Multi-Carrier Transmission

over Mobile Radio Channels

Jean-Paul M.G. Linnartz
Nat.Lab., Philips Research

Outline
Introduction to OFDM
Introduction to multipath reception
Discussion of receivers for OFDM and MC-CDMA
Introduction to Doppler channels
Intercarrier Interference, FFT Leakage
New receiver designs
Simulation of Performance
Conclusions

OFDM
OFDM: a form of MultiCarrier Modulation.
Different symbols are transmitted over different subcarriers
Spectra overlap, but signals are orthogonal.

Example: Rectangular waveform -> Sinc spectrum

I-FFT: OFDM Transmission
Transmission of QAM symbols on parallel subcarriers
Overlapping, yet orthogonal subcarriers
cos(
c
t+
s
t)
cos(
c
t)
cos(
c
t+ i
s
t)
cos(
c
t+ (N-1)
s
t)
User
symbols
S
e
r
i
a
l
-
t
o
-
p
a
r
a
l
l
e
l
=
S
e
r
i
a
l
-
t
o
-
P
a
r
a
l
l
e
l
I
-
F
F
T
P
a
r
a
l
l
e
l
-
t
o
-
S
e
r
i
a
l

OFDM Subcarrier Spectra
OFDM signal strength versus
frequency.
Rectangle <- FFT -> Sinc
before channel
after channel
Frequency

Applications
Fixed / Wireline:

ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

Mobile / Radio:

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)

Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial (DVB-T)

Hiperlan II

Wireless 1394

4G (?)

The Wireless Multipath Channel


The Mobile Multipath Channel
Delay spread Doppler spread
Frequency
Time
FT
Frequency
FT
Frequency
Time

Effects of Multipath Delay and Doppler
Frequency
T
i
m
e
Narrowband
Frequency
T
i
m
e
OFDM
Wideband
QAM
Frequency
T
i
m
e

Effects of Multipath (II)
Frequency
T
i
m
e
+
-
+
-
-
+
-
+
DS-CDMA
Frequency
T
i
m
e
+
-
-
Frequency
Hopping
Frequency
T
i
m
e
+ - + -
+ - + -
+ - + -
MC-CDMA

Multi-Carrier CDMA
Various different proposals.

(1) DS-CDMA followed by OFDM

(2) OFDM followed by DS-CDMA

(3) DS-CDMA on multiple parallel carriers

First research papers on system (1) in 1993:
Fettweis, Linnartz, Yee (U.C. Berkeley)
Fazel (Germany)
Chouly (Philips LEP)
System (2): Vandendorpe (LLN)
System (3): Milstein (UCSD); Sourour and Nakagawa

Multi-Carrier CDM Transmitter
What is MC-CDMA (System 1)?

a form of Direct Sequence CDMA, but after spreading a Fourier

Transform (FFT) is performed.

a form of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM),

but with an orthogonal matrix operation on the bits.

a form of Direct Sequence CDMA, but the code sequence is the

Fourier Transform of the code.
a form of frequency diversity. Each bit is transmitted
simultaneously (in parallel) on many different subcarriers.
P/S
I-FFT
N
S/P
N
B
Code
Matrix
C
N
A

MC-CDM (Code Division Multiplexing) in Downlink
In the forward or downlink (base-to-mobile): all signals originate at
the base station and travel over the same path.
One can easily exploit orthogonality of user signals. It is fairly
simple to reduce mutual interference from users within the same
cell, by assigning orthogonal Walsh-Hadamard codes.
BS
MS 2
MS 1

Synchronous MC-CDM receiver
The MC-CDM receiver
separates the various subcarrier signals (FFT)
weights these subcarriers in W, and

does a code despreading in C

-1
:
(linear matrix over the complex numbers)
Compare to C-OFDM:
W := equalization or AGC per subcarrier
C
-1
:= Error correction decoder (non-linear operation)
S/P P/S
I-Code
Matrix
C
-1
FFT
N N N
Y
Weigh
Matrix
W
N
A

Synchronous MC-CDM receiver
Receiver strategies (How to pick W ?)
equalization (MUI reduction) w = 1/
maximum ratio combining (noise reduction) w =
Wiener Filtering (joint optimization) w = /(
2
+ c)
Next step: W can be reduced to an automatic gain control, per
subcarrier, if no ICI occurs
S/P P/S
I-Code
Matrix
C
-1
FFT
N N N
Y
Weigh
Matrix
W
N
A

