OFDM AND IT’S APPLICATION IN 4G

Ganiga Raghavendra Chandra, Yadav Santosh Ramroop.

Addr: Prakash Sawant Hs, Kanak Nagar, Kankavali, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra.
College: S.S.P.M COE, Kankavli.
Class: T.E. (Electronics and Telecommunication).
Mobile: 09594554858, 09970713531.
Email: ravi23ganiga@gmail.com.

ABSTRACT:

This paper explains one of the multiplexing INTRODUCTION:

techniques that helps in efficient use of transmission
bandwidth and that speeds up the data transfer
known as Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing or OFDM. This multiplexing technique
overcomes the disadvantages of the traditional
Frequency Division Multiplexing of using guard
bands between two signals being transmitted to avoid
mixing of signals. It exploits the vector concept for
deterministic signal and probabilistic concept for
random signal of orthoganality or correlation of two
signals to avoid the guard bands and allow the two
signal to mix with each other while transmission and
even then the data can be received and separated
properly without any error. Since guard band wasted
a lots of transmission bandwidth and provide
inefficient use of bandwidth, avoiding guard band
and allowing the signal spectra to mix, boosts the
data transfer and improves the communication
system a lot. So IMT Advanced the standard for 4G
uses OFDM as one of the strongest way for achieving
data rates of upto 1Gbps for low mobile applications
and 100Mbps for highly mobile applications. OFDM
has been considered as the standard Multiplexing
technique for many technologies in 4G.
KEYWORDS:
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing or
OFDM identical to Coded OFDM (COFDM) and
Discrete Multitone Modulation (DMT) is a digital
multicarrier Frequency Division multiplexing or
modulation scheme for high speed communication. In
this multiplexing technique a large number of closely
spaced orthogonal subcarriers are used to carry data.
The data from the source is divided into several
parallel data streams or channels so that the data rate
for each stream reduces but the total data rate remains
the same. Each data stream is modulated using one of
the subcarrier from available large number of closely
spaced orthogonal subcarriers. Each data is
modulated using any one of the conventional
modulation scheme( QAM or Phase Shift Keying
techniques) at lower data rates, maintaining total data
rates similar to conventional single carrier scheme at
the same bandwidth. OFDM has been developed as a
standard for various wireline services such as ADSL,
VDSL, MoCA, PLC etc and for various wireless
services such as Wireless LAN and Wireless PAN,
Digital Audio and Video Broadcast, LTE, UMTS and
various other services in 4G. Its main advantage is its
ability to cope with severe channel condition without
complex equalization filters.

Multicarrier, FDM, Orthogonal subcarrier, NEED FOR OFDM:

Correlation, FFT, IFFT, 4G.
Single Carrier Modulation System: A typical single
carrier modulation spectrum is shown in Fig a.

