisons (2 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c)
From Figure 4.2, it is clear that User 1 is receiving the double of bits compared to User 2,
which is the expected result according to the design. In spite of the fact that both users receive
errors when Eb/No=30dB (a), the highest Error rate value corresponds to the user with the
lowest amount of information. As obtained in the results of Figure 4.1, for Eb/No=43dB (b)
and Eb/No=80dB (c), all the data received is the same as the transmitted for both users, which
is confirmed in the results shown in Figure 4.2, where Error rate = 0 and no errors are detected
in both cases.

Figure 4.3 corresponds to User 1’s transmitted data after being modulated. Indeed, the
figure shows data modulated with 16QAM, which corresponds to the modulated selected from
the standard. The received data was tested configuring the channel with Eb/No = 30 dB (a), 43
dB (b) and 80 dB (c), and they are presented in Figure 4.4.
Figure 4.3: Modulated TX Data (User 1 of 2)
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4.4: Modulated RX Data (User 1) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b) and 80dB (c)
Based on the previous results, it was predicted that the received signal would be very
different from the transmitted when Eb/No=30dB, as it actually is. In the second case,
Eb/No=43dB, even though the symbols are not located exactly at the same position where

were transmitted, the receptor is able enough to detect the correct positions due to proximity;
thus, no errors were detected in Figures 4.1 (b) and 4.2 (b). Finally, Eb/No=80dB is high
enough for the system to receive all the symbols exactly as they were transmitted.
The data transmitted to User 2 is shown in Figure 4.5. The received data is shown in
Figure 4.6, tested in three different scenarios, as with User 1.
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4.6: Modulated RX Data (User 2) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b) and 80dB (c)
The received modulated signal corresponds to 16QAM. In the first case, Eb/No=30dB (a),
it is not possible to distinguish the received symbols; hence, the number of errors was higher

in that case. In the other cases, it is possible to distinguish the symbols, especially for the last
case, Eb/No=80dB (c), which the received modulated signal is exactly as the transmitted
modulated data.
The signal transmitted in terms of dBW/Hz vs. Hz is shown in Figure 4.7, and Figure 4.8
presents the received signal after passing the channel configured with Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB
(b) and 80dB (c), respectively.
Figure 4.7: Transmitted signal
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4.8: Received signal Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b) and 80dB(c)

As the Eb/No value increases, the received and transmitted signals are more alike. In the
first case (a), Eb/No=30dB is not high enough for the system to receive an appropriate signal;
in other words, the difference between the transmitted and received signals is the reason by
which multiple errors were detected and shown in Figures 4.1 (a) and 4.2 (a). When
Eb/No=43dB (b), the received signal is more similar to the transmitted signal than the signal
received with Eb/No=30dB; however, they are still not equal. When Eb/No=80dB (c), the
transmitted and received signals are equal, and this is confirmed in Figure 4.1 (c) and 4.2 (c),
where no errors were detected.
The transmitted and received random integers for 5 users are shown in Figure 4.9. Three
different values of Eb/No were also used, as in the previous scenario Eb/No = 30dB, 43dB and
80dB. In this case, the display sample size is 10 integers per user; however, it is important to
consider that the total number of integers generated per user is 30, as shown in Figures 2.5 and
2.6. Because of space, only 10 integers of 30 integers per user are considered for analysis.
When Eb/No=30dB (a), in a sample of 10 integers, User 1 receives two errors, User 2 does
not receive errors, User 3 registers one error, User 4 has two errors and User 5 does not
register any error in the first 10 integers.
On the other hand, when Eb/No = 43dB (b) and 80dB (c), as in the previous scenario with
two users, no errors are received in the first 10 integers.

(a) (b) (c)
Figure 4.9: TX and RX Integer data (5 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c)
Figure 4.10 shows the Error rate, number of errors and number of comparisons that the
block made. These displays confirm that no errors were detected when Eb/No = 43 (b) and
80dB (c). Additionally, in spite of the fact that the five users receive the same amount of data
(30 integers), the number of errors is not the same for each one. Thus, the Error rate values are
different.

