Module 7 : Slide 1

LTE Multiple Access

LTEAMultipleAAccessAOverview
only

Overview

227
Slide 2

Objectives OFDMA
Learn and
OFDMA
SC-FDMA
OFDMA
and SC-FDMA
Concepts
and SC-
Concepts
FDMA
Concepts

228
Slide 3

Pulse Shaping and Spectrum

RF engineering is always a trade off between several factors:
o required radio spectrum (bandwidth)
o speed of data transmission (bit rates)
o complexity of implementation

The pulse form used to modulate complex data symbols to the

radio carrier frequency is the major element of this story.

Two characteristics are important for a pulse:

o the time domain presentation. It helps recognize how long the
symbol pulses on air
o the frequency domain presentation to understand the required
spectrum in terms of bandwidth

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229
Slide 4

The Rectangular Pulse

It is one of the most simple time-domain pulses.
It simply jumps at time t=0 to its maximum
amplitude and after the pulse duration Ts just
goes back to 0.
This pulse form has two major advantages:
o First it is simple to implement, there is no
complex filter system required to detect
such pulses and to generate them.
o Second the pulse has a clearly defined
duration. After Ts the signal amplitude is zero,
this is a major advantage in case of multi-
path propagation environments as it
simplifies handling of inter-symbol T=0 T=Ts
interference.
A disadvantage of the rectangular pulse is,
that it allocates a quite huge spectrum.
However the spectral power density has null
points exactly at multiples of the frequency fs =
1/Ts. This will be important later on.

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230
Slide 5

Time Domain

1
amplitude

Ts fs =
Ts Fourier Transform

time
Frequency Domain

spectral power density

Inverse
Fourier Transform fs

frequency f/fs

As Mentioned in above diagram, with the help of Fourier transform Time domain changed to
frequency domain and with Inverse Fourier transform frequency domain changed to time
domain.

231
Slide 6

Multi Path Propagation

BTS

Inter Symbol Interference

In Multi path propagation, Radio signals reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths

232
Slide 7

Multi-Path Propagation and

Inter-Symbol Interference
The cancellation of inter-symbol interference makes more complex the
hardware design of the receivers
In WCDMA for instance the RAKE receiver requires a huge amount of DSP
capacity.
One of the goals of future radio systems is to simplify receiver design and
thus the rectangular pulse is the first choice.
Inter-symbol interference originating from the pulse form itself is simply
avoided by starting the next pulse only after the previous one finished
completely, therefore introducing a Guard Period (Tg) after the Pulse.
There is no inter-symbol interference between symbols as long as the
multi-path delay spread (e.g. delay difference between first and last
detectable path) is less than the guard period duration Tg.

Inter symbol interference (ISI) is a form of distortion of a signal in which one symbol interferes
with subsequent symbols. This is an unwanted phenomenon as the previous symbols have
similar effect as noise, thus making the communication less reliable.

233
Slide 8

Multi-Path Propagation and the Guard

Period
2

Time Domain
Ts Tg

1 Guard teriod (Gt)

Ts time

2 Guard teriod (Gt)

Ts time

3 Guard teriod (Gt)

time

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234
Slide 9

Propagation Delay Exceeding the

Guard Period
2
1
3
4
Time Domain
T Tg
Obviously when s
1
the delay spread
of the multi-path
time
environment is
greater than the 2
guard period
duration (Tg), time
then we encounter
3
inter-symbol
interference (ISI)
time

time

Propagation delay is the amount of time it takes for the head of the signal to travel from the
sender to the receiver

235
Slide 10

Reuse of the Guard Period

There is the possibility to use the lost transmission time during the Guard
Period by repeating part of the symbol during this period.
This is achieved by filling the guard period with either one or both of
the following two solutions:
o Cyclic Prefix (CP): The cyclic prefix is filling the final part of the
guard period. It simply consists of the last part of the following
symbol. Cyclic prefixes are used by all modern OFDM systems and
their sizes range from 1C4 to 1C32 of a symbol period.
o Cyclic Suffix (CS): The cyclic suffix fills the initial part of the guard
period and it is simply occupied by the beginning part of the
previous symbol. Currently non of the major OFDM systems uses
cyclic suffixes.
Tcp Ts Tg Tcp Ts Tg

Ct symbol T CS Ct symbol T CS
T
time

There is possibility to reuse guard band .There is two solutions to filled guard band either by
Cyclic Prefix or Cyclic Suffix.

