FDM versus OFDM

FDM

Frequency Division Multiplexing

Frequency guard bands
frequency

OFDM

Orthogonal FDM
Overlapping, but orthogonal bands
(e.g. sinc functions)
Sample at appropriate points
Much denser than FDM

frequency

Digital Modulation/Multiplexing

Only values at sample points are

important and contain data
IFFT generates the time samples
corresponding to these frequency points
IFFT generates an infinite periodic time
sequence, but only the first N samples
are sent over the channel (these samples
contain exactly the same information as
the frequency points)
This windowing to N samples results in
a convolution with a sinc function in the
frequency domain (which has the
orthogonality property)

frequency

IFFT

time

Data Transmission Sequence

1
NT

time

i=1

frequency

Data is grouped into blocks and each

block is treated sequentially
Each block i consists of N symbols
which are transformed into N time
samples using the IFFT

i=2
IFFT

frequency

i=3

time

NT
i=1

frequency

1
T

i=2

i=3

Upconverting and Multiplexing

N 1

s ( t ) xk ( t ) e

j2 f k F t

fk

k 0

j2 F t

N 1

xk ( t ) e
k 0

e j2 F t xk (t ) e
k 0

j2

k
t
NT

j2

k
t
NT

x0
ck
ej.2.F.t

xk

e j2 F t p* (t )
xN-1

j2 f k t

c0

N 1

k
NT

ck e

j2 f k t

p*

cN-1

s*

Fast Fourier Transform

N 1

p * ( t ) xk ( t ) e

j2

c0

k
t
NT

x0

k 0

ck

xk

xk ( t ) e

xN-1

x0

k 0

N IFFT xk

xk
xN-1

N 1

k n
j2
N

cN-1

N-IFFT

p* (0)
p* ( nT )

k 0

p*

p* ( nT ) xk (t ) e

k
j2
nT
NT

N 1

p* (( N 1)T )

Single Carrier versus Multicarrier

Single carrier and multicarrier both

send N symbols in NT, or 1/T symbols/second

have a total single sided bandwidth of about 1/T
T

Single carrier
time

1
T

frequency

NT
Multicarrier

frequency
N

time

k 1

1
T

Inter Symbol Interference (ISI)

Single carrier system

Channel response

Multipath components cause

interference between the desired
symbol and previous ones

time

Multicarrier system

A cyclic prefix is added, which consists of C duplicate symbols

The length of the cyclic prefix is chosen such that C.T >
Behaves as a cyclic convolution with the channel response
cyclic prefix

NT

Frequency Response

Cyclic convolution results in multiplication of frequency data points

with the FFT of the channel response (= channel frequency response)
Each data point is thus multiplied by a single factor

FFT

time

frequency

*
FFT

time

frequency

Overall System View

Typically QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) is used to

modulate the bits onto symbols, but any modulation is possible

16-QAM

4-QAM

Rb bits/s

b = 6 bits/symbol

b = 4 bits/symbol

b = 2 bits/symbol

Rb/K blocks/s

Rb/b symbols/s

Rb/b symbols/s

Concentrator

Modulator

K bits/block

b bits/symbol

freq

N-IFFT

RS symbols/s

time Cyclic prefix

insertion

N symbols/block

RS

K N b

64-QAM

Radio
front-end

(N+C) symbols/block

Rb
N C
K

1
k

n
yk

xk

xk

To
demodulator

From
modulator

Equalizing

Equalizer at receiver
is 1-tap for each k

Channel

Without adaptive loading

bk = bav

1-tap equalizer, channels

with small k may be
treated as erasures at the
receiver
Adaptive loading takes
channel info into account
at the sender

With adaptive loading

1 N
bav bk
N k 1

bk = f(k)
freq

freq

10

Assign bi and Pi such that Ptot is

minimized
Send more information when
channel is good
Channel needs to be estimated (as
for equalization)

BER

Unloa
ded

ad
Lo

Normalized channel response (dB)

Adaptive Loading

SNR (dB)

11

N = 256
bav = 4
Subcarrier

ed
GN
AW

N = 256 (uncorrelated)
bav = 4

bi bits/symbol

Loading information needs to be fed

back to the transmitter
The channel must remain quasistationary between estimation
updates (low Doppler rate)

Things to Consider About OFDM

Dynamic range at output of IFFT is much larger

than at input (or single carrier systems): large
peak-to-average ratio (PAR)
Very good frequency synchronization is crucial to
maintain orthogonality (otherwise ISI)
Example: use OFMA as multiple access technique

ISI

OFDMA uplink

OFDMA downlink

Sync problem !!!

ISI

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Different Flavors of Multicarrier

Systems
Discrete Multi Tone (DMT)

Terminology used in xDSL systems

In what is it different from OFDM? Nobody knows.
DMT baseband OFDM passband / DMT loaded OFDM unloaded ??

Different Variations of OFDM (none of them use adaptive loading)

W-OFDM or Wideband OFDM (WiLAN): http://www.wilan.com

V-OFDM or Vector OFDM (CISCO): http://www.cisco.com

Basis for 802.11a and new 802.16

Data rate up to 30 Mbps at 70 mph
Reed-Solomon coding with erasures
large carrier spacing (wideband) to simplify frequency synchronization
MMDS microwave band, non-line-of-sight
2-fold receive antenna diversity (vector), up to 44 Mbps

Flash-OFDM (Flarion): http:www.flarion.com

Fast frequency hopping on OFDM (flash)

Data rate 384 kbps 3 Mbps at highway speeds, aimed at 3G systems
Market trail in one big city this year, commercial availability in 2002

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