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Thisarticlewaspostedon07/01/2002

OFDM carries the future of wireless networking

OFDMcarriesthefuture
ofwirelessnetworking
Whetherselectingchipsetsforaccesspointsormobiledevices,
anunderstandingofOFDMisessential

BYBILLMCFARLAND
AtherosCommunications
Sunnyvale,CA
http://www.atheros.com(http://www.atheros.com)

Therobusthighbandwidthcapabilitiesoforthogonalfrequencydivisionmultiplexing(OFDM)conferimmediate
advantagesonwirelessproductsthatcantakeadvantageofitandmanytypesofnetworkingsystemsaredoingso.
OFDMunderliestheexistingIEEE802.11awirelessLAN(WLAN)standardandtheproposedIEEE802.11gWLAN
standard,aswellasdigitalcable,DSL,digitalTV,andpowerlinenetworkingproducts.OFDMisalsobeing
consideredforusein4Gcellularsystems.

(https://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/click?
xai=AKAOjssC3e4raG6GE75xeG9X8ZSNrQkyjh4UJ4SJaa9HkkU8
3Q0uP6uz7VUculkBkuqoLj5gzMyTndw0KUAKNXns1tBAj8hRGITvRavxkh3
ThereasonsforthiswidespreadinterestbecomeclearfromaglanceatOFDMcharacteristics.In802.11a,OFDM h
providesrawdataratesupto54Mbits/sina20MHzchannel.Inadditiontosupportinghighdatacapacityand Rhkxm0fqKOUkxsqqvf0my_1JdQnIdiyBK_smFpzsbVP0NTH3UL4fyKdxv97
resistingdegradationfromvarioustypesofradioeffects,OFDMmakeshighlyefficientuseoftheavailablespectrum. xai=AKAOjsv8gURigURbV4pchTl5ZvVAQmUHaTlfkY1p
Thelattercharacteristicwillbecomecrucialincomingyearsaswirelessnetworksarebuiltout,especiallyinenterprise 4e2KNpEs2
environments. cjQ3qZe6JBX264aWpnuKpThyPpqNmoip7tOCnn1G1_gzByXy2ur96SpR4IV
Oe20&sig=Cg0ArKJSzO2l5YHNKDk8&urlfix=1&adurl=https://www.arrow.co
Managingimperfectairwaves andevents/articles/nfc
introduction%3Futm_source%3Daspencore%26utm_medium%3Ddisplay%2
Allwirelesssystemshavetodealwiththemanyunrulywaysinwhichradiosignalsbehaveintherealworld.Along
withthegeneralchallengesofsignaltonoiseratio,themaintypesofproblemsareselfinterference(intersymbol
interferenceorISI)andfadingowingtomultipatheffects,whichoccurwhenthesamesignalarrivesatareceivervia
differentpaths.

Themainwaytopreventmultipatherrorsistotransmitashortblockofdata(asymbol)thenwaituntilallthemultipath
echoesfadebeforesendinganothersymbol.Thiswaitingtimeisoftenreferredtoastheguardinterval.

Thelongertheguardinterval,themorerobustthesystemisinthepresenceofmultipatheffects.Butduringtheguard
interval,thesystemgetsnousefromtheavailablespectrum.Sothelongerthewait,thelowertheeffectivechannel
capacity.

Someguardintervalisnecessaryforanywirelesssystem,butthegoalistominimizethatintervalandmaximizethe
symboltransmissiontime.OFDMmeetsthischallengebydividingtransmissionsamongmultiplesubcarriers.The
sameguardintervalcanthenbeappliedtoeachsubcarrier,whilethesymboltransmissiontimeismultipliedbythe
numberofsubcarriers.

Since802.11aOFDMuses52subcarriers,forexample,an802.11aWLANcanafford52timestheguardintervalthan
asinglecarriersystemcould.The802.11asubcarriersarespaced312.5kHzapart.Thesymbolperiodis3.2splus
an800nsguardinterval.

Thesystemthustoleratespeakmultipathdelaysofnearly800ns.Comparedwiththe65nsofmultipathtolerance
providedbymany802.11bdirectsequencespreadspectrum(DSSS)basedproducts,OFDMrepresentsa12plus
timesimprovementinmultipathtolerance.