Synchronous MC-CDM receiver
Optimum estimate per symbol B is obtained from B = EB|Y
= C
-1
EA|Y = C
-1
A.
Thus: optimum linear receiver can implement FFT - W - C
-1
Orthogonality Principle: E(A-A)Y
H
= 0
N
, where A = WY
H
Wiener Filtering: W = E AY
H
(EYY
H
)
-1

EAY
H
diagonal matrix of signal power
EYY
H
diagonal matrix of signal plus noise power
W can be reduced to an AGC, per subcarrier
S/P P/S
I-Code
Matrix
C
-1
FFT
N N N
Y
Weigh
Matrix
W
N
A
B
s
*
*
T
N

w
1
+

MC-CDM BER analysis
Rayleigh fading channel
Exponential delay spread
Doppler spread with uniform angle of arrival
Perfect synchronisation
Perfect channel estimation, no estimation of ICI
Orthogonal codes
Pseudo MMSE (no cancellation of ICI)


Composite received signal
Wanted signal
Multi-user Interference (MUI)
Intercarrier interference (ICI)
1
1
]
1

1
1 1 ,
1
1
, ,
1
1
, 1 1
] [ ] [
m
n n
N
n
n m n n
N
n
n n
s
m n c n c w w
N
T
b x
1
]
1

] [ ] [
1 ,
1
1
,
1
1
n c n c w b T x
k n n
N
n
n n
N
k
k s MUI



+ + +

+
1
1 n , n , n
1
1
n
] [n c w a T x
n
N
n
s ICI


Composite received signal
Wanted signal
Multi-User Interference (MUI)
Intercarrier interference (ICI)
[ ]
1
1
]
1

1
1
1
, ch
1
1
1
, ch
1
1
1
1
1
1 1
E E ) ( ) ( E E
1
N
n
n n
N
n
n m k
N
k
k ICI
w m n c n c b
N

1
, , , , ch
1
1
1
1
1
*
ch
1
E E E E
1
1
]
1

n n
A n
n n n n
A n
n n
N
k
k
s
MUI
MUI
MUI
w w b
N
T
x x
n n
N
n
n n
s
w
N
T
b x
,
1
1
, 1 1

BER for MC-CDMA
BER for BPSK versus E
b
/N
0
(1) 8 subcarriers
(2) 64 subcarriers
(3) infinitely many subcarriers
(4) 8 subc., short delay spread
(5) 8 subc., typical delay spread
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
1 11 11
Local-mean E
n
/N
1
Eb/N Eb/No (dB) 1
( ) 1
( ) 1
( ) 1
( ) 1
( ) 1
Avg. BER
AWGN
OFDM
Local-mean E
b
/N
0

Capacity
relative to non-fading channel
Coded-OFDM
same as N fading channels
For large P
0
T
s
/N
0
on a Rayleigh
fading channel, OFDM has 0.4
bit less capacity per dimension
than a non-fading channel.
MC-CDM
Data Processing Theorem:
C
OFDM
= C
MC-CDM
In practise, we loose a little.
In fact, for infinitely many
subcarriers,
C
MC-CDM
= log
2
(1 + P
0
T
s
/N
0
).
where is MC-CDM figure of
merit, typically -4 .. -6 dB.
( )

,
_

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1 1 log exp 1 dx x x
T P
N
T P
N
C
s s
OFDM

,
_

,
_

s s
OFDM
T P
N
E
T P
N
C
1
1
1
1
1
1 1
exp
1 ln
1

Capacity
Capacity per dimension versus local-mean E
N
/N
0
,
no Doppler.
-1 1 1 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Local-mean En/N (dB) 1
C
a
p
a
c
i
t
y
:

B
i
t
s

p
e
r

S
u
b
c
a
r
r
i
e
r

-* : Rayleigh
* : MC-CDMA
- : LTI
Non-fading,
LTI
Rayleigh
MC-CDM

MC-CDMA in uplink
In the reverse or uplink (mobile-to-base), it is technically difficult to
ensure that all signals arrive with perfect time alignment at the
base station.
Frame mis-alignments cause severe interference
Different Doppler spectra for each signal
Different channels for different signals
Power control needed
BS
MS 2
MS 1