(a) (b) (c)
Figure 4.10: Error rate, Errors and Comparisons (5 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c)
From Figure 4.10, it is clear that when Eb/No=30dB (a), Users 3 and 5 receive the most
errors; thus their Error rate are the highest. User 5 receives the lowest amount of errors, so its
Error rate is the lowest. When Eb/No=43dB (b), no errors are detected for all the users. Also,
when Eb/No=80dB (c) no errors are detected; hence, the Error rate is zero.
Figures 4.11 and 4.12 show the transmitted and received modulated data for User 1..
The transmitted signal corresponds to the modulated OFDMA symbol, so it is clear that
16QAM modulation is used, as stated in the standard. With the purpose of comparing the
transmitted signal with the received signal, it is useful to see that there is not any sample
between 0 and -2 in both axes (Quadrature Amplitude and In-phase Amplitude).
Consequently, at the receiver this range in both axes should also be empty of samples.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4.12: Modulated RX Data (User 1 of 5) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c)
When Eb/No=80dB (c), it is possible to recover the signal exactly as it was transmitted;
however, when Eb/No=43dB (b), the system can recognize the samples and no errors are
transmitted. When Eb/No=30dB (a), it is not possible to recover a reliable signal; thus, errors
were detected as shown in Figures 4.9 (a) and 4.10 (a)
Figures 4.13 and 4.14 show the transmitted and received modulated data for User 2. Again,
it is clear that Eb/No=30dB (a) does not permit to receive reliable data.

(a) (b) (c)

The received data of User 3 corresponds to Figure 4.16, and the originally transmitted data
is shown in Figure 4.15. The pattern obtained for the previous users, is repeated in this case;
hence, Eb/No=30dB (a) has low reliability, when Eb/No=43dB (b) the 16QAM symbols have
enough proximity to distinguish the samples and avoid errors, and Eb/No=80dB (c) has the
highest reliability.

(a) (b) (c)

Figures 4.17 and 4.18 correspond to User 4. The general behavior is repeated for all the
users; however, analyzing each sample and comparing with other users, it is clear that samples
are not the same for all the users, especially with Eb/No=30dB (a) and Eb/No=43dB (b).

(a) (b) (c)

Finally, Figures 4.19 and 4.20 show the transmitted and received modulated data for User
5. In the transmitted signal, there is a square in the constellation without any sample.
Comparing the transmitted data with the received, when Eb/No=30dB (a), there is a pair of
samples in the square that is supposed to be empty, so this generates the errors and a high
Error rate value at the receiver.

(a) (b) (c)

Figures 4.21 and 4.22 show the transmitted and received signals, respectively, in terms of
dBW/Hz vs. Hz. It is evident that the most reliable signal is obtained when Eb/No=80dB (c).
The received signal when Eb/No=30dB (a) is considerably different from the transmitted
signal. With Eb/No=43dB (b), the received signal is still different than the transmitted, but it
is reliable enough to avoid errors, as shown in Figures 4.9 and 4.10.

Figure 4.21: Transmitted signal (5 Users)
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4.22: Received signal (5 Users) Eb/No=30dB (a), 43dB (b), 80dB (c)
Despite the fact that the second received signal Eb/No=43dB (b) is not exactly the same as
the transmitted, it does not register errors for users because the system is able to recognize
correctly the 16QAM received symbols, as shown in Figure 4.10.
4.3 BER RESULTS
The Bit Error Rate (BER) is one of the most important parameters to evaluate performance
in digital communications. The BER quantifies the reliability of the entire radio system from
“bits in” to “bits out”, including the electronics, antennas and signal path between [19].

As two scenarios generating an OFDMA symbol were designed, with two and five users,
respectively, the purpose of the following results was comparing the BER curves for both
scenarios, shown in Figure 4.23.
Note: “User 1 of 2”: User 1 performance of 2 User system, “User 1 of 5”: User 1 performance of 5 User system
Figure 4.23: BER Curves for 2 and 5 Users (AWGN)
There are some aspects to consider in order to analyze Figure 4.23. First, (User 1 of 2)
handles the biggest data size, (User 2 of 2) has a medium size of data and the other users have
the lowest data size. Second, the AWGN channel has exactly the same configuration in all the
cases.
Besides, the ideal condition for a given BER value corresponds to the curves located on
the left, so they have the best performance.

