02/02/2017 Concepts of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and 802.

11 WLAN

ConceptsofOrthogonalFrequencyDivisionMultiplexing
(OFDM)and802.11WLAN
ItsimportanttohaveafundamentalunderstandingofOrthogonalFrequencyDivisionMultiplexing(OFDM)becausethis
technologyisabasicbuildingblockformanyofthecurrentmodulationschemesincluding802.11WLAN,802.16WiMAX,
and3GPPLTE.ThistopicdiscussesthebasicconceptsofOFDMandhowOFDMisimplementedin802.11aWLANmodulation.
ThebasicOFDMprincipleswillbeintroducedusingasimpleanalogOFDMimplementationandthenthoseconceptswillbe
extendedtothedigitaldomainwithasimpledigitalOFDMimplementationwhichutilizestheFFTtransformandDSP
technology.ThediscussionendswithanexplanationofhowOFDMisimplementedin802.11aWLANandhowtheOFDM
symbolandburstiscreated.

IntroductiontoOFDMOrthogonalFrequencyDivisionMultiplexing
OrthogonalFrequencyDivisionMultiplexing(OFDM)isadigitalmulticarriermodulationschemethatextendstheconceptof
singlesubcarriermodulationbyusingmultiplesubcarrierswithinthesamesinglechannel.Ratherthantransmitahighrate
streamofdatawithasinglesubcarrier,OFDMmakesuseofalargenumberofcloselyspacedorthogonalsubcarriersthatare
transmittedinparallel.Eachsubcarrierismodulatedwithaconventionaldigitalmodulationscheme(suchasQPSK,16QAM,
etc.)atlowsymbolrate.However,thecombinationofmanysubcarriersenablesdataratessimilartoconventionalsingle
carriermodulationschemeswithinequivalentbandwidths.

OFDMisbasedonthewellknowntechniqueofFrequencyDivisionMultiplexing(FDM).InFDMdifferentstreamsof
informationaremappedontoseparateparallelfrequencychannels.EachFDMchannelisseparatedfromtheothersbya
frequencyguardbandtoreduceinterferencebetweenadjacentchannels.

TheOFDMschemediffersfromtraditionalFDMinthefollowinginterrelatedways:

1.Multiplecarriers(calledsubcarriers)carrytheinformationstream,

2.Thesubcarriersareorthogonaltoeachother,and

3.Aguardintervalisaddedtoeachsymboltominimizethechanneldelayspreadandintersymbolinterference.

ThefollowingfigureillustratesthemainconceptsofanOFDMsignalandtheinterrelationshipbetweenthefrequencyand
timedomains.Inthefrequencydomain,multipleadjacenttonesorsubcarriersareeachindependentlymodulatedwith
complexdata.AnInverseFFTtransformisperformedonthefrequencydomainsubcarrierstoproducetheOFDMsymbolin
thetimedomain.Theninthetimedomain,guardintervalsareinsertedbetweeneachofthesymbolstopreventinter
symbolinterferenceatthereceivercausedbymultipathdelayspreadintheradiochannel.Multiplesymbolscanbe
concatenatedtocreatethefinalOFDMburstsignal.AtthereceiveranFFTisperformedontheOFDMsymbolstorecoverthe
originaldatabits.

UnderstandingOFDM
SimpleAnalogOFDMsystemImplementation
WewilluseasimpleanalogbasedimplementationtoshowthebasicprinciplesofgeneratinganOFDMsignal.Inthissimple
OFDMsystemthereareNsinusoidalinputsignals.Eachsubcarriertransmitsonebitofinformation(Nbitstotal)asindicated
byitspresenceorabsenceintheoutputspectrum.Thefrequencyofeachsubcarrierisselectedtoformanorthogonalsignal
set.Thesefrequenciesarealsoknownatthereceiverforsignalrecovery.Notethattheoutputisupdatedataperiodic
intervalTthatformsthesymbolperiod.Tomaintainorthogonality,Tmustbethereciprocalofthesubcarrierspacing.

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UnderstandingOrthogonalityTheImportanceofOrthogonallySpacedSubcarriers?
TheOFDMsignalcanbedescribedasasetofcloselyspacedFDMsubcarriers.Inthefrequencydomain,eachtransmitted
subcarrierresultsinasincfunctionspectrumwithsidelobesthatproduceoverlappingspectrabetweensubcarriers,see
"OFDMSignalFrequencySpectra"figurebelow.Thisresultsinsubcarrierinterferenceexceptatorthogonallyspaced
frequencies.Atorthogonalfrequencies,theindividualpeaksofsubcarriersalllineupwiththenullsoftheothersubcarriers.
Thisoverlapofspectralenergydoesnotinterferewiththesystemsabilitytorecovertheoriginalsignal.Thereceiver
multiplies(i.e.,correlates)theincomingsignalbytheknownsetofsinusoidstorecovertheoriginalsetofbitssent.