OFDM and MC-CDMA in a
rapidly time-varying channel
Doppler spread is the Fourier-dual of a delay
spread

Doppler Multipath Channel
Describe the received signal with all its
delayed and Doppler-shifted
components
Compact this model into a convenient
form, based on time-varying
amplitudes.
Make a (discrete-frequency) vector
channel representation
Exploit this to design better receivers

Mobile Multipath Channel
Collection of reflected waves,
each with
random angle of arrival
random delay
Angle of arrival is uniform
Doppler shift is cos(angle)
U-shaped power density
spectrum
Doppler Spectrum

ICI caused by Doppler

1 . 11 1 . 11 1 . 11 1 . 11 1 . 11 1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
1
Normalized Doppler [fm/fsub]
P
o
w
e
r
,

V
a
r
i
a
n
c
e

o
f

I
C
I
P1
P1 P1 P1
P
o
w
e
r

o
r

v
a
r
i
a
n
c
e

o
f

I
C
I
Doppler spread / Subcarrier Spacing
Neighboring subcarrier
2nd tier subcarrier
3rd tier subcarrier

BER in a mobile channel
1 1 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
-1
11
1
Antenna Speed (m/s)
L
o
c
a
l-
M
e
a
n

B
E
R

f
o
r

B
P
S
K

OFDM, dB 11
MC-CDMA, dB 11 dB 11
MC-CDMA, dB 11
OFDM, dB 11
OFDM, dB 11
Local-mean BER for
BPSK, versus antenna
speed.
Local mean SNR of 10,
20 and 30 dB.
Comparison between
MC-CDMA and uncoded
OFDM for f
c
= 4 GHz
Frame durationT
s
= 896s
FFT size: N = 8192.
Sub. spacing f
s
= 1.17 kHz

Data rate 9.14 Msymbol/s.

Antenna Speed [m/s]

Doppler Multipath Channel
Received signal r(t)
Channel model:
I
w
reflected waves have
the following properties:
D
i
is the amplitude

I
is the Doppler shift
T
i
is the delay
OFDM parameters:

N is the number of subcarriers

T
s
is the frame duration
a
n
is the code-multiplexed data

c
is the carrier frequency

s
is the subcarrier spacing
) ( } ) )( ( exp{ ) (
1
1
1
1
t n t j T t n j D a t r
w
I
i
i i s c i n
N
n
+ + +

Taylor Expansion of Amplitude
Rewrite the Channel Model as follows
Tayler expansion of the amplitude
V
n
(t) = v
n
(0)
+ v
n
(1)
(t-
t
) + v
n
(2)
(t-
t
)
2
/2 + .. .
v
n
(q)
: the q-th derivative of amplitude wrt time, at instant t =
t
.
v
n
(p)
is a complex Gaussian random variable.
) ( } ) ( exp{ ) ( ) (
1
1
t n t n j t V a t r
s c
N
n
n n
+ +

( )

+ +
1
1
) (
} ) ( exp{
w
I
i
t i i s c i
q
i
q
n
j T n j D j v
) ( } ) )( ( exp{ ) (
1
0
1
0
t n t j T t n j D a t r
w
I
i
i i s c i n
N
n
+ + +

Random Complex-Gaussian Amplitude
It can be shown that for p + q is even
and 0 for p + q is odd.
This defines the covariance matrix of subcarrier amplitudes and
derivatives,
allows system modeling and simulation between the input of the
transmit I-FFT and output of the receive FFT.
( )
s rms
q p q
q p
D
q
m
p
n
T m n j
j
q p
q p
f v v

) ( 1
) 1 (
! )! (
! )! 1 (
1 E
) *( ) (
+

+
+

+
+

DF Vector Channel Model
Received signal Y = [y
0
,

y
1
, y
N-1
],
Lets ignore

f
: frequency offset

t
: timing offset
We will denote

(0)
and

(1)
For integer ,

::
0
(orthogonal subcarriers)

models ICI following from derivatives of amplitudes

0
does not carry ICI but the wanted signal
( ) { }
m
N
n q
q q
m n
q
n
f t s n m
n
q
T v
n j a y
f
+

1
1 1
) ( ) (
!
exp

Complex amplitudes
and derivatives
System constants
(eg sinc) determined
by waveform

DF-Domain Simulation
Simulation of complex-fading amplitudes of a Rayleigh
channel with Doppler and delay spread

Pre-compute an N-by-N matrix U, such that UU

H
is the channel
covariance matrix with elements
n,m
= Ev
n
(0)
v
m
*
(0)
Simply use an I-FFT, multiply by exponential delay profile and FFT

Generate two i.i.d vectors of complex Gaussian random

variables, G and G, with unity variance and length N.

