3G Evolution

Chapter:

Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

OFDM Transmission

Department of Electrical and Information Technology Johan Lfgren

2009-03-19

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Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

Subcarriers in Time Domain

A number of different, orthogonal frequencies are transmitted simultaniously

Requires full period for each subcarrier

The number of carriers varies

Number of carriers denoted Nc

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OFDM Symbol in Time Domain

Subcarrier Orthogonality

Combined symbol looks random

Gives good spectral effiency

In the frequency domain the orthognality is seen by zeros

All other subcarriers are zero when one subcarrier peaks

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Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

Conceptual Transmitter and Receiver

e j 2f 0t
e j 2f 0t

K
e
j 2f1t

e j 2f1t x(t ) r (t )

j 2f Nc 1t

j 2f Nc 1t

The transmitter can be seen as a number of single carrier system added together The receiver is in the same way thought of as a set of independent correlators, one for each subcarrier

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IFFT/FFT Implementation
In an actual OFDM system, there is only one transmit path
The structure with orthogonal subcarriers enables an implementation using an IFFT that translates the different frequencies into a combined time signal

Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

The receive side is also simplified

An FFT unit replaces the Nc correlators The different subcarriers still have to be detected separately

The IFFT/FFT implemenation requiers sufficient sampling

If so, the OFDM signal can be described mathematically as
xn = x(nTs ) =
N c 1 k =0

a e
k

j 2kfnTs

= ak e j 2kn / N = a 'k e j 2kn / N

k =0 k =0

N c 1

N 1

a ' ak = k 0

0 k Nc Nc k N

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Multi-path Components

Cyclic Prefix

Often there are many reflections of a signal sent between a transmitter and a receiver
These are seen as different paths for the signal to travel

Since the paths do not arrive simultaniously the orthogonality between the different subcarriers will be destroyed.
When integrating over a full period the non-wanted subcarriers do not cancel

Different paths have different delays which might pose a probelm

The solution is to pro-long the symbol with a so called cyclic prefix (CP)
Copy of the final piece of each sub-carrier inserted in beginning Restores the orthogonality

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Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

Frequency Domain Model

With a sufficient CP it is possible to decouple the Nc different subcarrieres
Each subcarrier is treated separately Independent channel parameters and noise

H0

n0

H *0

H1

n1

H *1

The receiver can equalize the independently

One-tap equalizer Maximum Likelihood Estimation (per subsymbol)

H N c 1

nN c 1

H * N c 1

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Time Frequency Grid

Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

The different subsymbols are thus time and frequency independent

They can be illustrated in a time frequencey grid Each square is an indepedent subsymbol

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Fading and Channel Coding

Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

Another effect due to multi path is frequency fading

Some frequencies will be much weaker due to canceling wave fronts

This may lead to poor SNR at certain frequencies

Problem in OFDM since each subcarrier have different data

Calls for channel coding

Channel coding spreads the information over many subcarriers

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OFDM Parameters

Subcarrier Bandwidth
The subcarrier bandwidth (or spacing) is affected by

When dessigning an OFDM system a number of different parameters have to be considered

Subcarrier bandwidth Number of subcarriers Length of cyclic prefix

Cost of cyclic prefix

A small spacing leads to long symbol duration hence less cost of cyclic prefix

Doppler spread
A small bandwidth leads to high relative doppler spread thus sensitivity to movement

The system designer has to trade off these contradicting demands depending on the system
How mobile is the system? What data rates are needed? et c.

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Number of subcarriers

Cyclic Prefix Length

When the subcarrier separation is decided the number of subcarriers can be calculated
If the system has a limited bandwidth this will give the maximum number of subcarriers
Some slack is needed to ensure low enough out-of-band transmission

The cyclic prefix should be long enough to ensure orthogonality of the system
Multipath spread has to be considered

Longer transmission distances normally call for longer CPs

However at long distances, e.g. at cell edges, other effects may limit the performance and therefore it is possible to allow a system which is not completely orthogonal everywhere

If instead a certain througput is needed, the number of subcarriers can be calculated based on constellation and coding
This will then set the total bandwidth of the system

Some systems support multiple cyclic prefix lengths to handle different environments

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Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

Channel Estimation
In the receiver the channel needs to be equalized so that the transmitted information can be correctly interpreted For this to be possible, the channel must be known Since the channel constantly changes due to movement of both the mobile unit and the surroundings, the channel cannot be known once and for all The channel has to be re-estimated every once in a while So called pilots are used to estimate the channel
These are data that are known to the receiver

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Channel Estimation

Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

Since the system should also transmit unknown data, pilots cannot be transmitted continously
Pilots are placed in different, strategic places in the time frequency grid The other values have to be interpolated from the known values
Simple linear interpolation MMSE estimation FIR estimation

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User Multiplexing and OFDMA

Many users can share the same bandwidth in a system
FDMA TDMA CDMA

User Multiplexing and OFDMA

In OFDM an advanced FDMA scheme, that uses the orthogonality of the system is available.
Different users are allowed to use different subsets of the subcarriers Both in downlink and uplink
An uplink like this is refered to as OFDMA The uplink requires some coordination so that the information of the different units reaches the base station at approximately the same time (within the cyclic prefix) and same power

The subcarriers for each user can either be bundled together or distributed
Bundled subcarriers may lead to simpler implementation, e.g. a smaller FFT size, but is prone to fading dips

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Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

OFDM and Multicast Transmission

Often many users want the same information To not waste bandwidth the users can listen to the same subcarriers for this information
Requires that the system is robust enough to handle the worst user condition To improve worst case at the cell border a user can listen to more than one base station at a time

In OFDM all base stations can transmit the same information at the same frequency and time

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Outline
OFDM Signals Conceptual OFDM System Multipath Channel and Cyclic Prefix Frequency Domain Model Channel Coding OFDM Parameters Channel Estimation User Multiplexing and OFDMA OFDM and Multicast Transmission Summary

Chapter summary
A correctly designed OFDM system can be decoupled into a number of single carrier systems
This makes OFDM an attractive choice for new systems However the this comes at a price of wasted power and bandwidth for the cyclic prefix It also requires channel coding to avoid information loss due to frequency fading

It is important to know what conditions the system is designed for since different environments call for different system parameters
Subcarrier separation Number of subcarriers Length of cyclic prefix
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Chapter summary
The channel needs to be known in order to extract the information
In OFDM correlation between different subcarriers and time instances can be used in order to estimate the channel The pilots must thus not be available on all subcarriers

In multi user systems OFDM can be used as an access method where the frequency spectrum is divided between the users.
This is an advanced type of FDMA, that uses the orthogonality of the OFDM subcarriers To make this possible in the uplink, OFDMA, certain care has to be taken to ensure that the information from different units reaches the base station at approximately the same time (within the cyclic prefix) and same power
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