CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION-----------------------------------------02

2. MULTIPATH PROPAGATION-----------------------04

3. FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE CHANNELS-----------07

4. MULTI-CARRIER TRANSMISSION----------------09

5. ORTHOGONALITY-------------------------------------11
6. ORTHOGONAL-FDM-----------------------------------13
7. BLOCK DIAGRAM------------------------------------15
8. OFDM BASICS-----------------------------------------17
9. TYPES OF OFDM-------------------------------------18
10.COMPARISON--------------------------------------------19
11. ADVANTAGES&DISADVANTAGES-------------20
12. APPLICATIONS----------------------------------------21
13.CONCLUSION---------------------------------------------22
14.REFRENCES----------------------------------------------24

15. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT------------------------------25

~1~
 INTRODUCTION
OFDM has become one of the most exciting
developments in the area of modern broadband wireless
networks. Although the notion of multicarrier transmission
or multiplexing (e.g., frequency-division multiplexing -
FDM) can be dated back to 1950s, high spectral efficiency
and low cost implementation of FDM became possible in
the 1970s and 1980s with advances in Digital Fourier
Transform (DFT). The first OFDM schemes presented in
1966.

OFDM,
OFDM is a digital multicarrier transmission technique
that distributes the digitally encoded symbols over several
subcarrier frequencies in order to reduce the symbol clock
rate to achieve robustness against long echoes in a
multipath radio channel. Even though the spectra of the
individual subcarriers overlap, the information can be
completely recovered without any interference from other
subcarriers. This may be surprising, but from a
mathematical point of view, this is a consequence of the
orthogonality of the base functions of the Fourier series.

The primary advantage of OFDM over single-carrier

schemes is its ability to cope with
severe channel conditions (for example, attenuation of

~2~
high frequencies in a long copper wire,
narrowband interference and frequency-selective fading due
to multipath) without complex equalization filters.
Channel equalization is simplified because OFDM may be
viewed as using many slowly-modulated narrowband signals
rather than one rapidly-modulated wideband signal. The low
symbol rate makes the use of a guard interval between
symbols affordable, making it possible to handle time-
spreading and eliminate intersymbol interference (ISI).
This mechanism also facilitates the design of single
frequency networks (SFNs), where several adjacent
transmitters send the same signal simultaneously at the
same frequency, as the signals from multiple distant
transmitters may be combined constructively, rather than
interfering as would typically occur in a traditional single-
carrier system.

OFDM has developed into a popular scheme

for wideband digital communication, whether wireless or
over copper wires, used in applications such as digital
television and audio broadcasting, wireless networking
and broadband internet access.

~3~
 MULTIPATH PROPAGATION
In wireless telecommunication, multipath is the
propagation phenomenon that results in radio signals
reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths.
Causes of multipath include atmospheric
ducting, ionospheric reflection & refraction,
and reflection from water bodies and terrestrial objects
such as mountains and buildings.

Fig.1: Multipath channel

Multipath is one of the most serious problem encountered

in wireless communication. In analog communication
systems, multipath represents an effect that can often be
tolerated by human ears(as echos) and eyes (as shadows).
In digital communication, however, multipath leads to
linear channel distortions that manifest as inter-symbol
interferences(ISI).This is because multipath leads to

~4~
multiple copies of the same signal arriving at the receiver
with different delays. Thus, one symbol pulse is delayed,
which affects one or more adjacent symbols, causing ISI.

Mathematical modelling
The mathematical model of the multipath can be
presented using the method of the impulse response used
for studying linear systems.
Suppose to transmit a single, ideal Dirac
pulse of electromagnetic power at time 0, i.e.
x(t) = δ(t)
At the receiver, due to the presence of the multiple
electromagnetic paths, more than one pulse will be and
each one of them will arrive at different times. Thus, the
received signal will be expressed by

N −1
y(t) = h(t) = ∑ρne jφnδ (t −τn )
n=0

where N is the number of received impulses (equivalent to

the number of electromagnetic paths, and possibly very
large), τn is the time delay of the generic nth impulse

(delay
delay spread),
spread and represent the complex amplitude
(i.e., magnitude and phase) of the generic received pulse.
As a consequence, y(t) also represents the impulse
~5~
response function h(t) of the equivalent multipath model.
.
Keeping our aim at linear, time invariant systems, we can
also characterize the multipath phenomenon by the
channel transfer function H(f),
which is defined as the continuous time Fourier
transform of the impulse response h(t)

The receive signal r(t) is related to the Fourier transform

S(f ) of the transmit signal s(t) by

Since the multi-path delays are distinct ,the frequency

response of the medium will introduce amplitude
fluctuations in the broadband signal .Such fluctuations in
the frequency domain will distort the waveform of a
signal.

