RESEARCH
Open Access
Abstract
Generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) is a block filtered multicarrier modulation scheme recently
proposed for future wireless communication systems. It generalizes the concept of orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM), featuring multiple circularly pulse-shaped subsymbols per subcarrier. This paper presents an
algorithm for GFDM synchronization and investigates the use of a preamble that consists of two identical parts
combined with a windowing process in order to satisfy low out of band radiation requirements. The performance of
time and frequency estimation, with and without windowing, is evaluated in terms of the statistical properties of
residual offsets and the impact on symbol error rate over frequency-selective channels. A flexible metric that quantifies
the penalty of misalignments is derived. The results show that this approach performs practically as state-of-the-art
OFDM schemes known in the literature, while it additionally can reduce the sidelobes of the spectrum emission.
Keywords: GFDM; Synchronization; Windowing; Metric
1 Introduction
Many of todays digital communication systems use
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) [1]
as physical layer interface, mainly because of its robustness against frequency-selective channels and easy means
of implementation. However, OFDM has some important
drawbacks that make it questionable for future wireless
systems as 5G networks [2]. In particular, the high outof-band (OOB) emissions [3] of OFDM signals are an
obstacle when using this technology in fragmented spectrum and dynamic spectrum allocation scenarios. Clearly,
OFDM is not a straightforward choice for 5G networks,
and consequently, new waveforms are being investigated
for next-generation standards. However, it is highly convenient if the techniques developed for OFDM can be
somehow be applied for new waveforms.
Normally, synchronization techniques for OFDM
neglect the effects of the OOB in the preamble design.
However, this is an important aspect to be addressed with
generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) [4].
Therefore, the main contribution in this paper is the
*Correspondence: ivan.gaspar@ifn.et.tu-dresden.de
1 Technische Universitt Dresden, Georg-Schumann-Str. 11, Dresden D-01187,
Germany
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
investigation of a solution for the GFDM synchronization that does not increase the OOB emission and has
a performance equivalent to the solutions designed for
OFDM.
GFDM is a flexible solution to address the requirements
imposed by the new scenarios foreseen for the 5G networks [2]. In this scheme, a symbol composed of several
subcarriers and multiple subsymbols is used to transmit
a data block, where each subcarrier is pulse-shaped with
a transmission filter. In order to avoid spending additional samples on ramp up and ramp down of the filter
response, the impulse response for each subsymbol is
applied through circular convolution. This approach is
also called tail biting [4]. Different pulse shapes can be
used as prototype filters, which introduce a new degree
of freedom to the system. The subcarrier filtering not
only reduces OOB emissions but also might introduce
intercarrier interference (ICI) and intersymbol interference (ISI). However, receiving techniques such as zero
forcing [5] or a matched filter in combination with successive interference cancellation (SIC) [6] can reduce the
impact of the self-generated interference and lead to
an error rate performance equivalent to OFDM. Implementation approaches based on fast Fourier transform
(FFT) algorithm show that it is possible to efficiently
2014 Gaspar et al.; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
Page 2 of 10
2 GFDM background
The block diagram of the GFDM transmitter is depicted
in Figure 1.
In the first step, data from a binary source is arranged
in K subcarriers carrying M subsymbols each, which
result in a total of MK parallel substreams. The binary
data is mapped into complex valued quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) symbols. Each stream is critically
upsampled by a factor N = MK, i.e., N 1 zeros are
appended. These zero-stuffed sequences are filtered with
a corresponding transmit filter
k
(1)
gk,m [n] = g [(n mK)mod N] exp j2 n ,
K
where g[n] denotes the impulse response of a prototype
filter with N samples, while k, m, and n are subcarrier,
subsymbol, and time sample indices, respectively. This
sequence can also be represented as a column vector gk,m .
Notice that the modulo operation in combination with a
prototype filter effectively produces a circular convolution
of the upsampled data symbols with the filter (tail biting
filtering) as depicted in Figure 2. Therefore, the sequence
after the filtering process remains of length N samples.
Finally, the baseband transmit signal in digital domain
is obtained through the summation of all subcarrier and
subsymbol signals according to
x[n] =
M1
K1
(2)
m=0 k=0
(3)
Page 3 of 10
IN
E=
(6)
The matrix representation of (5) is useful for understanding of the receiver depicted in Figure 3.
The received baseband samples are obtained according
to
y = h x + v ,
(7)
(8)
(10)
Page 4 of 10
BMF = AH .
(11)
(12)
c[Kp 1]c[0]
. . .c[Kp 1] .
(13)
ramp-down transition wdown [n] is defined. As an example, the corresponding coefficients can be taken from a
variation of the Tukey pulse [15]:
0n<W
wup [n]
w[ n] = wdown [n] N + L W n < N + L
1
otherwise
n
1 1
wup [n] = cos v
2 2
W
n (N + L W )
1 1
,
wdown [n] = + cos v
2 2
W
(14)
where n = 0, 1 , N + L 1 is the time index, W
is the length of the ramp-up and ramp-down transitions,
and v(n) is known as the Meyer wavelet auxiliary function
[16]:
v(n) = n4 (35 84n + 70n2 20n3 ).
(15)
(16)
Page 5 of 10
The CFO information can be used to correct the frequency offset in the received signal, yielding
C [n] =
N1
1
r [n + k] p [k] ,
N
(23)
k=0
where p [k] contains the two halves of the original preamble obtained from the operation p = Adp .
The metrics (19) and (23) can be combined in order to
suppress side peaks that result from the repeating parts
inside the preamble [12], which leads to
n+N1
A more accurate STO estimation is obtained by searching for the peak value n A of (24) around the range [ n M
N/2, n M + N/2]:
n A =
argmax
(A [ n] ) .
