What is OFDM?

A: OFDM is a broadband multicarrier modulation method that offers superior performance

and benefits over older, more traditional single-carrier modulation methods because it is a
better fit with today’s high-speed data requirements and operation in the UHF and
microwave spectrum.

Is OFDM a new technique?

A: No. Conceptually, it has been known since at least the 1960s and 1970s. Originally known
as multicarrier modulation, as opposed to the traditional single-carrier modulation, OFDM
was extremely difficult to implement with the electronic hardware of the time. So, it
remained a research curiosity until semiconductor and computer technology made it a
practical method
Just how does the FFT process keep the individual modulated carriers from interfering with
one another?
A: This is where the term “orthogonal” comes in. Orthogonal really means at a right angle to.
The signals are created so they are orthogonal to one another, thereby producing little or no
interference to one another despite the close spacing. In more practical terms, it means that
if you space the subcarriers from one another by any amount equal to the reciprocal of the
symbol period of the data signals, the resulting sinc (sin x/x) frequency response curve of
the signals is such that the first nulls occur at the subcarrier frequencies on the adjacent
channels. Orthogonal subcarriers all have an integer number of cycles within the symbol
period. With this arrangement, the modulation on one channel won’t produce intersymbol
interference (ISI) in the adjacent channels.
How is OFDM implemented in the real world?
A: OFDM is accomplished with digital signal processing (DSP). You can program the IFFT and
FFT math functions on any fast PC, but it is usually done with a DSP IC or an appropriately
programmed FPGA or some hardwired digital logic. With today’s super-fast chips, even
complex math routines like FFT are relatively easy to implement. In brief, you can put it all
on a single chip.
What are the benefits of using OFDM?
A: The first reason is spectral efficiency, also called bandwidth efficiency. What that term
really means is that you can transmit more data faster in a given bandwidth in the presence
of noise. The measure of spectral efficiency is bits per second per Hertz, or bps/Hz. For a
given chunk of spectrum space, different modulation methods will give you widely varying
maximum data rates for a given bit error rate (BER) and noise level. Simple digital
modulation methods like amplitude shift keying (ASK) and frequency shift keying (FSK) are
only fair but simple. BPSK and QPSK are much better. QAM is very good but more subject to
noise and low signal levels. Code division multiple access (CDMA) methods are even better.
But none is better than OFDMwhen it comes to getting the maximum data capacity out of a
given channel. It comes close to the so called Shannon limit that defines channel capacity C
in bits per second (bps) as
C = B x log2(1 + S/N)Here, B is the bandwidth of the channel in hertz, and S/N is the power
signal-to-noise ratio. With spectrum scarce or just plain expensive, spectral efficiency has
become the holy grail in wireless.

What else makes OFDM so good?

A: OFDM is highly resistant to the multipath problem in high-frequency wireless. Very short-
wavelength signals normally travel in a straight line (line of sight, or LOS) from the transmit
antenna to the receive antenna. Yet trees, buildings, cars, planes, hills, water towers, and
even people will reflect some of the radiated signal. These reflections are copies of the
original signal that also go to the receive antenna. If the time delays of the reflections are in
the same range as the bit or symbol periods of the data signal, then the reflected signals will
add to the direct signal and create cancellations or other anomalies. The result is what we
usually call Raleigh fading
What are the downsides to OFDM?
A: Like anything else, OFDM is not perfect. It is very complex, making it more expensive to
implement. However, modern semiconductor technology makes it pretty easy. OFDM is also
sensitive to carrier frequency variations. To overcome this problem, OFDM systems transmit
pilot carriers along with the subcarriers for synchronization at the receiver. Another
disadvantage is that an OFDM signal has a high peak to average power ratio. As a result, the
complex OFDM signal requires linear amplification. That means greater inefficiency in the
RF power amplifiers and more power consumption.
What is the motivation for using OFDM as modulation technique for time-dispersive
channels?
OFDM uses symbols (consisting of several mutually orthogonal complex
exponentials) that are long compared to the ISI. Consequently, the impact of ISI is reduced
compared to a single-carrier system
2 What are the advantages and what are the drawbacks of using a cyclic prefix?
Advantage (motivation): the cyclic prefix avoids both ISI and ICI in time-dispersive channels.
Drawback: the cyclic prefix is redundant and thus reduces the data rate.
3. Why is beneficial to use the DFT/IDFT transform-pair in combination with a long-enough
cyclic extension (cyclic-prefix extension after the IDFT and cyclic-prefix removal before DFT)
compared to other transforms?
The DFT/IDFT in combination with a long-enough cyclic extension partitions any
channel, i.e., no knowledge of the channel is required for the modulator/demodulator
4. Give a brief explanation of DFT/IDFT-based multicarrier modulation answering the
following questions:
(1)
_ What are the basis functions?
_ How does the IDFT modify the basis functions so that they carry the information?
_ How does the DFT extract the information from the received signal?
Ans. _ The basis functions are complex exponentials (or pairs of real-valued sin/cos signals).
_ For each subcarrier, the IDFT modifies amplitude and phase according to the complex data.
_ For each subcarrier, the DFT performs a correlation of the baseband multiplex with the
complex-valued exponential function.
5. Why is the impact of a carrier-frequency offset considered larger in a multicarrier system
compared to a system with a single carrier?
Ans: Every subcarrier is disturbed by the ICI of all other subcarriers