Copyright © 2011 · Ganiga Raghavendra C, Yadav Santosh R · All rights reserved


Fig. a: Single carrier Modulation System
A single carrier Modulation System modulated
information onto single carrier using variation in
either amplitude, frequency or phase. Since data rates
of current systems tend to be very high, the duration
of one bit or symbol( group of bits) becomes very
small increasing the bandwidth. The system becomes
more susceptible to loss of information through
impulse noise, signal reflection, frequency
interference and other impairments. The major
disadavantage of single carrier system is the
inefficient use of bandwidth.
Frequency Division Multiplexing: A typical
Frequency Division Multiplexing is as shown in Fig b
Fig. b: Frequency Division Multiplexing Spectrum
Frequency Division Multiplexing extends the concept
of single carrier modulation by using multiple
subcarrier within same single channel. The total data
rate is divided between various subcarrier. The data is
not needed to be divided evenly nor they have to
originate from the same information source. Different
modulation schemes can be used for each data and is
the advantage of frequency division multiplexing
over single carrier modulation
Copyright © 2011 · Ganiga Raghavendra C, Yadav Santosh R · All rights reserved
FDM system requires guard band between
two modulated carries so the spectrum of one carrier
do not interfere with the spectrum of another. This
guard band reduces the effective information rate
wasting a large amount of bandwidth.
So there is a need of multiplexing technique
that removes the use of guard band and allows the
signal spectrum to mix with each other even then the
signal can be properly recovered at the receiver. The
disadvantage of Frequency Division Multiplexing is
overcome by using the concept of orthoganality of
signals and that develops Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing(OFDM).
ORTHOGONAL CONCEPT:
In vector algebra multiplication of vector
takes in dot product and cross product. As per dot
product
When are perpendicular to each then result
of above equation is 0 i.e. two vectors have nothing in
common with each other i.e. one vector has no
projection on the other they are said to be orthogonal
to each other. Signals in communication are vectors
when dot product of two signals result in zero then
they are said to be orthogonal to each other if signals
are deterministic, if signals are random in nature then
if two signal are uncorrelated then signals are said to
be orthogonal to each other.
Given various signals this orthogonalistic
concept can be used for efficient use of bandwidth
being allocated for the system by making use of
concept of OFDM.
MULTIPLEXING:
OFDM makes use of the concept of orthoganality of
signals and the properties of Discrete Fourier
Transform(DFT) to transmit the signals whose
spectrum can overlap with each other avoiding the
use of guard band which was needed in traditional
frequency division multiplexing technique. Since
DFT is a linear combination of orthogonal sinusoids,
it essentially correlates its input signal with each of
the sinusoid basis function. So if the signal has some
energy at certain frequency there will be a peak in
the correlation of the input signal and the basis
sinusoid that is at that corresponding frequency. This
transform is utilized at the OFDM transmitter to map
an input signal onto a set of orthogonal subcarrier i.e.
the orthogonal basis function of DFT. Again the
transform is used at the receiver side to process the
received subcarrier. The signals from the subcarrier
are the combined to form an estimate of the source
signal from the transmitter. Since the basis function in
DFT are uncorrelated the correlation performed in
DFT for a given subcarrier looks for energy for its
corresponding subcarrier. The result will not contain
energy from different subcarrier since the subcarriers
are uncorrelated. The separation of signal energy
within subcarriers results in a advantage of allowing
the spectrum of transmitted signal to mix without
interfering with each other since receiver can
distinguish the signals by its correlation property.
Fig.c shows spectrum of OFDM versus FDM
transmission.
Fig. c: Spectrum of OFDM versus FDM
As seen on left hand side OFDM takes less bandwidth
than FDM on right hand side which takes more
bandwidth to transmit same data transmitted by
OFDM.
OFDM TRANSMITTER:
Copyright © 2011 · Ganiga Raghavendra C, Yadav Santosh R · All rights reserved
OFDM system is implemented using Fast
Fourier Transform and its counterpart Inverse Fast
Fourier Transform. It is mathematically equivalent to
Digital Section
(ASIC/FPGA) D/A POWER
MODULATOR
(IFFT) AMPLIFIER
Fig. d: OFDM Transmitter Section
DFT and its counterpart IDFT. FFT treats the input as
time domain component and converts it into
frequency domain component whereas its counterpart
IFFT treats the input as frequency domain component
and converts it into time domain component. The
OFDM transmitter is shown in Fig. d. IFFT is used at
transmitter section since it consist of orthogonal basis
sinusoid function, it treats the input symbol as though
they are in frequency domain. These symbols are then
converted into time domain as show in Fig. e.
Fig.e: IFFT operation
As shown in Fig e. IFFT takes N no of symbols where
N is the no of subcarriers in the system. Each symbol
has a symbol period which are then maped onto basis
orthogonal sinusoid of IFFT block. These sinusoids
have different frequency and the lowest frequency is
DC. These input symbols act as a complex weight for
orthogonal basis sinusoid function. The amplitude of
the complex symbol modulate either the amplitude or
phase of the orthogonal subcarrier depending upon
the type of modulation used. The output of IFFT is
the summation of all N sinusoids. The block of N
output samples of IFFT make up a single OFDM
symbol. The OFDM symbol length is NT where T is
 the IFFT input symbol period. The time domain
signal from the output of IFFT as shown in Fig.e is
transmitted through channel.

OFDM RECEIVER: ADVANTAGES:

OFDM Receiver is as shown in Fig. f . At the receiver 1) Multi Path Distortion is eliminated : In single
side the signal is amplified, demodulated and then carrier system the data rate of the source was very
converted to digital form but the signal is in mixed high. While travelling in the channel the transmitted
form which is then given to FFT block which then signal reflects off from many object as shown in Fig.
h. Due to this the received symbol at the receiver gets
distorted by the previously transmitted symbol.
Digital Section
POWER DEMODULATOR A/D (ASIC/FPGA)
AMPLIFIER (FFT)