236
Slide 11

Cyclic Prefix
Most systems use only the cyclic prefix which then occupies the
whole guard period.
A receiver typically uses the high correlation between the cyclic
prefix and the last part of the following symbol to locate the start of
the symbol and begin then with decoding.
In multi-path propagation environments the delayed versions of the
signal arrive with a time offset, so that the start of the symbol of the
earliest path falls in the cyclic prefixes of the delayed symbols.
As the CP is simply a repetition of the end of the symbol this is not a
inter-symbol interference and can be easily compensated by the
following decoding based on discrete Fourier transform.

Cyclic prefix is used by most of the system to reuse guard band.

237
Slide 12

Cyclic Prefix and Suffix

Tcp Ts Tg Tcp Ts Tg

CP symbol T CS CP symbol T CS

time
T

1 1 Rs Ts
Symbol Rate Rs = = Efficiency E= =
T Ts + Tcp + Tcs 1 / Ts Ts + Tcp + Tcs

efficiency

symbol rate

40 s

In OST symbol rate and Efficiency formulae given which used in Cyclic Prefix and Suffix.

238
Slide 13

Limitations of the Single-Carrier

Modulation
Using a single radio frequency carrier with rectangular pulse shaping has a major drawback:
Given a certain usage scenario, the cyclic prefix duration is fixed by the maximum expected
delay spread over the multi-path propagation models for the system.
The symbol duration can be made as small as the cyclic prefix size, but then only one half of
the time is used for data transmission, the other half is for the cyclic prefix, providing a very low
efficiency
Also shorter symbol duration mean a broader spectrum bandwidth to be used for a carrier.
To increase efficiency the symbol duration must be made longer, but then the symbol rate is
reduced.

There is lots of disadvantage by using single Career modulation which mentioned above. To
overcome single career modulation disadvantages Multi career modulation is recommended.

239
Slide 14

Multi-Carrier Modulation
The solution is to use multiple carriers in parallel.
This allows to increase the bit rate, but keeping the advantages of
smaller carriers with simple inter-symbol interference handling via cyclic
prefix and/or cyclic suffix.
Conventional multi-carrier operation as it is used for FDMA or MC-CDMA
works simply by selecting a number of center frequencies - one for each
carrier to be used.
The center frequencies must be spaced so that interference between
different carriers, known as Adjacent Carrier Interference ACI, is
minimized; but not too much spaced as the total bandwidth will be
wasted.
Each carrier uses an upper and lower guard band to protect itself from
its adjacent carriers. Nevertheless, there will always be some interference
between the adjacent carriers.
Especially for rectangular pulses the guard bands must be quite big, as
the rectangular pulse has a huge spectrum. Otherwise we would have to
apply a pulse shaping filter, but this would destroy the rectangular form
of our pulse and thus complicate inter-symbol interference handling.

Multi-Carrier Modulation (MCM) is the principle of transmitting data by dividing the stream into
several bit streams, each of which has a much lower bit rate, and by using these sub streams to
modulate several carriers.

240
Slide 15

Classical Frequency Division Multi-carrier Operation

cos(2f0t)
tulse I sk
s0 I/v
Shaping
split v
Cilter
-sin(2f0t) time
cos(2f1t)
tulse I
s1 I/v
Shaping
split v
Cilter
-sin(2f1t) RC Tx
Amplifier

cos(2fN-1t)
tulse I
sN-1 I/v
Shaping
split v
Cilter
-sin(2fN-1t)

fsubcarrier
fsub-used

f0 frequency
f1 f2 fN-2 fN-1
ACI = Adjacent Carrier Interference (Co-channel Interference)

