1878
7, JULY 2011
V-OFDM: On Performance Limits over
Multi-Path Rayleigh Fading Channels
Peng Cheng, Meixia Tao, Senior Member, IEEE,
Yue Xiao, Member, IEEE, and Wenjun Zhang, Member, IEEE
Abstract—As a bridge of connecting orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing (OFDM) with single-carrier frequency
domain equalization (SC-FDE) techniques, Vector OFDM (V-
OFDM) provides significant flexibility in system design. This
paper presents an analytical study of V-OFDM over multi-path
fading channels. Our goal is to investigate the diversity gain
and coding gain of each vector block (VB) in V-OFDM so as
to ultimately reveal its performance limits over fading channel.
By using algebraic number theory tools, we rigorously prove
for the first time that a majority of VBs in V-OFDM can
surely realize the diversity gain of min {𝑀, 𝐺}, where 𝑀 is
the length of each VB, and 𝐺 is the total number of channel
taps. Furthermore, some specific VBs, whose length equals the
total number of channel taps, can not only harvest the maximum
diversity gain but also achieve the maximum coding gain. It is
further demonstrated that, even though VBs fail to benefit from
additional diversity gain when 𝑀 exceeds 𝐺, they can enjoy
significantly increased coding gains. Our analysis concludes that
it is preferable to choose the length of VBs to be equal to the
number of channel taps in consideration of both overall system
performance and computational complexity.
Index Terms—OFDM, V-OFDM, pairwise error probability,
diversity gain, coding gain, algebraic number theory, cyclotomic
fields.
I. I NTRODUCTION
O RTHOGONAL frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) [1]-[3] is a promising multicarrier transmission
technique for high-speed wireless communications. It has been
adopted for a number of standards such as HIPERLAN/2,
IEEE802.11a, and is also a key technology of IEEE802.16e
(WiMAX) and 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and
LTE-Advanced downlink systems [4], [5]. The significance
of OFDM system when operating in wireless channels is to
be able to transform a frequency-selective fading channel
into parallel flat-fading subchannels, thereby effectively
reducing the receiver complexity. However, this comes at
a cost for the loss of multi-path diversity. This is due to
Paper approved by M. Juntti, the Editor for MIMO and Multiple-Access
of the IEEE Communications Society. Manuscript received April 15, 2010;
revised September 15, 2010, January 10, 2011, and March 6, 2011.
This work is supported in part by the Doctoral Fund of the Ministry
of Education of China under grant 200802481002, the National High-Tech
R&D Program (863 Program) under grant 2009AA011802, the NSF of China
under grant 60902019, the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program under grant
09PJ1406000, and the 111 Project (B07022).
P. Cheng, M. Tao, and W. Zhang are with the Department of Electronic
Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, P. R. China
(e-mail: {cp2001cp, mxtao, zhangwenjun}@sjtu.edu.cn).
Y. Xiao is with the National Key Lab of Communications, the University
of Electronic Science Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, P. R. China
(e-mail: xiaoyue@uestc.edu.cn).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TCOMM.2011.051711.100223
0090-6778/11$25.00 ⃝
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO.
that each symbol is only transmitted over a single flat
subchannel; reliable detection of those symbols carried
by the subcarriers in null location of the frequency band
becomes difficult, if no channel coding is applied. Another
main limitations associated with OFDM is the high peak-
to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signals
[6] and high sensitivity to carrier frequency offset (CFO)
[7]. Single-carrier frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE)
[8], [9] is an alternative approach to OFDM with reduced
PAPR and CFO. As an extension of SC-FDE, single-carrier
frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) technique is
employed in the uplink of LTE framework as a substitution
for OFDMA to improve the power efficiency and reduce
manufacturing cost [10]. However, SC-FDE also suffers from
a drawback that the transmitter and receiver have unbalanced
complexity. Moreover, when incorporating multiple-input
multiple-output (MIMO) technique, the frequency-domain
equalization would be much more complex than OFDM. In
addition, multi-user diversity can be easily obtained in OFDM
via distributed subcarriers allocation. As such, SC-FDE is
not very suitable to be applied in downlink for high speed
transmission in contrast to merits of OFDM.
Vector OFDM (V-OFDM), as a generalization of OFDM,
first proposed by Xia in [11], [12] to combat frequency null,
serves as an important bridge between OFDM and SC-FDE. In
contrast to OFDM, V-OFDM is able to convert an intersymbol
interference (ISI) channel into an ISI-free vector channel while
involving channel matrices instead of channel coefficients in
one-tap equalization so as to increase the diversity order.
Further, V-OFDM has a smaller PAPR and is less sensitive
to CFO than OFDM. Because of the shift in operation from
receiver to transmitter, the computational complexity and
thereby, the power consumption of SC-FDE at the receiver
will be relieved in the case of large bandwidth configuration.
Following the advent of V-OFDM, V-OFDM with adaptive
vector channel allocation are introduced in [13]. Afterwards,
synchronization and guard-band-configuration for V-OFDM
are demonstrated in [14]. Further studies about iterative decod-
ing and demodulation in V-OFDM through turbo principle are
presented in [15]. The recently proposed asymmetric OFDM
[16] when obtaining the relationship between the transmitter
and the receiver, is actually in parallel with V-OFDM, but is
based on different mathematical derivation. Almost all of these
research advances find and conclude that, under frequency-
selective fading channels, the bit error rate (BER) performance
can be notably improved by increasing the dimension of vector
block (VB) in terms of maximum likelihood (ML) detection
c 2011 IEEE
CHENG et al.: V-OFDM: ON PERFORMANCE LIMITS OVER MULTI-PATH RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNELS 1879

TABLE I
as a benefit from signal space diversity [17], [18]. In con- N OTATIONS
trast to time, frequency and spatial diversity, which requires
redundancy and thereby consuming more resources in power the transpose, the conjugate transpose,
(⋅)𝑇 , (⋅)𝐻 , (⋅)∗ and (⋅)−1 the conjugate, and the inverse,
and/or bandwidth, signal space diversity serves as a power and respectively
bandwidth efficient mean to resist multi-path fading. However, the trace, the rank, and the determinant
the above result and conclusion have not been analytically Tr (⋅), rank (⋅), and det (⋅)
operation, respectively
proved explicitly yet. In specific, references [14] and [15] I𝑀 the 𝑀 × 𝑀 identity matrix
only present some qualitative recommendation and simulation the diagonal matrix with element 𝑎𝑚
diag (𝑎1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑎𝑀 )
results. Nevertheless, they cannot be regarded as a sufficient on the 𝑚-th diagonal
and persuasive revelation if without rigorous analytical study. ∥⋅∥2 the 2-norm of a vector
For instance, one may naturally doubt whether increasing VB the complex normal distribution with
( ) independent real and imaginary parts
length would always improve the performance without any 𝒞𝒩 0, 𝜎2
each with mean zero and variance
limitations. More recently, in [19], the authors proposed a 𝜎2 /2
method based on constellation rotation to effectively improve the positive integer set, the integer
the BER performance of V-OFDM. But whether V-OFDM ring, the rational number field, the real
ℕ, ℤ, ℚ, ℝ, ℂ
number field, and the complex number
can truly benefit from signal space diversity gain in theory field, respectively
and what is the inherited limitation associated with V-OFDM the set of 𝑀 × 𝑁 matrices in complex
ℂ𝑀 ×𝑁
remain unknown. field
In this paper, a comprehensive analytical study of V-OFDM ℤ [𝑗]
the algebraic integer ring, with
under fading channel is presented. Our goal is to investigate elements 𝑝 + 𝑗𝑞 where 𝑝, 𝑞 ∈ ℤ
diversity gain and coding gain for each VB so as to ultimately the smaller subfield of the set of
ℚ (𝑗) complex number ℂ, including both ℚ
disclose the entire performance limits of V-OFDM system and 𝑗.
under multi-path fading channel. The main obtained results the number of positive integers that are
Euler’s totient function 𝜙(𝑃 )
of this paper are concluded as follows. less than 𝑃 , and relatively prime to 𝑃
∙ First of all, the determinants of diversity gain and coding gcd (𝑎, 𝑏)
the greatest common divisor between
𝑎 and 𝑏.
gain in three scenarios are deduced for V-OFDM system.
The dimension (length) of vector
∙ Then, by employing algebraic number theory tools, we 𝑀
blocks
rigorously certify for the first time that almost all the 𝐿 The size of IFFT and FFT operation
VBs (need to exclude some VBs) of V-OFDM are able The total number of subcarriers in
to achieve the diversity gain of 𝑀 , where 𝑀 is the length 𝑁
V-OFDM, 𝑁 = 𝑀 × 𝐿
of each VB, but this diversity gain is strictly limited 𝑃 The number of cyclic prefix vectors
by the total number of channel taps. As a result, it is 𝐺 The order of channel impulse
reasonable to expect that the performance of V-OFDM F−1
𝐿 An 𝐿-point normalized IFFT matrix
should be considerably improved in terms of increased A conventional two-dimension
Φ
𝑀 with sufficient channel taps. constellation of size 2𝜓 (e.g. QAM)
∙ We further show that among those VBs achieving di- The minimum distance among all
𝑑Φ,min
points in Φ
versity order of 𝑀 , only several VBs can achieve the
A limited set in which an error vector
maximum coding gain and some may have extremely Ψ
e𝑙 belongs to
small coding gain. Therefore, due to the fluctuation of the 𝐷𝑙 The diversity gain
coding gains for each VB, V-OFDM will inevitably suffer 𝐶𝑙 The coding gain
from some performance loss. Moreover, when 𝑀 exceeds
the number of channel taps, further increasing 𝑀 cannot
contribute to the increase of the diversity gain; however, The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In
we find that the coding gain here can be significantly Section II, the vector OFDM system model is reviewed. In
promoted so that quite a few of VBs can achieve the Section III, we derive the performance limits of V-OFDM in
maximum coding gain. As a result, the performance of terms of the diversity gain and coding gain. In Section IV, we
V-OFDM is very close to its limit. discussed similarities and differences between V-OFDM and
∙ Finally, we conclude that choosing the length of VBs
some other system models. Illustrative analysis and extensive
to be equal to the number of channel taps strikes a good simulation results are presented and discussed in Section V.
balance between overall system performance and compu- Finally, we conclude this paper in Section VI.
tational complexity at the receiver. Our analytical results To facilitate the reading, we list the major notations and
indicate that V-OFDM can definitely benefit from sig- variables used throughout this paper in Table I. Besides, all
nal space diversity gain over multi-path fading channel. the subscript indications in this paper begin with zero.
Meanwhile, because of clear demonstration of individual
behaviors of each VB at present, it offers a guidance
for applying adaptive theory (such as power adaption or II. S YSTEM D ESCRIPTION
adaptive modulation and coding) in V-OFDM, contribut- For a conventional OFDM system, let {𝑆0 , 𝑆1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑆𝑁 −1 }
ing to substantially promote the performance of V-OFDM (𝑆𝑖 ∈ Φ and Φ stands for a conventional two-
system in terms of system capacity or error probability. dimension constellation of size 2𝜑 ), {𝑅0 , 𝑅1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑅𝑁 −1 } and
1880 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

{𝑊0 , 𝑊1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑊𝑁 −1 } denote 𝑁 transmitted subcarriers, 𝑁
received subcarriers and additive white Gauss noise, sepa-
rately. Ĥ = {𝐻0 , 𝐻1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐻𝑁 −1 } characterizes the corre-
sponding frequency response on 𝑁 subcarriers. Then it is
well-known that the following input output relationship can
be established with proper attached cyclic prefix (CP) [12]:
2) Take FFT operation over every row of r ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝐿 to
obtain a matrix R ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝐿 in frequency domain as
R = rF𝐿 .
3) Denote R = [R0 , R1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ R𝐿−1 ] and each column R𝑙
of R represents a received VB corresponding to the
original VB S𝑙 at the transmitter.