~6~
FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE CHANNELS
For an angle α between the direction of the received signal
and the direction of motion, the Doppler shift ν is given by

Consider a carrier wave transmitted at frequency f. Typically,

the received signal is a superposition of many scattered and
reflected signals from different directions resulting in a spatial
interference pattern. For a vehicle moving through this
interference pattern, the received signal amplitude fluctuates
in time, which is called fading. In the frequency domain, we
see a superposition of many Doppler shifts corresponding to
different directions resulting in a Doppler spectrum instead of
a sharp spectral line located at f.. Figure 2 shows an example
of the amplitude fluctuations of the received time signal for
ν max = 50 Hz, corresponding for example, to a transmit
signal at 900 MHz for a vehicle speed v = 60 km/h. The
figure shows deep amplitude fades up to −40 dB. If a car
stands still at the corresponding location (e.g. at a traffic
light), the reception breaks down. If the car moves half a
wavelength, it may get out of the deep fade.
The superposition of Doppler-shifted carrier waves leads to a
fluctuation of the carrier amplitude and phase. This means
that the received signal is amplitude and phase modulated by
the channel.

~7~
Table 1: Doppler frequencies

Fig.2: Frequency selectivity (variance) of the fading amplitude for a broadcasting

channel with long echoes..

Communication channels that introduce frequency-

dependent distortions are known as frequency-
frequency-selective
channel.
channel Frequency-selective channels can exhibit
substantial ISI,
ISI which can lead to significant increase of
detection errors.

~8~
MULTI-
MULTI-CARRIER TRANSMISSION
This very problem of “frequency selective fading” gets
solved when data is transmitted in parallel: on multiple
carriers that overlap in frequency ,but are orthogonal to
each other .
The simple idea of multicarrier transmission to overcome
the limitation of delay spread is to split the data stream
into K substreams of lower data rate and to transmit
these data substreams on adjacent subcarriers. Each
subcarrier has a bandwidth B/K, while the symbol duration
T is increased by a factor of K, which allows for a K
times higher data rate for a given delay spread.
There are two possible ways to look at (and to
implement) this idea of multicarrier transmission. The
first one emphasizes the multicarrier concept by having K
individual carriers that are modulated independently. The
second one is based on a filter bank of K adjacent
bandpass filters that are excited by a parallel data
stream, leading to a transmission parallel in frequency.
This concept is usually implemented in practical systems.
The first concept keeps the subcarrier frequency fixed and
considers the modulation in time direction for each
subcarrier. The second one keeps a time slot of length T
fixed and considers modulation in frequency direction for
each time slot.

~9~
Fig.3: Block diagram for multicarrier transmission: Version 1.

Fig.4: Block diagram for multicarrier transmission: Version 2.

~ 10 ~
 ORTHOGONALITY
The concept of orthogonal signals is essential for the
understanding of OFDM (orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing) In the normal sense, it may look like a
miracle that one can separately demodulate overlapping
carriers for OFDM. The concept of orthogonality unveils
this miracle. To understand these concepts, it is very
helpful to interpret signals as vectors. Like vectors, signals
can be added, multiplied by a scalar, and they can be
expanded into a base. Two pulses are always orthogonal if
they do not overlap either in time or in frequency
domain, and that a pulse cannot be strictly band limited
and time limited. Thus, we must decide on one of these
two options.
The orthogonality requires that the sub-carrier spacing
is Hertz, where TU seconds is the useful symbol
duration (the receiver side window size), and k is a
positive integer, typically equal to 1. Therefore,
with N sub-carriers, the total passband bandwidth will
be B ≈ N·∆f (Hz).
The orthogonality also allows high spectral efficiency, with
a total symbol rate near the Nyquist rate for the
equivalent baseband signal (i.e. near half the Nyquist rate
for the double-side band physical passband signal). Almost
the whole available frequency band can be utilized. OFDM
generally has a nearly 'white' spectrum, giving it benign
~ 11 ~
electromagnetic interference properties with respect to
other co-channel users.

