OFDM Uncovered Part 1: The Architecture

Steve Halford, Intersil; Karen Halford, Doc H2 Consulting

5/2/2002 4:14 AM EDT

OFDM Uncovered Part 1: The Architecture
Over the past several years, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has received
considerable attention from the general wireless community and in particular from the wireless
LAN (WLAN) standards groups. Groups such as IEEE802.11a and ETSI BRAN have selected
OFDM as the best waveform for providing reliable high data rates for WLANs. This popularity is
further highlighted by the recent selection of OFDM by the IEEE 802.11g committee as the
modulation for extending the data rates of the very successful IEEE 802.11b or Wi-Fi WLAN
standard.
What makes OFDM such a popular choice? The primary reason is that OFDM is intrinsically able
to handle the most common distortions found in the wireless environment without requiring
complex receiver algorithms. As it turns out, the wireless environment and, in particular, the
WLAN environment presents a harsh channel for communications. Conventional modulation
methods suffer from multipath in both the frequency domain and the time domain. In the frequency
domain, multipath causes groups of frequencies to be attenuated and shifted in phase relative to
each other which severely distorts the symbol. In the time domain, multipath basically smears
adjacent symbols into each other. Many typical systems overcome these problems with expensive
adaptive filters.
OFDM, on the other hand, uses groups of narrowband signals to pierce through this environment
and employs a guard interval between symbols in order to counter the inherent time domain
smearing. This allows OFDM systems to use lower complexity receivers and still maintain robust
performance. In short, OFDM is a popular choice because it delivers robust performance in
multipath without the need for complex receiver algorithms.
As with any waveform, OFDM has both advantages and disadvantages, but in many of the modern
wireless applications, the disadvantages of OFDM can be overcome with careful design choices.
Consequently, OFDM is frequently the best fit when optimizing cost and performance for wireless
environments like WLAN's where multipath is the primary impairment to reliable communications.
In Part 1 of this series, we'll describe OFDM and detail the characteristics that make it well suited
for WLAN and other wireless communication systems. In part 2, which will appear next week, we'll
highlight some of the design issues required to implement OFDM like control of phase noise, peak-
to-average ratio, and frequency offsets.
The OFDM Bundle
An OFDM signal is basically a bundle of narrowband carriers transmitted in parallel at different
frequencies from the same source. In fact, this modulation scheme is often termed "multicarrier" as
opposed to conventional "single carrier" schemes.
Each individual carrier, commonly called a subcarrier, transmits information by modulating the
phase and possible the amplitude of the subcarrier over the symbol duration. That is, each subcarrier
uses either phase-shift-keying (PSK) or quadrature-amplitude-modulation (QAM) to convey
information just as conventional single carrier systems.
However, OFDM or multi-carrier systems use a large number of low symbol rate subcarriers. The
spacing between these subcarriers is selected to be the inverse of the symbol duration so that each
subcarrier is orthogonal or non-interfering. This is the smallest frequency spacing that can be used
without creating interference.
At first glance it might appear that OFDM systems must modulate and demodulate each subcarrier
individually. Fortunately, the well-known Fast Fourier transform (FFT) provides designers with a
highly efficient method for modulating and demodulating these parallel subcarriers as a group
rather than individually.
As shown in Figure 1a, an efficient OFDM implementation converts a serial symbol stream of PSK
or QAM data into a size M parallel stream. These M streams are then modulated onto M subcarriers
via the use of size N (N ≤M) inverse FFT. The N outputs of the inverse FFT are then serialized to
form a data stream that can then be modulated by a single carrier. Note that the N-point inverse FFT
could modulate up to N subcarriers. When M is less than N, the remaining N -- M subcarriers are not
in the output stream. Essentially, these have been modulated with amplitude of zero. The
IEEE802.11a standard for example specifies that 52 (M = 52) out of 64 (N = 64) possible
subcarriers are modulated by the transmitter.

Figure 1a: Block diagram of a simple OFDM transmitter.