𝑅𝑘 = 𝐻𝑘 𝑆𝑘 + 𝑊𝑘 , 𝑘 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑁 − 1. (1)
C. Characteristics of Signal Input and Output
As noted in [12], [14], [15], and[16], when CP length is any
A. Transmitter Model integer larger than the order of the channel taps, namely, the
V-OFDM can be regarded as a general vectorization of condition 𝑃 𝑀 ≥ 𝐺 − 1 is satisfied, the vector OFDM system
OFDM, for which the concept of subcarrier is substituted provides ISI-free vector channels in the sense that
for vector block (VB). The transmitter diagram is shown
R𝑙 = H𝑙 S𝑙 + W𝑙 , 𝑙 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝐿 − 1 (3)
in the upper half of Fig. 1 (a simple example is also em-
[ 𝑙 𝑙 ] 𝑇
bedded in this figure), where a serial of modulated signals in which W𝑙 = 𝑤0 , 𝑤1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑤𝑀−1 𝑙
denotes the noise
{𝑆0 , 𝑆1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑆𝑁 −1 } are first column-wise blocked into an vector whose entries are i.i.d. random variables according
𝑀 × 𝐿 matrix S, where 𝑁 = 𝑀 × 𝐿, 𝑁 = 2𝑛0 , 𝑀 = to 𝒞𝒩 (0, 𝑁0 ). Each H𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝑀 characterizes a vector
2𝑚0 , 𝐿 = 2𝑙0 , 𝑛0 , 𝑚0 , 𝑙0 ∈ ℕ and its entries are [S]𝑚,𝑙 = channel; detailedly, H𝑙 takes the specific form as (see [12,
𝑆𝑙𝑀+𝑚 , 𝑚 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 1, 𝑙 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐿 − 1. At this Eq. 3.6, Eq. 3.11], [14, Eq. 7], [16, Eq. 10] and [19, Eq. 5])
point, each column S𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝑀×1 of S = [S0 , S1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ S𝐿−1 ] ⎡ ⎤
is referred to as an original frequency VB at the transmitter. 𝐻0,𝑙 𝑤𝐻𝑀−1,𝑙 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝑤𝐻1,𝑙
⎢ ⎥
Then, the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) of size 𝐿 is ⎢ 𝐻1,𝑙 𝐻0,𝑙 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝑤𝐻2,𝑙 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
performed over each row of S ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝐿 to yield a matrix H𝑙 = ⎢ .. .. .. .. ⎥ (4)
⎢ . . . . ⎥
s ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝐿 in the time domain as ⎣ ⎦
𝐻𝑀−1,𝑙 𝐻𝑀−2,𝑙 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝐻0,𝑙
s = SF−1
𝐿 (2) ( )
in which 𝑤 = exp − 𝑗2𝜋𝑙 and [HF𝐿 ]𝑚,𝑙 = 𝐻𝑚,𝑙 . Further-
where F−1 𝐿 denotes an 𝐿-point normalized [ IFFT ] ma- 𝐿
trix whose (𝑘, 𝑛)-th entry is defined as F−1 = more, we can find that H𝑙 is a factor-circulant matrix [20] and
𝐿 𝑘,𝑛
−1/2 𝑀×1 an important property is that it can be diagonalized as [14, Eq.
𝐿 exp (𝑗2𝜋𝑘𝑛/𝐿). Afterwards, each column s𝑙 ∈ ℂ
22]
of s = [s0 , s1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ s𝐿−1 ] is referred to transmitted vector,
H𝑙 = U𝐻 𝑙 Ĥ𝑙 U𝑙 (5)
corresponding to original VB S𝑙 in the frequency domain.
Before transmitting, the last 𝑃 vectors of {s0 , s1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , s𝐿−1 } in which Ĥ𝑙 will be explained latter and U𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝑀 is a
(𝑃 𝑀 symbols) are inserted as CP vectors, namely, unitary matrix whose entries [U𝑙 ]𝑠,𝑚 can be illustrated as
{ 𝑇 } ( )
s𝐿−𝑃 , s𝑇𝐿−𝑃 +1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , s𝑇𝐿−1 , s𝑇0 , s𝑇1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , s𝑇𝐿−1 1 2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑠𝐿) 𝑚
[U𝑙 ]𝑠,𝑚 = √ × exp −𝑗 , (6)
𝑀 𝑁
are transmitted serially through the channel in the symbol
𝑠, 𝑚 ∈ {0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 1} . (7)
order.
It is straightforward to show that U𝑙 in (5) can be written as
a more compact form
B. Receiver Model
( )
The frequency-selective channel is modeled as a (𝐺 − 1)-th U𝑙 = F𝑀 Λ𝑙 , Λ𝑙 = diag 1, 𝛾𝑙 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝛾𝑙𝑀−1 (8)
order discrete-time baseband impulse response vector, denoted with 𝛾𝑙 = exp (−𝑗2𝜋𝑙/𝑁 ). On the other hand, Ĥ𝑙 (c.f. (5)
𝑇
as h = [ℎ0 , ℎ1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , ℎ𝐺−1 ] , where ℎ𝑙 stands for the 𝑙-th chan- ) is directly correlated with frequency response, denoted as
nel tap and each ℎ𝑙 is modeled as independent and identically 𝑁 −1
{𝐻𝑘 }𝑘=0 in conventional OFDM. Recall that in conventional
distributed (i.i.d) random variables according to 𝒞𝒩 (0, 1/𝐺). 𝑁 −1
[ ]𝑇 OFDM (c.f. (1)), frequency responses {𝐻𝑘 }𝑘=0 are the zero-
Here, zero-padding h is denoted as h = h𝑇 , 0, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 0 ∈ padded 𝑁 -point FFT (without normalization) of the channel
𝑇
ℂ𝑁 ×1 and h is column-wise blocked into a 𝑀 × 𝐿 matrix impulse response vector h defined as before. Then for V-
H with [H]𝑚,𝑙 = ℎ𝑙𝑀+𝑚 , 𝑚 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 1, 𝑙 = OFDM, Ĥ𝑙 in (5) is a diagonal matrix whose diagonal el-
0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐿 − 1 for notational conventions in the following. ements consist of channel sampled frequency response vector
𝑁 −1
At the receiver, let {𝑟0 , 𝑟1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑟𝑁 −1 } denote the 𝑁 re- obtained from {𝐻𝑘 }𝑘=0 in conventional OFDM. That is
ceived symbols after removing CP. An inverse operation as ( )
in the transmitter is performed to extract the original data Ĥ𝑙 = diag 𝐻𝑙 , 𝐻𝑙+𝐿 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐻𝑙+(𝑀−1)𝐿 . (9)
symbols. The receiver diagram is depicted in the lower half Overall, the structure of V-OFDM is simple, only requiring
of Fig. 1 and is outlined as the following steps: 𝑀 𝐿-point IFFT/FFT operations combined with some VBs
1) Column-wise block {𝑟0 , 𝑟1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑟𝑁 −1 } into a 𝑀 × 𝐿 partition. The major differences between V-OFDM and con-
matrix r and its entries are [r]𝑚,𝑙 = 𝑟𝑙𝑀+𝑚 , 𝑚 = ventional OFDM stem from the fact that V-OFDM involves
0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 1, 𝑙 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐿 − 1. channel matrices instead of channel coefficients in one-tap
CHENG et al.: V-OFDM: ON PERFORMANCE LIMITS OVER MULTI-PATH RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNELS 1881

L-point
^S0 , S1 ," , S N 1` S  ^M uL s  ^M uL
Modulation Blocking IFFT per CP P/S
row
Transmitter

Channel h
Multipath
IFFT
IFFT

AWGN

Demodulati R  ^ M u L L-point FFT r  ^ M u L ^r0 , r1 ," , rN 1` Removing

Detection Blocking
on per row CP

Receiver

Fig. 1. The block diagram of V-OFDM system.

equalization as in conventional OFDM system. Since H𝑙 can
be diagonalized as in (5), U𝑙 herein can be viewed as a
rotated matrix in view of the equivalent mathematical form,
regardless of more specific physical significance. V-OFDM
can be generally thought of as a combination of rotated
signal space with rotated matrix U𝑙 , as in [18]. Different
from time, frequency and space diversity, which requires
redundancy and thus consumes extra resources in power and
bandwidth, signal space diversity is power- and bandwidth-
efficient [18]. The main idea in signal space diversity is to
treat 𝐾 transmitted symbols jointly as a constellation carved
from an 𝐾-dimensional lattice, and then a rotation matrix is
applied to the lattice constellation in order to optimize the
diversity order. However, whether V-OFDM can truly benefit
from signal space diversity under multi-path channel, to date,
is unknown.
In [21] and [23], the authors use the metrics of diversity
gain and coding gain to measure the performance of precoding
based OFDM and space-time diversity systems. By regarding
each VB as a different precoding matrix U𝑙 , this motives us
to investigate the diversity gain and the coding gain for each
VB so as to effectively weight the overall performance of
V-OFDM. It should be mentioned that, we cannot directly
equate V-OFDM with precoding based OFDM [21], [22] in
that the transmitted subcarriers of V-OFDM are only partially
orthogonal. We will give a detailed comparison between V-
OFDM and precoded OFDM in the Section V.
By observing (3) and (5) closely, it can be realized that
OFDM and SC-FDE can be regarded as special cases of V-
OFDM with 𝑀 = 1 and 𝑀 = 𝑁 , respectively. To be specific,
∙ OFDM. By setting 𝑀 = 1 and 𝐿 = 𝑁 , in this case U𝑙 =
1 and (3) becomes 𝑅𝑙 = 𝐻𝑙 𝑆𝑙 + 𝑊𝑙 , 𝑙 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑁 − 1,
which indicates the 𝑙-th OFDM subcarrier output.
∙ SC-FDE. Let 𝑀 = 𝑁 and 𝐿 = 1, which means that
there is only one VB. In this case U = F𝑀 (c.f. (8)) and
(3) becomes R = F𝐻 𝐻 
𝑀 ĤF𝑀 S + W, where F𝑀 ĤF𝑀
equals a circulant matrix H. Resultingly, it shows a
CP based single-carrier block transmission system. If a
followed FFT operation is connected, R′ = ĤF𝑀 S+W′
expresses a SC-FDE.
Therefore, V-OFDM can be vividly regarded as a bridge
connecting OFDM and SC-FDE, which provides significant
flexibility in system design. Despite that OFDM and SC-FDE
have been extensively analyzed in the literature, the properties
of the bridge, V-OFDM, are much less investigated; thus, it is
worthwhile to further exploit and analyze the characteristics
of V-OFDM.
III. P ERFORMANCE A NALYSIS
A. Pairwise Error Probability
BER is a common performance measure in wireless sys-
tems. But its explicit and closed-form expression may not be
tractable. In many occasions, pairwise error probability (PEP)
affords a good approximation for BER performance at high
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and therefore has been applied
extensively. In this paper, we give an analysis of PEP for V-
OFDM. Assuming that ML detection is applied at the receiver
with perfect channel state information, the PEP conditioned on
H𝑙 is written as
( 2 𝑐 𝑒 )
𝑐 𝑒 𝑑 (R𝑙 , R𝑙 )
Pr (S𝑙 → S𝑙 ∣H𝑙 ) ≤ exp . (10)
4𝑁0
Here 𝑑2 (R𝑐𝑙 , R𝑒𝑙 ∣H𝑙 ) is the squared Euclidean distance of two
𝑀 -dim received signal vectors R𝑐𝑙 and R𝑒𝑙 , corresponding to
the two transmit vectors S𝑐𝑙 and S𝑒𝑙 as R𝑐𝑙 = H𝑙 S𝑐𝑙 , R𝑒𝑙 =
H𝑙 S𝑒𝑙 in the absence of noise. Thus, this distance is written
as
2
𝑑2 (R𝑐𝑙 , R𝑒𝑙 ∣H𝑙 ) = ∥H𝑙 (S𝑐𝑙 − S𝑒𝑙 )∥2 . (11)
Substituting (5) into (11) and using the property of unitary
matrix, we have that
2
 