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241
Slide 16

OFDM Carrier
For the rectangular pulse there is a better
option possible and it is even easier to
implement.
The spectrum of a rectangular pulses shows
null points exactly at integer multiples of the
1

frequency given by the symbol duration. 0.8

The only exception is the center frequency

(peak power) 0.6

Thus OFDM simply places the next carrier

exactly in the first null point of the previous 0.4

one.
With this we dont need any pulse-shaping
0.2

and between OFDM carriers using the
same symbol duration Ts and the same grid
0

of center frequencies no guard bands are -0.2

required. 4 5 6 7 8 9
5

This allows a tight packing of small carrier -

x 10

called the subcarriers - into a bigger
frequency band.
Of course at the edges of this bigger band
there might be some guard bands required
to protect systems on adjacent bands from
out-of-spectrum emissions by the OFDM
system.

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a method of encoding digital data on

multiple carrier frequencies. OFDM has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital
communication, used in applications such as digital television and audio broadcasting, DSL,
Internet access, wireless networks, power line networks, and 4G mobile communications.

OFDM is a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) scheme used as a digital multi-carrier

modulation method. A large number of closely spaced orthogonal sub-carrier signals are used
to carry data on several parallel data streams or channels. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a
conventional modulation scheme at a low symbol rate, maintaining total data rates similar to
conventional single-carrier modulation schemes in the same bandwidth

242
Slide 17

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multi-carrier Operation

cos(2f0t)
1
I sk fs =
I/v Ts Single carrier
split v Ct symbol CS

-sin(2f0t) Ts time
cos(2f1t)
I
I/v
split v

-sin(2f1t) RF Tx
f/fs
Amplifier fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs

1
cos(2fN-1t) f n = f 0 + nf s = f 0 + n n = - 1,0,1,2.
I Ts
I/v fs
Two carriers
split v

-sin(2fN-1t)

f/fs f/fs

In above mentioned diagram, OFDM operation is described.

243
Slide 18

Spectrum Overlapping of Multiple

OFDM Carriers

f0 f1 f3
f2 f4

In above mentioned diagram, spectrum overlapping of multiple OFDM carriers described.

244
Slide 19

Spectral Power Density in OFDM

Modulation
( lower guard band ) used subcarriers ( upper
guard
band )

[dB]

f0 f1 f2 f3 f4

In above mentioned diagram, Spectral power density in OFDM modulation described.

245
Slide 20

Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) in OFDM

The price for the optimum subcarrier spacing is the sensitivity of OFDM
to frequency errors.
If the receivers frequency slips some fractions from the subcarrier
spacing (subcarrier bandwidth) then we encounter not only
interference between adjacent carriers, but in principle between all
carriers.
This is known as Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) and sometimes also
referred to as Leakage Effect in the theory of discrete Fourier transform.
If we have a little frequency drift between transmitter and receiver,
then we decode the symbol of subcarrier 2, for instance, a little bit
offset from its true center frequency.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a well-known technique for the

broadband wireless communication system. However, a main problem in OFDM is its
vulnerability to frequency offset errors due to which the orthogonality is destroyed that result in
Inter carrier Interference (ICI). ICI causes power leakage among subcarriers thus degrading the
system performance.

246
Slide 21

Leakage Effect due to Frequency Drift:

ICI

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247
Slide 22

Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) in OFDM

The result is a lower signal to noise ratio by a decreased signal level and
an increased noise level. This is the Inter-Carrier Interference effect for
OFDM.
To limit the influence of the ICI on OFDM systems completely by
hardware we would have to have receivers and transmitters with under
0.1 ppm frequency stability. This would drastically increase the cost and
complexity of hardware.
Thus quite a big part of the OFDM software in the receiver deals with
frequency correction using the cyclic prefix, but also reference or pilot
signals sent with the signal.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a well-known technique for the

broadband wireless communication system. However, a main problem in OFDM is its
vulnerability to frequency offset errors due to which the orthogonality is destroyed that result in
Inter carrier Interference (ICI). ICI causes power leakage among subcarriers thus degrading the
system performance.

248
Slide 23

OFDM and Multiple Access

Up to here we have only discussed simple point-to-point or broadcast
OFDM.
Now we have to analyze how to handle access of multiple users
simultaneously to the system.
OFDM can be combined with several different methods to handle
multi-user systems:
o Plain OFDM
o Time Division Multiple Access via OFDM
o Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA

OFDM can be combined with several different methods to handle multi user system like plain
OFDM, TDMA via OFDM, OFDMA.

