Wireless and Mobile Computing

06: Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiplexing (OFDM)

OFDM, OFDMA, and SC-FDMA

Dr. Mogeeb Alhakimi

Taiz 2025
➢ Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based techniques that have created
great expansion in the capacity of wireless networks.

➢ OFDM combats frequency selective fading.

➢ OFDM is the main air interface technology used to move from 3rd to 4th generation cellular
technologies.

➢ OFDM also allows the expansion of IEEE 802.11 data rates.

➢ Finally, OFDM is a critical technology in the development of broadband wireless Internet

access for both fixed and mobile systems under the WiMAX standard and LTE.

➢ OFDM is used in practical systems for multiple access topics.

➢ OFDM, also called multicarrier modulation, uses multiple carrier signals at different
frequencies, sending some of the bits on each channel.

➢ However, in the case of OFDM, many subcarriers are dedicated to a single data source.
 The basic concept of OFDM
• We have a binary data stream operating at R bps and an
available bandwidth of Nfb, centered at f0.
• The entire bandwidth could be used to send the data stream,
in which case each bit duration would be Tc=1/R
• The alternative is to split the data stream into N substreams,
using a serial-to-parallel converter.
• Each substream has a data rate of R/N bps and is
transmitted on a separate subcarrier, with a spacing between
adjacent subcarriers of fb.
• Now the bit duration is N/R = NTc, which is substantially
longer and creates special capabilities to overcome
multipath fading.

• It turns out that instead of using a wide band/channel on its entirety for
modulation and coding, it is much more effective to divide the band into
many narrower orthogonal subbands/subcarriers or subchannels and then
modulate each subchannel independently with a BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-
QAM, etc., depending on the fading in the channel.
• The frequency selective modulation helps address the frequency
selective fading experienced in typical environments, leading to
many advantages, such as better protection against frequency
selective burst errors and narrowband interference which affects
only a small fraction of subchannels.
Figure 15. illustrates the OFDM
process highlighting the fact that the
symbol durations in OFDM get
extended due to the lower data rates
caused by narrower channels.
Less inter-symbol interference due
to longer symbols is therefore
another added advantage of OFDM.
 Orthogonality of OFDM
The higher the number of subdivisions the better it can address the frequency selective fading and
interference, but they have to be orthogonal to avoid inter-channel interference.

fb - base frequency,
2fb, 3fb, …… Nfb - subcarriers are integer multiples of the base
frequency.
N fb = N/T

The relationship among the subcarriers is referred to as

orthogonality.
The result is shown in Figure 8.2b. It looks like the
signals are packed too close together because they
overlap substantially, but one property of orthogonality
is that the peaks of the power spectral density of each
subcarrier occur at a point at which the power of other
subcarriers is zero.

Previous FDM approaches are illustrated in Figure 8.2c,

which assumed signals should be spaced sufficiently apart in
frequency to (1) avoid overlap in the frequency bands and (2)
to provide extra spacing known as guard bands to prevent the
effects of adjacent carrier interference from out-of-band
emissions.
 Mathematical principle Orthogonality
Orthogonality is defined by an important mathematical principle.
Two signals, s1(t) and s2(t), are orthogonal if they meet this requirement. Average over bit time of
s1(t)s2(t) = 0
At the transmitter, we send the signal s(t) = s1(t) + s2(t)
At the receiver intended to extract the s1(t) signal from the received signal, it multiplies by s1(t)
and averages. If the signals are orthogonal, here is the result.
Average over bit time of s1(t)s(t) = s1(t)s1(t) + s1(t)s2(t) = s21(t) + 0
The output is only the intended s1(t) squared and the s2(t) is removed. If there are many signals
that are all orthogonal, the receiver can remove all of the other signals and only again have s1(t).