𝑑2 (R𝑐𝑙 , R𝑒𝑙 ∣H𝑙 ) = Ĥ𝑙 U𝑙 (S𝑐𝑙 − S𝑒𝑙 ) . (12)
2
1882 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

The squared Euclidean distance remains invariant to the uni- ∙ The coding gain
tary matrix U𝐻 𝑙 . Following the same procedure in [21], in 𝐶𝑙 = min 𝐶𝑒,𝑙
view of the relationship between V-OFDM and OFDM in ∀e𝑙 ∕=0, e𝑙 ∈Ψ
(1) and (9), since Ĥ𝑙 is correlated with {𝐻𝑘 }𝑁 −1 (∏ )1/𝐷𝑒,𝑙 (20)
𝑘=0 ; further, rank(T𝑒,𝑙 )−1
𝑁 −1
{𝐻𝑘 }𝑘=0 is an 𝑁 -point FFT of zero padding of the channel = min 𝜆𝑑 .
∀e𝑙 ∕=0, e𝑙 ∈Ψ 𝑑=0
𝑇
vector h = [ℎ0 , ℎ1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , ℎ𝐺−1 ] , then this distance can be
substituted as Based on the above definition, the BER performance of V-
OFDM is highly determined by both the diversity gain 𝐷𝑙
2
𝑑2 (R𝑐𝑙 , R𝑒𝑙 ∣H𝑙 ) = ∥diag (Q𝑙 h) U𝑙 (S𝑐𝑙 − S𝑒𝑙 )∥2 (13) and the coding gain 𝐶𝑙 at high SNR. In the following, the
diversity gain 𝐷𝑙 and coding gain 𝐶𝑙 are studied in more
in which Q𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝐺 is a partial and permutation matrix,
details. Meanwhile, for analytical convenience, the coding gain
constructed by extracting 𝐺 leading columns and 𝑀 non-
will not be considered until the maximum diversity gain has
consecutive rows {𝑙, 𝑙 + 𝐿, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑙 + (𝑀 − 1) 𝐿} with equidis-
been achieved.
tant 𝐿 of a 𝑁 -point FFT matrix Q, namely [Q𝑙 ]𝑚,𝑔 =
Examining (15), it is shown that the rank of T𝑒,𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝐺×𝐺
exp (−𝑗2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑚𝐿) 𝑔/𝑁 ). Next, we define error vector e𝑙 =
is related to the length of vector, 𝑀 , and is limited by the
S𝑐𝑙 − S𝑒𝑙 and create diagonal matrix E𝑒,𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝑀 as
( ) number of channel taps, 𝐺. Therefore, three cases: 𝑀 < 𝐺,
E𝑒,𝑙 = diag (U𝑙 e𝑙 ) = diag u𝑇𝑙,1 e𝑙 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , u𝑇𝑙,𝑀 e𝑙 (14) 𝑀 = 𝐺, and 𝑀 > 𝐺 shall be discussed, respectively.
Case 1) For the case of 𝑀 < 𝐺, consider
( ) a matrix A, by
in which u𝑇𝑙,𝑖 is the 𝑖-th row of U𝑙 . As the symbol component
employing the matrix property rank A𝐻 A = rank (A), it
𝑆𝑖 belongs to a conventional two-dimensional constellation Φ,
is shown that
the error vector e𝑙 must belong to a limited set Ψ. Then the
subscript 𝑒 in E𝑒,𝑙 denotes limited and different cases of E𝑙 . rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) = rank (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 ) . (21)
By applying the matrix E𝑒,𝑙 , it can be inferred that
It is well known that FFT matrix is an orthogonal and
𝑑2 (R𝑐𝑙 , R𝑒𝑙 ∣H𝑙 ) = ∥E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 h∥22 = h𝐻 T𝑒,𝑙 h (15) Vandermonde matrix, implying that its determinant can be
rapidly computed and cannot be zero. Namely, its column or
where we denote the positive semidefinite Hermitan matrix
row vectors are linearly independent. Then note that Q𝑙 ∈
T𝑒,𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝐺×𝐺 as
ℂ𝑀×𝐺 is a submatrix permuted from an 𝑁 × 𝑁 FFT matrix.
𝐻
T𝑒,𝑙 = (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 ) (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 ) (16) Further,
[ ] if we again construct a submatrix Q̄𝑙 ∈ ℂ𝑀×𝑀 ,
Q̄𝑙 𝑚,𝑠 = exp (−𝑗2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑚𝐿) 𝑠/𝑁 ) by extracting the lead-
for presentation convenience. Thus, the inequality (10) can be
ing 𝑀 columns of Q𝑙 , then it is easily observed that Q̄𝑙 is also
rewritten using (15) as
a Vandermonde matrix with non-zero determinant. That is, the
Pr (S𝑐𝑙 → S𝑒𝑙 ∣H𝑙 ) = Pr (S𝑐𝑙 → S𝑒𝑙 ∣h ) row vectors of Q̄𝑙 are also linearly independent. By Linear
( 𝐻 ) Algebra, if a group of row vectors are linearly independent,
h T𝑒,𝑙 h
≤ exp . (17) then adding some elements to the end of the vectors, they
4𝑁0
are still linearly independent. Hence,
( ) (Q𝑙 ) = 𝑀 . Here,
rank
Finally, at high SNR, the error probability Pr (S𝑐𝑙 → S𝑒𝑙 ) after bringing up a matrix C𝑙 = Q𝐻 Q Q 𝐻 −1
, it would result
𝑙 𝑙 𝑙
averaging over the random channel vector h can be upper in Q𝑙 C𝑙 = I𝑀 . Further, for a matrix pair A and B, we have
bounded as [24] rank (AB) ≤ min {rank (A) , rank (B)}. It then follows that
[ ]−𝐷𝑒,𝑙
1
Pr (S𝑐𝑙 → S𝑒𝑙 ) ≤ 𝐶𝑒,𝑙 . (18) rank (E𝑒,𝑙 I𝑀 ) = rank (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 C𝑙 )
4𝑁0
≤ rank (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 ) ≤ rank (E𝑒,𝑙 ) . (22)
Here, 𝐷𝑒,𝑙 = rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) and it characterizes the order of
(∏ )1/𝐷𝑒,𝑙 As a result
rank(T𝑒,𝑙 )−1
diversity, 𝐶𝑒,𝑙 = 𝑑=0 𝜆𝑑 and it represents
rank(T )−1 rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) = rank (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 ) = rank (E𝑒,𝑙 ) . (23)
the coding gain with {𝜆𝑑 }𝑑=0 𝑒,𝑙 being the nonzero
eigenvalues of T𝑒,𝑙 . Recall that E𝑒,𝑙 is an 𝑀 × 𝑀 diagonal matrix. In view of
From (18), the parameter 𝐷𝑒,𝑙 determines how fast the that, the diversity gain 𝐷𝑙 = min rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) depends
∀e𝑙 ∕=0,e𝑙 ∈Ψ
average PEP decreases as the SNR increases, whereas 𝐶𝑒,𝑙 on the lowest number of nonzero diagonal elements in E𝑒,𝑙
determines the shift of this PEP curve in the SNR relative to for all e𝑙 ∕= 0, e𝑙 ∈ Ψ. In other words, the diversity gain 𝐷𝑙
−𝐷
a benchmark error rate curve of (1/4𝑁0 ) 𝑒,𝑙 . is at most 𝑀 and the upper bound 𝑀 can be achieved if and
only if
B. The Diversity Gain and Coding Gain
Δ𝑙 = min ∣det (E𝑒,𝑙 )∣
Following the previous analysis, we define two important e𝑙 ∕=0,e𝑙 ∈Ψ
parameters, diversity gain 𝐷𝑙 and coding gain 𝐶𝑙 , for each 𝑀
∏  𝑇 
vector block 𝑙 ∈ {0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐿 − 1} in V-OFDM system as = min u𝑙,𝑖 e𝑙  > 0. (24)
e𝑙 ∕=0,e𝑙 ∈Ψ
follows 𝑖=1

∙ The diversity gain Therefore, for V-OFDM, in case of 𝑀 < 𝐺, the diversity gain
of each vector block, is uniquely determined by the diagonal
𝐷𝑙 = min 𝐷𝑒,𝑙 = min rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) . (19) matrix E𝑒,𝑙 , equivalently, Δ𝑙 .
∀e𝑙 ∕=0, e𝑙 ∈Ψ ∀e𝑙 ∕=0, e𝑙 ∈Ψ
CHENG et al.: V-OFDM: ON PERFORMANCE LIMITS OVER MULTI-PATH RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNELS 1883

Case 2) For the case of 𝑀 = 𝐺, the permutation matrix Q𝑙 square matrix, det (T𝑒,𝑙 ) cannot be directly calculated as (26).
has been adjusted to a 𝐺 × 𝐺 invertible matrix. Followed by However, after direct computation, it is not difficult
( to find )
similar analysis as in Case 1), the rank of T𝑒,𝑙 is computed that all the diagonal entries of T𝑒,𝑙 equal to Tr E𝐻 𝑒,𝑙 E 𝑒,𝑙 .
as ( )
2 𝐻
rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) = rank (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 ) = rank (E𝑒,𝑙 ) . (25) It is found that Tr E𝐻 𝑒,𝑙 E𝑒,𝑙 = ∥U𝑙 e𝑙 ∥2 = (e𝑙 ) (e𝑙 ).
Then, using Hadamard inequality [25], we have det (T𝑒,𝑙 ) ≤
As T𝑒,𝑙 is a 𝐺 × 𝐺 matrix with maximum possible rank of ( ( ))𝐺 ( )𝐺
𝐻
Tr E𝐻 E 𝑒,𝑙 = (e 𝑙 ) (e 𝑙 ) . Thus,
𝐺, the maximum diversity gain 𝐷𝑙 is at most 𝐺. Hence, VB𝑙 𝑒,𝑙

will collect the maximum diversity gain 𝑀 = 𝐺 as long as ( )