Calculate V = U G.

Calculate V
(1)
= 2fT U G.

DF Vector Channel Model
Received signal Y = [y
0
,

y
1
, y
N-1
],

models ICI following from derivatives of amplitudes

0
does not carry ICI but the wanted signal
[ ] N T
A V
A V
I Y
N
+
1
]
1

* '.
* .
1 1
1
1
1
1
]
1

+ +

1 1 1
1 1 1
1 1 1
1
..
.. .. .. ..
..
..



N N
N
N
FFT leakage
Amplitudes & Derivatives
User data

Possible Receiver Approaches
Receiver
1) Try to invert adaptive matrix (Alexei Gorokhov)
2) See it as Multi-user detection: (J.P. Linnartz, Ton Kalker)
try to separate V .* A and V
(1)
.* A
3) Decision Feedback (Jan Bergmans)
estimate iteratively V, V
(1)
and A
) DIAG( ) DIAG(
) 1 (
1
V V +
[ ] N
AT V
A V
I Y
N
+
1
]
1

* . '
* .
1

Receiver 1: Matrix Inversion
Estimate amplitudes V and complex derivatives V
(1)
create the matrix Q
1
= DIAG(V)+ T

DIAG(V
(1)
)
Invert Q
1
to get Q
1
-1
(channel dependent)

Compute Q
1
-1
Y
Zero-forcing:
For perfect estimates V and V
(1)
, Q
1
-1
Y = A + Q
1
-1
N,

i.e., you get enhanced noise.

MMSE Wiener filtering inversion W
Channel
Estimator
Slicer Q
-1
Y

3
X
1
X
2
X
3
+ x
x
V
V
A
N
V
A
V

Receiver 1: MMSE Matrix Inversion
Receiver sees Y = Q

A + N, with Q=DIAG(V)+ T

DIAG(V
(1)
)
Calculate matrix Q = DIAG(V)+ T

DIAG(V
(1)
)
Compute MMSE filter W = Q
H
[Q Q
H

+
n
2
I
N
]
-1
.
Performance evaluation:

Signal power per subcarrier

Residual ICI and Noise enhancement from W

Receiver 1: Matrix Inversion
Simulation of channel for N = 64, v = 200 km/h f
c
= 17 GHz, T
RMS
=
1 s, sampling at T = 1s. f
Doppler
= 3.14 kHz, Subcarrier spacing
f
sr
= 31.25 kHz, signal-to-ICI = 18 dB
1 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
- 11
- 11
- 11
- 11
- 11
- 11
- 11
- 11
1
11
Subcarrier number
M
a
g
n
it
u
d
e


in


d
B

Amplitudes
Derivatives
Amplitudes
First derivatives
Determined by speed of antenna,
and carrier frequency

Receiver 1: Matrix Inversion
SNR of decision variable. Simulation for N = 64, MMSE Wiener
filtering to cancel ICI
1 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
1
1
11
11
11
11
11
Subcarrier number
O
u
t
p
u
t

S
I
N
R

Conventional OFDM
MMSE equalization
MMSE ICI canceller
Conventional OFDM

Simplified Matrix Inversion
Rationale
ICI diminishes with increasing subcarrier difference
Approximate by band matrix with 2k+1 non-zero diagonals
Matrix Q is approximately Q = [I + ]
small, ~ diag(V
(1)
./ V)
diagonal of amplitudes V

Approximate Q
-1
= [I - ]
1
Complexity ~2kN

Performance of (Simplified) Matrix Inversion
N = 64, v = 200 km/h, f
c
= 17 GHz, T
RMS
= 1 s, sampling at T = 1s.
f
Doppler
= 3.15 kHz, Subc. spacing f
sr
= 31.25 kHz:
Compare to DVB-T: v = 140 km/h, f
c
= 800MHz: f
doppler
= 100 Hz while f
sr
= 1.17 kHz
5 10 15 20 25 30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Input SNR
Conventional OFDM
MMSE equalization
simplified MMSE
k = 4
Conv
OFDM
MMSE
O
u
t
p
u
t

S
I
N
R


Receiver 1: Subconclusion

Performance improvement of 4 .. 7

Complexity can be reduced to ~2kN, k ~ 5 .. 10.