6. Both a sampling-frequency (clock) offset and a carrier-frequency offset introduce inter-

carrier interference (ICI), but in a different way. Explain the difference.?
Ans: Clock-timing offset: expansion/compression of the baseband multiplex; carrier
frequency offset: shift of baseband multiplex;

7. What is the desired relation between 1) length of multicarrier symbol and coherence time
2) length of multicarrier symbol and multi-path delay spread
Ans 1: symbol duration << coherence time (corresponds to slow fading); symbol duration
>> multi-path spread (corresponds to flat frequency response

8. Why does the transmit signal of a multicarrier system exhibit a high peak-to-average
power ratio? Why are high peak-to-average power ratios undesirable in practical systems?
Ans A simple explanation uses the rotating-pointer interpretation of complex exponentials:
in a multicarrier system, there are N such pointers rotating with different angular
velocities. When all pointers are aligned (pointing in the same direction), the peak (length
of the sum-pointer) is N times longer compared to the corresponding single-carrier system.
A large peak-to-average power ratio either causes high a power consumption (if amended
by power backoff) or introduces non-linear distortion (if ignored).

9.
Ans
9. What is the relation between coherence time and delay spread? ignored).
There is none.
.
10
Consider an OFDM system operating with sampling frequency Fs = 20MHz and N = 64
subcarriers.
The channel is time-invariant, frequency-flat (no dispersion in time) and adds stationary
white Gaussian
noise. Assume the system achieves a certain average datarate of R bit/s.
(a) Does doubling the number of subcarriers (that is, using N = 128 instead of N = 64, while
keeping
Fs = 20MHz) double the datarate R? Answer with yes or no and motivate your answer!
(Assume that channel estimation, synchronisation, etc. behave the same for N = 128 as for
N = 64.)
(b) Does doubling the sampling frequency (that is, using Fs = 40MHz instead of Fs = 20MHz,
while
keeping N = 64) double the datarate R? Answer with yes or no and motivate your answer!
(Assume that channel estimation, synchronisation, etc. behave the same for Fs = 40MHz as
for
Fs = 20MHz.)
Ans (a) No. Doubling the number of subcarriers N doubles the amount of information carried
by each
multicarrier symbol. However, doubling N also doubles the symbol duration. Thus, R
remains
constant.
(b) Yes. Since N remains constant, the amount of information carried by a multicarrier
symbol remains
constant. Doubling Fs halves the symbol duration, which doubles R.

Is OFDM a new technique?

No. Conceptually, it has been known since at least the 1960s and 1970s. Originally known as
multicarrier modulation, as opposed to the traditional single-carrier modulation, OFDM was
extremely difficult to implement with the electronic hardware of the time. So, it remained a
research curiosity until semiconductor and computer technology made it a practical method.

Why has there been all the interest in OFDM in the past few years?