Click here for larger version of Figure 1a

Although it would seem that combining the inverse FFT outputs at the transmitter would create
interference between subcarriers, the orthogonal spacing allows the receiver to perfectly separate
out each subcarrier. Figure 1b illustrates the process at the receiver. The received data is split into
N parallel streams that are processed with a size N FFT. The size N FFT efficiently implements a
bank of filters each matched to the N possible subcarriers. The FFT output is then serialized into a
single stream of data for decoding. Note that when M is less than N, in other words there are fewer
than N subcarriers are used at the transmitter, the receiver only serialized the M subcarriers with
data.

Figure 1b: Block diagram of a simple OFDM receiver.

Click here for larger version of Figure 1b

Multipath Challenges
In an OFDM-based WLAN architecture, as well as many other wireless systems, multipath
distortion is a key challenge. This distortion occurs at a receiver when objects in the environment
reflect a part of the transmitted signal energy. Figure 2 illustrates one such multipath scenario from
a WLAN environment.

Figure 2: Multipath reflections, such as those shown here, create ISI problems in OFDM receiver
designs.

Click here for larger version of Figure 1b

Multipath reflected signals arrive at the receiver with different amplitudes, different phases, and
different time delays. Depending on the relative phase change between reflected paths, individual
frequency components will add constructively and destructively. Consequently, a filter representing
the multipath channel shapes the frequency domain of the received signal. In other words, the
receiver may see some frequencies in the transmitted signal that are attenuated and others that have
a relative gain.
In the time domain, the receiver sees multiple copies of the signal with different time delays. The
time difference between two paths often means that different symbols will overlap or smear into
each other and create inter-symbol interference (ISI). Thus, designers building WLAN architectures
must deal with distortion in the demodulator.
Recall that OFDM relies on multiple narrowband subcarriers. In multipath environments, the
subcarriers located at frequencies attenuated by multipath will be received with lower signal
strength. The lower signal strength leads to an increased error rate for the bits transmitted on these
weakened subcarriers.
Fortunately for most multipath environments, this only affects a small number of subcarriers and
therefore only increases the error rate on a portion of the transmitted data stream. Furthermore, the
robustness of OFDM in multipath can be dramatically improved with interleaving and error
correction coding. Let's look at error correction and interleaving in more detail.
Error Correction and Interleaving
Error correcting coding builds redundancy into the transmitted data stream. This redundancy allows
bits that are in error or even missing to be corrected.
The simplest example would be to simply repeat the information bits. This is known as a repetition
code and, while the repetition code is simple in structure, more sophisticated forms of redundancy
are typically used since they can achieve a higher level of error correction. For OFDM, error
correction coding means that a portion of each information bit is carried on a number of subcarriers;
thus, if any of these subcarriers has been weakened, the information bit can still arrive intact.
Interleaving is the other mechanism used in OFDM system to combat the increased error rate on the
weakened subcarriers. Interleaving is a deterministic process that changes the order of transmitted
bits. For OFDM systems, this means that bits that were adjacent in time are transmitted on
subcarriers that are spaced out in frequency. Thus errors generated on weakened subcarriers are
spread out in time, i.e. a few long bursts of errors are converted into many short bursts. Error
correcting codes then correct the resulting short bursts of errors.
Handling ISI
The time-domain counter part of the multipath is the ISI or smearing of one symbol into the next.
OFDM gracefully handles this type of multipath distortion by adding a "guard interval" to each
symbol. This guard interval is typically a cyclic or periodic extension of the basic OFDM symbol.
In other words, it looks like the rest of the symbol, but conveys no 'new' information.
Since no new information is conveyed, the receiver can ignore the guard interval and still be able to
separate and decode the subcarriers. When the guard interval is designed to be longer than any
smearing due to the multipath channel, the receiver is able to eliminate ISI distortion by discarding
the unneeded guard interval. Hence, ISI is removed with virtually no added receiver complexity.
It is important to note that discarding the guard interval does have an impact on the noise
performance since it reduces the amount of energy available at the receiver for channel symbol
decoding. In addition, it reduces the data rate since no new information is contained in the added
guard interval. Thus a good system design will make the guard interval as short as possible while
maintaining sufficient multipath protection.
Why don't single carrier systems also use a guard interval? Single carrier systems could remove ISI
by adding a guard interval between each symbol. However, this has a much more severe impact on
the data rate for single carrier systems than it does for OFDM. Since OFDM uses a bundle of
narrowband subcarriers, it obtains high data rates with a relatively long symbol period because the
frequency width of the subcarrier is inversely proportional to the symbol duration. Consequently,
adding a short guard interval has little impact on the data rate.
Single carrier systems with bandwidths equivalent to OFDM must use much shorter duration
symbols. Hence adding a guard interval equal to the channel smearing has a much greater impact on
data rate.
Wrap up on Part 1
In conclusion, OFDM is extremely well suited for wireless communication in environments where
multipath is a major source of distortion such as that found in typical WLAN deployments. The
combination of multiple narrow subcarriers with interleaving and error correction coding allows
OFDM to perform well in multipath while the guard interval gives the receiver an extremely simple
method for eliminating ISI. These built in waveform features allow for the design of reliable, high-
rate digital wireless communications systems without the complexity that would be required by
conventional single carrier systems.
That wraps up Part 1 of this series. In part 2, which will appear on CommsDesign.com next week,
we'll look at some of the design challenges for implementing OFDM in a wireless system
architecture.
About the Authors
Steve Halford is currently a systems engineer for Intersil's Prism Wireless Products group. Steve
received B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology
and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia. He can be reached at
shalford@intersil.com.
Karen Halford is a stay-at-home mom that sometimes doubles as a consultant in the design and
analysis of communications systems. Karen received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Georgia
Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Virginia in the field of electrical
engineering. Karen can be reached at khalford.ee88@gtalumni.org.

