Chapter 7: OFDM - Principles

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OFDM - Principles

v Contents
Ø Introduction: Concept
Ø OFDM System
Ø OFDMA
Ø OFDM System design
Ø Single Carrier (SC) FDE
Ø Summary

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Introduction to OFDM

v History of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

Ø OFDM is a special case of multicarrier transmission.
Ø The concept of parallel transmission and FDM was published in the mid-1960s.
Ø A U.S. patent was filed and issued in January, 1970.
Ø ‘Orthogonal’ indicates a mathematical relationship between frequencies.
Ø DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) is applied as part of the modulation and
demodulation process in 1971.
Ø Using DFT-based multicarrier technique, FDM is achieved not by bandpass filtering
but by baseband processing.
Ø FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) is an efficient implementation technique of DFT.
Ø Recent advances in VLSI technology make high-speed and large-size FFT chips
commercially affordable.

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Introduction to OFDM

v History of OFDM (cont’d)

Ø In the 1980s, OFDM was studied for high-speed modems, digital mobile
communications, and high-density recording
Ø After the 1990s, OFDM was exploited for wideband data communications
§ Mobile radio FM channels
§ High-bit-rate digital subscriber lines (HDSL)
§ Asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL) → DMT (Discrete Multi Tone)
§ Very-high-speed digital subscriber lines (VDSL)
§ Digital audio broadcasting (DAB)
§ High-definition television (HDTV) terrestrial broadcasting (DVB-T, DVB-H)
Ø Recent standards
§ Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11), Wireless MAN OFDMA (IEEE 802.16)
§ DMB, WiBro/Mobile WiMax, 3GPP LTE DL OFDMA

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Introduction to OFDM

v Traditional single carrier modulation scheme

Ø Data bit stream is transformed by several symbols and transmitted in serial form
§ Frequency spectrum : full band allocation
Ø Example
§ PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulation)
§ PSK (Phase Shift Keying) : BPSK, QPSK, 8-PSK, etc.
§ QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation): 16-QAM, 32-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM,
1024-QAM, etc.
Ø Drawback: complex equalization required (in frequency selective channel)
§ Equalization over the full band è Complex equalizer is required
§ Large multipath delay è The number of equalizer tap increases
§ Incomplete channel equalization è Noise amplification è System performance
degradation

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Introduction to OFDM

v Classical multi-carrier modulation scheme

Ø Total frequency band is divided into several subchannels
§ Each subchannel is modulated with a separate symbol and frequency multiplexed

Ø Simple equalization
§ Frequency-selective fading channel è a large number of flat fading subchannels

§ Each subchannel is similar to memoryless channel

§ Simple equalization method is applicable ( zero forcing equalizer with single tap )

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Introduction to OFDM

v Early implementation of multi-carrier system (Analog)

IDFT DFT

BPF

ejw1 e-jw1

BPF
input output
S/P P/S
sequence ejw2 e-jw2 sequence

....

....
BPF

ejwN e-jwN

Ø Problem
§ Need for a large number of oscillator or frequency synthesizer proportional to the number
of subcarriers

§ Receiver also requires the same number of bandpass filters as the subcarriers

è High implementation cost

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Introduction to OFDM

Ø Another problem
§ Inefficient use of available spectrum

Ø Solution
§ Overlapping multi-carrier modulation technique

§ Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is considered in order to reduce crosstalk

between subcarriers

§ If subcarrier spacing is a multiple of 1/T

each subcarrier is linearly independent
(T : symbol period)

§ Moreover, digital signal processing

using FFT can eliminate the banks of
subcarrier oscillators and bandpass
filtering
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Introduction to OFDM

v Basic principle of OFDM (1)

Ø Using a large number of parallel narrowband subcarriers instead of a single wideband
carrier to transport information
§ Split a high-rate data stream into a number of lower rate streams that are transmitted
simultaneously over a number of subcarriers
IFFT
1

11 0

0 90 180 270 360

-1

4
1

10 0
0 90 180 270 360

-1 0
11100100‥‥ S/P P/S 0 90 180 270 360
1

01 0

0 90 180 270 360

-4
-1

0
00 0 90 180 270 360

-1

High-rate Lower rate parallel Simultaneous

data stream subcarriers transmission

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Introduction to OFDM

v Basic principle of OFDM (2)