Fig. f: OFDM RECEIVER

converts the input signal into frequency domain. The

output of the FFT is the original symbol transmitted
by the transmitter. It maps the incoming signal into
the known basis sinusoid of transmitter and since the
signals have orthogonal property it can be recovered
with less error at the receiver through Fast Fourier
Transform. Fig. f. shows a simple representation of Fig.h: Multi Path Distortion due to high data rate.
whole OFDM process
The distortion can be avoided by reducing the data
rate. In OFDM total data is divided into several
smaller data so the data rate is reduced but the
throughput of data is also reduced as shown in Fig. i
since there are many carriers used in OFDM the data
throughput also is increased reducing Multi path
distortion as shown in Fig. j

Fig. g: OFDM representation

The input is 16 QAM symbol and is shown through

the constellation diagram in frequency domain. The
IFFT block converts the input symbol to the time
domain signal and is transmitted and the signal
received at the receiver is processed through the FFT
block that uses the orthogonal property of received
signal and separates the data and provides it at the
output and is shown through the constellation Fig. i: Slow Data Rate
diagram. In this way as shown in Fig c. it utilizes less
bandwidth and transmits a large amount of data.
Copyright © 2011 · Ganiga Raghavendra C, Yadav Santosh R · All rights reserved

Fig. j: Increased throughput by multicarrier
system
2) High Spectral Efficiency :
Since OFDM uses orthogonal concept it allows the
signal spectra to mix to other signal even then the
signal can be reconstructed at the receiver efficiently
using orthogonal concept as explained previously
hence OFDM has high spectral Efficiency
3) Resiliency to RF spectrum:
OFDM system provides good performance in both
regulated and unregulated frequency bands.
DISADVANTAGES:
1) Local Oscillator Frequency Offset.
2) Local Oscillator Phase Offset.
3) FFT Window Location Offset.
4) Impulse Noise.
5) Carrier Interference.
The mentioned disadvantages can be avoided by
carefully designing the whole system with as
minimum error as possible.
Copyright © 2011 · Ganiga Raghavendra C, Yadav Santosh R · All rights reserved
APPLICATION IN 4G:
The flow of generation from generation to generation
is as shown in Fig. k.
4G the upcoming generation in mobile
communication uses IMT – ADVANCED standards
approved by ITU – R and supports speeds of upto
1Gbps for low mobile application and 100Mbps for
high mobile application. It standardizes various
technologies out of which many of them uses OFDM
for high speed. They are listed as follows.
1)LTE – ADVANCED uses OFDM and is expected to
provide 1Gbps speed to low mobile application and
100Mbps speed to high mobile application also
known as UMTS.
2) Wimax family of IEEE 802.16m a Mobile Internet
system uses OFDM is expected to provide 1Gbps to
low mobile and 100Mbps to high mobile application
3) Flash OFDM cellular system uses OFDM to
provide extremely high speed for high mobile
application
4) HiperMan a fixed wireless access system of ETSI
BRAN group uses OFDM for high speed data
transfer.
5) Wi-Fi a form of Mobile Internet in 4G standards
uses OFDM to provide speed ranging from 300Mbps
to 600 Mbps
 OTHER APPLICATION:

1) ADSL and VDSL broadband access via POTS

copper wiring.

2) MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) home

networking.

3) PLC (Power Line Communication).

4) DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) terrestrial TV

system: DVB-T, DVB-H, T-DMB and ISDB-T.

5) DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) systems:

EUREKA 147, Digital Radio Mondiale, HD Radio, T-
DMB, and ISDB-T.

6) IEEE 802.20 Mobile Broadband Wireless Access.

CONCLUSION:

OFDM Techniques are popularly speeding up today’s

advanced communication system. Advancement in
today’s VLSI technique have made it possible to
implement its complicated hardware of very high
accuracy. It has been a tremendous technology for the
standards in 4G giving a concept of allowing the
signal spectra to mix without distorting the
information making efficient use of bandwidth also
leaving future scope of improvement over its
disadvantages for further improvement in the speed
also expected its improved version in 5G.

REFERENCES:

1) The Principles of OFDM; Louis Litwin, Michael

Pugel.
2) An introduction to Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplex Technology; Keithley.
3) OFDM Systems; Muhammad Danish Nisar.
4) OFDM; www.wikipedia.com.
5) IMT ADVANCED; Moray Rumney.
6) 4G; www.wikipedia.com.

Copyright © 2011 · Ganiga Raghavendra C, Yadav Santosh R · All rights reserved