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Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Implementation by

MATLAB

Thesis · May 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34931.73763

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Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) Implementation by MATLAB

A Thesis
Submitted to the Department of Computer Engineering Technologies /
The University College of Humanity Studies / An Najaf / Iraq
in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering Technologies

By
Zain Al-abdeen Deah Al-deen Salim
Ahmed Murtadh Kareem
Yousif Gassan Baqer

Supervised by
Mr. Ali Jasim Ramadhan Al-Aameri

2015-2016
Scanned by CamScanner
Scanned by CamScanner
 Specially dedicated to
My dear Father and my Mother compassionate

III
 ‫اﻹﻫﺪاء‬

‫اﺷﻜﺮ ﷲ رب اﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﻦ اﻟﺬي اﻧﻌﻢ ﻋﻠﻴﻨﺎ ﺑﻨﻌﻤﺔ اﻟﻌﻘـﻞ واﻟﺪﻳﻦ‬

‫اﻟﻰ اﻟﺬي ﻣﻨﺤﻨﺎ ﻛﻞ ﻣﺎ ﻳﻤﻠﻚ ‪ ......‬وﻟﻮ ﻳﺄﺧﺬ ﺟﻬﺪا ﻓﻲ ﺗﻘﺪﻳﻢ اﻟﺪﻋﻢ اﻟﻴﻨﺎ ‪ ....‬ﻣﺎدﻳﺎ‬

‫وﻣﻌﻨﻮﻳﺎ وﻧﻔﺴﻴﺎ ﺣﺘﻰ ﻛﻨﺎ ﻧﺒﺎﺗﺎ اﺳﺘﻮى ﻋﻠﻰ ﺳﻮﻗﻪ ﺑﺄذن ﷲ ‪ ....‬وﻛﻨﺎ اﻟﺰرع‬

‫اﻟﺬي ﻳﻌﺠﺐ اﻟﺰراع ﻧﺒﺎﺗﻪ‬

‫وﺳﺮ ﻧﺠﺎﺣﻨﺎ وﻧﻮر درﺑﻨﺎ ‪ .........‬واﻟﺪي اﻟﻌﺰﻳﺰ‬

‫إﻟﻰ ﻧﺒﻊ اﻟﻤﺤﺒﺔ واﻟﺤﻨﺎن واﻟﻮﻓـﺎء ‪ ........‬واﻟﺪﺗﻲ اﻟﺤﺒﻴﺒﺔ‬

‫اﻟﺘﻲ ﻟﻢ ﺗﺄل ﺟﻬﺪا ﻓﻲ ﺗﺮﺑﻴﺘﻲ وﺗﻮﺟﻴﻬﻲ‬

‫اﻟﻰ أﺑﻨﺎء اﻟﺤﺸﺪ اﻟﺸﻌﺒﻲ اﻟﻤﻘﺪس وأﺑﻨﺎء ﻗﻮاﺗﻨﺎ اﻷﻣﻨﻴﺔ اﻟﺒﺎﺳﻠﺔ‬

‫اﻻﺑﻄﺎل اﻟﺬﻳﻦ ﻓﻨﻮا ارواﺣﻬﻢ ﻣﻦ اﺟﻠﻨﺎ‬

‫اﻟﻰ ﻣﻦ اﺿﺎء ﺑﻌﻠﻤﻪ ﻋﻘـﻞ ﻏﻴﺮﻩ‬

‫او ﻫﺪى ﺑﺎﻟﺠﻮاب اﻟﺼﺤﻴﺢ ﺣﻴﺮة ﺳﺎﺋﻠﻴﻪ‬

‫ﻓـﺄﻇﻬﺮ ﺑﺴﻤﺎﺣﺘﻪ ﺗﻮاﺿﻊ اﻟﻌﻠﻤﺎء‬

‫وﺑﺮﺣﺎﺑﺘﻪ ﺳﻤﺎﺣﺔ اﻟﻌﺎرﻓﻴﻦ ‪ ....‬أﺳﺘﺎذﻧﺎ اﻟﻤﺤﺘﺮم‬

‫اﻟﻤُﺨﺘَﺮِع )ﻋﻠﻲ ﺟﺎﺳﻢ رﻣﻀﺎن اﻟﻌﺎﻣﺮي(‬

‫اﻟﻰ ﻛﻞ ﻣﻦ ﻋﻠﻤﻨﻲ ﺣﺮﻓـﺎ‬

‫اﻫﺪي ﻫﺬا اﻟﻌﻤﻞ اﻟﻤﺘﻮاﺿﻊ راﺟﻴﺔ ﻣﻦ‬

‫اﻟﻤﻮﻟﻰ ﻋﺰوﺟﻞ ان ﻳﺠﺪ اﻟﻘﺒﻮل واﻟﻨﺠﺎح‬

‫‪IV‬‬
 Abstract

The next generation wireless communications systems need to be of a

higher standard in order to provide the customers with the multitude of
high quality services they demand.
In recent years, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
has been successfully used in terrestrial digital video broadcasting and
showed it is a strong candidate for the modulation technique of future
wireless systems.
This project is concerned with how well OFDM performs when
transmitted over an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel
only. In order to investigate this, a simulation model was created and
implemented using MATLAB program.
The OFDM (.bmp image) signal was transmitted over the AWGN
channel for various Phase Shift Keying (PSK) technique cases and
various Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) values. To evaluate the
performance, for each SNR level, the received image was demodulated
and compared to the original image.

