OF DM For M Obile D Ata C Omm Unications

OFDM for M obile Data Communications
http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/ofdm/topic04.html
OFDM represents a different system-design approach. frequency. OFDM can be viewed as a form of
It can be thought of as a combination of modulation frequency division multiplexing (FDM), however,
and multiple-access schemes that segments a OFDM has an important special property that each
communications channel in such a way that many tone is orthogonal with every other tone. FDM
users can share it. Whereas TDMA segments are typically requires there to be frequency guard bands
according to time and CDMA segments are according between the frequencies so that they do not interfere
to spreading codes, OFDM segments are according to with each other. OFDM allows the spectrum of each
frequency. It is a technique that divides the spectrum tone to overlap, and because they are orthogonal, they
into a number of equally spaced tones and carries a do not interfere with each other. By allowing the
portion of a user's information on each tone. A tone tones to overlap, the overall amount of spectrum
can be thought of as a frequency, much in the same required is reduced.
way that each key on a piano represents a unique
Figure 6. OFDM Tones
OFDM is a modulation technique in that it enables For example, if a 100-tone system were used, a single
user data to be modulated onto the tones. The data stream with a rate of 1 megabit per second
information is modulated onto a tone by adjusting the (Mbps) would be converted into 100 streams of 10
tone's phase, amplitude, or both. In the most basic kilobits per second (kbps). By creating slower parallel
form, a tone may be present or disabled to indicate a data streams, the bandwidth of the modulation symbol
one or zero bit of information, however, either phase is effectively decreased by a factor of 100, or,
shift keying (PSK) or quadrature amplitude equivalently, the duration of the modulation symbol is
modulation (QAM) is typically employed. An OFDM increased by a factor of 100. Proper selection of
system takes a data stream and splits it into N parallel system parameters, such as the number of tones and
data streams, each at a rate 1/N of the original rate. tone spacing, can greatly reduce, or even eliminate,
Each stream is then mapped to a tone at a unique ISI, because typical multipath delay spread represents
frequency and combined together using the inverse a much smaller proportion of the lengthened symbol
fast fourier transform (IFFT) to yield the time-domain time. Viewed another way, the coherence bandwidth
waveform to be transmitted. of the channel can be much smaller, because the
symbol bandwidth has been reduced. The need for
complex multi-tap time-domain equalizers can be
eliminated as a result.
Figure 7. OFDM Transmitter Chain
OFDM can also be considered a multiple-access from interfering with one another, in much the same
technique, because an individual tone or groups of manner that the human ear can clearly distinguish
tones can be assigned to different users. Multiple between each of the tones created by the adjacent
users share a given bandwidth in this manner, yielding keys of a piano. This property, and the incorporation
the system called OFDMA. Each user can be of a small amount of guard time to each symbol,
assigned a predetermined number of tones when they enables the orthogonality between tones to be
have information to send, or alternatively, a user can preserved in the presence of multipath. This is what
be assigned a variable number of tones based on the enables OFDM to avoid the multiple-access
amount of information that they have to send. The interference that is present in CDMA systems.
assignments are controlled by the media access
control (MAC) layer, which schedules the resource
assignments based on user demand.
OFDM can be combined with frequency hopping to

create a spread spectrum system, realizing the benefits
of frequency diversity and interference averaging
previously described for CDMA. In a frequency
hopping spread spectrum system, each user's set of
tones is changed after each time period (usually
corresponding to a modulation symbol). By switching
frequencies after each symbol time, the losses due to
frequency selective fading are minimized. Although
frequency hopping and CDMA are different forms of
spread spectrum, they achieve comparable
performance in a multipath fading environment and
provide similar interference averaging benefits.
Figure 8. Two-Dimensional Illustration of OFDM
OFDM therefore provides the best of the benefits of Channel Resource
TDMA in that users are orthogonal to one another,
and CDMA, as previously mentioned, while avoiding The frequency domain representation of a number of
the limitations of each, including the need for TDMA tones, shown in Figure 6, highlights the orthogonal
frequency planning and equalization, and multiple nature of the tones used in the OFDM system. Notice
access interference in the case of CDMA. that the peak of each tone corresponds to a zero level,
or null, of every other tone. The result of this is that
Theory of OFDM Operation there is no interference between tones. When the
receiver samples at the center frequency of each tone,
The sinusoidal waveforms making up the tones in
the only energy present is that of the desired signal,
OFDM have the very special property of being the
plus whatever other noise happens to be in the
only Eigen-functions of a linear channel. This special
channel.
property prevents adjacent tones in OFDM systems
To maintain orthogonality between tones, it is subsequently highlighted, where the tone spacing is
necessary to ensure that the symbol time contains one 1/T. Viewed as sinusoids, Figure 9 shows three tones
or multiple cycles of each sinusoidal tone waveform. over a single symbol period, where each tone has an
This is normally the case, because the system integer number of cycles during the symbol.
numerology is constructed such that tone frequencies
are integer multiples of the symbol period, as is
Figure 9. Time- and Frequency-Domain Representation of OFDM
Figure 10. Integer Number of Sinusoid Periods

In absolute terms, to generate a pure sinusoidal tone The cyclic prefix is actually a copy of the last portion
requires the signal start at time minus infinity. This is of the data symbol appended to the front of the
important, because tones are the only waveform than symbol during the guard interval, as shown in Figures
can ensure orthogonality. Fortunately, the channel 9 and 11. Multipath causes tones and delayed replicas
response can be treated as finite, because multipath of tones to arrive at the receiver with some delay
components decay over time and the channel is spread. This leads to misalignment between sinusoids,
effectively band-limited. By adding a guard time, which need to be aligned as in Figure 11 to be
called a cyclic prefix, the channel can be made to orthogonal. The cyclic prefix allows the tones to be
behave as if the transmitted waveforms were from realigned at the receiver, thus regaining orthogonality.
time minus infinite, and thus ensure orthogonality,
which essentially prevents one subcarrier from
interfering with another (called intercarrier
interference, or ICI).
Figure 11. Cyclic Extension of Sinusoid
The cyclic prefix is sized appropriately to serve as a The amount of overhead increases, as the cyclic prefix
guard time to eliminate ISI. This is accomplished gets longer. The sizing of the cyclic prefix forces a
because the amount of time dispersion from the tradeoff between the amount of delay spread that is
channel is smaller than the duration of the cyclic acceptable and the amount of Doppler shift that is
prefix. A fundamental trade-off is that the cyclic prefix acceptable.
must be long enough to account for the anticipated
multipath delay spread experienced by the system.

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OFDM for M obile Data Communications

Figure 6. OFDM Tones

OFDM can be combined with frequency hopping to

Figure 9. Time- and Frequency-Domain Representation of OFDM

Figure 10. Integer Number of Sinusoid Periods

Figure 11. Cyclic Extension of Sinusoid

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