If distortion is present in OFDM systems, the result will be loss of orthogonality, out-of-band
emissions, and increased bit error rate (BER).
 Intercarrier Interference
In order to demodulate an OFDM signal, time and frequency synchronization is necessary. Because
OFDM symbol times are long, the demands on time synchronization are somewhat relaxed compared to
other systems.
But conversely, because OFDM frequencies are spaced as closely as possible, the frequency
synchronization requirements are significantly more stringent. If not met, intercarrier interference (ICI)
will result.
The cyclic prefix provides an excellent way of ensuring orthogonality of carriers because it eliminates the
effects of multipath. Because the CP causes a reduction in spectral efficiency, however, a certain level of
ICI may be tolerated in an effort to reduce CP length.
In addition, Doppler shift of even one subcarrier can cause ICI in many adjacent subcarriers. Refer again
to Figure 8.2. It is readily seen that the spacing between subcarriers has tight constraints and can be
easily perturbed.
Because ICI can be a limiting factor for OFDM systems, implementations will seek to find a balance
between carrier spacing and OFDM symbol length. Short symbol duration will reduce Doppler-induced
ICI, but also may cause the CP to be an unacceptably large part of the OFDM symbol time.
Two types of difficulties arise when a signal is transmitted through a time dispersive channel.
❑ First, channel dispersion destroys the orthogonality between subcarriers and cause intercarrier
interference (ICI) for the signal.
❑ Second, the system may sometimes transmit multiple OFDM symbols in a series causing intersymbol
interference (ISI) between successive OFDM symbols.
Guard intervals (cyclic prefix) were proposed as the solution.
A guard interval is defined by an empty space between two OFDM symbols, which serves as a buffer for
the multipath reflection. When guard bands are inserted between successive OFDM symbols avoids ISI
but cannot cope with the loss of the subcarrier orthogonality.
CP is a copy of the last part of OFDM symbol which is appended to front the transmitted OFDM symbol.
The Cyclic Prefix Even though OFDM by definition limits ISI by using long symbol times, OFDM also uses a
cyclic prefix which goes another step further to combat ISI. OFDM symbol

GI

t
At the receiver side, CP is removed before any processing starts.
As long as the length of CP interval is larger than maximum expected delay spread, all
reflections of previous symbols are removed and orthogonality is restored.
The orthogonality is lost when the delay spread is larger than length of CP interval.
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)
Multiple access strategies share a wireless channel by making use of scheduled times (time
division multiple access), scheduled use of frequencies (frequency division multiple access),
coded spreading of signals (direct sequence spread spectrum), and/or coded frequency hopping
of signals (frequency hopping spread spectrum).
OFDM, which is a multiplexing technology, can also be used as a multiple access technology.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), is based on OFDM.
Note that the ‘M’ in OFDM stands for multiplexing, but the ‘M’ in OFDMA stands for multiple.
In OFDM, the spectrum is divided into many subcarriers for multiplexing efficiency, such as
longer symbol durations, etc.
Now we can do multiple access over OFDM by allocating different subsets of subcarriers to
different users.
We can even change the subcarrier subset over time to make more efficient allocation over
time. Such dynamic allocation of subcarrier subsets of OFDM is called OFDMA.
In OFDM, all subcarriers are given to the same user. Then using TDMA, OFDM subcarriers can
be shared between different users, but that would be TDMA, not OFDMA.
In OFDMA, we see a 2D scheduling framework, where different users are allocated a different
‘block’, i.e., a subset of subcarriers over certain time slots.
OFDMA has been used in cellular systems for many years and is currently being considered for
the latest WiFi standard.
 Pilots Carriers Data Carriers Pilots Carriers Data Carriers
Sub-Channel #1 Sub-Channel #1 Sub-Channel #1 Sub-Channel #x

Total Frequency Band

Guard Band Guard Band
 Benefits of OFDM
OFDM has several advantages:

❑ frequency selective fading only adversely affects some subcarriers and not the whole
signal.

frequency selective fading only adversely affects some subcarriers and not the whole signal.
❑ Efficient use of Spectrum
OFDM is able to drastically improve
the use of frequency spectrum.

❑ With OFDM, the subcarriers can be packed tightly together because there is minimal
interference between adjacent subcarriers (zero interference if the carrier spacing is not
corrupted)
❑ OFDM overcomes intersymbol interference (ISI) in a multipath environment.
• ISI has a greater impact at higher bit rates; because the distance between bits, or
symbols, is smaller, the expansion of time due to multipath easily interferes with
subsequent bits. With OFDM, the data rate per carrier is reduced by a factor of N,
which increases the symbol time by a factor of N.
• Thus, if the symbol period is Ts for the source stream, the period for the OFDM signals
is NTs. This dramatically reduces the effect of ISI because the symbols are
substantially longer.
• As a design criterion, N is chosen so that NTs is significantly greater than the delay
spread of the channel.
• Even the spread in the time delays of the multipath components does not affect the
signal substantially.
Thank
You