Wireless Communications

This paper discusses the effects of frequency offset on the performance of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) digital communications. The main problem with frequency offset is that it introduces interference among the multiplicity of carriers in the OFDM signal. It is shown, and confirmed by simulation, that to maintain signal-to-interference ratios of 20 dB or greater for the OFDM carriers, offset is limited to 4% or less of the intercarrier spacing. Next, the paper describes a technique to estimate frequency offset using a repeated data symbol. A maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) algorithm is derived and its performance computed and compared with simulation results. Since the intercarrier interference energy and signal energy both contribute coherently to the estimate, the algorithm generates extremely accurate estimates even when the offset is far too great to demodulate the data values. Also, the estimation error depends only on total symbol energy so it is insensitive to channel spreading and frequency selective fading. A strategy is described for initial acquisition in the event of uncertainty in the initial offset that exceeds 1/2 the carrier spacing, the limit of the MLE algorithm. >

A technique for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing frequency offset correction

We propose a variable-rate and variable-power MQAM modulation scheme for high-speed data transmission over fading channels. We first review results for the Shannon capacity of fading channels with channel side information, where capacity is achieved using adaptive transmission techniques. We then derive the spectral efficiency of our proposed modulation. We show that there is a constant power gap between the spectral efficiency of our proposed technique and the channel capacity, and this gap is a simple function of the required bit-error rate (BER). In addition, using just five or six different signal constellations, we achieve within 1-2 dB of the maximum efficiency using unrestricted constellation sets. We compute the rate at which the transmitter needs to update its power and rate as a function of the channel Doppler frequency for these constellation sets. We also obtain the exact efficiency loss for smaller constellation sets, which may be required if the transmitter adaptation rate is constrained by hardware limitations. Our modulation scheme exhibits a 5-10-dB power gain relative to variable-power fixed-rate transmission, and up to 20 dB of gain relative to nonadaptive transmission. We also determine the effect of channel estimation error and delay on the BER performance of our adaptive scheme. We conclude with a discussion of coding techniques and the relationship between our proposed modulation and Shannon capacity.

Variable-rate variable-power MQAM for fading channels

We present the joint maximum likelihood (ML) symbol-time and carrier-frequency offset estimator in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Redundant information contained within the cyclic prefix enables this estimation without additional pilots. Simulations show that the frequency estimator may be used in a tracking mode and the time estimator in an acquisition mode.

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ML estimation of time and frequency offset in OFDM systems

High peak-to-average power ratio of the transmit signal is a major drawback of multicarrier transmission such as OFDM or DMT. This article describes some of the important PAPR reduction techniques for multicarrier transmission including amplitude clipping and filtering, coding, partial transmit sequence, selected mapping, interleaving, tone reservation, tone injection, and active constellation extension. Also, we make some remarks on the criteria for PAPR reduction technique selection and briefly address the problem of PAPR reduction in OFDMA and MIMO-OFDM.

An overview of peak-to-average power ratio reduction techniques for multicarrier transmission

The general technique of parallel transmission on many carriers, called multicarrier modulation (MCM), is explained. The performance that can be achieved on an undistorted channel and algorithms for achieving that performance are discussed. Ways of dealing with channel impairments and of improving the performance through coding are described, and implementation methods are considered. Duplex operation of MCM and the possible use of this on the general switched telephone network are examined. >

J.A.C. Bingham

Papers

Multicarrier modulation for data transmission: an idea whose time has come