Chapter 1: Wireless Communications using OFDM 1.
1 Overview of OFDM Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), essentially identical to coded OFDM (COFDM) and discrete multi-tone modulation (DMT), is a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) scheme used as a digital multi-carrier modulation method. A large number of closely-spaced orthogonal sub-carriers are used to carry data. The data is divided into several parallel data streams or channels, one for each sub-carrier. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a conventional modulation scheme such as mQAM (quadrature amplitude modulation )or PSK phase-shift keying) at a low symbol rate, maintaining total data rates similar to conventional single-carrier modulation schemes in the same bandwidth[1]. OFDM has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital communication, whether wireless or over copper wires, used in applications such as digital television and audio broadcasting, wireless networking and broadband internet access.
Figure 1 Overview about OFDM system In communication, using OFDM systems has both precise advantages and disadvantages. Some the most advantages as the following:
-OFDM technique helps more efficient bandwidth usage because it permits sub-carrier to accumulate together. -According to the technique divide information into much sub-information, an OFDM system can eliminate narrowband interference and frequency-selective fading due to multipath without complex equalization filters -An OFDM system can eliminate ISI (Intersymbol interference and ICI (Inter carrier interference) by insert guard interval before every symbol. -Channel equalization is simplified because OFDM may be viewed as using many slowly-modulated narrowband signals rather than one rapidly-modulated wideband signal. -OFDM system is less effective with sample timing offsets than simple carrier system -Using FFT technique in modulation and demodulation help improve calculation. Some disadvantages of OFDM: -It is more sensitive to carrier frequency offset and drift than single carrier systems are due to leakage of the DFT. Moreover the problem of synchronization is very difficult. When we treat to problem symbol synchronization we must take care about both timing errors and carrier noise phase. In addition, problem frequency synchronization is also difficult. The reason why is that we must deal with both sampling frequency synchronization and carrier frequency synchronization. If offset-frequency of subcarrier interfere to other orthogonal sub-carrier it means that the efficiency of demodulation reduce dramatically and ICI. -The problem of high peak to average power ratio (PAPR). It increased complexity of the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. It reduced efficiency of the RF power amplifier [2]. .1.2 Modulation in OFDM The process of mapping the information bits onto the signal constellation plays a fundamental role in determining the properties of the [Link] is a technique used in modern broadband wireless communications systems. To mitigate the effect of dispersive channel distortion in high data rate OFDM systems, cyclic prefix is introduced to eliminate inter-symbol interference (ISI). It copies the end section of an IFFT packet to the beginning of an OFDM symbol. Typically, the length of the cyclic prefix must be longer than the length of the dispersive channel to completely remove ISI. OFDM modulation in a transmitter includes inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) operation and cyclic prefix insertion. In an OFDM receiver, the cyclic prefix is removed before the packet data is sent to FFT for demodulation.
1.2.1 M-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) Modulation In M-QAM modulation technique, m shows that the number of bits is used to encode a symbol. In general, m is power of number two. There are some kinds of M-QAM as the following: 4-QAM, 8-QAM, 16-QAM,-32-QAM The velocity of signal transmitted is enhanced when the number of bits are used to encode a symbol to increase as well as. However, the result of this is that the Bit Error Rate is also increase. Thus; in practical cases we should consider precisely the kind of 4-QAM or 16-QAM or 32-QAM etc. The transmitted M- array QAM signal for symbol i can be expressed as:
Where an,bn are amplitudes taking on the values and
Where M is assumed to be a power of [Link] parameter a can be related to the average signal energy ( Es) by:
Furthermore, in M-QAM we use Gray Code to sort bits. Gray Code is a form of binary that uses a different method of incrementing from one number to the next. With Gray Code, only one bit changes state from one position to another. This feature allows a system designer to perform some error checking (i.e. if more than one bit changes,data
must
be
incorrect)[2].
Figure 4 An example of signal-space diagram for 16-QAM 1.3 Guard Period in OFDM One of the most important properties of OFDM transmissions is its high level of robustness against multipath delay spread. This is a result of the long symbol period used, which minimizes the inter-symbol interference. The level of multipath robustness can be further increased by the addition of a guard period between transmitted symbols. The guard period allows time for multipath signals from the previous symbol to die away before the information from the current symbol is gathered. The most effective guard period to use is a cyclic extension of the symbol. If a mirror in time, of the end of the symbol waveform is put at the start of the symbol as the guard period, this effectively extends the length of the symbol, while maintaining the orthogonally of the waveform. Using this cyclic extended symbol the samples required for performing the FFT (to decode the symbol), can be taken anywhere over the length of the symbol. This provides multipath immunity as well as symbol time synchronization tolerance. As long as the multipath delay echoes stay within the guard period duration, there is strictly no limitation regarding the signal level of the echoes: they may even exceed the signal level of the shorter path! The signal energy from all paths just adds at the input to the receiver, and since the FFT is energy conservative, the whole available power feeds the decoder. If the delay spread is longer than the guard interval then they begin to cause inter-symbol interference. However, provided the echoes are sufficiently small they do not cause significant problems. This is true most of the time as multipath echoes delayed longer than the guard period will have been reflected of very distant objects.