OFDM Uncovered Part 2: Design Challenges

Steve Halford, Intersil; Karen Halford, Doc H2 Consulting

5/9/2002 3:45 AM EDT

OFDM Uncovered Part 2: Design Challenges

As designers begin turning to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in system
architectures, they will quickly realize that implementing this modulation scheme is not an easy
task. Specifically, engineers are quickly learning that while ODFM provides some nice advantages
to a wireless architecture, it also comes equipped with some design and implementation headaches.
This is the second part in our two-part series on OFDM design. In Part 1, we looked at the basic
OFDM structure and multipath distortion. Now, we'll explore some of the design challenges
engineers will face when implementing OFDM in a wireless system design.
Quick OFDM Overview
An OFDM signal is basically a bundle of narrowband carriers transmitted in parallel at different
frequencies from the same source. Since a single stream of data is split up to individually modulate
these multiple carriers, OFDM systems are sometimes referred to as multi-carrier systems in order
to contrast them with the classic systems that modulate a single carrier.
The individual carriers in OFDM, commonly called subcarriers, are carefully spaced in frequency
so that they are orthogonal and therefore do not interfere with each other. Since they do not interfere
with each other even in the presence of multipath, the receiver needs only to implement a matched
filter for each subcarrier in order to separate out the signals.
Implementing a matched filter for each subcarrier might sound complex at first glance particularly
as the number of subcarriers gets large. However, the actual implementation of the matched filters
can be greatly simplified by taking advantage of the well-known Fast Fourier transform (FFT).
To further enhance performance, OFDM symbols are protected from inter-symbol interference (ISI)
by adding a redundant symbol extension called a guard interval. The guard interval is designed to
buffer and absorb all the ISI from preceding symbols. Since the guard interval is redundant, it can
be discarded at the receiver and the ISI will be eliminated. The combination of the narrowband
orthogonal subcarriers with the ISI-absorbing guard interval make OFDM receivers robust to
multipath distortion without the necessity of complex signal processing.
While the overall design of an OFDM system is simplified because of its robustness to multipath,
there are several design issues that must be addressed in order to realize these advantages. At high
data rates, these issues are minor compared to the multipath problem that single carrier systems face
but they must be dealt with in order to realize the full power of OFDM as a modulation scheme. In
this paper, we will focus on the impact that frequency offset, phase noise, and peak-to-average ratio
(PAR) have on the performance and design of an OFDM-based wireless communications system.
Handling Offset
One of the biggest challenges inherent in an OFDM design is removing frequency offset. Frequency
offset can occur when the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) at the receiver is not oscillating at
exactly the same carrier frequency as the VCO in the transmitter. For the receiver, this offset
between the two VCOs is seen as frequency translation in the signal and can lead to an increase in
the error rate. While this is generally true for all modulations, OFDM is particularly sensitive to
frequency offsets.
What makes OFDM sensitive to frequency offset? Remember that OFDM receivers use the FFT to
implement filters matched to each subcarrier. When there is no frequency offset, the matched filters
line up perfectly with the received signal and there is no interference between the subcarriers at the
matched filter output.
However, as illustrated by Figure 1, the presence of a frequency offset means that the received
signal is shifted in frequency and as a result the matched filters are offset from the received signal.
Consequently, energy from adjacent subcarriers will seep into each matched filter output. In other
words, from the receiver's viewpoint, the subcarriers are no longer orthogonal. This leads to inter-
carrier interference (ICI) as each of the subcarriers interferes with other subcarriers. If ICI is
ignored in the system design, the error rate of OFDM can degrade rapidly.

