Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiple Access
(OFDMA)

Khaja Mohammad Shazzad

Outline

1. Background
Multiple Access (MA) Methods
2. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) Based Multiple Access (OFDMA)
Orthogonality Principle
OFDM
OFDM-FDMA
3. Advantages and Disadvantages of OFDMA
4. Conclusion
2
Multiple Access (MA)

General wireless cellular systems are multi-users

systems
Radio resource are limited
Limited Bandwidth
Limited number of channels
The radio resource must be shared among multiple
users
Multiple Access Control (MAC) needed
Contention-based
Non-contention-based
Contention-based
Multiple Access(MA)

Contention-based
Each terminal transmits in a decentralized way
No central controller (Base stations or access points)
Example:
ALOHA
Carrier Sensing Multiple Access (CSMA)
Standard:
GSM [l] uses the slotted ALOHA in the terminals initial
access process
IEEE 802.11 uses CSMA/CA based contention access
scheme

4
Non-contention-based
Multiple Access (MA)

A logic controller (BS or AP) is needed to

coordinate the transmissions of all the terminals
The controller informs each device when and on
which channel it can transmit
Collisions can be avoided entirely
Two Subdivisions
1. Non-channelization
2. Channelization
Non-channelization
Non-contention-based MA

Terminals transmit sequentially using the same

channel
Example:
Polling based medium access
Standard:
IEEE 802.15(WPAN)
IEEE 802.11(WLAN)
Channelization
Non-contention-based MA

Terminals transmit simultaneously using different channels

Most commonly used protocols in cellular systems
Example:
1. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
2. Code Division Multiple Access( CDMA)
1. Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
Standard
1. GSM (TDMA)
2. IS-95 (CDMA)
3. American Mobile Phone System, AMPS (FDMA)
Time Division Multiple Access
(TDMA)

GSM
Time slot 0.577 ms
Frame 4.6 ms
8 time slots per frame
Frequency band 20 KHz

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Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)

IS-95
Orthogonal Walsh codes
64 codes (channels)
One pilot channel
Seven paging channels
55 traffic channels
Each carrier 1.25 MHz
Frequency Division Multiple Access
(FDMA)

American Mobile Phone

System (AMPS)
Total Bandwidth 25 MHz
Each Channel 30 KHz
Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM) Based Multiple
Access (OFDMA)

Orthogonality Principle
OFDM
OFDM-FDMA
Orthogonality Principle

Vector space
A, B and C vectors in
space are orthogonal to
each other B
A.B=B.C=C.A=0
(A+B+C).A=(mod A)^2
(A+B+C).B=(mod B)^2
A
(A+B+C).C=(mod C)^2
C

12
Orthogonality Principle cont..

Real Function space

f1 (t ) A sin( wt )
f 2 (t ) B cos( wt )
T
f1 (t ) f 2 (t ) dt 0
f m (t ) M sin( mwt)
f n (t ) N cos( nwt )
T
f m (t ) f n (t ) dt 0
Orthogonality Principle cont..

m.n
T
sin(mwt)sin(nwt)dt 0 where m n
0
T
sin(mwt)cos(nwt)dt 0
f (t ) sin( wt ) sin(2wt ) 0

Here mw and nw are called

m-th and n-th harmonics of
w respectively
Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing(OFDM)

It is a special kind of FDM

The spacing between carriers are such that
they are orthogonal to one another
Therefore no need of guard band between
carriers.
One example makes the thing clear

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Example of OFDM

Lets we have following information bits

1, 1, -1, -1, 1, 1, 1, -1, 1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 1, -1, -1,
Just converts the serials bits to parallel bits
C1 C2 C3 C4

1 1 -1 -1
1 1 1 -1
1 -1 -1 -1
-1 1 -1 -1
-1 1 1 -1
-1 -1 1 1
 Example of OFDM cont..

Modulate each column with corresponding sub-carrier using BPSK

Modulated signal for C1 Modulated signal for C2

Modulated signal for C3 Modulated signal for C4

Example of OFDM cont..

Final OFDM Signal = Sum of all signal

V(t)
V (t ) I (t ) sin( 2nt )
N 1

n
n 0

Generated OFDM signal, V(t)

OFDM-FDMA (OFDMA)

Each terminal occupies

a subset of sub-carriers
Subset is called an user4
OFDMA traffic channel user3
Each traffic channel is
user2
assigned exclusively to
one user at any time user1
OFDM-FDMA (OFDMA)

The IEEE 802.16e/ WiMax use OFDMA as

Multiple access technique
Bandwidth options 1.25, 5, 10, or 20 MHz
Entire bandwidth divided into 128, 512, 1024 or
2048 sub carriers
20 MHz bandwidth with 2048 sub carriers has 9.8
KHz spacing between sub carriers
OFDM-FDMA (System View)
Advantages of OFDMA

Multi-user Diversity
broadband signals experience frequency selective
fading
OFDMA allows different users to transmit over
different portions of the broadband spectrum (traffic
channel)
Different users perceive different channel qualities,
a deep faded channel for one user may still be
favorable to others

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Advantages of OFDMA cont..

Multi-user Diversity
Advantages of OFDMA cont..

Efficient use of Spectrum

4/3 Hz per symbol

6/5 Hz per symbol

Advantages of OFDMA cont..

Receiver Simplicity
It eliminates the intra-cell interference avoiding
CDMA type of multi-user detection
Orthogonality of code destroyed by selective
fading
Only FFT processor is required
Bit Error Rate performance is better only in Fading
environment
Disadvantages of OFDMA
2
Peak to average power x(t )
ratio (PAPR) PAPR
P avg

The large amplitude variation increases in-band noise and

increases the BER when the signal has to go through amplifier
nonlinearities.
Disadvantages of OFDMA cont..

Synchronization
Tight Synchronization between users are
required for FFT in receiver
Pilot signals are used for synchronizations
Co-channel interference
Dealing with this is more complex in OFDM than in CDMA
Dynamic channel allocation with advanced
coordination among adjacent base stations

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Research issues and Conclusion

Future works
Peak-to-average power reduction in OFDM
Timing and Frequency Synchronization
Efficient digital signal processing Implementation of OFDM
Multiple input/Multiple output (MIMO) OFDM
Conclusion
Different variations of OFDMA are proposed and
have different pros and cons

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Thank You

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