Bit Error Rate Analysis of 4G
Communication Systems
Tsering Lamo
M.Tech,
Dept. of Communication and Networks,
NIT ROURKELA,
Orissa, India.
218EC5120@nitrkl.ac.in
Abstract—In wireless communication there is an endless quest
for increased capacity and improved quality. MIMO-OFDM
system has been currently recognized as one of the most compet-
itive technology for 4G mobile wireless systems. OFDM may be
combined with antenna arrays at the transmitter and receiver to
increase the diversity gain and/or to enhance the system capacity
on time-variant and frequency-selective channels, resulting in
a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration. The
performance measures are the bit error rate and average spectral
efficiency of the system. The BER performance depends on the
employed detection scheme, signal to noise ratio (SNR) and
diversity order.
In this paper, a channel estimation method based on Kalman
filter with STBC codes for multiple-input multiple-output
(MIMO) systems. Simulations have been done in MATLAB for
time-varying Rayleigh faded channels for BPSK. The technique
being used seems to obtain an error performance closer to
that of a known channel information in severely faded channel
considerations.
Keywords– OFDM; BPSK; SNR; STBC; MMSE
I. I NTRODUCTION
High-performance next generation broadband wireless com-
munication system can be achieved by the use of multiple
antennas at the transmitter and receiver ends. A multiple input
multiple output (MIMO) system provides multiple independent
transmission channels, thus, under certain conditions, leading
to a channel capacity that increases linearly with the num-
ber of antennas. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) is an effective technique for high data rate wire-
less mobile communication. MIMO-OFDM technology is a
combination of MIMO wireless technology with OFDM that
has been recognized as one of the most promising techniques
to support high data rate and high performance in different
channel conditions. [4]
II. L ITERATURE R EVIEW
A. Fourth Generation Communicaation System:
The evolution of 3G into 4G systems includes the cre-
ation and development of new services, and is enabled by
advancement of the technology available for mobile systems,
in terms of competition between mobile operators, challenges
from other mobile technologies, new regulation of spectrum
Kailash
M.Tech,
Dept. of Communication and Networks,
NIT ROURKELA,
Orissa, India.
218EC5333@nitrkl.ac.in
use, market aspects of mobile systems, the mobile position
and the mobility and roaming capabilities etc.
Long Term Evolution LTE/LTE-Advanced and Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) are called
4G technologies, based on packet-switched services and IP
were made the primary design target. 4G systems supports data
rate about 100-200Mbps. Applicable for high-speed internet
backbone services such as video calling, online gaming and
high definition TV (HDTV) often based on optical fibre
networks, packet-switched services and VOIP. [1]
B. MIMO and OFDM:
The OFDM modulation transforms a broadband, frequency-
selective channel into multiple parallel narrow-band single
channels. A guard interval also known as the Cyclic Prefix
(CP) is inserted between the individual symbols. This guard
interval is kept long enough to compensate for jitter in the
transmission channel. As the transmitted OFDM symbols
experience different delays through the transmission channel,
there is a variation in these delays at the receiver location as
well. This variation is called jitter. The inter-symbol interfer-
ence (ISI) can be prevented in this way. It has been shown
in that OFDM can be favourably combined with multiple
antennas on the sending side as well as the receiving side
to increase diversity gain and/or transmission capacity in
time-varying and frequency-selective channels. The result is
the MIMO-OFDM systems. The general structure of MIMO-
OFDM system is shown in figure 1. This system comprises
of 2 transmit and 2 receive antennae. To obtain the OFDM
signal for each of the antennae, Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
(IFFT) is applied which can be detected by applying Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT). For the channel estimation, a pilot
sequence is inserted and used. Also, at the last step of OFDM
modulation block, a cyclic prefix is inserted just ahead of the
OFDM symbol. The important point here is to keep the time
length of the CP greater than the maximum delay spread of
the channel. The main function of the cyclic prefix is to guard
the OFDM symbol against Inter Symbol Interference (ISI),
hence, this cyclic prefix is called the guard interval of the
OFDM symbols. MIMO coding can use several encoders such
as STBC coding.
 One space time codeword has N = NT * T symbols.
At the receiver, first the CP is removed, then the FFT is
applied and the transmitted symbol stream is estimated using
the received signal.
Distribution= Rayleigh distribution
Transmitted and Received Symbols:
{Xit }N T
i=1

{Yjt }N R
j=1

i = number of transmitting antenna

j = number of receiving antenna
htji = channel gain matrix
p
Fig. 1. MIMO-OFDM System Block Y = Ex /NT × N0 × H × X + Z