Ø Symbol duration increases for the lower rate parallel subcarriers
Ø The relative amount of dispersion caused by multi-path delay spread is decreased
Ø Intersymbol interference (ISI) is eliminated almost completely by introducing a
Guard Interval (GI) in every OFDM symbol
Ø In the guard interval, OFDM symbol is cyclically extended to avoid intercarrier
interference (ICI)

GI GI

GI GI

GI GI
Delay spread
No ISI
FFT window

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Introduction to OFDM

v Ex) Multi-path removal by inserting Guard Interval

First arriving path Reflection OFDM symbol time

Subcarrier 1

Subcarrier 2

Subcarrier 3

Reflection delay Guard time FFT integration time Phase transitions

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Introduction to OFDM

v Advantage of OFDM
Ø Spectral efficiency
§ Orthogonal subcarriers are spaced 1/T apart and overlap in frequency domain

Ø Very easy and efficient in dealing with multi-path fading channel

Ø Robust to narrow-band interference
Ø Simple implementation
0.8
§ IFFT/FFT pair
Normalized Amplitude --->
0.6

§ ADC/DAC pair
0.4

Ø Mitigation of ISI
0.2

§ Long symbol duration 0

§ Cyclic prefix -0.2

(Guard interval) -6 -4 -2 0 2
Normalized Frequency (fT) --->
4 6

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Introduction to OFDM

v Disadvantage
Ø Capacity and power loss due to guard interval
§ Guard Interval should be about two to four times the rms delay spread

Ø Sensitive to frequency offset and phase noise

§ Phase noise is especially acute at high carrier frequencies

Ø PAPR (Peak-to Average Power Ratio) is high

§ High Power transmitter amplifiers need linearization

§ Low noise receiver amplifiers need large dynamic range

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OFDM Signal Model

v OFDM signal
Ø Transmission
N / 2-1
ì ü
s (t ) = Re íexp( j 2p f c t ) ´ å X k exp [ j 2p ( f k t ) ]ý
î k =N / 2 þ
§ fc : carrier frequency, Ts : symbol duration, Xk : k-th complex symbol

§ k-th subcarrier frequency : k

fk =
Ts

Ø Equivalent baseband signal (sample duration = Ts / N )

1 N -1
x(n) = å X k exp[ j 2p (kn / N )]
N k =0

§ Identical to IDFT (Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform)

§ Complexity : IDFT = O(N2 ), FFT = (N / 2) log2N

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OFDM Signal Model

v OFDM signal transmission method

Ø Ex) using BPSK-modulated symbols

-1 a -1

Serial to Parallel

Parallel to Serial

Serial to Parallel

Parallel to Serial
1 1
b s (t )
Modualtion IFFT FFT Demodualtion
1 1
{ ,1,0,0,1, } { , -1,1,1,-1, } c { , -1,1,1,-1, } { ,1,0,0,1, }
-1 -1
d

-1 1 1 -1
0

a=0
b=-2
c=0
parallel d=2
to d
∑ series
c s (t )
a
T
b
T
T

- sin w t sin 2w t sin 3w t - sin 4w t s (t )

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OFDM Signal Model

Ø Ex) using QPSK-modulated symbols

0 1

P/S Converter

S/P Converter
0 0

S(t)
IFFT FFT
0100 1101 1 1

0 1

0
0

S(t)
parallel to series 0 T
T

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OFDM Signal Model

v OFDM signal (example)

0.15
Data symbol : 200
Guard band : 56
0.1
Guard interval : 64

0.05

-0.05

-0.1

-0.15
0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Ø Superposition of overall subcarrier signals with different frequency and phase

Ø High PAPR (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio)
§ Signal can be distorted by non-linearity of power amplifier

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OFDM Signal Model

v Basic block diagram ( OFDM modulation/demodulation )

s1 r1
xk guard yk
interval
x1 y1
n(t)

P/S s(t) r(t) S/P

...

...
bit stream S/P IFFT Channel rn FFT P/S bit stream

xN sN+G rN+G yN

time frequency time time time time frequency time

domain domain domain domain domain domain domain domain
samples samples samples samples samples samples samples samples
(serial) (parallel) (parallel) (serial) (serial) (parallel) (parallel) (serial)

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OFDM Signal Model

v Transceiver structure (functional components)

b bits X0 x0
Serial-to- X1 x1 Parallel Guard D/A
Serial Data Signal Up
Parallel IFFT -to-Serial Interval &
...