Estimation of V
(1)
to be developed, V is already being
estimated

Receiver 3: Decision Feedback
Estimate

data,

amplitudes and

derivatives
iteratively

Receiver 3: Decision Feedback
Iteratively do the following:
Compare the signal before and after the slicer
Difference = noise + ICI + decision errors
Invert to retrieve modulated derivatives from ICI
V
(1)
.*A =
-1
ICI
MMSE to minimize noise enhancements
Remove modulation 1/A
Smooth to exploit correlation in V
(1)
Modulate with A
Feed through to estimate ICI
Subtract estimated ICI

Receiver 3: DFE
Estimate V
(1)
in side chain
Pilot
Slicer
M
1
+
x
x
+
Cancel
Doppler
Esti mated Amplitudes

1
ICI
-
+
M
1
Z
11
Z
1
Z
1
Z
1
Y
1
Y
1

1
X
1
X
1
X
1
+
x
x
V
V
A
N
Z
1
=V
A
/ 1A
A.*V
V
-
A
INT
Channel Model

Implementational Aspects
Implementational considerations:
1/A : table lookup
20 taps FIR filter
(select from library depending on Doppler)
2 taps IIR filter bi-directional
(select from library depending on Delay)
FFT - multiply - I-FFT
Pilot
Slicer
FIR
+
x
x
+
Cancel
Doppler
Estimated Amplitudes
weigh
ICI
-
+
IIR
Y
2
Y
0
V
A
1/A
A.*V
V
-
A
INT
FFT
FFT
10X

Implementational Aspects
Pilot
Slicer
FIR
+
x
x
+
Cancel
Doppler
Estimated Amplitudes
weigh
ICI
-
+
IIR
Y
2
Y
0
V
A
1/A
A.*V
V
-
A
INT
FFT
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
Relative Subcarrier Number
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

o
f

F
i
l
t
e
r

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t
s

FFT

~
-1
Get derivatives & modulation
Smooth according to delay profile
Reconstruct ICI
IIR
O
p
tim
a
l

Performance of Receiver 3: DFE
Variance of decision variable after iterative ICI
cancellation versus variance in conventional receiver
11
- 1
11
- 1
11
1
11
1
11
1
11
- 1
11
- 1
11
- 1
11
1
11
1
11
1
V a r i a n c e C o n v e n t i o n a l
V
a
r
i
a
n
c
e

N
e
w

S
y
s
t
e
m

1
Variance decision variable in conventional receiver
V
a
r
i
a
n
c
e

o
f

d
e
c
i
s
i
o
n

v
a
r
i
a
b
l
e

i
n

D
F
E

r
e
c
e
i
v
e
r

a
f
t
e
r

I
C
I

c
a
n
c
e
l
l
i
n
g

Error Count
Receiver 3: DFE
N = 64 out of 8192 subcarriers, v = 30 m/s, f
c
= 600 MHz T
RMS
/ NT= 0.03,
f
Doppler
= 60 Hz, Subcarrier spacing f
sr
= 1.17 kHz
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
-30
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
Decision Feedback
Sample run N=64 9 errors -> 4 errors
Subcarrier Number
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
Amplitudes
Derivatives

Conclusions
Modeling the Doppler channel as a set of time-varying subcarrier
amplitudes leads to useful receiver designs.
Estimation of V
(1) is
to be added, V is already being estimated
Basic principle demonstrated by simulation
Gain about

3 .. 6dB,

factor of 2 or more in uncoded BER,

factor 2 or more in velocity.

Promising methods to cancel FFT leakage (DVB-T, 4G)
More at http://wireless.per.nl

Further Research Work
Optimise the receiver design and estimation of derivatives
Can we play with the waveform (or window) to make the tails of the
filter steeper?
Can we interpret the derivatives as a diversity channel?
Can estimation of derivatives be combined with synchronisation?
Isnt this even more promising with MC-CDMA?
Apply it to system design.