UsingmultiplesubcarriersalsomakesOFDMsystemsmorerobustinthepresenceoffading.Becausefadingtypically
UsingmultiplesubcarriersalsomakesOFDMsystemsmorerobustinthepresenceoffading.Becausefadingtypically
decreasesthereceivedsignalstrengthatparticularfrequencies,theproblemaffectsonlyafewofthesubcarriersat
anygiventime.ErrorcorrectingcodesprovideredundantinformationthatenablesOFDMreceiverstorestorethe
informationlostinthesefewerroneoussubcarriers.

EachofthesubcarriersinanOFDMsystemcanbemodulatedindividuallyusingwhatevertechniquesuitsthe
application.In802.11a,thechoicesincludeBPSK,QPSK,16QAM,and64QAM.

Aftermodulation,thedatafromallthesubcarriersareconvertedtoasinglestreamofsymbolsfortransmission.Atthe
receiver,thestreamisconvertedtothefrequencydomainviafastFouriertransform(FFT),theneach"frequencybin"
(subcarrier)isdecodedseparately.

Whyorthogonal?

Traditionally,frequencydivisionmultiplexing(FDM)hasusedconventionalfilteringtoseparatesubcarriersatthe
receiver.Thisapproachrequiredtheinsertionofsignificantguardbandsbetweenthesubcarriers(differentfromthe
guardintervalsthatpreventISI).

MakingthesubcarriersmathematicallyorthogonalwasabreakthroughforOFDMbecauseitenablesOFDMreceivers
toseparatethesubcarriersviaanFFTandeliminatetheguardbands.AsFig.1shows,OFDMsubcarrierscan
overlaptomakefulluseofthespectrum,butatthepeakofeachsubcarrierspectrum,thepowerinalltheother
subcarriersiszero.

Fig.1.OFDMsubcarrierscanoverlaptomakeuseofthespectrum,butatthepeakofeachsubcarrier
spectrum,thepowerinalltheothersubcarriersiszero.

OFDMthereforeoffershigherdatacapacityinagivenspectrumwhileallowingasimplersystemdesign.Creating
orthogonalsubcarriersinthetransmitteriseasyusinganinverseFFT.

Toensurethatthisorthogonalityismaintainedatthereceiver(sothatthesubcarriersarenotmisaligned),thesystem
mustkeepthetransmitterandreceiverclockscloselysynchronizedwithin2partspermillionin802.11asystems.The
802.11astandardthereforededicatesfourofits52subcarriersaspilotsthatenablephaselockloopsinthereceiverto
trackthephaseandfrequencyoftheincomingsignal.Thismethodalsoeliminateslowfrequencyphasenoise.

SeparatingthesubcarriersviaanFFTrequiresaboutanorderofmagnitudefewermultiplyaccumulateoperations
thanindividuallyfilteringeachcarrier.Ingeneral,anFFTimplementationismuchsimplerthantheRAKEreceivers
usedforCDMAandthedecisionfeedbackequalizersforTDMA.

ThecomplexityadvantageofOFDMgrowsdramaticallyasthedatarateincreases.Thecomplexityofthetransceivers
ishiddeninsidethechipsetsthatimplementaparticularstandard,butreducingdevicecomplexityandsignal
processingrequirementsleadtobenefitscustomerscansee.Asimplerchipismorereliableandcanreducecosts.
Perhapsmoreimportant,thesimplercircuitryhelpsreducethesystem'spowerdemandsacrucialadvantagefor
mobiledevices.

Thewirelessfuture

SinceinexpensiveandhighperformanceCMOS802.11achipsetsenteredthemarketinSeptember2001,therelative
meritsof802.11aand802.11bhaveincreasinglybeendebated.However,802.11a'sunderlyingOFDMtechnologyis
easilysuperiorto802.11b'sDSSSapproachintermsofbothbandwidthandrobustness,sofortechnologiststhe
debatehasbeenanonstarter.

Thesupportersof802.11bhaveevenadoptedOFDMasthetechnologyofchoiceforeventualsuccessorproductsto
802.11binthe2.4GHzband.Theproposedstandardfortheseproductsis802.11g.

Theintroductionofchipsetsthatsupportboth802.11aand802.11baswellasthe802.11gdraftstandardhasresolved
thedebateaboutWLANstandards.Withtheabilitytochooseanyofthesestandards,increasingnumbersofuserswill
seetheadvantagesofOFDMfirsthand.802.11a'scombinationofOFDMandtheinterferencefree300MHzwide5
GHzbandareprovingthatthefutureofWLANsliesinthisdirection.

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