Based on this, (User 1 of 5) has the best performance because at a certain BER value, its
Eb/No corresponding value is the lowest. In other words, the Bit / Error ratio is the same as the
other curves in spite of its low Eb/No value, which means that though less ideal environment
conditions in terms of noise, it has the same BER performance than other curves related with
better environment conditions. Furthermore, it is clear that (User 1 of 2), which is the user
receiving the most data, has a good performance at high Eb/No values. Finally, the five users
of the second design do not have the same BER curve behavior in spite of receiving the same
amount of information. Figure 4.24 shows the BER curves with and without fading for two
and five users, respectively.
(a) (b)
Note: “1 of 2”: User 1 performance of 2 User system, “1 of 5”: User 1 performance of 5 User system
Figure 4.24: BER Curves for 2 Users (a), and 5 Users (b) (AWGN vs. AWGN + Fading)

In the first case, as stated previously, (User 1 of 2) has better performance than (User 2 of
2) approximately from Eb/No = 13dB onwards. Also, the performance for both users degrades
when fading is added to the channel. In the second case, only three of five users have been
analyzed to avoid confusion because of the number of curves. The curves corresponding to the
scenario without fading have better performance compared to those with fading. Indeed, the
user with the best performance in AWGN, has also the best performance in AWGN + Fading.
4.4 PAPR RESULTS
The Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) is the key parameter by which SC-FDMA is
used in the uplink instead of OFDMA. With the purpose of verifying that the PAPR is in fact
lower in SC-FDMA than in OFDMA, the simulation of an SC-FDMA symbol was designed,
as shown in the diagram presented in Figure 2.8. The Spectrum Analyzer block was used in
simulations to measure the PAPR values of the uplink and downlink, as shown in Figure 4.26.
(a) (b)
Figure 4.26: PAPR for 2 Users OFDMA (a) vs. SC-FDMA (b) (AWGN)

In the downlink (a), the PAPR is equal to 9.844 dB; while in the uplink (b) it is equal to
5.833. In other words, in the simulation of SC-FDMA, the PAPR obtained is almost the half of
the PAPR corresponding to OFDMA.

5 CHAPTER 5: CHALLENGES AND DESIGN IMPROVEMTS
CHAPTER 5
5. CHALLENGES AND DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS
5.1 CHALLENGES
Despite the efforts of LTE-A to increase the data rate, the excessive growth of users,
makes capacity a key requirement. In fact, in order to guarantee coverage, companies opt to
install more base stations, antennas and radio links, investing heavily sometimes. In addition,
expansion deployment involves other costs such as battery, air conditioning, support, training,
and others. On the other hand, high demand is not a constant pattern for 24 hours a day;
therefore, high investment is not justified in hours of low usage.
As the size of the platform increases, interference becomes more challenging. This directly
affects performance. Even with OFDMA in the downlink, it cannot be possible to guarantee
perfect orthogonal subcarriers because of the uncertainty of the channel, and with more users
it becomes more challenging. Besides OFDMA, LTE-A considers other technologies to deal
with the growing capacity requirement, such as MIMO and Carrier Aggregation. However,
they are technologies that continues being dependent on spectrum, which is unpredictable,
scarce and expensive.
Synchronization is another challenge that LTE-A has because of the unpredictable channel
and unpredictable demand for resources. In fact, synchronization is essential to avoid
interference and minimize errors during transmission.

Some user equipment challenges are related to carrier aggregation and MIMO technology.
Carrier aggregation could involve a complex radio environment design. Then, MIMO is based
on the use of a number of antennas; indeed, up to eight transmitters in downlink, requiring
more battery life of devices.
SC-FDMA is used in the uplink with the purpose of minimizing PAPR and ensuring
longer battery life of devices; however, at the cost of BER. Therefore, as BER could not be
affected in the downlink, OFDMA is used instead of SC-FDMA. To sum up, designing a
system with an efficient PAPR implies a BER performance decline, and vice versa.
5.2 IMPROVEMENTS
One of the most challenging tasks in mobile communications is to deal with the
transmission of data and control information without degrading performance, but guaranteeing
proper synchronization and use of resources at the same time. However, it is clear that the use
of resources to transmit control information during data transmission decreases bandwidth
capabilities for users. Thus, a possible improvement is to separate data and control information
to be transmitted using different resources. By doing this, spectral efficiency is achieved
because all the subcarriers within a symbol transmit only user data. To illustrate, the OFDMA
symbol that has been designed and simulated during the current project, has 256 subcarriers,
30 of which are reference signals. Hence, 11.7% of the OFDMA symbol was used to transmit
information that does not correspond to user data.