...

...
Input Mapper Converter
Converter Converter Insertion LPF
XN-1 xN-1

Channel

Z0 z0
Parallel Z1 z1 Serial-to Guard LPF
Serial Data Signal Down
-to-Serial Equalizer FFT -Parallel Interval &
...

...

...

...
output Mapper Converter
Converter Converter Removal A/D
ZN-1 zN-1

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OFDM Signal Model

v OFDM signal characteristics

Ø Transform Domain Signaling
§ Each bit is initially generated in time domain, but is transformed into frequency domain
information before transmission

§ Transmitted signal samples does not correspond to 1 to 1 bit information, but is a

transformed information per symbol group

Ø A kind of Spread Spectrum Signaling

§ because each data is spread over (by FFT transform) a large number of subcarriers

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OFDM Signal Model

v Subcarrier mapping of complex symbols

Ø Each sub-channel of OFDM signal can adopt different modulation (mapping)
methods based on channel condition and required spectrum efficiency
§ Note: Different modulation on each subcarrier does not violate orthogonality between
subcarriers
Ø One-way communication environment
§ All subcarriers may have the same modulation and data rate
(Note: subcarrier’s data rate is controllable only by modulation)
Ø Two-way communication environment
§ Possible to allow different data rates depending on channel quality of each subcarrier è
maximization of channel efficiency (adaptive channel loading)
Ø Useful mapping methods:
§ BPSK, QPSK, 8-PSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, etc.

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OFDM Signal Design - Pilot Subcarrier

v Use of pilot subcarrier

Ø Purpose
§ Time / frequency synchronization, and channel estimation

Ø Continual pilots
§ Fixed (frequency) location in every OFDM symbol

§ Suitable for frequency synchronization

Ø Scattered pilots
§ Variable (frequency) location in every OFDM symbol (periodical shift)

§ Suitable for timing synchronization or channel estimation

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OFDM Signal Design - Pilot Subcarrier

Nf

Nt

Fig. Pilot design in time and frequency (rectangular scatter pattern of pilot case)

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OFDM Signal Model

Ø Spacing between pilots and the number of pilots are pre-determined based on the
maximum multipath delay
§ If the maximum multipath delay increases, then, pilot spacing N f (inside a symbol, in
frequency domain) must be reduced

§ Pilot spacing between symbols N t must be less than Coherence time

(coherence time is inverse of Doppler spread)

§ If the number of pilots increases → transmission efficiency drops

Ø Pilot insertion is accomplished right after S/P conversion at the transmitter

Ø Drawbacks: Loss of transmission capacity
Ø Conclusion: In any OFDM system, pilot insertion is a basic design requirement

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OFDM Signal Spectrum with Pilot

v Ex) Continual pilots and Scattered pilots in DVB-T system

OFDM signal
pilot
frequency spectrum

frequency
index
0 N-1

<Inserting of pilot subcarriers in signal spectrum>

Kmax= 6816 (8k)
Kmin= 0 Kmax= 1704 (2k)
......
......
......
...... Symbol 67
...... Symbol 0
...... Symbol 1
...... Symbol 2
...... Symbol 3
......
......

Boosted pilot
Data <Scattered pilots In DVB-T>
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OFDM Signal Spectrum

v OFDM signal spectrum

Ø Overlapping of individual subcarriers shaped by sinc function
Ø Highly band-limited spectrum (sharp band edges)
§ As the total number of subcarriers increases, out-of-band radiation is minimized

Ø To further reduce out-of-band spectral level, filtering may be applied

<Overlapping of sinc functions> <OFDM signal spectrum in DVB-T>

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OFDM Signal - PAPR

v Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR)

Ø Superposition of individual subcarrier signals in time domain
Ø High PAPR
§ Increase complexity of ADC / DAC æ Max[ x 2 (t )] ö
PAPR (dB ) = 10log ç 2 ÷ µ 10log M ,
§ Reduce efficiency of RF power amplifier è E [ x (t )] ø
( M : the number of subcarriers )
§ Degrade system performance consequently