V
Table of Contents
Declaration I
Approval for Submission II
Special dedicate III
Acknowledgements IV

Abstract V
Table of Contents VI
List of Abbreviations VIII

Chapter

1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Problem 3
1.3 Objective 4

2 Orthogonal Frequancy Divison Multiplexin

2.1 Introduction 5
2.2 Historical Background 6
2.3 Principle OFDM 8
2.4 Basic OFDM System 12
2.5 OFDM Parameters and Characteristics 13
2.6 Orthogonality 14
2.7 Advantages of OFDM 14
2.8 Disadvantages of OFDM 16
2.9 Limitation of OFDM 17
2.10 OFDM Application 18

VI
3 Design and Implementation
3.1 Overview 19
3.2 System Configurations and Parameters 20
3.3 Input And Output 22
3.4 OFDM transmitter 25
3.4.1 Frame Guards 25
3.4.2 OFDM Modulator 27
3.5 Communication Channel 30
3.6 OFDM receiver 31
3.6.1 Frame detector 31
3.6.2 Demodulation Status Indicator 32
3.6.3 OFDM Demodulator 33
3.7 Error Calculations 36
3.8 Plotting 37

4 Results And Discussion

4.1 Results 40
4.2 Discussion 41

5 Conclusion and Future Work

5.1 Conclusion 43
5.2. Future Work 44

References 45

Appendix 47

VII
List of Abbreviations

OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

ISI Inter Symbol Interference
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
HDTV High Definition Television
DAB Digital Audio Broadcasting
WLANs Wireless Local Area Networks
MBWA Mobile Broadband Wireless Access
LAN Local Area Networks
IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform
IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
RF Radio Frequency
ICI Inter Carrier Interference
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
DPSK Differential Phase Shift Keying
BER Bit Error Rate
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio

VIII
Chapter Four

Results and Discussion

Chapter Four Results and Discussion

Chapter Four

Results and Discussion

4.1. Results:

Figures 4.1 to 4.4 show the original image and received images for

different PSK techniques.

Fig 4.1 BPSK ; SNR=5

Fig 4.2 QPSK ; SNR=10

40
Chapter Four Results and Discussion

Fig 4.3 16PSK ; SNR=15

Fig 4.4 256PSK ; SNR=20

4.2. Discussion:

Even some low SNR received images, especially 256-DPSK

modulated images, have rather high BER; most of the information in

the received images is still observable. In fact, when toggling

41
Chapter Four Results and Discussion

between the original and received image in this case, it’s obvious that

the gray level on most of the pixels did change, but the relatively

contents are still somewhat intact. A balanced trade-off between

BER-tolerance and desire of data rate needs to be found for the type of

data to be transmitted using OFDM.

42
Chapter Five

Conclusion and Future Work

Chapter Five Conclusion and Future Work

5.1. Conclusion:

An OFDM system is successfully simulated using MATLAB in this

project. All major components of an OFDM system are covered. This

has demonstrated the basic concept and feasibility of OFDM, which

was thoroughly described and explained in Chapter 3 of this report.

Some of the challenges in developing this OFDM simulation program

were carefully matching steps in modulator and demodulator, keeping

track of data format and data size throughout all the processes of the

whole simulation, designing an appropriate frame detector for the

receiver, and debugging the MATLAB codes. Chapter 4 showed and

explained some analyses of the performance and characteristics of this

simulated OFDM system. It was noted that for some combinations of

OFDM parameters, the simulation may fail for some trials but may

succeed for repeated trails with the same parameters. It is because the

random noise generated on every trial differs, and trouble may have

been caused for the frame detector in the OFDM receiver due to

certain random noise. Future work is required to debug this issue and

make the frame detector free of error.

43
Chapter Five Conclusion and Future Work

5.2. Future work:

Other possible future works to enhance this simulation program

include adding ability to accept input source data in a word size other

than 8-bit, adding an option to use QAM (Quadrature amplitude

modulation) instead of M-DPSK as the modulation method.

44
References
References

References

1. Ramadhan, Ali Jasim. Space-Time Coding STC. Diss. University

of Kufa, 2011.

2. A. Jasim, "A Novel MIMO-OFDM Technique for Improving

Wireless Communications System Performance based on SF--

BC," International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 131,

pp. 28-31, 2015.

3. Schulze, Henrik and Christian Luders. Theory and Applications

of OFDM and CDMA John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2005.

4. Theory of Frequency Division Multiplexing:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/ph/p/id/269.

5. Acosta, Guillermo. “OFDM Simulation Using MATLAB” 2000.

6. A Brief History of OFDM

http://www.wimax.com/commentary/wimax_weekly/sidebar-1-1-

a-brief-history-of-ofdm.

7. Lui, Hui and Li, Guoqing. OFDM-Based Broadband Wireless

Networks Design and Optimization Wiley-Interscience 2005.

8. Litwin, Louis and Pugel, Michael. “The Principles of OFDM”

2001.

45
 References

9. Heiskala, Juha and Terry, John. OFDM Wireless LANs: A

Theoretical and Practical Guide SAMS 2001.

10. Lawrey, Eric “Adaptive Techniques for Multiuser OFDM” Ph.D.

Thesis, James Cook University 2001.

11. BBC Research Department, Engineering Division, “An

Introduction to Digital Modulation and OFDM Techniques”

1993.

12. Tran, L.C. and Mertins, A. “Quasi-Orthogonal Space-Time-

Frequency Codes in MB- OFDM UWB” 2007.

13. Understanding an OFDM transmission:

http://www.dsplog.com/2008/02/03/understanding-an-ofdm-

transmission/.

14.Minimum frequency spacing for having orthogonal sinusoidals

http://www.dsplog.com/2007/12/31/minimum-frequency-spacing-

for-having-orthogonal-sinusoidals/.

46

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