Wireless Information Transmission System Lab.

Introduction to Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

Institute of Communications Engineering

National Sun Yat-sen University

Outline
OFDM Overview OFDM System Model Orthogonality Multi-carrier Equivalent Implementation by Using Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) Cyclic Prefix (CP) Summary

OFDM Overview (2/3)

OFDM
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

The basic principle of OFDM is to split a high-rate data stream into a number of lower rate streams that are transmitted simultaneously over a number of sub-carriers. It eliminates or alleviates the problem of multi-path channel fading effect, and low spectrum efficiency.

OFDM Overview (1/3)

Single carrier (SC) vs. multi-carrier (MC)

Single carrier : data are transmitted over only one carrier Selective fading

Multi-carrier : data are shared among several carriers and simultaneously transmitted Flat fading per subcarrier

OFDM Overview (3/3)

OFDM modulation

Features
No intercarrier guard bands Overlapping of bands Spectral efficiency Easy implementation by IDFTs Very sensitive to synchronization Problems of Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR)
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OFDM Transmitter
cos(2f 0 t )
a(0) b(0 )

Input

1 fs = t

Data Encoder

d (n )

{a(n ) + jb(n )}
1 Nt

S/P

sin (2f 0 t ) cos(2f N 1t )

a( N 1)
b( N 1)

MUX

D(t )

Channel

f n = f 0 + nf , f =

sin (2f N 1t )

Figure 1 6

OFDM System Model (1/3)

An OFDM system transmitter is shown in Figure 1. The transmitted waveform D(t) can be expressed as
D (t ) = {a ( n ) cos( 2f n t ) + b( n) sin( 2f n t )}
n =0 N 1

(1)

1 where f n = f 0 + nf and f = N t
Using a two-dimensional digital modulation format, the data symbols d(n) can be represented as a(n) + jb(n)
a(n) : in-phase component b(n) : quadrature component
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OFDM System Model (2/3)

+1

Nt
a(0 )

T
Data Encoder
d (n )

cos(2f 0 t )
a(0) b(0)

Input

1 fs = t

{a(n ) + jb(n )}

S/P

sin (2f 0 t ) cos(2f N 1t )

a( N 1)

MUX

D(t )

Channel

+1
1

a(0 )

T
a(1)

b(N 1)

sin (2f N 1t )

Nt

a (N 1)

OFDM System Model (3/3)

The serial data elements spaced by t are grouped and used to modulate N carriers. Thus they are frequency division multiplexed. The signaling interval is then increased to Nt , which makes the system less susceptible to channel delay spread impairments.
Small-scale fading
(Based on multipath time delay spread)

Flat Fading 1. BW of signal < BW of channel 2. Delay spread < Symbol preiod

Frequency Selective Fading 1. BW of signal > BW of channel 2. Delay spread > Symbol preiod

Orthogonality (1/3)
Consider a set of transmitted carriers as follows:
n j 2 f 0 + t N t

n (t ) = e

for n = 0, 1, ..., N 1

(2)

We now show that every two carriers are orthogonal to each other. <proof is in next page>
In summary:
(b a ) for p = q a p (t ) (t )dt = for p q and (b a ) = Nt 0
b * q

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Orthogonality (2/3) --- Proof

(t ) (t ) dt = e
* q a

j 2 ( p q )

t N t

dt
j 2 ( p q ) a N t

j 2 ( p q )

e j 2 ( p q ) Nt
b N t

b N t

1 j 2 ( p q ) ( a b ) N t 1 e e = j 2 ( p q ) Nt = 0 , for p q and (b a ) = Nt j 2 ( p q )

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Orthogonality (3/3)

Very Sensitive to Frequency Errors

N t
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Mathematical Expression of OFDM Signal (1/2)

From above, we know that { n (t )} is the orthogonal signal set. An OFDM signal based on this orthogonal signal set can be written as:
N 1 (3) x (t ) = Re d k ,n n (t kT ) k = n = 0 where n (t ) = e j 2f nt for n = 0, 1, 2, ..., N 1 0 t T n f n = f 0 + , T = N t T d k ,n = ak ,n + jbk ,n
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Mathematical Expression of OFDM Signal (2/2)

T : OFDM symbol duration dk,,n : transmitted data on the n-th carrier of the k-th symbol
N 1 x (t ) = Re C k , n n (t kT ) k = n = 0 =
k = n = 0

{a

N 1

k ,n

cos (2f n (t kT ) ) bk ,n sin (2f n (t kT ) )} (4)

If there is only one OFDM symbol ( i.e. k = 0 ), it can be simplified as:

x(t ) = { an cos(2f nt ) bn sin( 2f nt ) }

n=0

N 1

(5)

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Multi-carrier Equivalent Implementation by using IDFT (1/6)

According to the structure of the transmitter, transmitting an OFDM signal requires N oscillators, an extremely high cost for hardware implementation. Solution: An equivalent method for transmitting OFDM signals is using inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT).