Theuseoforthogonalsubcarriersallowsmoresubcarriersperbandwidthresultinginanincreaseinspectralefficiency.Ina
perfectOFDMsignal,Orthogonalitypreventsinterferencebetweenoverlappingcarriers.InFDMsystems,anyoverlapinthe
spectrumsofadjacentsignalswillresultininterference.InOFDMsystems,thesubcarrierswillinterferewitheachotheronly
ifthereisalossoforthogonality.Forexample,frequencyerrorwillcausethesubcarrierfrequenciestoshiftsothatthe
spectralnullswillnolongerbealignedresultinginintersubcarrierinterference

SimpleDigitalOFDMsystemImplementationusingFFTtransforms
TheconceptsusedinthesimpleanalogOFDMimplementationcanbeextendedtothedigitaldomainbyusingacombination
ofFastFourierTransform(FFT)andInverseFastFourierTransform(IFFT)digitalsignalprocessing.Thesetransformsare
importantfromtheOFDMperspectivebecausetheycanbeviewedasmappingdigitallymodulatedinputdata(datasymbols)
ontoorthogonalsubcarriers.Inprinciple,theIFFTtakesfrequencydomaininputdata(complexnumbersrepresentingthe
modulatedsubcarriers)andconvertsittothetimedomainoutputdata(analogOFDMsymbolwaveform).

InadigitallyimplementedOFDMsystem,theinputbitsaregroupedandmappedtosourcedatasymbolsthatareacomplex
numberrepresentingthemodulationconstellationpoint(e.g.,theBPSKorQAMsymbolsthatwouldbepresentinasingle
subcarriersystem).Thesecomplexsourcesymbolsaretreatedbythetransmitterasthoughtheyareinthefrequency
domainandaretheinputstoanIFFTblockthattransformsthedataintothetimedomain.TheIFFTtakesinNsource
symbolsatatimewhereNisthenumberofsubcarriersinthesystem.EachoftheseNinputsymbolshasasymbolperiodof
Tseconds.RecallthattheoutputoftheIFFTisNorthogonalsinusoids.Theseorthogonalsinusoidseachhaveadifferent
frequencyandthelowestfrequencyisDC.

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Theinputsymbolsarecomplexvaluesrepresentingthemappedconstellationpointandthereforespecifyboththeamplitude
andphaseofthesinusoidforthatsubcarrier.TheIFFToutputisthesummationofallNsinusoids.Thus,theIFFTblock
providesasimplewaytomodulatedataontoNorthogonalsubcarriers.TheblockofNoutputsamplesfromtheIFFTmake
upasingleOFDMsymbol.

Aftersomeadditionalprocessing,thetimedomainsignalthatresultsfromtheIFFTistransmittedacrosstheradiochannel.
Atthereceiver,anFFTblockisusedtoprocessthereceivedsignalandbringitintothefrequencydomainwhichisusedto
recovertheoriginaldatabits.

Simple802.11aOFDMSignalImplementation
An802.11aOFDMcarriersignal(bursttype)isthesumofoneormoreOFDMsymbolseachcomprisedof52orthogonal
subcarriers,withbasebanddataoneachsubcarrierbeingindependentlymodulatedusingquadratureamplitudemodulation
(availableformats:BPSK,QPSK,16QAM,or64QAM).ThiscompositebasebandsignalisusedtomodulateamainRF
carrier.

TobegintheOFDMsignalcreationprocess,theinputdatabitstreamisencodedwithconvolutionalcodingandInterleaving.
Eachdatastreamisdividedintogroupsof"n"bits(1bitBPSK,2bitsQPSK,4bits16QAM,or6bits64QAM)and
convertedintocomplexnumbers(I+jQ)representingthemappedconstellationpoint.Notethatthebitratewillbedifferent
dependingonthemodulationformat,a64QAMconstellation(6bitsatatime)canhaveabitrateof54MbpswhileaQPSK
constellation(2bitsattime)mayonlybe12Mbps.

Then52binsoftheIFFTblockareloaded.48binscontaintheconstellationpointswhicharemappedintofrequencyoffset
indexesrangingfrom26to+26,skippingthe4Pilotandzerobins.Thereare4Pilotsubcarriersinsertedintofrequency
offsetindexlocations21,7,+7,and+21.ThezerobinistheNullorDCsubcarrierandisnotuseditcontainsa0value
(0+j0).

WhentheIFFTblockiscompletelyloaded,theInverseFFTiscomputed,givingasetofcomplextimedomainsamples
representingthecombinedOFDMsubcarrierwaveform.Thesamplesareclockedoutat20Mspstocreatea3.2us

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(20Msps/64)durationOFDMwaveform.TocompletetheOFDMsymbol,a0.8usdurationGuardInterval(GI)isthenadded
tothebeginningoftheOFDMwaveform.Thisproducesa"single"OFDMsymbolwithatimedurationof4usinlength,(3.2
us+0.8us).TheprocessisrepeatedtocreateadditionalOFDMsymbolsfortheremaininginputdatabits.

TocompletetheOFDMframestructure,thesingleOFDMsymbolsareconcatenatedtogetherandthenappendedtoa16us
Preamble(usedforsynchronization)anda4usSIGNALsymbol(providesRateandLengthinformation).Thiscompletesthe
OFDMframeandisreadytobetransmittedasanOFDMBurst.

SeeAlso

802.11OFDMWLANOverview

About802.11a/g/j/pOFDMModulationAnalysis

Copyright20002016KeysightTechnologies,Inc.

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