Fig.5: Orthogonal overlapping spectral shapes for OFDM.

~ 12 ~
 ORTHOGONAL-
ORTHOGONAL-FREQUENCY
DVISION MULTIPLEXING (OFDM)
OFDM)

Orthogonal FDM’s (OFDM) spread spectrum technique

distributes the data over a large number of carriers that
are spaced apart at precise frequencies. This spacing
provides the “orthogonality” in this technique which
prevents the demodulators from seeing frequencies other
than their own.
Figure 6(b) presents an OFDM transmission example of
three data substreams with 1/3TB bit rate each.

Fig.6: a) Single carrier transmission; b) orthogonal frequency division

multiplexing with Df = 1/(3TB).

~ 13 ~

Implementation using the FFT algorithm
The discrete fourier transform (DFT) is very well suited
for performing modulation and demodulation using multiple
carriers. The fast implementation of the discrete fourier
transform is called the FAST FOURIER TRANSFORM
(FFT).

Fig.7: IFFT performed at the transmitter end

 IFFT generates the required Time domain waveform:

N −1 j 2π i
k
1
d [ n, i ] = ∑ s[n, k ]e N

N k =0

Fig.8: FFT performed at the receiver end

 FFT generates the required Frequency Domain signal :

1 N−1 − j 2π k
i
r[n, k] = ∑d '[n, i]e N

N i=0

~ 14 ~
 BLOCK DIAGRAM

• TRANSMITTER:

BLOCKs EXPLANATION:
S/P acts as time/frequency mapper.It demultiplexes
serial data stream into N parallel streams.
IIFT computes inverse FFT on each set of symbols,
giving a set of complex time-domain samples. These
samples are then modulated using orthofonal multi-
carriers.
Cyclic Prefix acts like guard interval and makes
equalization easy (FFT-cyclic convolution vs channel-
linear convolution).
P/S converts parallel streams into serial streams for
transmission. These digital datas are converted to analog
datas by D/A converter(not shown) before transmission.

~ 15 ~
 • RECEIVER:

BLOCKs EXPLANATION:

Cyclic Prefix is discarded.

FFT generates the required Frequency Domain signal.
P/S acts like a Frequency/Time Mapper.
The serial data stream is passed to demodulator(not
shown) for extraction of information from the
signal.

~ 16 ~
 OFDM BASICS

o To maintain orthogonality 1/ Ts = ∆f where

 ∆f = sub-carrier spacing

 Ts = symbol duration
Condition for Orthogonality

o If N-point IDFT (or FFT) is used

 Total bandwidth (in Hz) , W = N ∆f
 T s + T c p = symbol duration after CP addition

~ 17 ~
 TYPES OF OFDM
 C-OFDM : Coded OFDM.
o COFDM offers real benefit in the presence of isolated
narrow-band interfering signals
o Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)
o Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T)
 MIMO-OFDM : Multiple Input, Multiple Output OFDM
(MIMO-OFDM).
o Developed by Iospan Wireless.
o Uses multiple antennas to transmit and receive radio
signals.
 V-OFDM : Vector OFDM.
o Developed by CISCO
o Increases subscriber coverage & cheap.
o Employs both frequency and spatial diversity
o Creates a robust processing technique for multi-path fading
and narrow band interference
 W-OFDM : Wideband OFDM
o Invented by Wi-LAN
o Large spacing between carriers
o - Optimal performance against Multi-path fading
o - Less sensitive to carrier offset
o -Optimal power efficiency of the transmitter amplifier
 Flash-OFDM : Fast-hopped OFDM
o Wide-band spread-spectrum technology
o Avoids the compromises inherent in other mobile data
systems
o Capability to work around interfering signals

~ 18 ~
 COMPARISON
Comparing Performance of DS-CDMA, & OFDM :

FDM OFDM

~ 19 ~
 ADVANTAGES

OFDM is spectrally efficient & enhances Channel Capacity.

IFFT/FFT operation ensures that sub-carriers do not
interfere with each other.