Fig. 3. Space Time Block Code block diagram for MIMO-OFDM

Fig. 2. MIMO Structure

D. Wireless Communication System:

C. Space Time Coding for Transmit Diversity :
The primary purpose of space time codes is to achieve send
side diversity by coding the information in spatial and temporal
dimensions. Replication of a single stream of data is done and
then transmitted over multiple antennas. Space Time Codes,
which are a mathematical algorithm, are then used to encode
redundant data. This ensures each transmitted signal to be
orthogonal to the rest of the transmitted signal thus greatly
reducing the interference among the signals and improving
the receivers capability to distinguish the multiple signals it
receives. After the Space Time Codes, the Space Time Block
Codes (STBC) were developed to lessen the complexity at the
receiver. This leads to simpler receiver development.
1) Space Time Block Code-OFDM System Model: : The
Space Time Block Coded MIMO-OFDM in consideration
has NT transmitting antennas and NR receiving antennas as
shown in Figure 2. The message bit sequence is mapped
into a sequence of BPSK symbols that will be converted
into N parallel symbol streams after serial-to-parallel (STP)
conversion. All the individual N parallel symbol sub streams
are then encoded by the STBC Encoder to
xi ; wherei = 1, 2, 3....NT
I = Antenna index
T = Symbol Time Index
Due to the fading effect of multipath channel, the fading
SNR is,
SN RF = a2 (p2 /σ 2 ) = a2 × SN R,
p
BER = Q( SN RF ), (1)
p
BER = Q( a2 × SN R)
Average BER for BPSK modulation in Rayleigh fading can
be obtained as,
1 p 1
Avg.BER = (1 − SN R/(2 + SN R)) = (2)
2 2SN R
BER of wireless system decreases as SNR increases due
to the fading nature of the channel. To combat the fading,
allow the transmission over the alternative paths; the process is
known as”Diversity”. Diversity gain can be achieved by space-
time coding (STC) which can improve the connection quality
or improve modulation gradation. The MIMO system is that
the constructing block for wireless communication systems.
Since it offers high data rate and better performance with less
noise makes it possible for efficient wireless link for transmit
diversity. Multiple antennas utilize the spatial measurement
moreover to the time and frequency, without changing the
bandwidth. OFDM System is used to reduce the Bit Error
Rate and the Inter symbol Interference (ISI) taking place where
within the wireless channel. Alamouti Space Time Block Code α = E[hij(t + 1) ∗ hij ∗ (t)] (9)
scheme for MIMO system is widely employed in 4G wireless
technologies because of its decoding simplicity and transmit According to Kalman algorithm, the estimate of the channel
diversity in multipath fading channel. Therefore, higher data at time (n+1) given (n) can be expressed as:
rate and high performance can be improved through the
ĥ(n + 1) = aĥ(n) + kn en (10)
combination of MIMO OFDM with STBC system. [3]
where the Kalman Gain k(n) be given as,
III. M ETHODS /A PPROACHES
A. A 2*2 MIMO-OFDM using STBC System kn = apn x∗n rn−1 (11)
A 2*2 MIMOOFDM with STBC system is designed which ’p(n)’ is the covariance matrix, given as
has multiple transmitter and multiple receive antennas to
improve the data rate of the wireless communication system.
Space time block coding is a technique used to transmit more
than one copy of the data stream across a number of antennas.
A MIMO system with Nt transmit antennas and Nr receive
antennas has a maximum diversity gain of NtNr.
STBC can be represented by way of a matrix as proven
in equation (3), with first column corresponds to the symbol
transmitted from the primary antenna and second column cor-
responds to the symbol transmitted from the second antenna,
the primary row represents the first transmission period t and
second row represents the second transmission period t+1. Fig. 4. Block diagram of Kalman System model
During first symbol period t, the primary antenna transmits
s1 and the second antenna transmit s2.During the second
symbol period t+1, the first antenna transmits s2* and the pn+1 = a(aI − kn xTn )pn + Qn+1 (12)
second antenna transmit s1*. [2]
  And the state measurement vector is,
s1 s2
S= . (3) en = yn − ŷn = yn − xTn ĥn (13)
−s∗2 s∗1
The STBC OFDM system outputs are four Nt 1 vectors as Thus the estimated value of the channel response can be
shown below obtained. [12]

X1 [t] = [S1 S3 ....S2Na −1 ]T (4) IV. S IMULATION R ESULTS :

The simulation model of MIMO-OFDM with STBC is sim-
X2 [t] = [S2 S4 ....S2Na ]T (5) ulated using Matlab code in Matlab R2018a.The Graph plot of
BER vs SNR for 2*2 MIMO system using OFDM modulation
technique with Alamouti(STBC) algorithm obtaines as shown
X1 [t + 1] = [S2∗ S4∗ ....S2N
∗
a
]T = −X2 [t]∗ (6) in below figure:

X2 [t + 1] = [S1∗ S3∗ ....S2N

∗
a −1
]T = X1 [t]∗ (7)
B. Channel Estimation using Kalman Filter Algorithm
For time varying MIMO channels, Kalman filter is used as
tracking mechanism based on a low order autoregressive(AR)
model. [9] The input state space equations for tracking the
time varying MIMO channel can be expressed as:
hn = ahn−1 + vn ,
(8)
y(n) = xTn hn + wn

where, h(n) = channel tap v(n) = system input noise vector

w(n) = measurement noise vector a = time varying transition
diagonal vector of autoregressive model factor
Fig. 5. BER vs SNR plot for 2*2 MIMO system
α,
 V. C ONCLUSION
This paper primarily deals with the implementation of
MIMO-OFDM technology which is the latest technique for in-
creasing spectral efficiency and data rates for future broadband
wireless communications. The concepts of space time coding
and the emergence of space time block coding were discussed
and the mathematical model of STBC-OFDM was derived and
explained. The STBC-OFDM technique estimation methods
offer good performance. The paper presents theoritical Kalman
filter based channel estimator, which leads to a significant gain
in the performance as compared to the other estimator. The
Kalman filter also allows us to predict the state of the before
the frame is actually received.
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