§ PAPR increases as the number of subcarriers increases

<Power of time-domain OFDM signal>

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OFDM PAPR
4

v High PAPR (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio) 2

-2

Ø PAPR [dB] -4

sin(wt)
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

= 10 * log10 (Peak_Power / Avg_Power) 4

Ø (EX) PAPR of OFDM signal 0

-2

-4 sin(2wt)
▪ PAPR of each subcarrier (sinusoid) 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

4
– Average power: ½ 2

0
– Peak power: 1 -2

-4 sin(3wt)
– PAPR: 3 dB 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

▪ PAPR of sum signal 2

– Average power: 2 -2
sin(4wt)
-4
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200
– Peak power: 10.43
4

– PAPR: 7.2 dB 2

-2 sum
-4
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

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PAPR Reduction Algorithm

v PAPR Reduction Algorithm

Ø Clipping and windowing
§ Signal distortion method; after clipping, windowing is necessary for spectral spread reduction
§ Effective method but BER performance is degraded
Ø Selective mapping (SLM)
§ Multiply data signal by different sequences
→ Select sequence for transmission with the smallest PAPR
§ Long processing delay plus additional channel for selected ‘sequence’ transmission
Ø Partial transmit sequence
§ Divide OFDM tones into several clusters → Combine each output sequence by different optimal
sequence to minimize PAPR → similar to SLM, better than SLM, but more complex than SLM
Ø Scrambling method
§ Randomize data sequence using scrambling code
§ Relatively easy, Performance improvement is not high

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OFDM System Design

v Signal Design Considerations

Ø Required bandwidth / Sample duration / Subcarrier spacing
Ø Data rate / Code rate / Maximum throughput
Ø Sampling rate / Used bandwidth
Ø Frame structure
§ Frame length, # of OFDM symbols per frame, # of bits per OFDM symbol

Ø OFDM Symbol structure

§ FFT size, # of data subcarriers, # of pilot subcarriers

§ Mapping method: BPSK, QPSK, QAM

§ Channel coding method

§ CP (Cyclic Prefix) length, useful symbol duration

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OFDM System Design

Ø Relationship between parameters (1)

§ Fixed transmission bandwidth (W),
W
Relationship between the number of subcarriers (N) f sub =
N
and subcarrier spacing (fsub)
– N increases è fsub decreases

§ Fixed sampling rate (fs),

N
Relationship between the number of subcarriers (N) Tsym = = NTs
fs
and symbol length (Tsym)
– N increases è Tsym increases

§ Fixed sampling rate (fs) and the number of subcarriers (N) bN

R= = bNRsym
Relationship between Bits/subcarrier (b) Tsym
and bit rate (R)
– Rsym : symbol rate
– Mapping order increases è R increases è Bandwidth efficiency increases

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OFDM System Design

Ø Relationship between parameters (2)

§ Fixed symbol length ( Tsym ),
N
Relationship between the number of subcarriers (N ) fs = = NRsym
Tsym
and sampling rate ( fs )
– N increases è fs increases

1 N
R = bf s f sub = W= = NRsym = f s
Tsym Tsym

§ Fixed transmission bandwidth ( W ),

N increases è Tsym increases è FFT size increases è complexity increases
è fsub decreases è accurate synchronization is required

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OFDM System Design

Ø Insertion of GI (Guard Interval)

§ Symbol duration
– TG = Guard Interval length Tsym = TG + Tu
– TU = Useful symbol duration

§ In this case, useful symbol includes N subcarrier signal (=# of useful samples)

1 W 1 W
f sub = = Note : f sub ¹ , f sub ¹
Tu N Tsym N (1 + TG / TU )

§ Bandwidth

æ T ö 1 N
W = # of samples / sec = N × ç1 + G ÷ × = = f sub × N
è Tu ø T Tu

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OFDM System Design

v Efficient design method

Ø Large multi-path (cellular, etc) or Single frequency network (SFN)
è Guard interval should be sufficiently long
§ Total OFDM symbol duration is increased
§ FFT size is increased
§ Ex) DVB-T, WiBro, etc.
Ø Small multi-path (indoor environment, etc)
è Guard interval should be relatively short
§ Total OFDM symbol duration is decreased
§ FFT size is decreased
§ Ex) Wireless LAN (FFT size = 64 in case of IEEE 802.11a)
Ø Allocation of Guard band
§ Though OFDM signal has a sharp rolloff in band-edge, unused subcarriers are required for
elimination of ACI (Adjacent Channel Interference)

