OFDM signal analysis and performance evaluation

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is the most popular multi-carrier waveform that is used to achieve high spectral efficiencies. This chapter provides an in-depth understanding of OFDM as well as its performance in the presence of a multipath channel and various radio frequency (RF) impairments. First, a simple OFDM system in a multipath channel with additive white Gaussian noise is modeled and analyzed, then the effect of the multipath channel and RF impairments on the OFDM signal are investigated. Next, coherent and differential OFDM signaling is discussed. Single carrier frequency domain equalization is an alternative to OFDM for broadband communication systems, and it also employs the equalization process in the frequency domain. The digital baseband transceiver of an OFDM system is studied in detail, and the emphasis is on the measurement-based receiver design.