This is not so critical in the downlink, as it is in the uplink. As 3 of 14 symbols within a
subframe are completely used to transmit control information, 21.4% of the subframe is used
to transmit it. Hence, it is a fairly high number considering the excessive cost of bandwidth.
Figure 4.27 presents a design in which the reference signals do not occupy the subcarriers
of the symbol transmitting user data. Figure 4.28 shows the corresponding diagram. Tough, as
their function do not cease to be important and necessary, reference signals should be
transmitted, but through a different resource than frequency.
Figure 4.27: OFDMA Design Proposal
Figure 4.28: OFDMA Diagram Proposal

The simulated and analyzed scenario based on the current standard consisted of an
OFDMA symbol with 256 subcarriers, distributed in 76 null subcarriers, 180 occupied
subcarriers (100 subcarriers assigned to User 1, 50 to User 2 and 30 reference signals). The
proposal aims to eliminate the 30 reference signals, leaving 30 available subcarriers to be used
to transmit more user data. For instance, 120 subcarriers are assigned to User 1, and 60 to User
2. Consequently, the use of frequency is more efficient.
Besides, new software development could improve mobile communications performance
and reduce the dependence on hardware. For instance, the allocation of resources could be
programmable and on demand, optimizing the use of resources in peak hours and off peak
hours.

6 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONSGN IMPROVEMTS
CHAPTER 6
6. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
6.1 CONCLUSIONS
In LTE-A the frequency resources are distributed according to the needs of each user; for
instance, the resources provided to a user who is starting a videoconference, uploading a photo
and downloading a .JPEG file outweigh the resources provided to another user who is only
sending a message. On the other hand, as the number of users increases, the available
frequency resources decrease. Consequently, some users may perceive slowness or even signal
loss in environments with high demand. Thus, LTE-A is flexible but remains limited. To
illustrate, two users were widely allocated within an OFDMA symbol in simulations, but five
users had to be closely accommodated within a symbol with limited bandwidth resources.
With orthogonal subcarriers, spectral efficiency is achieved. Indeed, as bandwidth is a
limited and expensive resource, this technique significantly improves the use of spectrum.
Besides, orthogonal subcarriers minimize ICI. Although, filtering, synchronization and
signaling become challenging to conserve orthogonality, avoiding ICI and optimizing the use
of bandwidth at the same time.
The Cyclic Prefix is a portion of the last part of an OFDMA symbol inserted at the
beginning of it. This element provides with more roominess to each symbol in order to avoid
ISI. LTE-A defines two possible values for CP, 16.67𝜇𝑠 and 33.33𝜇𝑠. In the design, the CP is

added just before passing to the channel, and it is removed at the moment when the symbol
reaches the receptor.
Given a low Eb/No value, the user with the most data within a symbol has the lowest BER.
Furthermore, when different users are given the same amount of subcarriers within a symbol,
the BER value is not necessarily the same for each user. Thus, some of them may receive
more errors than others. Given a high Eb/No value, the receptor does not receive errors and the
signal is very similar to the transmitted signal. In spite of the fact that received symbols are not
exactly at the same position of transmitted symbols, proximity is adequate enough for the
receptor to distinguish them.
Regarding Eb/No vs. BER curves, it is clear that when fading induces the channel, the
performance is degraded. Besides, in both designs, with two and five users, the user data
allocated in the first part of the symbol has the best performance compared to the other users.
Hence, as the symbol advances, synchronization and orthogonality suffer a slight decline.
With regard to the results obtained over PAPR, due to the power limitations at the user
equipment, it is ideal to reduce the PAPR to the minimum for the uplink. During this project, it
was possible to find that SC-FDMA has lower PAPR properties than OFDMA; thus, SC-
FDMA is used for uplink transmissions instead of OFDMA.
Considering that bandwidth is a scarce and expensive resource, and due to the fact that the
number of users and theirs needs increase rapidly, the suppression of control data within the
symbols that transmit user data, has been proposed as a possible improvement.