Equalization is very simple compared to Single-Carrier
systems.

OFDM has excellent robustness in multi-path
environments.

Fundamentally, well suited for high bit rate applications.

Timing recovery is very straight forward.

Timing jitter easier to handle Cyclic prefix acts like a
guard interval and it compensate delay spread.

DISADVANTAGES

OFDM Sensitive to Small Carrier Frequency Offsets.

OFDM Sensitive to High Frequency Phase Noise.

OFDM Sensitive to Sampling Clock Offsets

The tightly packed subcarriers give rise to increased
sensitivity with respect to carrier frequency errors
(oscillator impairments etc.) and interchannel
interference (ICI) .

The OFDM time-domain signal has a relatively large peak-
to-average power ratio(PAPR)
o tends to reduce the power efficiency of the RF
amplifier.
o non-linear amplification destroys the orthogonality of
the OFDM signal and introduced out-of-band radiation.

~ 20 ~
 APPLICATIONS

 ASYMMETRIC DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

(ADSL): It provides internet service and in the
past few years it has replaced vast majority of voice
modems. It uses large BW upto 1MHz(255 equally
spaced subcarriers).

 DIGITAL AUDIO BROADCASTING (DAB):

It is a digital technology offering considerable
advantages over today's FM radio. COFDM with
error detection and transparent channel allowing
transmission of a stereo program or any other data.
Programs are divided into a total of 1536 carrier
frequencies bandwidth 1.5 Mhz.

 DIGITAL VIDEO BROADCASTING (DVB): It

specifies three OFDM transmission modes-2K
mode(2048 subcarriers), 4K mode(4096
subcarriers), 8K mode(8196 subcarriers). Each
subcarriers can have three modulation
formats:QPSK,16-QAM,or 64-QAM. Provides high
quality videos(HDTV)

~ 21 ~
 CONCLUSION
The current status of the research is that OFDM appears
to be a suitable technique as a modulation technique for
high performance wireless telecommunications.OFDM is
emerging as popular solution for wireless LAN, and also for
fixed broad-band access. An OFDM link has been confirmed
to work by using computer simulations, and some practical
tests were performed on a low bandwidth base-band
signal.

OFDM was found to perform very well compared with

CDMA, with it out-performing CDMA in many areas for a
single and multicell environment.

Space-Time processing for OFDM is a very hot area of

current research.

One important major area, which hasn’t been investigated,

is the problems that may be encountered when OFDM is
used in a multiuser environment. One possible problem is
that the receiver may require a very large dynamic range
in order to handle the large signal strength variation
between users.

This thesis has concentrated on OFDM, however most

practical system would use forward error correction to
improve the system performance. Thus more work needs
to be done on studying forward error correction schemes
~ 22 ~
that would be suitable for telephony applications, and
data transmission.

OFDM promises to be a suitable modulation technique for

high capacity wireless communications and will become
increasing important in the future as wireless networks
become more relied on.

 The questions that remain to be answered are

Will OFDM be good when there is vehicular

mobility?

What about macro-cellular, non-LoS coverage
issues?

What about OFDM deployment in unlicensed bands?

Will OFDM be cost-effective? If not right now,
when?

Will 4G see a combination of OFDM, DS-CDMA &
TDMA ?

Key Question is: Where are those high-bit rate,
high usage applications ? -- at low cost ?

~ 23 ~
 REFERENCES
BOOKS:

OFDM-Based Broadband Wireless Networks
Design and Optimization
-- Hui Liu and Guoqing Li.

Communication Systems (4th edition)
-- Simon Haykin.

Theory and Applications of OFDM and CDMA
-- Henrik Schulze and Christian Lűders.

Modern Digital and Analog Communication Systems
-- B.P. Lathi & Zhi Ding

LINKS:
o http://www.skydsp.com
o http://www.google.co.in
o http://scholar.google.co.in

~ 24 ~
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There are many people who helped us.

• First of all we would like to acknowledge Sir Anup

Dey
ey.We
ey are greatly indebted to him for sharing with
us his invaluable knowledge on this topic.
• We are thankfull to our friends for motivating us
during the entire period of time.
• Last but not least,we would like to thank our
parents and family members for showing their love
and affection.

~ 25 ~