Other variations of guard periods are possible. One possible variation is to have half the guard period a cyclic extension of the symbol, as above, an the other half a zero amplitude signal. This will result in a signal as shown in Figure 6. Using this method the symbols can be easily identified. This possibly allows for symbol timing to be recovered from the signal, simply by applying envelop detection. The disadvantage of using this guard period method is that the zero period does not give any multipath tolerance, thus the effective active guard period is halved in length. It is interesting to note that this guard period method has not been mentioned in any of the research papers read, and it is still not clear whether symbol timing needs to be recovered using this method. If Tg <T delay spread we have:
If Tg >T delay spread we have:
Figure 5: Guard interval and cyclic extension
Figure 6: Interpreting Guard Interval
1.3 Fourier Transform To generate OFDM successfully the relationship between all the carriers must be carefully controlled to maintain the orthogonally of the carriers. For this reason, OFDM is generated by firstly choosing the spectrum required, based on the input data, and modulation scheme used. Each carrier to be produced is assigned some data to transmit. The required amplitude and phase of the carrier is then calculated based on the modulation scheme (typically differential BPSK, QPSK, or QAM). The required spectrum is then converted back to its time domain signal using an Inverse Fourier Transform. In most applications, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) is used. The IFFT performs the transformation very efficiently, and provides a simple way of ensuring the carrier signals produced are orthogonal. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) transforms a cyclic time domain signal into its equivalent frequency spectrum. This is done by finding the equivalent waveform, generated by a sum of orthogonal sinusoidal components. The amplitude and phase of the sinusoidal components represent the frequency spectrum of the time domain signal. The IFFT performs the reverse process, transforming a spectrum (amplitude and phase of each component) into a time domain signal. An IFFT converts a number of complex data points, of length that is a power of 2, into the time domain signal of the same number of points. Each data point in frequency spectrum used for an FFT or IFFT is called a bin.
Figure 7 Overlapping spectrums in OFDM The orthogonal carriers required for the OFDM signal can be easily generated by setting the amplitude and phase of each frequency bin, then performing the IFFT. Since each bin of an IFFT corresponds to the amplitude and phase of a set of orthogonal sinusoids, the reverse process guarantees that the carriers generated are orthogonal.
Figure 8 Basic FFT, OFDM transmitter and receiver 2.1. The development of TMS320C64xx Nowadays, digital signal processing is applied in many fields. As a the result of this, there is more and more researcher use DSP methods to reach higher [Link] are some kinds of DSP and the most popular method is used that we use microprocessor. In this part, we discuss one of microprocessor that DSP Starter Kit (DSK) for the TMS320C64xx which is manufactured by Texas Instrument. More specific the TMS320C6416 DSP is an excellent device for study, research, simulation purpose in order to obtain actual applications. And then we introduce some specific components of TMS320C6416 board.
Figure 9 Block diagram of TMS320C6416 DSP
Understanding about OFDM and TMS320C6416 we construct a model to transfer data from a computer to another computer using two boards TMS320C6416 as the following:
Figure 10 The model of data transmission
2.1.1 Some hardware features: -Texas Instruments TMS3206416 DSP operating at 600 to 720 MHz -Embedded USB JTAG controller with plug and play, USB cable included -TLV320AIC23 codec -2M x 64 on board SDRAM -512K bytes of on board Flash ROM -3 expansion connectors (Memory Interface, Peripheral Interface, and Host Port Interface) -On board IEEE 1149.1 JTAG connection for optional emulator debug -Four 3.5 mm. audio jacks (microphone, line-in, speaker, line-out) -4 user definable LEDs - 4 position dip switch, user definable - +5 Volt operation only, power supply included - Size: 8.25" x 4.5" (210 x 115 mm), 0.062" thick, 6 layers - Compatible with Spectrum Digital's DSK Wire Wrap Prototype Card [3]. 2.1.2 Some Software Features -TMS320C6416 specific Code Composer Studio from Texas Instruments -Test/sample code provided to reduce coding time - Compatible with JTAG emulators from Spectrum Digital -Compatible with Win 98 SE/2000/XP [3]. Reference: [1][Link] [2] Chapter 2-The Basic Principles of OFDM - Reto Ness, Jean-Paul Linnartz, Liesbet Van der Perre and Marc Engels [3] Kane Computing Ltd - [Link]