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Design of OFDM system

v Types of OFDM by transmission mode

Ø Broadcast Mode
§ DVB-T, ISDB-T, DVB-H

§ Continuous transmission of OFDM symbol

§ Absence of training symbol (=preamble)

§ Synchronization and channel estimation is based on guard interval or pilot subcarriers

Ø Burst Mode
§ Wireless LAN è HIPERLAN/2, IEEE 802.11a, Wireless MAN è IEEE 802.16a/d/e

§ Frame or packet transmission if needed

§ Training symbol (=preamble) transmission at the start position

§ Preamble-based synchronization is important

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OFDMA

v OFDMA
Ø Allocation of subcarriers to multiple SSs (Subscriber Stations) in an OFDM symbol time:
★ named as OFDMA since OFDM already contains -M, meaning multiplexing. But
in case of Forward Link, OFDMA is mis-leading and actually is OFDM-ultiplexing.
Ø Group of M subcarriers as a unit of allocation → Subchannel
Ø The same scheme can be equally applied in both Forward and Reverse Channel
Ø Is effective in inter-cell interference mitigation by interference averaging betw. cells
Ø Soft handover between cells is possible and is quite effective
Ø The example in this section is that of Wi-Bro system
v Subchannelization Method 1 : Diversity subchannels
Ø Feedforward method: can result in statistically similar channel qualities for all users (as
the channel quality will be averaged in time between users)
Ø Specific subcarrier allocation dynamically changes in time
Ø More popular than Method 2

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OFDMA

v Subchannelization Method 2 : Band AMC subchannels

Ø Feedback method: enables efficient resource allocation with optimal transmit power
and modulation/coding scheme for each SS (=UE) in a cell

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OFDMA

v Using Diversity Subchannel

Ø All subchannels in identical time slot are statistically identical
è Averaging inter-cell interference
Ø Pre-agreed distrubution patterns- specific selection information is transmitted just before
the current time slot → no feedback information necessary (thus, less control overhead)
Ø Appropriate for mobile SSs (since for mobile transceiver, feedback info. is unreliable)
Ø For Reverse link application, accurate control of carrier frequency is necessary

v Using Band AMC subchannel

Ø Efficient resource allocation to increase multi user diversity
§ è Increase overall transmission efficiency (Pros)

§ è Sensitive to control latency and increased control overhead (Cons)

Ø Appropriate for stationary SSs (since it is feedback controlled)

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SC-FDE System

v Conventional SC-TDE
t 1st path signal

Ø Not suitable for wideband

f t 2nd path signal

signal with high data rate

t 3rd path signal
Ø Wide bandwidth
T T T

→ shorter symbol duration C-1 C0 C1

Σ
→ relatively longer multi-path delay
Algorithm for coefficient adjustment

Ø TDE needs a large number t 1st path signal

of taps in proportion to maxi- f t 2nd path signal

mal delay in multi-path t 3rd path signal

fading channel
→ High complexity Σ

Algorithm for coefficient adjustment

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SC-FDE System

v SC-FDE (Single Carrier – Frequency Domain Equalization)

Ø Wireless communication technique for wideband data transmission
Ø SC-FDE + FDMA → SC-FDMA (Single Carrier – Frequency Domain Multiple Access)

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OFDM vs SC-FDE

v Disadvantage of OFDM
Ø High PAPR : non-linearity of amplifier → signal distortion
§ Not suitable for uplink transmission (need for low power)

Ø Sensitivity to carrier frequency offset

§ Relatively small subcarrier bandwidth → ICI

Ø Requirement for Coded or Adaptive OFDM

§ Frequency selective fading channel → SNR of several subcarrier is very low

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OFDM vs SC-FDE

v Advantage of SC-FDE
Ø Low PAPR
§ Time-domain symbol mapping & Time-domain transmission by single carrier
§ Beneficial for power savings through smaller Transmitter Power Amp backoff
Ø Better BER performance than OFDM (in some channel conditions, Ref.below)
§ In case of low-order modulation (BPSK, QPSK) and high code rate
§ Beneficial for power savings (low Power Amplifier Backoff)
§ (In linear and AWGN channel, SC-FDE and OFDM have the same BER)
Ø Insensitivity to frequency selectivity
§ Low SNR of several subcarrier → dispersion in time domain → not much BER
degradation
Ø Similar complexity to OFDM
§ same process (FFT/IFFT, frequency-domain equalization)

- 42 -
OFDM vs SC-FDE

v Disadvantage of SC-FDE
Ø Lower transmission efficiency (capacity) than OFDM
§ This trend is more pronounced as signal adds many control schemes (Preamble, Sync
words, Channelization functions, etc.)