1/𝐺 𝐻
Δ𝑙 > 0 holds. On the other hand, following the definition of 𝐶𝑙 = min det (T𝑒,𝑙 ) ≤ min (e𝑙 ) (e𝑙 )
∀e𝑙 ∕=0,e𝑙 ∈Ψ ∀e𝑙 ∕=0,e𝑙 ∈Ψ
the coding gain 𝐶𝑙 in (20), in case of 𝑀 = 𝐺, it is then shown ( )
that 𝐶𝑙 can be expressed as = (e𝑙 )𝐻 (e𝑙 )
∣e𝑙 =𝑑Φ,min g

𝐶𝑙 = min [det (T𝑒,𝑙 )]

1/𝐺 = 𝑑2Φ,min (30)
∀e𝑙 ∕=0,e𝑙 ∈Ψ
[ ( )]1/𝐺 ( 2 )1/𝐺 in which g is an arbitrary column of the identity matrix, i.e.,
= det Q𝐻 𝑙 Q𝑙 Δ𝑙 . (26) 𝑇
( 𝐻 ) g = [1, 0, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 0] .
From (26), 𝐶𝑙 is linked to two parameters, det Q𝑙 Q𝑙 and The upper bound of the coding gain 𝐶𝑙 is still 𝑑2Φ,min ,
Δ𝑙 . Because we have [Q𝑙 ]𝑚,𝑔 = exp (−𝑗2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑚𝐿) 𝑔/𝑁 ), thereby we draw the conclusion that 𝑑2Φ,min must be the max-
then when 𝑀 ≥ 𝐺, the elements of Q𝐻 𝑙 Q𝑙 can be directly
imum coding gain for V-OFDM system when the maximum
calculated as diversity gain is achieved. As in Case 2), we know that the
𝑀−1
∑ ( ) ( ) maximum coding gain 𝐶𝑙 = 𝑑2Φ,min can be achieved if and
𝑗2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑚𝐿) 𝑔 𝑗2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑚𝐿) 𝑔 ′ only if Δ𝑙 = Δmax . In Case 3), one may naturally ask what
exp − exp
𝑚=0
𝑁 𝑁 condition must be satisfied so that the maximum coding gain
( ) 𝑀−1 ( ) 𝐶𝑙 = 𝑑2Φ,min can be reached and whether Δ𝑙 = Δmax is still a
𝑗2𝜋𝑙 (𝑔 − 𝑔 ′ ) ∑ 𝑗2𝜋𝑚 (𝑔 − 𝑔 ′ )
= exp − exp − sufficient and necessary condition. In fact, because Q𝑙 is not
𝑁 𝑚=0
𝑀 a square matrix, the analysis of 𝐶𝑙 is very difficult. However,
{
𝑀 𝑔 = 𝑔′ we can generally induce that Δ𝑙 = Δmax is still a sufficient
= condition but may no longer be a necessary one. We shall
0 𝑔 ∕= 𝑔 ′
explain this in details in the next subsection.
(27)
Based on the analytical results in the above three cases, we
and we have Q𝐻 𝑙 Q𝑙 = 𝑀 I𝐺 . When 𝑀 < 𝐺, it has Q𝑙 Q𝑙 ∕=
𝐻 conclude that the diversity gain and the coding gain of VB𝑙
𝑀 I𝐺 . The upper bound of Δ𝑙 is given by [23] as (note this of V-OFDM are completely determined by the corresponding
upper bound exists for any matrix with power limitation in Δ𝑙 . Specifically, if Δ𝑙 > 0, this vector block of V-OFDM can
[23]. Certainly, it is also established for unitary matrix U𝑙 ) collect the diversity gain of 𝑀 , at most 𝐺. While Δ𝑙 = 0,
( √ )𝑀 𝑀 ≤ 𝐺, the diversity gain is more specifically decided by
Δ𝑙 ≤ Δmax = 𝑑Φ,min / 𝑀 (28) the lowest number of nonzero diagonal elements in E𝑒,𝑙 for
all e𝑙 ∕= 0, e𝑙 ∈ Ψ. Moreover, if Δ𝑙 is able to reach up to
in which 𝑑Φ,min = min {∣𝑆1 − 𝑆2 ∣ , 𝑆1 , 𝑆2 ∈ Φ, 𝑆1 ∕= 𝑆2 }, Δmax , for 𝑀 = 𝐺, the upper bound of coding gain 𝑑2Φ,min in
the minimum distance among all points in a two-dimensional V-OFDM will be obtained by this VB.
constellation Φ. According to [23], Δmax can be reached by In the following subsection, we shall just focus on the
some algebraic construction of U𝑙 . As a result, since Δ𝑙 ≤ 𝐿−1
analysis of {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=0 which will be largely based on algebraic
Δmax , then equation (26) is able to be simplified as number theory.
( )1/𝐺
𝐶𝑙 = 𝐺 Δ2𝑙 ≤ 𝐶 max = 𝑑2Φ,min (29)
C. The Analysis of Δ𝑙
Here, only when Δ𝑙 = Δmax , maximum coding gain 𝐶 max =
𝑑2Φ,min can be reached. Otherwise, the coding gain will always Since Φ is a two-dimensional constellation with a finite size
be less than 𝑑2Φ,min . Based on the above analysis, the coding ∣Φ∣, the alphabet set Ψ to which e𝑙 belongs must have a finite
gain for each VB is still closely determined by the specific size ∣Ψ∣. It is thus possible to examine Δ𝑙 by using exhaustive
value of Δ𝑙 if Δ𝑙 > 0. To this end, let us examine the case computer search. However, the exhaustive search will become
of 𝑀 > 𝐺 for illustrative completeness. prohibitive when the length of VB and modulation order are
Case 3) For the case of 𝑀 > 𝐺, we still analyze the large (e.g. 𝑀 = 16, ∣Φ∣ = 16, so ∣Ψ∣ = 1616 = 1.8447 ×
diversity gain by examining the rank of T𝑒,𝑙 . Following the 1019 ). It is therefore necessary to resort to a mathematical
similar process as in the previous section, if Δ𝑙 > 0, it tool. As Δ𝑙 = min ∣det (E𝑒,𝑙 )∣ and Δ𝑙 is decided by U𝑙
e𝑙 ∕=0,e𝑙 ∈Ψ
means that E𝑒,𝑙 is an invertible matrix and thus rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) = in (7), a further analysis of U𝑙 will be presented. Firstly, we
rank (E𝑒,𝑙 Q𝑙 ) = rank (Q𝑙 ) . As Q𝐻𝑙 Q𝑙 = 𝑀 I𝐺 by (27), we
𝐿−1
will reveal the symmetrical characteristic of {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=1 .
have rank(Q𝑙 ) = rank (I𝐺 ) = 𝐺. It means that rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) = 𝐿−1
Theorem 1: {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=1 are symmetrical on the central point
𝐺 and the maximum diversity gain 𝐷𝑙 = 𝐺 for VBs are Δ𝐿/2 , namely
also attained. Similarly, if rank (T𝑒,𝑙 ) = 𝐺 is established,
we further examine the coding gain 𝐶𝑙 . Since Q𝑙 is not a Δ𝑙 = Δ𝐿−𝑙 , for 𝑙 = 1, 2, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐿 − 1. (31)
1884 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