(17)
n
1
S [k] .
L+1
(19)
k=nL
(20)
[n M ]
.
(21)
(25)
n M N2 nn M + N2
k=n
2|[n] |2
S [n] = n+N1
|r[k] |2
k=n
(24)
4
|C [ n A + k] |
TTh = ln (pFA )
,
N
N
2 2
k= 2 +
(26)
where is an adjustable parameter defined according to
the channel impulse response characteristics.
For frequency selective channels, the estimation of the
first multipath is then performed in the range (n A , n A ]
and is given by
n f = argfirst
n A <nn A
Page 6 of 10
Value
Transmit filter
Rect in time
128
CP length (LCP )
32 samples
CS length (LCS )
0 samples
32 samples
106
32
(27)
Page 7 of 10
Figure 8 Analysis of the metrics in a multipath channel assuming SNR = 0 dB and K = 128.
Page 8 of 10
K1 M1
2
1
[I]m,k [G]m,k .
2N
(32)
k=0 m=0
(28)
0r
0
ej2 N
j2 Nr
0 e
freq = .
..
.
.
.
=
...
(29)
0
..
.
ej2
...
ej2
E
,
E + N0
(33)
(30)
(N1)r
N
0r
0
0
ej2 N
..
r
0 ej2 N
time = .
..
.
.
.
0
(31)
(N1)r
N
Page 9 of 10
16-QAM
RC
Roll-off ()
0.1
128
(34)
Value
CP length (LCP )
9
32 samples
CS length (LCS )
16 samples
16 samples
6 Conclusions
In this paper, time windowing has been proposed in combination with a synchronization preamble in order to
Page 10 of 10
References
1. V Savaux, Y Lout, M Djoko-Kouam, A Skrzypczak, Application of a joint and
iterative MMSE-based estimation of SNR and frequency-selective channel
for OFDM systems. EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process. 2013(1), 128 (2013)
2. G Wunder, P Jung, M Kasparick, T Wild, F Schaich, Y Chen, S Brink, I Gaspar,
N Michailow, A Festag, L Mendes, N Cassiau, D Ktenas, M Dryjanski, S
Pietrzyk, B Eged, P Vago, F Wiedmann, 5GNOW: non-orthogonal,
asynchronous waveforms for future mobile applications. IEEE Commun.
Mag. 52, 97105 (2014)
3. JVD Beek, F Berggren, Out-of-band power suppression in OFDM. IEEE
Comm. Lett. 12(9), 609611 (2008)
4. G Fettweis, M Krondorf, S Bittner, GFDM - generalized frequency division
multiplexing. Paper presented at the IEEE 69th vehicular technology
conference, Hilton Diagonal Mar (Barcelona, Spain, 2629 April 2009), pp. 14
5. N Michailow, S Krone, M Lentmaier, G Fettweis, Bit error rate performance
of generalized frequency division multiplexing. Paper presented at the
76th, IEEE vehicular technology conference (VTC Fall12) (Qubec,
Canada, 3), pp. 15
6. R Datta, N Michailow, M Lentmaier, G Fettweis, GFDM interference
cancellation for flexible cognitive radio PHY design. VTC. 1, 15 (2012)
7. I Gaspar, N Michailow, A Navarro, E Ohlmer, S Krone, G Fettweis, Low
complexity GFDM receiver based on sparse frequency domain
processing. Paper presented at the, IEEE 77th vehicular technology
conference (VTC Spring) (Dresden, Germany, 25 June 2013), pp. 16
8. ARS Bahai, BR Saltzberg, M Ergen, Synchronization, in Multi-Carrier Digital
Communications: Theory and Applications of OFDM (Springer, New York,
2004), pp. 83101
9. PH Moose, A technique for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
frequency offset correction. IEEE Trans. Comm. 42(10), 29082914 (1994)
10. T Schmidl, D Cox, Robust frequency and timing synchronization for
OFDM. IEEE Trans. Comm. 45(12), 16131621 (1997)
11. H Minn, M Zeng, V Bhargava, On timing offset estimation for OFDM
systems. IEEE Commun. Lett. 4(7), 242244 (2000)
12. A Awoseyila, C Kasparis, B Evans, Improved preamble-aided timing
estimation for OFDM systems. IEEE Commun. Lett. 12(11), 825827 (2008)
13. C Kasparis, BG Evans, A cross-correlation approach for improved timing
estimation in, OFDM broadcasting systems. Paper presented at the 24th
AIAA international communications satellite systems conferences (ICSSC),
(San Diego, CA, USA, 1114 June 2006), pp. 10391048
14. M Matth, N Michailow, I Gaspar, G Fettweis, Influence of pulse shaping
on bit error rate performance and out of band radiation of generalized
frequency division multiplexing. Paper presented at the ICC14 workshop on 5G technologies (ICC14 WS - 5G), (Sydney, Australia, 10)
15. P Bloomfield, Fourier Analysis of Time Series: An Introduction
(Wiley-Interscience, New York, 2000)
16. Y Meyer, Ondelettes et oprateurs: Ondelettes (Actualits mathmatiques,
Hermann, 1990)
17. H Abdzadeh-Ziabari, MG Shayesteh, Robust timing and frequency
synchronization for ofdm systems. IEEE Trans. Veh. Tech. 60(8), 36463656
(2011)
18. HG Myung, J Lim, D Goodman, Single carrier FDMA for uplink wireless
transmission. IEEE Veh. Tech. Mag. 1(3), 3038 (2006)
doi:10.1186/1687-6180-2014-67
Cite this article as: Gaspar et al.: A synchronization technique for
generalized frequency division multiplexing. EURASIP Journal on Advances
in Signal Processing 2014 2014:67.