Ø Even power savings of SC-FDE may not be guaranteed as signal is designed to be

more complicated or partitioned into small packets.
§ Relatively small subcarrier bandwidth → ICI

- 43 -
OFDM vs SC-FDE

v Comparison of transceiver

Ø Common feature : CP insertion & FDE

Ø Different feature : in SC-FDE, additional TD-DFE is possible
(Time Domain – Decision Feedback Equalizer)

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3GPP LTE UL SC-FDMA

v 3GPP LTE (3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution)

Ø Bandwidth Expansion : maximum 20MHz
Ø UL : SC-FDMA (Single Carrier – Frequency Domain Multiple Access)
Ø DL : OFDMA
Ø Requirements
§ DL : 100Mbps

§ UL : 50Mbps

§ Scalable bandwidth support

(1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20MHz)

§ Higher spectrum efficiency

than 3GPP HSUPA

- 45 -
3GPP LTE UL SC-FDMA

v SC-FDMA
Ø Combination of SC-FDE (Frequency Domain Equalization) and FDMA
Ø Various transmission structure is considered for UE (User Equipment)
assignment in 3GPP TR 25.814 UL physical layer

v Basic Transmission Scheme (each SS use only part of given Bandwidth)

Ø SS = Subscriber Station (= User Equipment)

Coded symbol rate= R

Sub-carrier CP
DFT Mapping IFFT insertion

NTX symbols

Size-NFFT
Size-NTX

- 46 -
3GPP LTE UL SC-FDMA

v Multiplexing (of Channels)

Ø FDM-L (Localized mapping)
§ Good channel estimation performance

§ Sensitive to frequency selectivity Frequency

Ø FDM-D (Distributed mapping)

§ Good frequency diversity

§ Sensitive to frequency offset

Frequency

§ Not available (in new version)

Ø CDM (Code Division Multiplexing)

§ Robust to interference

§ Limited number of users (codes)

Frequency
§ Use CAZAC sequence

- 47 -
Comparison: OFDM vs. QAM

v Comparison: MCM vs. SCM

OFDM QAM

▪ MCM (Multi-Carrier Modulation) ▪ SCM (Single-Carrier Modulation)

▪ Frequency Domain approach ▪ Time Domain approach

▪ Immune to Time Domain Impulse interference ▪ Immune to Frequency Domain Impulse (tone
▪ Vulnerable to Frequency Domain Impulse interference)
(tone interference) ▪ Vulnerable to Time Domain Impulse interference

▪ Requires bandwidth margin for ISI reduction

▪ Guard Interval is necessary for ISI reduction
( nonzero filter roll-off factor)

▪ BER performance is similar in Gaussian channel

▪ BW efficiency: In unfiltered state, MCM is max. 2 times as efficient as SCM, but since MCM requires GI
(a loss), and SCM can adopt Nyquist filtering (a gain), the net result is similar.

- 48 -
References

v References
Ø Van Nees and Ramjee Prasad, OFDM for Wireless Multimedia
Communications, Artech House 2000.
Ø Andrea Goldsmith, Wireless Communications, Cambridge University Press
2005, Chapter 12.
Ø Andrea Molisch, Wireless Communications, Cambridge University Press 2005,
Chapter 19.

- 49 -
Questions for Self Study

v Questions for Self Study

Ø Explain how Guard Interval can eliminate multipath signal components.
Ø Compare Transmittion rate (capacity) between OFDM and QAM and conclude which
is higher. (consider maximum, minimum and typical cases)
Ø Derive mathematically how analog multicarrier signal processing can be replaced by
digital FFT processing.
Ø What is the difference in design approach between small area (small cell) OFDM and
wide area (large cell) OFDM?

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