Proof: The entries of U𝑙 can be written as [U𝑙 ]𝑠,𝑚 = matrix G𝑚,𝑛 is a full diversity cyclotomic lattice and its
𝑀 −1/2 exp (−𝑗2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑠𝐿) 𝑚/𝑁 ) (c.f. (7)); accordingly, we optimality is proved in [27]. Also, in [29], the authors have
have [U𝐿−𝑙 ]𝑠,𝑚 = 𝑀 −1/2 exp (−𝑗2𝜋 (𝐿 − 𝑙 + 𝑠𝐿) 𝑚/𝑁 ). As summarized existing rotated matrices using algebraic number
a result theory. However, a closer investigation towards [18], [23], [29]
𝐿−1
[U𝐿−𝑙 ]𝑀−𝑠−1,𝑚 indicates that the unitary matrices {U𝑙 }𝑙=0 in (33) are not
( ) covered by the existing results. For example, the majority of
1 2𝜋 (𝐿 − 𝑙 + (𝑀 − 𝑠 − 1) 𝐿) 𝑚 the optimal matrices G𝑚,𝑛 (c.f. (35)) are not unitary.
= √ exp −𝑗
𝑀 𝑁 The variation of 𝑙 from 0 to 𝐿 − 1 makes the novel
( ) (32)
1 2𝜋 (𝑙 + 𝑠𝐿) 𝑚 problem originated from V-OFDM become more general and
= √ exp 𝑗
𝑀 𝑁 quite interesting. The unknown characteristics of {U𝑙 }𝐿−1𝑙=0 are
∗
= [U𝑙 ]𝑠,𝑚 . desirable to be discovered. The most important task now is
𝐿−1
to examine whether {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=0 can be greater than zero, then
which means that the 𝑀 − 𝑠 − 1-th row of U𝐿−𝑙 is the
we will testify whether some Δ𝑙 can reach up to Δmax . We
conjugate form of the 𝑠-th row of U𝑙 . Concerning with a con-
need some definitions and facts of algebraic number theory
ventional symmetrical constellation, it is then straightforward
as follows (reader are referred to [23] and [30] for detailed
to show that the equation (31) holds.
definitions)
The above symmetrical characteristic implies that the per-
(T1) (Minimal Polynomial): 𝑚𝛼,𝔽 (𝑥) denotes the minimal
formance of VB𝑙 should be identical with that of VB𝐿−𝑙 ,
polynomial (a polynomial with lowest degree) of 𝛼 over a
which conveys that only half of VBs can definitely represent
field 𝔽 with deg (𝑚𝛼,𝔽 (𝑥)) denoting its degree.
the entire performance of all VBs based V-OFDM system.
(T2) (Algebraic extension over ℚ (𝑗)): Let 𝛼 be a root
Furthermore, observing (7), for a fixed 𝑙, U𝑙 is further written
as the following form of a nonzero polynomial∈ ℚ (𝑗) [𝑥]. The field extension
⎡ ⎤ ℚ (𝑗) (𝛼) is called an algebraic extension
( of ℚ
) (𝑗) with degree
1 𝛼𝑙,0 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝛼𝑀−1
𝑙,0
[ℚ (𝑗) (𝛼) : ℚ (𝑗)] equal to deg 𝑚𝛼,ℚ(𝑗) (𝑥) .
⎢ ⎥ (T3) (Cyclotomic Polynomial): If 𝑃 ∈ ℕ, the 𝑁 -
1 ⎢ ⎢1 𝛼𝑙,1 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝛼𝑀−1
𝑙,2
⎥
⎥
U𝑙 = √ ⎢ .
𝑀⎢
.. .. .. ⎥ (33) ∏ cyclotomic polynomial is defined as Φ𝑃 (𝑥) =
th
⎣
.. . . . ⎥
⎦ 𝑘∈𝜅 (𝑥 − exp (−𝑗2𝜋𝑘/𝑃 )), where 𝜅 := {𝑘 : (𝑘, 𝑁 ) = 1
1 𝛼𝑙,𝑀−1 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝛼𝑀−1 and 1 ≤ 𝑘 < 𝑃 and 𝜙(𝑃 ) is its degree. More important,
𝑙,𝑀−1 𝑀×𝑀
the coefficient of Φ𝑃 (𝑥) are integers, i.e., Φ15 (𝑥) = 𝑥8 −
in which 𝛼𝑙,𝑚 =exp (−𝑗2𝜋𝑙/𝑁 ) exp (−𝑗2𝜋𝑚/𝑀 ), 𝑚 = 𝑥7 + 𝑥5 − 𝑥4 + 𝑥3 − 𝑥 + 1.
0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 1. (T4) (Extension of an embedding and relative norm of a
In previous achievements, a class of important Vandermon- field): See [23], [30] for detailed definition. A useful property
der/unitary matrix, Θ, is proposed in [18], [23], [26] and is that if 𝛽 ∈ ℚ (𝑗) (𝛼) is integral over ℤ [𝑗], then the relative
constructed using algebraic number theory. To be specific, norm of 𝛽 from ℚ (𝑗) (𝛼) ∈ ℤ [𝑗].
⎡ ⎤ (T5) The polynomial Φ𝑃 (𝑥) is the
1 𝛼0 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝛼𝑀−1 ( minimal
) polynomial
⎢ 0
⎥ 𝑚𝛼,ℚ (𝑥) of 𝛼 = exp (−𝑗2𝜋/𝑃 ) . Φ𝑃 𝛼𝑖 = 0 for any 𝑖 ∈ ℤ
⎢ 1 𝛼1 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝛼𝑀−1 ⎥ such that gcd (𝑖, 𝑃 ) = 1.
⎢ 1 ⎥
Θ=⎢ . . . . ⎥ (34) (T6) (A property of Euler’s totient function 𝜙(𝑃 )): If 𝑃 is
⎢ .. .. .. .. ⎥
⎣ ⎦ prime, then 𝜙(𝑃 𝑛 ) = 𝑃 𝑛−1 (𝑃 − 1). In this case, 𝜙(2𝑛 ) =
1 𝛼𝑀−1 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝛼𝑀−1𝑀−1 2𝑛−1 .
𝑀×𝑀
𝑀−1 Based on the definitions and facts above, the following
where 𝑀 is power of two and {𝛼𝑖 }𝑖=0 are selected as theorem regarding Δ𝑙 can be proved:
𝑀
𝑀 roots of a special polynomial 𝑥 − 𝑗 = 0 with 𝛼0 =
Theorem 2: Consider two classes of modulation constella-
exp(𝑗2𝜋/4𝑀 ), 𝛼𝑚 = 𝛼0 exp(𝑗2𝜋𝑚/𝑀 ), 𝑚 = 0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 −
tion Φ, one is any constellations carved from the lattice ℤ, such
1 in order to realize the upper bound of Δmax .
as PAM or BPSK modulation, the other is any constellations
Furthermore, remarkable results, regarding systematic and
carved from the lattice ℤ [𝑗], such as all QAM (including
optimal cyclotomic lattices and diagonal space-time block
QPSK) modulation. Note that general M-PSK modulation, i.e.,
codes is presented in [27], [28]. Specifically, the rotated matrix
8PSK, are not contained in the two classes. Then, we have
G𝑚,𝑛 is given by
∙ For VB0 and any constellations carved from the lattice
⎡ 𝐿𝑡
⎤ ℤ or ℤ [𝑗], Δ0 = 0.
2
𝜁𝑁 𝜁𝑁 ⋅⋅⋅ 𝜁𝑁 ∙ For VB𝑙 , 𝑙 ∈ {1, 𝐿 − 1} and any constellations carved
⎢ 1+𝑛2 𝑚 2(1+𝑛2 𝑚) 𝐿𝑡 (1+𝑛2 𝑚) ⎥ 𝐿−1
⎢ 𝜁𝑁 𝜁𝑁 ⋅⋅⋅ 𝜁𝑁 ⎥ from the lattice ℤ, {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=1 are greater than zero.
⎢ ⎥
G𝑚,𝑛 =⎢ .. .. .. .. ⎥ ∙ For VB𝑙 , 𝑙 ∈ {1, 𝐿 − 1} but 𝑙 ∕= 𝐿/2, and any constel-
⎢ . . . . ⎥ 𝐿−1
⎣ ⎦ lations carved from the lattice ℤ [𝑗], {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=1,𝑙∕=𝐿/2 are
(1+𝑛𝐿𝑡 𝑚) 2(1+𝑛𝐿𝑡 𝑚) 𝐿𝑡 (1+𝑛𝐿𝑡 𝑚)
𝜁𝑁 𝜁𝑁 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 𝜁𝑁 greater than zero, where Δ𝐿/2 = 0.
(35) ∙ For any constellations carved from the lattice ℤ [𝑗], Δ𝐿/4
where 𝜁𝑁 = exp (𝑗2𝜋/𝑁 ), 0 ≤ 𝑛𝑖 < 𝑛, 1 ≤ 𝑖 ≤ 𝐿𝑡 , are and Δ3𝐿/4 can reach up to Δmax . In comparison, Δ𝐿/4 ,
𝐿𝑡 distinct integers such that 1 + 𝑛𝑖 𝑚 and 𝑀 = 𝑚𝑛 are co- Δ3𝐿/4 , and Δ𝐿/2 all can obtain the upper bond Δmax
prime, and 𝐿𝑡 = 𝜙 (𝑁 ) /𝜙 (𝑚). The lattice with generating for any constellations carved from the lattice ℤ.
CHENG et al.: V-OFDM: ON PERFORMANCE LIMITS OVER MULTI-PATH RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNELS 1885

