International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)ISSN: 2319-4413

Volume 1, No. 2, November 2012

i-Xplore International Research Journal Consortium www.irjcjournals.org
1
Implementation of Coded OFDM and IDMA in 4G

T. L. Singal, Professor, ECE Department, Chitkara University, Chandigarh


ABSTRACT
The 4G wireless networks are being developed to make
use of the latest developments in wireless technology
domain. These networks are envisioned to offer higher
bandwidths, up to 100 Mbps, global roaming, and
network scalability. Coded OFDM, a combination of
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)
and code division multiple access (CDMA) has been
considered as an efficient technique due to its
bandwidth efficiency, frequency diversity, high
throughput and immunity to channel dispersion. Low
Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes are used for
Coded OFDM transmission due to its simple iterative
decoding and excellent performance which results in
high throughput. Interleave Division Multiple Access
(IDMA) fulfils the design objectives of bandwidth and
power efficiency, link adaptation with respect to data
rate, data reliability, quality of service, and service
provisioning, low-complexity transceivers, and ability
to operate on frequency selective and fast-fading
channels. In this paper, the salient features as well as
the important technological advancements being
incorporated in 4G wireless networks are described.
The improvement of optimized LDPC-coded OFDMA
system shows an improvement in performance gain in
terms of Frame Error Rate (FER) for more than 1dB
as compared to other coded OFDM techniques. More
improvements can be obtained by using Variable
Spreading Factor Orthogonal Frequency and Code
Division Multiple Access (VSF-OFCDMA) and
optimizing the placement of the information bits in
LDPC codes.

Keywords
FER , IDMA, LDPC, MC-CDMA, OFDM

1. INTRODUCTION

With standardization, development and network trials,
the deployment of 3G wireless networks continue at
slow and steady pace. The growth of 3G deployment is
restricted due to many issues such as available user
data rate, global roaming, network scalability, lack of
affordable handsets and interoperability among diverse
voice/data networks. The realistic achievable data rate
of about 384 kbps in 3G networks is not sufficient to
support all types of multimedia communication. The



4G mobile networks are envisioned to offer higher
user data rate, up to a value of 100 Mbps. Further, 3G
standards define three different Core Network domains
the CS domain (the circuit-switched services), the PS
domain (the packet-switched services), and the IMS
domain (the IP multimedia services). The 4G wireless
network will deploy enhanced network architecture
based on all IP enabled packet-switched network. To
provide broadband access and global roaming, 4G
wireless network is expected to bind different wireless
technologies (the Personal Area Networks such as
Bluetooth, the Local Area Networks WLANs,
enhanced 3G cellular networks, and the satellite-based
mobile networks). [1]. The user wireless terminal has
the potential to become a generic platform for, or
gateway to, the complete range of value-added
communication services that include voice, data, high-
definition video and multimedia. The advancement in
mobile information technologies include ultra high-
speed transmission, wireless Internet protocol IPv6,
and user-controllable software defined radios. The
potential users of 4G networks would be able to access
the Internet as they do in the office anywhere,
anytime but on the move; use cell phone or laptop PC
or any other PDA; choose freely the services,
applications and service providing networks; and
achieve advanced mobile E-commerce applications
with higher levels of data security and integrity during
transactions.

The 3G wireless networks use spread spectrum (SS)
techniques, code division multiple access (CDMA),
and the multicarrier modulation, often represented as
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and/or
multiple access (OFDM/A). For 4G wireless networks,
researchers have started a new trend of combining
these two techniques with the objective of obtaining
advantages of both, and the proposed new technique is
generally termed as Multicarrier CDMA or
Multicarrier Spread Spectrum (MC-SS). Interleaved
Division Multiple Access (IDMA) technique explores
the possibility of employing chip-level interleavers
which can be used to distinguish different users. Multi-
carrier direct-sequence code division multiple access
(MC-DS-CDMA) and Interleave division multiple
access (IDMA) inherits all the advantages of CDMA
with the capability to overcome its deficiencies, and is
one of the strong competitors for 4G wireless
networks.
International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)ISSN: 2319-4413
Volume 1, No. 2, November 2012


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2. MULTI-CARRIER CDMA

The generation of the multi-carrier code division
multiple access (MC-CDMA) signal can be considered
as two sequential steps as shown in Figure 1. [2]. Each
users data is first spreaded with a unique spreading
code of the same length for all users. The spreaded
signals are combined as in a traditional DS-CDMA
system (shown as Spreader). Its output is applied to
OFDM modulator which uses multiple subcarriers,
equal in number to the spreading factor, to transmit
these chips of the CDMA signal, and each subcarrier is
modulated by a single chip.