Figure 1: Frequency offset can shift the received signal, thus causing an offset between the matched
filters and received signal.

Click here for larger version of Figure 1

Fortunately, there are many simple techniques for estimating and removing frequency offset. For
example, packet-based systems like IEEE 802.11a usually contain a training sequence at the
beginning of the packet that is specifically designed to aid the receiver in estimating the amount of
offset between the transmitter and the receiver. Once the offset is known, it can be removed by
adjusting the frequency of the VCO either in analog or digital hardware. Alternatively, OFDM
systems can adaptively estimate the frequency offset on the basis of the received sequence.
Whichever technique is used, a reliable estimate of the frequency offset is very important for good
OFDM system design.
Phase Noise Issues
In addition to the constant frequency offset discussed above, the frequency generated by a practical
VCO tends to jitter, or vary, over time. To the receiver, this frequency variation looks like noise in
the phase of the received signal and as a result this impairment is referred to as phase noise.
In many cases, the variation is slow relative to the signal and the receiver can track and remove the
resulting phase noise by using a phase-lock loop (PLL). For OFDM systems, the design of the PLL
can be simplified by inserting training data into the symbol stream.
The use of training symbols is common in single carrier systems as well, however with OFDM,
there are some subtle differences. Unlike single carrier systems where training symbols are inserted
periodically in time, every OFDM symbol contains a few subcarriers that are modulated with the
known training data. These training subcarriers are usually referred to as pilot tones.
For example, the IEEE 802.11a standard uses 4 of the 52 subcarriers as pilot tones. In IEEE
802.11a, the pilot tones are modulated with a binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) sequence that is
known by the receiver. Since the modulation sequence is known, these pilot tones can be used to
track phase variations due to VCO variations, thus allowing IEEE 802.11a receivers to remove a
majority of the phase noise seen at the receiver.
PAR for the Course
Another challenge OFDM designers face is accommodating the large dynamic range of the signal.
This large dynamic range, or as it is often called a large peak-to-average ratio (PAR), means that the
OFDM signal has a large variation between the average signal power and the maximum (or
minimum) signal power.
A large dynamic range is inherent to multi-carrier modulations since each subcarrier is essentially
independent. As a result, the subcarriers can add constructively and destructively and this creates
the potential for a large variation in the signal power. In other words, it is possible for the data
sequence to make all the subcarriers align constructively and sum to a very large signal. It is also
possible for the data sequence to make all the subcarriers align destructively and sum to a very
small signal. This wide variation creates a number of problems for both transmitter and receiver
design because it requires both to accommodate a large range of signal power with a minimum of
distortion.
The large dynamic range of OFDM systems presents a particular challenge for the power amplifier
(PA) design. Practical PAs have both linear and non-linear regions where the non-linear regions
occur for large output powers (i.e., near saturation). To minimize the amount of distortion and to
reduce the amount of out-of-band energy generated by the transmitter, OFDM and other
modulations need to operate as much as possible in the linear region. With its' inherently large
dynamic range, this means that OFDM must keep its average power well below the non-linear
region in order to accommodate the signal power peaks.
However, lowering the average power hurts the efficiency and range since it corresponds to lower
output power for the majority of the signal in order to accommodate the infrequent peaks. As a
result, OFDM designers must make a careful trade between distortion and output power. That is,