OFDM has been adopted as the modulation method of choice for practically all the new wireless
technologies being used and developed today. It is perhaps the most spectrally efficient method
discovered so far, and it mitigates the severe problem of multipath propagation that causes massive
data errors and loss of signal in the microwave and UHF spectrum
Then how does the IFFT work?
A: The IFFT just reverses the FFT process. All the individual carriers with modulation are in digital
form and then subjected to an IFFT mathematical process, creating a single composite signal that
can be transmitted. The FFT at the receiver sorts all the signals to recreate the original data stream.

Just how does the FFT process keep the individual modulated carriers from interfering with
one another?
A: This is where the term “orthogonal” comes in. Orthogonal really means at a right angle to. The
signals are created so they are orthogonal to one another, thereby producing little or no
interference to one another despite the close spacing. In more practical terms, it means that if you
space the subcarriers from one another by any amount equal to the reciprocal of the symbol period
of the data signals, the resulting sinc (sin x/x) frequency response curve of the signals is such that
the first nulls occur at the subcarrier frequencies on the adjacent channels. Orthogonal subcarriers
all have an integer number of cycles within the symbol period. With this arrangement, the
modulation on one channel won’t produce intersymbol interference (ISI) in the adjacent channels.

How is OFDM implemented in the real world?

A: OFDM is accomplished with digital signal processing (DSP). You can program the IFFT and FFT
math functions on any fast PC, but it is usually done with a DSP IC or an appropriately programmed
FPGA or some hardwired digital logic. With today’s super-fast chips, even complex math routines
like FFT are relatively easy to implement. In brief, you can put it all on a single chip.
What are the benefits of using OFDM?
A: The first reason is spectral efficiency, also called bandwidth efficiency. What that term really
means is that you can transmit more data faster in a given bandwidth in the presence of noise. The
measure of spectral efficiency is bits per second per Hertz, or bps/Hz. For a given chunk of spectrum
space, different modulation methods will give you widely varying maximum data rates for a given bit
error rate (BER) and noise level. Simple digital modulation methods like amplitude shift keying
(ASK) and frequency shift keying (FSK) are only fair but simple. BPSK and QPSK are much better.
QAM is very good but more subject to noise and low signal levels. Code division multiple access
(CDMA) methods are even better. But none is better than OFDM. when it comes to getting the
maximum data capacity out of a given channel. It comes close to the so called Shannon limit that
defines channel capacity C in bits per second (bps) as
C = B x log2(1 + S/N)Here, B is the bandwidth of the channel in hertz, and S/N is the power signal-to-
noise ratio. With spectrum scarce or just plain expensive, spectral efficiency has become the holy
grail in wireless.

What else makes OFDM so good?

A: OFDM is highly resistant to the multipath problem in high-frequency wireless. Very short-
wavelength signals normally travel in a straight line (line of sight, or LOS) from the transmit antenna
to the receive antenna. Yet trees, buildings, cars, planes, hills, water towers, and even people will
reflect some of the radiated signal. These reflections are copies of the original signal that also go to
the receive antenna. If the time delays of the reflections are in the same range as the bit or symbol
periods of the data signal, then the reflected signals will add to the direct signal and create
cancellations or other anomalies. The result is what we usually call Raleigh fading.
What are the downsides to OFDM?
A: Like anything else, OFDM is not perfect. It is very complex, making it more expensive to
implement. However, modern semiconductor technology makes it pretty easy. OFDM is also
sensitive to carrier frequency variations. To overcome this problem, OFDM systems transmit pilot
carriers along with the subcarriers for synchronization at the receiver. Another disadvantage is that
an OFDM signal has a high peak to average power ratio. As a result, the complex OFDM signal
requires linear amplification. That means greater inefficiency in the RF power amplifiers and more
power consumption.
What is OFMDA?
A: The A stands for access. It means that OFDM is not only a great modulation method, it also can
provide multiple access to a common bandwidth or channel to multiple users. You are probably
familiar with multiple access methods like frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) and time division
multiplexing (TDM). CDMA, the widely used cellular technology, digitally codes each digital signal to
be transmitted and then transmits them all in the same spectrum. Because of their random nature,
they just appear as low-level noise to one another. The digital coding lets the receiver sort the
individual signal out later. OFDMA permits multiple users to share a common bandwidth with
essentially the same benefits.