Fig. 1: Multi-Carrier CDMA Signal Generation

The order of CDMA and OFDM modulation can be
changed in principle, that is, one can use an OFDM
modulator over each users parallel data, spread the
output by each users spreading code, and then
combine all users spread data together for
transmission. Usually after spreading all data symbols
in the corresponding subcarriers, OFDM is used over
the combined chips of all users. [3]. The main
advantage of combining spread-spectrum and OFDM
techniques is the possibility of avoiding degradation in
the performance of the system when there is severe
channel fading for certain subcarrier frequencies. To
achieve this, MC-CDMA transmits signals over larger
bandwidths than most existing systems, so that higher
orders of frequency diversity can be attained. When
the same data is transmitted over different subcarriers
in an OFDM system, frequency diversity can be
effective. Usually, MC-CDMA is used with a large
number of subcarriers in order to provide a large
number of users and exploit frequency diversity.
However, a high peak to average power ratio (PAPR)
is the main drawback of MC-CDMA as with many
other multicarrier systems. MC-CDMA is often
recommended for use in downlink transmission in 4G
cellular networks because of its low receiver
complexity. [4].

In multiuser MC CDMA systems, the frequency
selectivity and variation of the users' geographical
locations give rise to the inter symbol interference
(ISI) which induces a significant performance
degradation of the systems. In order to mitigate ISI,
efficient equalizers and decoders are used. In addition
to the interference suppression, the frequency
selectivity also provides multipath diversity if
appropriately implemented.

3. CODED OFDM

The Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes have
recently received a lot of attention for all the next
generation wireless communication standards due to
their excellent error-correcting capability and the
simplicity of iterative decoding thereby making high
throughput possible [5], [6]. These have been adopted
as an optional error correct coding scheme by
broadband wireless standards Mobile WiMax (IEEE
802.16e) and 4G Wireless Networks. LDPC codes are
linear block codes with parity check matrix consisting
of mostly 0s and very few 1s. This results into a low-
density parity check matrix, hence the name low-
density parity check codes. Typically, LDPC codes are
non-cyclic and are larger than 1000 bits. Once the
design of low-density parity check matrix has been
finalized, the LDPC code is simply its null-space. The
number of 1s in the i
th
row of the parity check matrix
is known as the row weight, and the number of 1s in
the j
th
column of the parity check matrix is known as
the column weight. Both row and column weights are
much smaller than the code length. For regular LDPC
codes, all rows have equal weights as well as all
columns have equal weights. They are easier to
generate. For irregular LDPC codes, the rows weights
and columns weights exhibit certain weight
distributions. They may have better performance with
large code length.

LDPC codes provide near capacity performance over
discrete time Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) channels.
[7].
4. LDPC CODED OFDM
The performance of LDPC codes can be improved
using density evolution algorithm along with optimal
placement of information bits which results in
minimum probability of error.[8]. The block diagram
of LDPC coded OFDM system is shown in the figure
2.










Fig. 2: LDPC coded OFDM system
LDPC
Encoder
Serial to
Parallel
converter
OFDM
Modulator
LDPC
Decoder
Parallel
to Serial
converter
Equalizer OFDM
Demod
Wireless
Channel
International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)ISSN: 2319-4413
Volume 1, No. 2, November 2012


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Multi-carrier direct sequence code division multiple
access (MC-DS-CDMA) scheme is a combination of
time-domain spreading and orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing (OFDM), while multi-carrier
code division multiple access

(MC-CDMA) is a combination of frequency-domain
spreading and OFDM. In MC-CDMA, a good bit error
rate (BER) performance can be achieved by using
frequency-domain equalization (FDE), since the
frequency diversity gain is obtained. On the other
hand, conventional MC-DS-CDMA cannot obtain the
frequency diversity gain. However, MC-DS-CDMA
can obtain the frequency diversity gain by applying
frequency domain equalizer (FDE) to a block of a
number of OFDM symbols.[3], [9].

For broadband multi-path channels,
conventional time domain equalizers are impractical
because of complexity, very long channel impulse
response in the time domain, and prohibitively large
tap size for time domain filter. On the other hand,
using discrete Fourier transform (DFT), equalization
can be done in the frequency domain. Because the
DFT size does not grow linearly with the length of the
channel response, the complexity of FDE is lower than
that of the equivalent time domain equalizer for
broadband channel. Most of the time domain
equalization techniques such as MMSE equalizer,
DFE, turbo equalizer can be implemented in the
frequency domain. [10]. In MC-CDMA, a good bit
error rate (BER) performance can be achieved by
using frequency-domain equalization (FDE), since the
frequency diversity gain is obtained and the
complexity of FDE is lower than that of the equivalent
time domain equalizer for broadband channel.

5. INTERLEAVE DIVISION MULTIPLE
ACCESS

Interleave Division Multiple Access (IDMA)
technique explores the possibility of employing chip-
level interleavers for user separation. Users are solely
distinguished by their interleavers. The key principle
of IDMA is that the interleavers should be different for
different users. [11]. In IDMA, FEC encoding and
spreading may be done jointly by a single low-rate
encoder. Interleaving is done on a chip-by-chip basis.
Due to interleaving, the code is nonlinear. Multiple
code words can be linearly superimposed in order to
enhance the data rate per user. The interleavers are
generated independently and randomly, and they
disperse the coded sequences so that the adjacent chips
are approximately uncorrelated. This facilitates the
simple chip-by-chip detection scheme by an iterative
sub-optimal receiver structure, which consists of an
elementary signal estimator and K single-user a-
posteriori probability decoders. This principle has
worked well for user separation in coded systems.