they must choose an average input level that generates sufficient output power and yet does not
introduce too much interference or violate any spectral constraints.
To examine this tradeoff further, consider the IEEE802.11a version of OFDM that used 52
subcarriers. In theory, all 52 subcarriers could add constructively and this would yield a peak power
that is 10log(52) = 17.2 dB above the average power. However, this is an extremely rare event.
Instead, most simulations show that for real PAs, accommodating a peak that is 3 to 6 dB above
average is sufficient. The exact value is highly dependent on the PA characteristics and the other
distortions in the transmitter. In other words, the distortions caused by peaks above this range are
infrequent enough to allow for low average error rates.
Controlling PAR
Is it possible to control the PAR of OFDM? Because the PAR of OFDM contributes to the
complexity and cost, many researchers have focused on methods for controlling this problem and a
number of elegant solutions have emerged.
One interesting class of approaches reduces PAR by constraining the modulation sequences for the
subcarriers. In other words, the subcarriers are no longer independent but rather have a defined
phase and amplitude relationship that is selected to keep the PAR small.
Along these lines, special block codes have been developed that generate low PARs. Using these
special block codes as the subcarrier modulation rather than allowing the data to modulate the
subcarriers directly can significantly reduce the peak-to-average ratio. In addition to reducing PAR,
these block codes add an additional layer of error correcting capability to the system.
Another simple method for handling PAR is to limit the peak signals either by clipping or by
replacing peaks with a smooth but lower amplitude pulse. Since this modifies the signal artificially,
it does increase the distortion to some degree. However, it is done in a controlled fashion and
generally limits the PA induced distortion. As a result, it can in many cases improve the overall
output power.
For packet-based networks where the receiver can request a retransmission of any packet with
uncorrectable errors, another simple but effective technique is to rely on a scramble sequence to
control PAR on retransmission. In other words, the data is scrambled prior to modulating the
subcarriers. This alone does not prevent large peaks and there will still be occasions when the
transmitter introduces significant distortion due to a large peak power in the packet. When the
distortion is severe, the receiver will not correctly decode the packet and will request a
retransmission.
When the data is retransmitted however, the scramble sequence is changed. If the first scramble
sequence caused a large PAR, the second sequence is extremely unlikely to do the same despite the
fact that it contains the same data sequence.
Since IEEE 802.11a networks use packet retransmissions already, this technique is used to mitigate
some of the problems with PAR. The downside to this technique is that it does impact the network
throughput because some of the data sequences must be transmitted twice

This wraps up the second part in our two-part series. As can be seen in this article, the design
challenges for OFDM include reducing the inherent frequency offset, controlling and tracking the
phase noise, and designing the system to handle or control the peak-to-average ratio. While these
are significant challenges, there are a number of fairly simple techniques for solving these
problems.
Editor's Note: To view part 1 of this article, Click Here.
About the Authors
Steve Halford is currently a systems engineer for Intersil's Prism Wireless Products group. Steve
received B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology
and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia. He can be reached at
shalford@intersil.com.
Karen Halford is a stay-at-home mom that sometimes doubles as a consultant in the design and
analysis communications systems. Karen received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Georgia Institute
of Technology and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Virginia in the field of electrical
engineering. Karen can be reached at khalford.ee88@gtalumni.org.