249
Slide 24

Plain OFDM
Plain OFDM: Normal OFDM has no built-in tlain hFDa

multiple-access mechanism. time

This is suitable for broadcast systems like DVB- ...

T/H which transmit only broadcast and ...

multicast signals and do not really need an ...
uplink feedback channel (although such ...
systems exist too).

subcarrier
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
...

...

...

...

...

1 2 3 common info
UE 1 UE 2 UE 3
(may be addressed via
Higher Layers)

Plain OFDM is suitable for broadcast systems like DVB-T/H which transmit only broadcast and
multicast signals and dont need an uplink feedback channel.

250
Slide 25

Time Division Multiple Access via OFDM

Time Division Multiple Access via OFDM: The simplest Time Division aultiple Access
on hFDa
model to implement multiple access handling is by time
putting a time multiplexing on top of OFDM.
...
Except some system specific information, all subcarriers
1 2 3 1 2 ...
go to user 1 in the first symbol period, then come user 2,
...
user 3 and so on; this allocation scheme will be repeated 1 2 3 1 2

periodically. 1 2 3 1 2 ...
. . . . .

subcarrier
The disadvantage of this simple mechanism is, that every . . . . .
. . . . .
user gets the same amount of capacity (subcarriers) and ...
it is thus rather difficult to implement flexible (high and
...
low) bit rate services.
1 2 3 1 2 ...
Furthermore it is nearly impossible to handle highly
1 2 3 1 2 ...
variable traffic (e.g. web traffic) efficiently without too
1 2 3 1 2 ...
much higher layer signaling and the resulting delay and
signaling overhead.
1 2 3 common info
UE 1 UE 2 UE 3
(may be addressed via
Higher Layers)

This is the simplest model to implement multiple access handling is by putting a time
multiplexing on top of OFDM. The disadvantage of this process is that every user gets the same
amount of capacity (subcarriers) and it is thus rather difficult to implement flexible (high and
low) bit rate services.

251
Slide 26

OFDMA
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OFDMA: The
term OFDMA is a registered trademark by Runcom Ltd. and
was introduced with 802.16 (WiMAX) WirelessMAN-OFDMA for hrthogonal Frequency
aultiple Access
the downlink. hFDaA
The basic idea is to assign subcarriers to users based on their time
bit rate services. With this approach it is quite easy to handle ...
high and low bit rate users simultaneously in a single system.
1 1 1 2 2 ...
But still it is difficult to run highly variable traffic efficiently. ...
1 1 1 2 2
The solution to this problem is to assign to a single users so ...
1 1 1 2 2
called resource blocks or scheduling blocks. . . . . .

subcarrier
. . . . .
Such block is simply a set of some subcarriers over some time. . . . . .
A single user can then use one or more blocks. 1 1 1 ...

...
802.16d uses such a mechanism with variable block sizes. The 1 1 1

first OFDM symbols in each frame are used to indicate which 3 3 3 3 3 ...

user gets which blocks with which size. 3 3 3 3 3 ...

EUTRAN will use a similar system, but with fixed block sizes and 3 3 3 3 3 ...

the assignment mechanism is not specified yet (2007-08).

1 2 3 common info wesource .lock (w.)
UE 1 UE 2 UE 3
(may be addressed via Higher Layers)

Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)s a multi-user version of the popular

orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) digital modulation scheme. Multiple access
is achieved in OFDMA by assigning subsets of subcarriers to individual users as shown in the
illustration below. This allows simultaneous low data rate transmission from several users

252
Slide 27

Different Methods for OFDM Multiple

Access
tlain hFDM Time Division Multiple Access tlain hrthogonal Frequency hrthogonal Frequency
on hFDM Multiple Access Multiple Access
hFDMA hFDMA
time time time time

... ... ... ...

... 1 2 3 1 2 ... 1 1 1 1 1 ... 1 1 1 2 2 ...

... 1 2 3 1 2 ... 2 2 2 2 2 ... 1 1 1 2 2 ...