6.2 FUTURE WORK
SC-FDMA has been defined as the multiple access technique to be used for uplink due to
its low PAPR, such that the power required from user equipment is minimized. Even though,
this multiple access technique has not been considered for the downlink because the PAPR
reduction involves BER decline. Thus, it would be interesting to work on studying how to
reduce PAPR in OFDMA; thereby, BER and PAPR could be optimized.
Moreover, reducing the dependence on bandwidth requirement would be useful. Despite
the fact that OFDMA contributes with spectral efficiency, this resource continues being scarce
and expensive. Also, it is vulnerable to interference and fading.
As part of the design improvements presented in Chapter 5, the separation of reference
signals and user data will be studied in future. Also, the use of software development to
replace hardware that could reduce costs and facilitate the transmission of reference signals
through means other than spectrum.

REFERENCES
1. International Telecommunications Unit (ITU). “Mobile cellular world”, in Global ICT

developments. Access: July, 2015. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-
D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx
2. 3GPP. “The Mobile Broadband Standard”, in 3GPP website. Access: July, 2015.
http://www.3gpp.org/about-3gpp
3. Demia Della Penda. “Distributed Uplink Resource Allocation in LTE-A Cellular
Network with Device-to-Device communications”, in Universita Degli Studi di Siena.
Chapter 1, Page 10. 2011.
4. Arnon Friedmann. “Understanding OFDMA, the interface for 4G wireless” in Texas
Instruments for eeTimes. April, 2007. Access: May, 2015.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1275028
5. Takehiro Nakamura. “Proposal for Candidate Radio Interface Technologies for IMT-
Advanced Based on LTE Release 10 and Beyond (LTE Advanced)” in IT-R WP 5D
3rd Workshop on IMT-Advanced. Slides 22 and 23. October, 2009.
6. Ian F. Akyildiz, David M. Gutierrez-Estevez, Elias Chavarria Reyes. “The Evolution to
4G celular systems: LTE-Advanced” in Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta,
United States. 2010.
7. 4S Communications. “Modulation & Multiple Access Schemes” in SlideShare. Slides
17 and 18. February, 2013. Acess: June, 2015.
http://www.slideshare.net/ravi4s/modulation-multiple-acces-schemes
8. Yair Shapira. “SC-FDMA vs. OFDMA” in ExploreGate for Youtube. May, 2012.
Access: March, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr4YQAfifKA
9. 3rd Generation Partnership Project 3GPP. “ETSI TS 136 211 Technical Specification”.
Version 10.0.0, Release 10. January, 2011.
10. Jerry D. Gibson. “Mobile Communications Handbook” Third Edition, CRC Press.
2013.
11. Anritsu Company. “LTE Resources Guide” Rev 1010. United States of America, 2009.
Access: May, 2015. http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~fli/class/LTE_Reource_Guide.pdf

12. 4G Americas. “LTE Carrier Aggregation Technology Development and Deployment
Worldwide” October, 2014
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Evolution”. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Second Edition. 2011.
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June, 2015. http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1278137
15. Keysight Technologies. “Concepts of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) and 802.11 WLAN”. Access: July, 2015.
http://rfmw.em.keysight.com/wireless/helpfiles/89600b/webhelp/subsystems/wlan-
ofdm/Content/ofdm_basicprinciplesoverview.htm
16. Cristina Ciochina, Hikmet Sari. “A Review of OFDMA and Single Carrier FDMA and
Some Recent Results” in Advances in Electronics and Telecommunications Vol 1, No.
1 IEEE. April, 2010.
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http://simplestcodings.blogspot.co.uk/p/lte.html
18. Abdul Samad Shaikh, Khatri Chandan Kumar. “Performance Evaluation of LTE
Physical Layer Using SC-FDMA & OFDMA” in Blekinge Institute of Technology.
Chapter 4, Page 23. November, 2010.
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Issues” in Summit Technical Media. Gary Breed Editorial Director. 2003. Access:
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20. Corey McKinney Thacker. “An initial design of an OFDM transceiver” in The
University of Texas. May 2010.
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Hertfordshire. September 2010.
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Iowa State University, IEEE. Chapter 2. August, 2006.
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Communications module, University of Sussex. Brighton, UK. 2014