Proof: For a given 𝑙, recall Obviously, the lowest number of nonzero diagonal elements
( ) in E𝑒,0 for all e0 ∕= 0, e0 ∈ Ψ, equals one. Naturally,
E𝑒,𝑙 = diag (U𝑙 e𝑙 ) = diag u𝑇𝑙,0 e𝑙 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , u𝑇𝑙,𝑀−1 e𝑙 (36) Δ0 = 0. Secondly, for 𝑙 (= 𝐿/2 and 𝑚 = 0,)2, 4 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 2,
[ ] 𝑀/2
it has 𝛼𝐿/2,𝑚 = exp −𝑗𝜋2𝑚0 −1 /2𝑚0 +1 = 𝑗. It then
and u𝑇𝑙,𝑚 = 𝑀 −1/2 1, 𝛼𝑙,𝑚 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝛼𝑀−1
𝑙,𝑚 . For any constella-
means u𝑇𝐿/2,𝑚 = 𝑀 −1/2 [1, x, 𝑗, y]𝑇 where x and y stand
tions carved from the lattice ℤ, namely, 𝑑−1 Φ,min e𝑙 ∈ ℤ
𝑀
and
for some other values. For any constellations
{ }carved from
for all 𝑚 ∈ {0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 1}, if the following condition is 𝑐 𝑒
satisfied ℤ [𝑗], consider a particular pair S𝐿/2 , S𝐿/2 with error
𝑇
[ℚ (𝛼𝑙,𝑚 ) : ℚ] ≥ 𝑀, (37) vector e′𝐿/2 = S𝑐𝐿/2 − S𝑒𝐿/2 = 𝑑Φ,min [1, 0, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 0, 𝑗, 0, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 0] .
Resultingly, the lowest number of nonzero diagonal elements
or equivalently,
( the degree
) of minimal polynomial of 𝛼𝑙,𝑚 over in E𝑒,𝐿/2 for all e𝐿/2 ∕= 0, e𝐿/2 ∈ Ψ, is at most 𝑀/2 and
ℤ, deg 𝑚𝛼𝑙,𝑚 ,ℚ (𝑥) , is more than or equal to 𝑀 . Then we also Δ𝐿/2 = 0.
can confirm that u𝑇𝑙,𝑚 e𝑙 ∕= 0 with e𝑙 ∕= 0. It should be noticed Lastly, we shall examine whether some {Δ𝑙 } can reach
that the condition in (37) is a sufficient condition. If (37) is up to Δmax . We find, particularly for 𝑙 = 3𝐿/4, 𝛼3𝐿/4,𝑚 =
not supported, we cannot make a decision that u𝑇𝑙,𝑚 e𝑙 = 0 exp (−𝑗2𝜋 (3 + 4𝑚) /4) =exp (𝑗2𝜋 (1 + 4𝑚) /4). Here,
with e𝑙 ∕= 0. As such, a further investigation is required. { }𝑀−1
𝛼3𝐿/4,𝑚 𝑚=0 are precisely the values {𝛼𝑚 }𝑀−1 𝑚=0 of Θ in
Similarly, for any constellations carved from the lattice ℤ [𝑗], (34). This is not a new finding and previous work in [18],
since [ℚ (𝑗) : ℚ] = 2 and 𝑁 = 2𝑛0 , 𝑀 = 2𝑚0 , we need [23] and [26] has proved the value of Δ3𝐿/4 = ΔΘ can
[ℚ (𝛼𝑙,𝑚 ) : ℚ] ≥ 2𝑀 (38) achieve Δmax . Interestingly, V-OFDM just contains this case
by coincidence. The main reason for Δ3𝐿/4 = Δmax can be
for all 𝑚 ∈ {0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑀 − 1} so that { }𝑀−1
explained as follows. For 𝑙 = 3𝐿/4, 𝛼3𝐿/4,𝑚 𝑚=0 are just
[ℚ (𝑗) (𝛼𝑙,𝑚 ) : ℚ (𝑗)] ≥ 𝑀, (39) all the roots of 𝑥𝑀 − 𝑗 = 0, a minimal polynomial over ℤ [𝑗]
𝑀
with degree of 𝑀 . Let 𝑑−1
Φ,min e𝑙 ∈ ℤ [𝑗] , the first diagonal
i.e., the degree of minimal polynomial of 𝛼𝑙,𝑚 over ℤ [𝑗], is 𝑇
elements of E𝑒,3𝐿/4 is u3𝐿/4,0 e𝑙 ; other diagonal elements,
more than or equal to 𝑀 . To be continued, recall that 𝑀 = { }𝑀−1
2𝑚0 and 𝐿 = 2𝑙0 for some positive integers 𝑚0 and 𝑙0 . Hence, u𝑇3𝐿/4,𝑚 e𝑙 , are the isomorphisms and images of
𝑚=1
we have 𝑁 = 2𝑚0 +𝑙0 and thus we can write u𝑇3𝐿/4,0 e𝑙 . Then
( ( ) ) ( )𝑀
𝛼𝑙,𝑚 = exp −𝑗2𝜋 𝑙 + 2𝑙0 𝑚 /2𝑚0 +𝑙0 (40) ( )
𝑀 1/2 𝑑−1
Φ,min det E𝑒,3𝐿/4
with 𝑚 ∈ {0, 1, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 2𝑚0 − 1}. Now first consider two ∏ (
𝑀−1 )( ) (42)
special cases, Δ0 and Δ𝐿/2 . For 𝑙 = 0, it has 𝛼0,𝑚 = = 𝑀 1/2 u𝑇3𝐿/4,0 𝑑−1
Φ,min e 𝑙
exp (−𝑗2𝜋𝑚/2𝑚0 ) and thus [ℚ (𝛼0,𝑚 ) : ℚ] ≤ 𝜙 (2𝑚0 ) = 𝑚=0
𝑀/2, which is far away from ( (37). Then for 𝑙 = 𝐿/2 ) = coincides with the definition of relative norm of a field (c.f.
2𝑙0 −1 , it has 𝛼𝐿/2,𝑚 = exp −𝑗2𝜋 (1 + 2𝑚) /2𝑚0 +1 ; be- (T4), please see [23] for details). Using the property of relative
𝑚0
[ ( 1 + 2𝑚
cause ( gcd(1
) is] odd, then ) + 2𝑚, 2 ) = 1, that is, norm of a field, we have
ℚ 𝛼𝐿/2,𝑚 : ℚ = 𝜙 2𝑚0 +1 = 𝑀 . Clearly, just (37) ( )𝑀 ( )
is satisfied. As mentioned above, Δ0 under constellations 𝑀 1/2 𝑑−1
Φ,min det E𝑒,3𝐿/4 ∈ ℤ [𝑗] ∖ 0 (43)
carved from ℤ and ℤ [𝑗], and Δ𝐿/2 under constellations carved
from ℤ [𝑗], need to be further investigated later. For other and thus
( )𝑀 
Δ𝑙 , assuming 𝐿 > 2, namely, 𝑙0 ≥ 2 (otherwise, we have  ( )
 𝑀 1/2 d −1 det E 
𝑒,3𝐿/4  ≥ 1, (44)
𝐿/2 = 𝐿 − 1), by similar analysis, for 𝑙 ∈( {1, 2, ⋅)⋅ ⋅ , 𝐿 − 1}  Φ,min
but 𝑙 ∕= 𝐿/2, we have [ℚ (𝛼𝑙,𝑚 ) : ℚ] ≥ 𝜙 2𝑚0 +2 = 2𝑀 . In (
 ( ) √ )𝑀
other words, the degree of the minimal polynomial of 𝛼𝑙,𝑚 leading to det E𝑒,3𝐿/4  ≥ 𝑑Φ,min / 𝑀 = Δmax .
over ℤ is at least 2𝑀 and over ℤ [𝑗] is at least 𝑀 . Thus, Together with (28), we know that Δ3𝐿/4 = Δmax . More-
u𝑇𝑙,𝑚 e𝑙 ∕= 0 with e𝑙 ∕= 0, and Δ𝑙 > 0. Partial conclusions in over, using Theorem 2, for 𝑙 = 𝐿/4, because of the prop-
Theorem 2 are now established. erty of symmetry, we can directly obtain our {novel finding,
Next, we will further investigate Δ0 and Δ𝐿/2 . Firstly, for }𝑀−1
Δ𝐿/4 = Δmax . In fact, it can be found that 𝛼𝐿/4,𝑚 𝑚=0
𝑙 = 0, let vector z ∈ ℂ𝑀×1 denote an all-one vector. The first now are just all the roots of another minimal polynomial,
row of U0 , u𝑇0,0 , equals 𝑀 −1/2 z𝑇 . Now, consider a particular 𝑥𝑀 + 𝑗 = 0. With the similar analysis as 𝑙 = 3𝐿/4, we
pair {S𝑐0 , S𝑒0 } with error vector e′0 = S𝑐0 − S𝑒0 = 𝑑Φ,min z. also arrive at Δ𝐿/4 = Δmax . To this end, for 𝑙 = 𝐿/2 and
Note this error vector would happen { }𝑀−1
{ 𝑇 for}𝑀−1
any constellations
constellations only carved from ℤ, 𝛼𝐿/2,𝑚 𝑚=0 are the roots
carved from ℤ or ℤ [𝑗]. Because u0,𝑚 𝑚=0 are mutually
of 𝑥𝑀 + 1 = 0, a minimal polynomial over ℤ with degree of
orthogonal, we have
𝑀 . Likewise, Δ𝐿/2 = Δmax . We have completed the proof
( )
E𝑒,0 = diag u𝑇0,0 e′0 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , u𝑇0,𝑀−1 e′0 of all the conclusions in Theorem 2.
( ) Remarks: In the proof of Theorem 2, we have assumed
= diag 𝑑Φ,min 𝑀 −1/2 z𝑇 z, 0, 0, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 0 𝐿 = 2𝑙0 for effective FFT implementation and 𝑁 = 2𝑛0
(√ )
for conventional arrangement for the number of subcarriers
= diag 𝑀 𝑑Φ,min , 0, 0, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 0 . (41)
in OFDM. Thus, 𝑀 is also power of two. This assumption
1886
is consistent with the literature towards V-OFDM. If we only
restrict 𝐿 = 2𝑙0 but 𝑀 is no longer power of two, i.e., 𝑀 = 3,
then this problem can also be resolved based on minimal
polynomial but more vector blocks cannot make Δ𝑙 > 0
(For 𝑀 = 3, there are three vector blocks). Meanwhile, Δ𝑙
cannot achieve Δmax in general. Furthermore, the problem
with arbitrary integer 𝑀 , 𝐿, 𝑁 , becomes more complex and
a classification of integer (odd, even, etc.) is needed.
In Theorem 2, we have shown that some values of {Δ𝑙 }
can reach up to Δmax . Then, one will naturally ask what is the
𝑀−1
distribution of {Δ𝑙 }. In fact, {𝛼𝑙,𝑚 }𝑚=0 may belong to a high
order minimal polynomial or different minimal polynomials;
besides, 𝑀 , 𝐿 and 𝑁 are all variable parameters. Determining
the profile is intractable. For this reason, we shall resort to
computer validation.
𝐿−1
In Fig. 2, values of {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=0 are delineated for a fixed
vector block size, 𝑀 = 4, where a QPSK constellation
(constellation carved from ℤ [𝑗]) and a total number of
𝑁 = 256 are employed with 𝐿 = 64. Several important
observations can be made from this figure. Firstly, ignoring
Δ0 , it is seen that the remaining values of {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=1 are
𝐿−1
mirrored at the central point Δ𝐿/2=32 . Namely, Δ𝑙 = Δ𝐿−𝑙
for 𝑙 ∈ {1, 2, ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝐿 − 1}. This observation agrees with
Theorem 1. Secondly, excluding Δ0 and Δ𝐿/2=32 , we find
𝐿−1
that all {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=1,𝑙∕=𝐿/2 are greater than zero. Following the
previous discussion, this property will play a vital role in the
performance of V-OFDM under multi-path fading channel.
Thirdly, for an energy normalized ( QPSK√ constellation
)𝑀 with
√ gain of 𝑑2Φ,min for any constellations carved from ℤ. For some
𝑑Φ,min = 2 and thus Δmax = 𝑑Φ,min / 𝑀 = 0.25, we
find Δ𝐿/4=16 = Δ3𝐿/4=48 = Δmax , which are conformed to
previous achievements [23] and Theorem 2. Lastly, one can
𝐿−1
observe significant fluctuation associated with {Δ𝑙 }𝑙=0 . Fur-
ther, even though Δ1 = Δ63 > 0, but Δ1 = Δ63 = 2.363𝑒−4,
this value will inevitably lead to a loss in coding gain. The
𝑀−1
main reason here is that {𝛼1,𝑚 }𝑚=0 belong to a high order
minimal polynomial.
Fig. 3 illustrates similar results as Fig. 2 but a 4-PAM
constellation (constellation only carved from ℤ) is employed.
We also choose 𝑀 = 4, 𝑁 = 256 with 𝐿 = 64. In this
scenario, Δmax = 0.04. We find Δ𝐿/4=16 = Δ𝐿/2=32 =
Δ3𝐿/4=48 = Δmax . Under this configuration, it is interesting
that some other {Δ𝑙 } also equal Δmax , which implies that
we have found more matrices {U𝑙 } achieving the maximum
coding gain through analysis of V-OFDM and these matrices
are not available in the previous works like [18], [23], [26] and
[27]. This is a new finding in the construction of cyclotomic
matrices. Other observations are similar with Fig. 2.
D. Summary
In this subsection, we draw some important conclusions
regarding the performance of V-OFDM under ML detection
at the receiver based on the analytical findings in the previous
subsections.
When 𝑀 < 𝐺, for any constellations carved from ℤ [𝑗],
almost all the VBs (excluding VB0 and VB𝐿/2 ) in V-OFDM
are able to attain the diversity gain of 𝑀 . For analytical con-
venience, we do not discuss the coding gain is this scenario. In
fact, according to simulation confirmation in the Section VI,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011
0.25
X: 10 X: 16
Y: 0.25 M=4,L=256
X: 48
Y: 0.25
Y: 0.2095
0.2
0.15
Δl
0.1
0.05
X: 0 X: 32 X: 63
Y: 0 Y: 0 Y: 0.0002363
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
l
Fig. 2. The distribution of Δ𝑙 for each VB (QPSK, 𝑀 = 4, 𝑁 = 256).
we find the coding gain for each VB is also determined by
the amplitude of Δ𝑙 , leading to varied BER performance
for different VB. Further, these VBs perform the maximum
diversity gain of 𝐺 when 𝑀 ≥ 𝐺 with corresponding coding
gain of 𝐶𝑙 ≤𝑑2Φ,min . In theory, VB0 , VB𝐿/2 will only achieve
the diversity gain of one and at most 𝑀/2, respectively. When
𝑀 just equals 𝐺, VB𝐿/4 , VB3𝐿/4 can obtain the maximum
coding gain of 𝑑2Φ,min for any constellations carved from ℤ [𝑗]
and VB𝐿/4 , VB𝐿/2 , VB3𝐿/4 can obtain the maximum coding
specific 𝑀 and constellations, some VBs would also achieve
the maximum coding gain of 𝑑2Φ,min in terms of numerical
results.
In particular, when 𝑀 > 𝐺, we find that quite a few of
VBs harvest the maximum coding gain of 𝑑2Φ,min . In Fig. 4,
for 𝑀 = 4, 𝐺 = 4 or 𝑀 = 2, 𝐺 = 2, there are only
few VBs which can contact with this target. However, given
𝑀 = 4, 𝐺 = 2, it can be found that significant increase of the
coding gain is introduced and the maximum coding gain has
been achieved by a large number of VBs. In Fig. 4, another
interesting observation is, although 𝐶58 > 𝐶36 for 𝑀 = 4,
𝐺 = 4, 𝐶36 takes the lead in attaining 𝑑2Φ,min when 𝐺 reduces
from 4 to 2. Meanwhile, Δ𝑙 = Δmax becomes a sufficient
condition rather than a necessary one. In general, when 𝑀
exceeds the number of channel taps, further increasing 𝑀
cannot increase the diversity gain, but it exerts notable impact
on the enhancement of coding gain. Nevertheless, a rigorous
analysis on the phenomenon (𝐶58 > 𝐶36 but 𝐶36 takes the
lead in attaining 𝑑2Φ,min ) and the determinant calculation for a
product of two non-square matrices are intractable. We shall
leave them for future work.
IV. C OMPARISONS AND D ISCUSSIONS
In this section, we present some discussions on V-OFDM
in comparison with other OFDM-related technologies, in-
cluding channel-coded OFDM, constellation-rotated OFDM
and precoded OFDM. Both characteristics and computational
complexity will be compared.
CHENG et al.: V-OFDM: ON PERFORMANCE LIMITS OVER MULTI-PATH RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNELS 1887

A. Comparisons With Coded OFDM 0.04

X: 11 X: 16 X: 32 X: 48
By our analysis in Section III, now it is clear that the 0.035
Y: 0.04 Y: 0.04 Y: 0.04 Y: 0.04

specific construction of U𝑙 in (7) as well as the sample form

of Ĥ𝑙 in (9) ensure that V-OFDM can obtain signal space 0.03

diversity under multi-path fading channel with sufficient chan- 0.025

nel orders. As we know, signal space diversity is power- and
bandwidth-efficient in contrast to time, frequency and spatial 0.02