... 1 2 3 1 2 ... 2 2 2 2 2 ... 1 1 1 2 2 ...

subcarrier

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
subcarrier

subcarrier

subcarrier
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
... ... ... 1 1 1 ...
... ... 1 1 1 1 1 ... 1 1 1 ...

... 1 2 3 1 2 ... 3 3 3 3 3 ... 3 3 3 3 3 ...

... 1 2 3 1 2 ... 1 1 1 1 1 ... 3 3 3 3 3 ...

... 1 2 3 1 2 ... 3 3 3 3 3 ... 3 3 3 3 3 ...

1 UE 1 2 UE 2 3 UE 3 common info
(may be addressed via HL) Resource Block (RB)
hFDMA is registered trademark of Runcom Technologies Ltd.

In above mentioned diagram, different methods for OFDM multiple access described.

253
Slide 28

SC-FDMA
One of the major problems with OFDMA systems is, that the
transformation of a complex symbol mapped sequence (e.g. BPSK,
QPSK, etc.) onto a small set of subcarriers produces time sequences that
have a quite big ratio between the maximum power and the averaged
power (PAPR = Peak-to-Average Power Ratio).
This results in requirements for expensive transmission amplifiers especially
on mobile side. It is thus a major design goal to limit this effect.
Another variant of OFDMA is used to reduce the PAPR for lower RF
hardware requirements. It is called SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency
Division Multiple Access).
This mechanism can reduce the PAPR of 6..9 dB compared to normal
OFDMA.
SC-FDMA is one option in 802.16d and it is the method selected for
EUTRAN in the uplink direction.

Single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) is a frequency-division multiple access scheme. Like other

multiple access schemes (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, OFDMA), it deals with the assignment of
multiple users to a shared communication resource. SC-FDMA can be interpreted as a linearly
preceded OFDMA scheme, in the sense that it has an additional DFT processing step preceding
the conventional OFDMA processing. SC-FDMA has drawn great attention as an attractive
alternative to OFDMA, especially in the uplink communications where lower peak-to-average
power ratio (PAPR) greatly benefits the mobile terminal in terms of transmit power efficiency
and reduced cost of the power amplifier.

254
Slide 29

SC-FDMA
Peak-to-Average Power for
OFDM/OFDMA

peakA
power
12A
ICCT
dO
averagedA
power
PAPR
(peakA- toA-
averageA
power
ratio)

Ncarrier =A
256
ModulationA =A
OPSK

The performance of SC-FDMA, in relation to OFDMA has been the subject of various studies.
Although the performance gap is not much, SC-FDMA's additional advantage of low PAPR makes
it a favorite especially for uplink wireless transmission in future mobile communication systems
where transmitter power efficiency is of paramount importance

255
Slide 30

SC-FDMA Principles
SC-FDMA reduces the PAPR because
o In OFDM, the four QPSK symbols are sent in parallel (one per 15 kHz
subcarrier)
o In SC-FDMA, they are sent in series (each data symbol occupies
Nx15kHz)
o For one symbol of 12 subcarriers, each symbol occupies 12x15=
180kHz

Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) is a promising technique for high
data rate uplink communication and has been adopted by 3GPP for it next generation cellular
system, called Long-Term Evolution (LTE). SC-FDMA is a modified form of OFDM with similar
throughput performance and complexity. This is often viewed as DFT-coded
OFDM where time-domain data symbols are transformed to frequency-domain by a discrete
Fourier transform (DFT) before going through the standard OFDM modulation. Thus,
SC-FDMA inherits all the advantages of OFDM over other well-known techniques such as TDMA
and CDMA. The major problem in extending GSM TDMA and wideband CDMA to broadband
systems is the increase in complexity with the multipath signal reception. The main advantage
of OFDM, as is for SC-FDMA, is its robustness against multipath signal propagation, which makes
it suitable for broadband systems. SC-FDMA brings additional benefit of low peak-to-average
power ratio (PAPR) compared to OFDM making it suitable for uplink transmission by user-
terminals.

256
Slide 31

Uplink LTE Frame - Channels

In above mentioned figure, Uplink LTE Frame described.

257