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Multi-carrier Equivalent Implementation by using IDFT (2/6)

In general, each carrier can be expressed as:
S c (t ) = Ac (t )e j (2f c t +c ( t ) ) (6)

We assume that there are N carriers in the OFDM signal. Then the total complex signal Ss(t) can be represented by:
1 S s (t ) = N where f n = f 0 + nf
j ( 2f n t +n ( t ) ) A ( t ) e n n =0 N 1

(7)

and An (t ), n (t ), f n are amplitude, phase, carrier frequency of n - th carrier, respectively.

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Multi-carrier Equivalent Implementation by using IDFT (3/6)

Then we sample the signal at a sampling frequency 1 t , and An(t) and n(t) becomes:

n (t ) = n
An (t ) = An

(8) (9)

1 S s (kt ) = N

Ae
n =0 n

N 1

j ( 2 ( f 0 + nf ) kt +n )

(10)

Then the sampled signal can be expressed as:

1 S s (kt ) = N
( ( A e
N 1 n =0 n j 2f 0 kt +n )

) e

j 2nkft

(11)

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Multi-carrier Equivalent Implementation by using IDFT (4/6)

The inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) is defined as the following: 1 N 1 f ( kt ) = F ( nf )e j 2nk N (12) N n=0 Comparing eq.(11) and eq.(12), the condition must be satisfied in order to make eq.(11) an inverse Fourier transform relationship:
1 f = Nt
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(13)

Multi-carrier Equivalent Implementation by using IDFT (5/6)

If eq.(13) is satisfied,
An e j (2f 0 kt +n ) is the frequency domain signal S s ( kt ) is the time domain signal f is the sub-channel spacing

Nt is the symbol duration in each sub-channel

This outcome is the same as the result obtained in the system of Figure 1. Therefore IDFT can be used to generate an OFDM transmission signal.

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Multi-carrier Equivalent Implementation by using IDFT (6/6)

cos(2f 0 t )

a(0) b(0)

Input

d (n )

1 fs = t

{a(n ) + jb(n )}
1 N t

sin (2f 0 t )
cos(2f N 1t )

D(t )

Channel

f n = f 0 + nf , f =

a( N 1)
b( N 1)

sin (2f N 1t )
d (0)
d (1)

d (2)
Input
d (n )

1 fs = t

{a(n ) + jb(n )}
1 Nf

d (N 1)

D(t )

Channel

f n = f 0 + nf , f =

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Cyclic Prefix
In multipath channel, delayed replicas of previous OFDM signal lead to ISI between successive OFDM signals.

Solution : Insert a guard interval between successive OFDM signals.

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Cyclic Prefix
Guard interval leads to intercarrier interference (ICI) in OFDM demodulation

In DFT interval, difference between two subcarriers does not maintain integer number of cycles loss of orthogonality. Delayed version of subcarrier 2 causes ICI in the process of demodulating subcarrier 1.
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Cyclic Prefix
Cyclic prefix (CP) : A copy of the last part of OFDM signal is attached to the front of itself.

d [0]
d [2]

d [1]

D[0]
D[2]

D[1]

Input data d [n] symbols

~ D[k ]

D N Ng
D[N 1]

d [N 1]

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Cyclic Prefix
All delayed replicas of subcarriers always have an integer number of cycles within DFT interval no ICI

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OFDM Receiver

~ r (n )

r (n )

Output data Symbols

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Cyclic Prefix
One of the most important reasons to do OFDM is the efficient way it deals with multipath delay spread. To eliminate inter-symbol interference (ISI) , a guard time or cyclic prefix is introduced for each OFDM symbol. The length of the guard time or cyclic prefix is chosen to be larger than the delay spread.

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Bandwidth Efficiency
In a classical parallel system, the channel is divided into N non-overlapping sub-channels to avoid inter-carrier interference (ICI).

The diagram for bandwidth efficiency of OFDM system is shown below:

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Summary
The advantage of the DFT-based OFDM system :
The use of IDFT/DFT can reduce the computation complexity. The orthogonality between the adjacent sub-carriers will make the use of transmission bandwidth more efficient. The guard interval or cyclic prefix is used to resist the intersymbol interference (ISI). The main advantage of the OFDM transmission technique is its high performance even in frequency selective channels.

The drawbacks of the OFDM system :

It is highly vulnerable to synchronization errors. Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) problems.
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