Δl
diversity, since it does not require redundancy and neither
0.015
consumes extra resources in power and/or bandwidth. On the
other hand, in order to collect frequency diversity for conven- 0.01
tional OFDM systems, appropriate frequency interleaving and
0.005
coding is necessary. Clearly, some powerful error correcting X: 0
Y: 0
X: 63
Y: 3.78e−005
codes like convolutional codes and Turbo coding codes are 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
able to boost the system performance significantly. However, l
attached redundancy, decoding complexity and delay are also
introduced. Thus, we conclude that signal space diversity is Fig. 3. The distribution of Δ𝑙 for each VB (4-PAM, 𝑀 = 4, 𝑁 = 256).
an economical alternative to conventional frequency domain
forward error control coding. Nevertheless, these two methods
are not opposite for each other. A more advisable scheme is multiplications (not includes ML decoding) for transceiver
to combine V-OFDM with frequency channel coding so as should be 2𝑁 log2𝐿 + 2𝐿𝑀 = 2𝑁 log2𝐿 + 2𝑁 .
  !  !
to further exploit system diversity. In the following section, IFFT/FFT CR
we will numerically compare coded OFDM with coded V-
OFDM via a basic and an advanced combinations of signal
C. Comparison with Precoded OFDM
space diversity and frequency coding diversity. In the con-
sideration of computational complexity, since the number of The precoded OFDM [21], [22] is also a consideration
complex multiplications of an 𝐿-point FFT is 𝐿log2 𝐿, OFDM for channel null and symbol detectability with conventional
requires 2𝑁 log2𝑁 complex multiplications while V-OFDM OFDM. In fact, the idea of using linear precoding scheme is
requires 2𝑀 𝐿log2𝐿 = 2𝑁 log2𝐿 complex multiplication for also related to that of signal space diversity. Here, we will
transceiver, which is relatively lower than OFDM. give a quick review of linear constellation precoded OFDM
proposed in [22]. For precoded OFDM, all subcarriers are
partitioned into 𝐿 groups. A linear precoding matrix Θ is
B. Comparison With Constellation-Rotated OFDM applied to each group. In the end, an IFFT operation changes
the all precoded subcarriers from frequency domain to time
More recently, a constellation-rotated V-OFDM (CRV- domain. Interestingly, after our examination, under the specific
OFDM) is proposed in [19] to optimize the BER performance groups division, precoded OFDM shows the similar input-
of V-OFDM. The main idea behind this scheme dates from (5) output form while the main difference also comes from the
and (8). Since each VB corresponds to a varied U𝑙 , leading rotated matrix. In particular, only when 𝑀 is the power of
to analytical difficulty and also different performance for each two, the rotated matrix of precoded OFDM is the same as
VB. As a result, in [19], the authors adopt a skillful and effec- that of VB3𝐿/4 in V-OFDM by coincidence. However, it
tive approach to eliminate this variability, namely, resorting to should be mentioned here that, in practical view, precoded
constellation-rotation technique. We give a brief introduction OFDM is different from V-OFDM and CRV-OFDM because
about the main procedure for CRV-OFDM. ( The first step is to
) the subcarriers of the former is orthogonal while the latters
construct a diagonal matrix Θ = diag 1, 𝑒𝑗𝜃 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ , 𝑒𝑗(𝑀−1)𝜃 , are not. Their PAPR property, sensitivity to CFO, the channel
where 𝜃 is the rotational angle for further design. As U𝑙 = estimation method as well as synchronization, should be dif-
F𝑀 Λ𝑙 , the following task is to eliminate Λ𝑙 , thus we have ferent from each other, requiring further analytical study. We
equivalent rotated matrix for each VB: will leave this issue for our future work. For precoded OFDM,
the total number of complex multiplications for transceiver are
Ω𝑙 = U𝑙 Λ𝐻 𝐻
𝑙 Θ = F𝑀 Λ𝑙 Λ𝑙 Θ = F𝑀 Θ. (45) 2𝑁 log2 𝑁 + 𝐿𝑀 2 2
  !  ! + 𝐿𝑀
 ! = 2𝑁 log2 𝑁 +2𝑁 𝑀 .
IFFT/FFT precoding beforeMLdecoding
Ω𝑙 herein is only correlated with the rotation angle 𝜃. When
𝜃 is determined, the equivalent rotated matrix for each VB is
identical. The optimization of 𝜃 depends on computer search. D. Comparison With Asymmetric OFDM
By exhaustive search, the optimal angles found in [19], for In [16], a so-called asymmetric OFDM system based on
BPSK, are 𝜃 = 𝜋2 , 15𝜋 128 for 𝑀 = 2, 4, respectively, and, convolutional theory of DFT is proposed. Even though the
for QPSK, the optimal angles are 𝜃 = 23𝜋 128 and 𝜃 = 8 .
𝜋
mathematical deduction is different from [12] and [14], it con-
Exhaustive search needs high complexity, but it can be done veys the same relationship structure between the transmitter
offline, thus this method is valid in practical system design for and the receiver, as in (3) and (4). Hence, the asymmetric
small 𝑀 . The computational complexity for CRV-OFDM is OFDM model is identical with V-OFDM system. The main
slightly high than V-OFDM. The total number of complex differences are introduced by the detector at the receiver.
1888 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

2 −1
X: 12 X: 48 10
1.8 Y: 2 Y: 2

−2
1.6 10
X: 7
Y: 1.348
1.4
−3
10
1.2
X: 6 X: 58

BER
1
Cl

Y: 1.161 Y: 0.8847 −4
10
0.8 M=1
−5
10 M=2
0.6 X: 2 X: 36 M=4
Y: 0.3921 Y: 0.3723
0.4 M=8
−6
M=4, G=4 10 M=16
0.2 X: 0 M=2, G=2 X: 32 AWGN
Y: 0 M=4, G=2 Y: 0
−7
0 10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 4 8 12 16 20 24
l Eb/N0 (dB)

Fig. 4. The distribution of 𝐶𝑙 for each VB. Fig. 5. BER performance of V-OFDM system (𝑁 = 256, 𝐺 = 20).

Instead of using the ML detector in [12], [14] and also in 𝑀 = 4. From Fig. 6 at high SNR range (20-24dB), it can be
this paper, the zero-forcing (ZF) and the minimum mean- readily observed that the diversity gain of V-OFDM is smaller
squared error (MMSE) linear equalizers, are employed in than 4, which is due to the fact that some VBs (for example
[16] . It should be mentioned here that lots of the properties VB0 ) fail to achieve the diversity order of 4; meanwhile, some
discovered in this paper in terms of ML detection may not be VBs (for example VB0 ) have quite small coding gain (as
maintained by adopting the linear equalizers and thus require VB1 , since Δ1 = 0.0002363 ≪ 0.25 in Fig. 2), leading to
more investigation in this focus. serious degradation with BER performance even though they
can obtain the diversity order of 4 in theory. For other VBs,
V. S IMULATION R ESULTS as long as their coding gains are not too small, it is clear
that their BER curves are almost parallel (as VB3 , VB4 , VB5
In this section, simulation results are provided to confirm
and VB16 ), demonstrating the diversity order of 41 . Since the
the analysis carried out in previous sections for V-OFDM
overall system performance is restricted by the VBs with the
systems. The QPSK modulation scheme with Gray mapping is
worst BER performance, it then arrives at the results shown
employed. The multi-path channel is modeled as i.i.d. quasi-
in Fig. 5 that the diversity order of V-OFDM is smaller than
static Rayleigh fading channel. In our analysis, ML decoding
𝑀.
at the receiver is required for extracting its diversity gain and
Fig. 7 presents the similar simulated BER performance as
coding gain; however, this algorithm is practically prohibitive
Fig. 5, but with less number of channel taps 𝐺 = 2. According
to perform since the complexity depends exponentially on the
to the previous analysis and the distribution of the coding gains
length of VBs. For this reason, the sphere decoding is adopted
in Fig. 4, when 𝑀 = 2, in general, V-OFDM can collect the
in all the simulations for its lower computational complexity
maximum diversity gain of two; however, it is clear that two
and near optimal performance [31].
VBs (𝑙 = 0 and 𝑙 = 𝐿/2) fail to attain the maximum diversity
In Fig. 5, we examine the achievable diversity gain of V-
gain and other VBs cannot all reach up to the maximum
OFDM by illustrating the BER curves. A total of 𝑁 = 256
coding gain. Hence, some performance losses associated with
subcarriers are considered. The length of VBs, 𝑀 , varies
V-OFDM are introduced. Here, it is known that increasing
among 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 with the FFT length of 𝐿 adjusted
𝑀 cannot elevate the diversity gain for most of VBs; but
to keep 𝑁 = 𝑀 𝐿. The multi-path channel has 𝐺 = 20
optimistically, quite a few VBs could obtain the maximum
channel taps and thus 𝑀 < 𝐺 is established. In the case
coding gain, which leads to a slight performance improve-
with 𝑀 = 1, the system corresponds to conventional OFDM
ment. As a result, the performance limitation of V-OFDM is
system with FFT length of 𝑁 . We can find the uncoded OFDM
almost reached and there is no significant improvement for
has poor BER performance as its diversity gain is known
𝑀 ≥ 4. This again confirms our analysis on the diversity
to be one only. Further, it can be observed that the BER
and coding gain of V-OFDM. From the simulation result in
performance can be improved significantly when 𝑀 increases.
this figure, choosing vector length equal to channel taps may
While 𝑀 = 16, its performance under fading channel is close
provide a good trade-off between system performance and
to the one under AWGN channel. But this comes at a cost
computational complexity for decoding.
for a high computational complexity. At this point, however,
In order to illustrate the diversity properties of V-OFDM
we cannot generally conclude that the maximum obtainable
more clearly, in Fig. 8, the performance of different VBs is
diversity gain for V-OFDM is equal to the length of VBs,
compared to check the effects of the diversity gain and coding
since at the first glance, the diversity gain for V-OFDM seems
gain under the same system configuration. Here, another group
to be less than 4 and 8 at high SNR. To explain this, we
provide in Fig. 6 the BER performance of each individual VB 1 The theoretical curves are obtained by command of bertool in Communi-
in V-OFDM together with the overall BER performance when cation Toolbox of MATLAB.
CHENG et al.: V-OFDM: ON PERFORMANCE LIMITS OVER MULTI-PATH RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNELS 1889

−1
−1
10
10

−2
10
−2
10
−3
10
l=0
10
−4 l=1
l=3
BER

BER
−3
l=4 10 l=0
−5
10 l=5 l=2
l=L/4=16
−6
l=6
10 All VBs
theoretical−order1 l=7
−4
theoretical−order2 10 l=12
−7
10 theoretical−order3 l=32
theoretical−order4 l=48
−8
10
4 8 12 16 20 24 28 −5
Eb/N0 (dB) 10
4 8 12 16 20 24
Eb/N0 (dB)
Fig. 6. BER performance of V-OFDM system (𝑁 = 256, 𝐺 = 20).
Fig. 8. BER performance of different VBs in V-OFDM system (𝑁 = 128,
𝑀 = 2, 𝐺 = 2).