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LTE”. United States. June, 2014.
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Scheme under SUI and ITU Channel Models” in International Journal of Engineering
& Technology IJET-IJENS Vol: 14 No: 01. February, 2014.
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Aricent Group for SlideShare. November, 2013.

APPENDIX A
OFDMA FULL FRAME
FRAME (10 ms)
SUBFRAME 0 (1 ms)
SLOT 0 SLOT 1 SLOT 2 SLOT 10 SLOT 19
S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
…………… ……………
RB14 RB14 RB14 RB14 RB14

SUBCARRIERS
180 KHz
12

OCCUPIED SUBCARRIERS
FREQUENCY
RB7 RB7 RB7 RB7 RB7
…………… ……………
RB5 RB5 RB5 RB5 RB5
RB4 RB4 RB4 RB4 RB4
RB3 RB3 RB3 RB3 RB3
RB2 RB2 RB2 RB2 RB2
RB1 RB1 RB1 RB1 RB1
RB0 RB0 RB0 RB0 RB0
…………… ……………
TIME
Guard Band PDSCH
Reference Signal SS
Center subcarrier PBCH
PDCCH PCFICH
A

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UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

OFDMA in 4G Mobile Communications

Candidate Number: 130013

Supervisor: Dr. Falah Ali

Submitted for the degree of

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems with Business Management

School of Engineering and Informatics

Department of Engineering and Design

Word count: 11840

marks any passages, identifying their origins.

form, to this or any other University for a degree.

Fanny Flores – September 2015

Figure 1.1.: Global mobile-cellular subscriptions [1] ................................................................................ 2

Table 1.1: 3GPP Releases Summary [3] .................................................................................................... 3

ITU International Telecommunication Union

I wish to extend my gratitude to the government of Ecuador and to the University of

accurate guide, encouragement and advice.

support and love despite distance.

This project analyzes, designs and simulates “OFDMA in 4G Mobile Communications”.

Chapter 1, “Introduction”, includes a recapitulation of the evolution that mobile

1.1 AIMS, WORK AND ACHIEVEMENTS

improvements related to OFDMA in LTE-A.

suggest possible improvements.

Some achievements of this project include satisfactory simulations, confirming appropriate

1.2 MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EVOLUTION

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 1 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

developed since the 80’s to current days.

Global mobile-cellular subscriptions,

Per 100 inhabitants

Figure 1.1.: Global mobile-cellular subscriptions [1]

supporting multiple users per channel, but transmitting one at a time.

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 2 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

transmission data rates. In order to normalize 3G, seven telecommunications standard

development organizations created the 3GPP [2].

their main characteristics.

WCDMA HSPA HSDPA LTE

1.3 LTE-A OVERVIEW

published by the 3GPP.

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 3 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

with up to 500 Mbps in LTE-A and 10 Mbps in 3G. [4], [5]

uplink transmit antennas.

1.3.1 Architecture and Protocol stack

presents the network architecture of E-UTRAN for LTE-A.

interface interconnecting the eNBs.

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 4 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 5 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

Figure 1.3: Protocol Stack [6]

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 6 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

priorization and padding.

1.3.2 Uplink and Downlink Operation

Before defining SC-FDMA and OFDMA, it is convenient to review the differences

by using orthogonal carriers. Due to orthogonality, interference is minimized.

Figure 1.4: FDM vs. OFDM [7]

OFDMA is considered as an extension of OFDM, in which multiple users share resources

sharing, as shown in Figure 1.5.

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 7 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

to use limited transmit power devices.

resource by orthogonally accommodating multiple subcarriers in a given band. As shown in

multi path and frequency selective fading.

MSc. in Digital Communication Systems Page 8 of 95 Candidate Number: 130013

are also shorter than in OFDMA.

1.3.3 Frame Structures