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Overview about OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

Research · August 2017

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11935.05282

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Overview about OFDM (Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing)
Sharing the frequency spectrum over the air through AM (amplitude modulation) and FM
(frequency modulation) for the different radio stations is achieved via Frequency Division Multiplexing
(FDM). The frequency spectrum builds from the plots of the harmonics (transfer function) versus
frequency (amplitude and phases). Multiplexing is defined as the simultaneous transmission of multiple
signals. Modulation process is translation (shifting) each signal to a different frequency range, allowing
multiple signals to be sent at the same time in the same medium. Without the modulation, all multiple
signals will be interfering with each other because all baseband signals effectively have similar
bandwidth. The channel bandwidth is larger than that of the signal. Thus, without modulation (transmit
one signal at a time) is highly wasteful process.

A sufficient distance apart in frequency is required to manage the multiple signal transmission
with various carriers. Then, the spectra of the modulated signals will not overlap and thus it will not
interfere with each other. FDM is the method of transmitting and sharing several signals simultaneously
over non-overlapping frequency bands (several signals with different frequency share the same
channel). The channel bandwidth is shared by various signals without any overlapping. FDM is used

1. In multiple T.V. stations carried over the same cable (broadcast T.V.).
2. AM and FM radio broadcastings.
3. Analog telephone long-haul system (two types of carriers: a) legacy analog L-carrier
hierarchy systems, b) digital T-carrier hierarchy systems in North America (E-carrier in
Europe)). The analog one uses FDM and SSB (Single-Side Band) modulation.
a. For type in a):
- Each voice channel is modulated using SSB+C (Single-Side Band with
Carrier).
- 12 voice channels form a basic channel group occupying the bandwidth of
60 to 108kHz.
- Each user channel uses LSB and FDM is obtained by channel separation of
4kHz.
- 5 groups form super-group via FDM.
- 10 super-groups multiplexing generate a master group (50 groups).
- 6 super-groups multiplexing generate a jumb group (30 groups).
- Jumb group consists of 3600 voice channel over frequency band of
16.984MHz in the L4 system.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is done at the transmitter side, and it is one
of the methods of multicarrier communication used to compensate the effect of the Inter
Symbolic Interfering (ISI). ISI is imperfection of the channel due to multipath channels.
 The transmitter (working with the method of OFDM) has partial information (in some
applications) regarding the channel characteristics. One of this information is channel delay
spread for finite channel length and it is giving by below equation:

( ) ∑ [ ] ( )

The channel order L is known at the transmitter while h[k] is still unknown. Given partial channel
information, the particular transmission technique known as OFDM can be implemented at the
transmitter side. OFDM will simplify the receiver equalization. Discrete Multi-tone (DMT) modulation is
slightly different form of OFDM. DMT has basic signal processing operations identical to OFDM. The
difference between DMT and standard OFDM is that DMT transmitters are given knowledge of the sub-
channel information. Therefore, DMT transmits signals of differing constellation on different sub-
channels (sub-carriers).

Real life applications of OFDM and DMT can be found in many fields. OFDM is arguably one of
the most successful signaling techniques for digital communications. Combined with transmitter power
loading and bit loading, the benefits of OFDM include high spectral efficiency and resiliency against RF
interferences and multipath distortion. As a result of many advantages, there are a number of practical
OFDM/DMT communication systems ranging from the wire-line digital subscriber line (DSL) system to
the wireless ultra-wide band (UWB) radio as well as satellite broadcasting.

Data and voice share the same telephone line via frequency division (FD). The data service is
provided by the DSL central office, situated near the DSL modems.

1. Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) has asymmetric data service requirements (number
of downstream subscribers is greater than the number of upstream carriers).

25.875kHz-1104kHz frequency

6-255 subcarriers where 64 and 96 subcarriers are reserved for upstream pilot and downstream pilot.

6-32 subcarriers (25.875kHz-138kHz) allocated for upstream data.

33-255 subcarriers (138kHz-1104kHz) allocated for downstream data.

2. Digital Broadcasting:

 North America (NA): digital television broadcasting at maximum rate of 19.39 Mbit/sec using 8-
VSB modulation, DVB-T (digital video broadcasting-terrestrial) has become a pan-European
Standard, also gaining acceptance in parts of Asia, Latin America, and Australia.
 DVB-T was first introduced in 1997 utilizing OFDM over channel 6, 7, or 8 MHz wide.
 DVB-T specifies three different OFDM transmission modes with increasing complexity for
different target bit rates (video quality).
1. 2048 subcarriers (2k mode)  211
 2. 4096 subcarriers (4k mode)  212
3. 8196 subcarriers (8k mode)  213
 Cyclic prefix length (L) maybe 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, or 1/4 of FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) length in
the three different modes.
 Each subcarrier can have three modulation formats (convert bits to waveform).
1. QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) simpler constellation for poor subcarrier.
2. 16-QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation)
3. 64-QAM (provides high SNR subcarrier).
 DVB-H (digital video broadcasting-handheld) published in 2004 for mobile video reception by
handheld mobile phones.
 OFDM and QAM subcarrier modulation formats for DVB-H remain identical to those for DVB-T.
 For low video quality, DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) applies OFDM but limits itself to
differential QPSK.
3. Broad OFDM applications
- DSL and DVB-T applications of OFDM in digital communication systems.
- DAB (digital audio broadcasting), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g), Wi-Max (IEEE 802.16),
ultra-wide band (UWB) radio (IEEE 802.15.3a), 2GPP, LTE, and HSOPA.
- Perfect candidates for OFDM are direct broadcasting and terrestrial applications (suffer from
multipath distortion).
4. DAB: European project Eureka 147 covers terrestrial digital audio broadcasting and direct
satellite audio broadcasting without directional receiving antennas.

Reference:

1. B. P. Lathi, Modern digital and analog communication systems. Oxford University Press, Inc.,
2010.

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