−1
10 10
−1

−2
10
−2
10
BER

−3
10
BER

−3
10
−4 M=1
10 l=2
M=2
l=L−2
M=4
−5
l=6
10 M=8 −4
10 l=L−6
M=16
l=16
AWGN
l=L−16
−6
10
4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 −5
10
Eb/N0 (dB) 4 8 12 16 20 24
Eb/N0

Fig. 7. BER performance of V-OFDM system (𝑁 = 256, 𝐺 = 2).

Fig. 9. BER performance of symmetrical VBs in V-OFDM system (𝑁 =
256, 𝑀 = 2, 𝐺 = 2).

of parameters, 𝑀 = 2, 𝐺 = 2, 𝑁 = 128 are employed

and we select VB0 , VB2 , VB6 , VB7 , VB12 , VB𝐿/2=32
and VB3𝐿/4=48 whose coding gain is conformed to Fig. 4.
Clearly, since VB0 and VB𝐿/2=32 fail to exploit the maximum
diversity gain of two, they show the worst BER performance.
In sharp comparison, VB12 and VB3𝐿/4=48 can not only
harvest the full diversity gain, but also successfully achieve
the full coding gain. Accordingly, they show the best BER
performance. The performance of other VBs, such as VB6
and VB7 , lies between VB0 and VB3𝐿/4=48 .
Fig. 9 examines the symmetry of V-OFDM system obtained
in Theorem 1 with the same system configuration as in Fig. 8.
Obviously, VB𝑙 performs the same with VB𝐿−𝑙 . It should
be mentioned here that two VBs with the same diversity
gain and coding gain do not necessarily show identical BER
performance. Other factors, such as kissing number [23], may
cause slight differences. But for VB𝑙 and VB𝐿−𝑙 , as in the
proof of Theorem 1, the 𝑀 − 𝑠 − 1-th row of U𝐿−𝑙 is
the conjugate form of the 𝑠-th row of U𝑙 . So U𝐿−𝑙 can be
viewed as an image of U𝑙 . In this case, under any system
configuration, VB𝑙 must perform the same with VB𝐿−𝑙 . This
is also another important property associated with V-OFDM
systems.
In Fig. 10, we will further examine the performance of
V-OFDM and OFDM when frequency-domain forward error
correcting codes are applied in both systems. Meanwhile, the
behavior of SC-FDE is also depicted as the reference. Because
of the difficulty in directly conducting SD algorithm for SC-
FDE, we adopt MMSE equalization in this figure and also
Fig. 12. The number of subcarriers is 𝑁 = 256 and the total
channel taps 𝐺 = 20. The rate 1/2 convolutional code with
generator polynomials 𝐺0 = 1338 and 𝐺1 = 1718 as adopted
in the IEEE Std. 802.11a is employed. The convolutional
encoder is concatenated with a random interleaver to ex-
ploit frequency diversity. At the receiver, hard-decision based
Viterbi decoder is used to decode convolutionally encoded
data. For comparison, the performance of uncoded systems
are also presented in Fig. 10. Here, we find that uncoded V-
OFDM with 𝑀 = 4 outperforms uncoded SC-FDE-MMSE at
low and medium SNR scope and the latter performs better
at high SNR scope. A main reason linked to this result
1890 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

0 0
10 10
uncoded OFDM M=1
uncoded V−OFDM M=2
uncoded V−OFDM M=4 −1
−1 coded OFDM M=1 10
10
coded V−OFDM M=2
coded V−OFDM M=4
TE V−OFDM M=2 iteration#1 −2
10
−2 TE V−OFDM M=2 iteration#2
10
uncoded SC−FDE MMSE
BER

coded SC−FDE MMSE

BER
−3
10 SC−FDE, ZF
−3 V−OFDM
10
SC−FDE, MMSE
−4
10 CRV−OFDM
Precoded OFDM
−4
10 OFDM
−5
10 theoretical−order1
theoretical−order2
−5 theoretical−order3
10 −6
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 10
Eb/N0 (dB) 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32
Eb/N0(dB)

Fig. 10. BER performance of coded OFDM and coded V-OFDM system
(𝑁 = 256, 𝐺 = 20). Fig. 12. BER performances of V-OFDM and other alternatives (𝑁 =
256, 𝑀 = 2, 𝐺 = 2).

4
x 10
8
OFDM In the end, in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12, we further compare V-
SC−FDE
7 OFDM with existing alternatives in terms of computational
The total number of complex multiplications

VOFDM

6
CRV−OFDM
Precoded OFDM
5 receiver, we only consider FFT in the complexity analysis,
4
3 instead of sphere decoding. From Fig. 11, it is shown that the
2
1 the complexity of V-OFDM-SD with 𝑀 = 2 at medium SNR
0
M=2
Fig. 11. A comparison of computational complexity with existing alterna-
tives.
is that some VBs have relatively poor performance so that
the entire performance of V-OFDM is weakened, which has
been indicated in Fig. 6. Meanwhile, SC-FDE-MMSE always
outperform V-OFDM with 𝑀 = 2 and conventional OFDM.
Further, it is first observed that the coded OFDM effectively
takes advantages of the diversity provided by the multi-path
fading and provides significant performance improvement over
the uncoded case. It is expected that the maximum diversity
order collected by channel coding is at most 𝐺. Second, V-
OFDM can successfully exploit signal space diversity only by
simple small-scale FFT implementation. According to using
coding and signal space diversity inherited in V-OFDM as a
constituent module, the system diversity can be sufficiently
exploited. It is shown that simple cascade of channel coding
and V-OFDM, is quite effective. More advanced cascaded
scheme, V-OFDM based on iterative Turbo equalization (TE),
which is detailed introduced in [15], could further exploit the
system diversity. Besides, it can be found that coded SC-FDE-
MMSE outperform coded OFDM in the case of existence of
sufficient number of channel taps and V-OFDM with 𝑀 = 4
has the best performance.
complexity and error performance. Since V-OFDM, CRV-
OFDM and precoded OFDM all use sphere decoding at the
though it is not fair for the uncoded OFDM and SC-FDE
systems which could use low-complexity MMSE equalizer
lowest computational complexity for V-OFDM is achieved.
However, if we include the detection complexity, we find that
is slightly higher than that of SC-FDE-MMSE in term of
M=4 M=8 computer simulation time. Certainly, the increased number of
𝑀 must lead to significantly increment of complexity. OFDM
and SC-FDE will take advantage over V-OFDM with large
value of 𝑀 . In Fig. 12, a comparison between V-OFDM
and existing alternatives in terms of error performance is
characterized where we set 𝑁 = 256, 𝑀 = 2 and 𝐺 = 2. As
we have illustrated in Fig. 6, differentiated performance for
each VB introduces some degradation to V-OFDM so that all
VBs of V-OFDM show the diversity gain slightly smaller than
two. In contrast, as our statements in the Section IV, the BER
performance of precoded OFDM should be identical with that
of VB3𝐿/4 under these parameters configuration, therefore it
shows the best BER performance. The BER performance of
CRV-OFDM is slightly poor than that of precoded OFDM, but
the theoretical reason is unclear due to computer search of the
rotation angle 𝜃.
VI. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, the performance limits of V-OFDM under
multi-path fading channel in terms of diversity gain and coding
gain are presented. We show the symmetrical characteristic of
V-OFDM. By using algebraic number theory tools, we prove
that the diversity gain associated with V-OFDM promotes with
increasing 𝑀 but limited by total number of the channel taps.
Some specific VBs, whose length equals the total number
of channel taps, can not only harvest the maximum diversity
CHENG et al.: V-OFDM: ON PERFORMANCE LIMITS OVER MULTI-PATH RAYLEIGH FADING CHANNELS
gain but also achieve the maximum coding gain in V-OFDM
system. Further increased 𝑀 exerts significant impact on
the accessible coding gain for each VB. Numerical results
illustrate that choosing the vector length equal to the number
of channel taps strikes a good balance between the system
performance and the computational complexity for detection.
The analytical findings and conclusions in this work may offer
insights into the design of practical V-OFDM based systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers
and the Editor, Prof. Markku Juntti, for their careful reviews
and valuable comments that have helped us improve the
quality of the paper.
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Peng Cheng received the B.S. and M.S. degrees
with great honors in communication and informa-
tion systems from the University of Electronic Sci-
ence and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu,
China, in 2006 and 2009, respectively. At present,
he is pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the Department
of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong Uni-
versity (SJTU). His current research interests in-
clude cooperative communications, network MIMO,
OFDM, and cross-layer design. He is a recipient of
the First Class Award of the National Undergraduate
Electronic Design Competition.
Meixia Tao (S’00-M’04-SM’10) received the B.S.
degree in electronic engineering from Fudan Uni-
versity, Shanghai, China, in 1999, and the Ph.D.
degree in electrical and electronic engineering from
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
in 2003. She is currently an Associate Professor at
the Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai
Jiao Tong University, China. From Aug. 2003 to
Aug. 2004, she was a Member of Professional
Staff at Hong Kong Applied Science & Technology
Research Institute Co. Ltd. From Aug 2004 to Dec.
2007, she was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
at the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor. Her current
research interests include cooperative transmission, physical layer network
coding, resource allocation of OFDM networks, and MIMO techniques.
Dr. Tao is an Editor for the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON W IRELESS C OM -
MUNICATIONS , an Associate Editor for IEEE C OMMUNICATIONS L ETTERS
and an Editor for the Journal of Communications and Networks. She served as
Track/Symposium Co-Chair for APCC’09, ChinaCom’09, IEEE ICCCN’07,
and IEEE ICCCAS’07. She has also served as a Technical Program Com-
mittee member for various conferences, including IEEE GLOBECOM, IEEE
ICC, IEEE WCNC, and IEEE VTC. Dr. Tao is the recipient of the IEEE
ComSoC Asia-Pacific Outstanding Young Researcher Award in 2009, and the
Publication Award from the Institution of Engineers in Singapore in 2005.
1892 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

Yue Xiao (M’04) received the M. S. and Ph.D. Wenjun Zhang (M’87) received the B.S., M.S.,
degrees in communication and information systems and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from
from the University of Electronic Science and Tech- Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China,
nology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 2004 in 1984, 1987, and 1989, respectively. From 1990
and 2007, respectively. He is currently an Associate to 1993, He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at
Professor of the National Key Laboratory of Science Philips Kommunikation Industrie AG in Nuremberg,
and Technology on Communications, UESTC. He Germany, where he was actively involved in devel-
was in charge of several projects with the China B3G oping HD-MAC systems. He joined the faculty of
mobile communication systems. His research inter- Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1993 and became
est includes the area of wireless communications, a full professor in the Department of Electronic
focusing more on the physical layer of B3G/4G. Engineering in 1995. As the project leader, he suc-
cessfully developed the first Chinese HDTV prototype system in 1998. He
was one of the main contributors to the Chinese Digital Television Terrestrial
Broadcasting Standard issued in 2006. He holds more than 37 patents and
has published more than 90 papers in international journals and conferences.
Prof. Zhang’s main research interests include digital video coding and trans-
mission, multimedia semantic processing, and intelligent video surveillance.
He is the Vice President for Research of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and
the Chief Technology Officer of the Chinese Digital TV Engineering Research
Centre, an industry/government consortium in DTV technology research and
standardization.