For the uplink, IDMA scheme can support a high
number of active users, each of them using a different
random interleaver suitable for long blocks. As the
interleavers work on the spreaded bit sequence, the
requirement of long block lengths can be easy
satisfied. It is also possible to perform the spreading
over multiple sub-carriers to obtain an multi-carrier
IDMA system. This can be viewed as an extension of
multi-carrier CDMA systems. [12].

For wideband systems, the performance improvement
by assigning different interleavers to different users in
conventional CDMA has been under extensive
research. Chip interleaved CDMA scheme alongwith a
maximal-ratio-combining technique to combat
Intersymbol interference has shown good results for
high spectral efficiency, improved error performance
and low receiver complexity. The performance
analysis for a conventional CDMA multi-user
detection scheme requires the knowledge of the
correlation characteristics among code sequences. It
can be a quite complicated issue and sophisticated
large random matrix theory has been used. IDMA does
not involve code sequences, which greatly simplifies
the multi-user detection problem. Asynchronous
interleave-division multiple-access scheme for spread
spectrum mobile communication systems distinguishes
the users by different chip-level interleavers instead of
by different codes as in a conventional CDMA system.
The bandwidth expansion is entirely performed by
low-rate coding. It also allows a low complexity
multiple user detection techniques applicable to
systems with large numbers of users in multipath
channels. The IDMA scheme can achieve performance
close to the capacity of a multiple access channel and
the use of low-rate codes can further enhance the
power efficiency of IDMA systems. IDMA system can
also exhibit security features of an efficient crypto
system. The performance of the IDMA scheme with
simple convolutional/repetition codes exhibits overall
throughputs of 3 bits/chip with one receive antenna
and 6 bits/chip with two receive antennas are observed
for systems with as many as about 100 users. [13].

IDMA-based systems can be made highly adaptive in
order to guarantee a certain quality of service (QoS)
level, defined by a maximum bit error rate, a minimum
data rate, and a maximum delay (especially for packet
based services), depending on the application. [14].
Instead of using adaptive modulation and/or channel
coding, IDMA modifies the number of layers and the
transmission power. The number of layers used for
transmission can be reduced if the data rate is higher
than needed or, if the data rate cannot be reduced for
International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)ISSN: 2319-4413
Volume 1, No. 2, November 2012


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QoS reasons, the transmit power can be increased until
the target bit-error-rate (BER) is achieved. With a
higher number of layers assigned to a user, its data rate
is higher. To ensure a certain BER, the power can be
adapted as well. [15], [16].

6. PERFORMANCE OF CODED OFDM

The BER performance of LDPC Codes with different
block lengths of 10
3
, 10
4
and 10
5
increases as the block
length increases. Figure 3 gives the LDPC thresholds
over OFDM and LDPC thresholds over an ISI channel.
[17].


Fig. 3: Performance of OFDM with LDPC

It is observed that LDPC codes over OFDM gives an
improvement of performance gain of 1 dB in
comparison to other codes. Higher rates LDPC offer
the capacity comparable to OFDM capacity.

7. CONCLUSION

Coded OFDM has the potential of achieving gain
performance in signals transmitted in wireless
communications. LDPC codes are preferred in Coded
OFDM transmission due to simple iterative decoding
and high throughput. With optimization of placement
of information bits in LDPC codes (at the cost of
increased complexity), further improvement in
performance of LDPC coded MC-CDMA system can
be obtained. IDMA fulfils the design objectives of 4G
wireless networks which includes efficiency
(bandwidth as well as power), target user data rates of
up to 100 Mbps for high mobility and even up to 1
Gbps for low mobility or local wireless access),
adaptivity (link adaptation with respect to data rate,
data reliability, quality of service, service
provisioning), low-complexity transceivers, and ability
to operate on frequency selective and fast-fading
channels. IDMA is particularly useful for the uplink of
new wireless systems, as well as for an evolution of
existing DSSS-CDMA systems. The extension of
IDMA to MIMO based 4G wireless networks is
possible with superposition of different layers at the
transmitter side and their separation at the receiver
side.

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Volume 1, No. 2, November 2012


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Prof. T. L. Singal has worked in the field of Wireless and
Cellular Mobile Networks with leading telecom companies
in India, Germany and USA during 1981-2002. He held the
position of Senior Network Consultant in Flextronics
International Inc., Dallas (Texas), USA to offer optimization
solutions in the domain of GSM and CDMA networks
during 2000-2002. Since 2003, he is working as Senior
Faculty with leading engineering institutes in India. He is the
author Wireless Communications, and Analog & Digital
Communications, published by international renowned
publisher Tata McGraw-Hill Education. He has convened
international conferences and workshops on Wireless
Networks and Embedded Systems, and edited proceedings of
conferences. He has coordinated several technical workshop
courses under faculty leadership institute programs of Indo
US Collaboration of Engineering Education (IUCEE) during
2010-2011. He presented several technical research papers in
international and national journals and conferences.