LONG TERM EVOLUTION (LTE)

3.5 OFDMA SIGNAL GENERATION

The set of modulated Physical Channels and Physical Signals are mapped onto the grid of resource elements
As shown in Figure 11, the transmitter processes one column of resource elements at a time

Real part
Null subcarrier
D
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Imag. part
Data
multiplied
by
complex
phasor
Data
multiplied
by
complex
phasor
All results
summed
to
generate
composite
time
domain
signal
Cyclic
Prefix
IFFT
Real part
Null subcarrier
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b
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Imag. part
Data
multiplied
by
complex
phasor
Data
multiplied
by
complex
phasor
All results
summed
to
generate
composite
time
domain
signal
Cyclic
Prefix
IFFT

Figure 11 Generation of the downlink OFDMA signal
The downlink signal is generated at baseband (centered around 0 Hz) rather than at RF
The column of resource elements is split into two halves. The top half is multiplied by a series of positive frequencies
(complex phasors rotating in an anti-clockwise direction) while the bottom half is multiplied by a series of negative
frequencies (complex phasors rotating in a clockwise direction). The concept of complex phasors with positive and
negative frequencies is shown in Figure 12

real
imaginary
real
imaginary
cos(et) + j sin(et) cos(et) - j sin(et)
Complex phasor with
positive frequency
Complex phasor with
negative frequency
real
imaginary
real
imaginary
cos(et) + j sin(et) cos(et) - j sin(et)
Complex phasor with
positive frequency
Complex phasor with
negative frequency

Figure 12 Complex phasors with positive and negative frequencies
The first resource element from the top half (counting upwards) is multiplied by a complex phasor rotating at +15 kHz (1
subcarrier spacing). The second resource element of the top half is multiplied by a complex phasor rotating at +30 kHz (2
subcarrier spacing). Figure 13 illustrates the concept of multiplying a resource element by a complex phasor
The first resource element of the bottom half (counting downwards) is multiplied by a complex phasor rotating at -15 kHz
(-1 subcarrier spacing). The second resource element of the bottom half is multiplied by a complex phasor rotating at -30
kHz (-2 subcarrier spacing)
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IN BULLETS

real
imaginary

modulation symbol,
e.g. QPSK symbol
=
Resource Element
Result
Complex phasor
real
imag.
real
imaginary

modulation symbol,
e.g. QPSK symbol
=
Resource Element
Result
Complex phasor
real
imag.

Figure 13 Multiplication between resource element and complex phasor
The null subcarrier is generated between the top and bottom halves by having a 30 kHz separation between the first
subcarrier in the top half and the first subcarrier in the bottom half
The duration of the multiplication corresponds to the duration of an OFDMA symbol, and can be divided into 2 parts:
o a relatively short first part which corresponds to the cyclic prefix:
Normal Cyclic Prefix
160 / 3.072 10
7
= 5.2 s in the first OFDMA symbol of a 0.5 ms slot
144 / 3.072 10
7
= 4.7 s in the remaining OFDMA symbols of a 0.5 ms slot
Extended Cyclic Prefix
512 / 3.072 10
7
= 16.7 s in all OFDMA symbols of a 0.5 ms slot
o a longer second part which corresponds to the main body of the OFDMA symbol
Normal and Extended Cyclic Prefix
2048 / 3.072 10
7
= 66.67 s
The longer second part always includes an integer number of cycles of the complex phasor, i.e. 15 kHz 66.67 s = 1, 30
kHz 66.67 s = 2, etc
Once the complete column of resource elements has been multiplied by the appropriate complex phasors, the results are
summed to generate the OFDMA symbol, i.e. the OFDMA symbol is a sum of complex phasors
High Peak to Average Power Ratios (PAPR) can be generated if a relatively large number of the complex phasors peak
simultaneously
3GPP TS 36.211 expresses the above series of operations mathematically using the equation below. This corresponds to
the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT)

(


=
t

=
t
+ =
2 / N 12
1 k
) T N t ( 15000 k 2 j
l , k
1
2 / N 12 k
) T N t ( 15000 k 2 j
l , k l
DL
RB
s CP
DL
RB
s CP
e a e a ) t ( s
s CP
T ) 2048 N ( t 0 + < s
3GPP uses the variable T
s
as a minimum unit of time.
o the main body of an OFDMA symbol includes 2048 samples when sampling at a rate defined by T
s

o T
s
= 66.67 s / 2048 = 32.55 ns
Sampling at a rate defined by T
s
is applicable to the 20 MHz channel bandwidth in which case the maximum subcarrier
frequency is 15 kHz 12 subcarriers per resource block 50 resource blocks = 9 MHz
o the main body of an OFDMA symbol includes 12 subcarriers per resource block 50 resource blocks = 600 cycles
of a 9 MHz subcarrier
o when 2048 samples are taken from an OFDMA symbol there is at least 3 samples per cycle of the 9 MHz subcarrier
Lower sampling rates can be used for smaller channel bandwidths
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