1.

INTRODUCTION
OFDM has been widely used in broadcast systems. It is being used for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) in Europe and Australia. It was selected for these systems primarily because of its high spectral efficiency and multipath tolerance. OFDM transmits data as a set of parallel low bandwidth (100 Hz 50 kHz) carriers. The frequency spacing between the carriers is made to be the reciprocal of the useful symbol period. The resulting carriers are orthogonal to each other provided correct time windowing at the receiver is used. The carriers are independent of each other even though their spectra overlap. OFDM can be easily generated using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) and received using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). High data rate systems are achieved by using a large number of carriers (i.e. 2000-8000 as used in DVB). OFDM allows for a high spectral efficiency as the carrier power, and modulation scheme can be individually controlled for each carrier. However in broadcast systems these are fixed due to the one way communication.

2.DEFINITION
OFDM otherwise called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is a modulation and a multiple access technique is a method of encoding digital data on multiple carrier frequencies. OFDM or Multi-tone modulation as it is sometimes called is the basis for several commercial wireless applications. In OFDM the segments are according to frequency there by dividing the spectrum into a number of equally spaced tones, which are orthogonal with each other and carries a portion of user information on each tone. OFDM has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital communication, whether wireless or over copper wires, used in applications such as digital television and audio broadcasting, DSL broadband internet access, wireless networks, and 4G mobile

communications.

3. DIFFERENCES FROM OTHER MULTIPLEXING TECHNIQUES

3.1 OFDM versus FDM: Frequency division multiplexing (FDM) is a technology that transmits multiple signals simultaneously over a single transmission path, such as a cable or wireless system. Each signal travels within its own unique frequency range (carrier), which is modulated by the data.

Figure1: OFDM vs FDM Orthogonal FDM's (OFDM) spread spectrum technique distributes the data over a large number of carriers that are spaced apart at precise frequencies. This spacing provides the "orthogonality" in this technique which prevents the demodulators from seeing frequencies other than their own. The benefits of OFDM are high spectral efficiency, resiliency to RF interference, and lower multi-path distortion.

4.WORKING OF OFDM
In OFDM, a rectangular pulse is used as sub carrier for transmission. It facilitates the process of pulse forming and modulation by implementing efficiently with simple IDFT (inverse discrete fourier transform) along with IFFT (inverse fast fourier transform). To reverse this operation at receiver, an FFT (fast Fourier transform) is needed. According to the theorems of the Fourier Transform the rectangular pulse shape will lead to a sin(x)/x type of spectrum of the sub carriers (Figure1). But the spectrums of the sub carriers are not separated but overlap. The information transmitted over the carriers can still be separated because of the orthogonality relation. By using an IFFT for modulation the spacing of the sub carriers is chosen in such a way that at the frequency where the received signal is to be evaluated (indicated as arrows), all other signals are zero. For this orthogonality, the receiver and transmitter must be perfectly synchronized i.e. both must assume the same modulation frequency and the same time-scale for transmission. Their components must be of high quality. And there should be no multi path channel. In general, quality of components is not critical as perfect synchronization is. For this very sophisticated receivers are required.

Figure2: OFDM and the orthogonality principle

5.OFDM TRANSMITTER & RECEIVER

To generate OFDM successfully the relationship between all the carriers must be carefully controlled to maintain the orthogonality of the carriers. For this reason, OFDM is generated by firstly choosing the spectrum required, based on the input data, and modulation scheme used. Each carrier to be produced is assigned some data to transmit. The required amplitude and phase of the carrier is then calculated based on the modulation scheme (typically differential BPSK, QPSK, or QAM). The required spectrum is then converted back to its time domain signal using an Inverse Fourier Transform. In most applications, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) is used. The IFFT performs the transformation very efficiently, and provides a simple way of ensuring the carrier signals produced are orthogonal.

Figure3:OFDM Transmitter The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) transforms a cyclic time domain signal into its equivalent frequency spectrum. This is done by finding the equivalent waveform, generated by a sum of orthogonal sinusoidal components. The amplitude and phase of the sinusoidal components represent the frequency spectrum of the time domain signal. The IFFT performs the reverse process, transforming a spectrum (amplitude and phase of each component) into a time domain signal. An IFFT converts a number of complex data points, of length that is a power of 2,

into the time domain signal of the same number of points. Each data point in frequency spectrum used for an FFT or IFFT is called a bin. The orthogonal carriers required for the OFDM signal can be easily generated by setting the amplitude and phase of each frequency bin, then performing the IFFT. Since each bin of an IFFT corresponds to the amplitude and phase of a set of orthogonal sinusoids, the reverse process guarantees that the carriers generated are orthogonal.

Figure4: OFDM receiver

5.1 Serial to Parallel Conversion

The input serial data stream is formatted into the word size required for transmission, e.g. 2 bits/word for QPSK, and shifted into a parallel format. The data is then transmitted in parallel by assigning each data word to one carrier in the transmission.

5.2 Modulation of Data

The data to be transmitted on each carrier is then differential encoded with previous symbols, then mapped into a Phase Shift Keying (PSK) format. Since differential encoding requires an initial phase reference an extra symbol is added at the start for this purpose. The data on each symbol is then mapped to a phase angle based on the modulation method. For example, for QPSK the phase angles used are 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees. The use of phase shift keying produces a constant amplitude signal and was chosen for its simplicity and to reduce problems with amplitude fluctuations due to fading.

5.3 Inverse Fourier Transform

After the required spectrum is worked out, an inverse fourier transform is used to find the corresponding time waveform. The guard period is then added to the start of each symbol.

5.4 Channel
A channel model is then applied to the transmitted signal. The model allows for the signal to noise ratio, multipath, and peak power clipping to be controlled. The signal to noise ratio is set by adding a known amount of white noise to the transmitted signal. Multipath delay spread then added by simulating the delay spread using an FIR filter. The length of the FIR filter represents the maximum delay spread, while the coefficient amplitude represents the reflected signal magnitude.

5.6 Receiver
The receiver basically does the reverse operation to the transmitter. The guard period is removed. The FFT of each symbol is then taken to find the original transmitted spectrum. The phase angle of each transmission carrier is then evaluated and converted back to the data word by demodulating the received phase. The data words are then combined back to the same word size as the original data.

6.TYPES OF OFDM
There are several other variants of OFDM for which the initials are seen in the technical literature. These follow the basic format for OFDM, but have additional attributes or variations: 6.1 COFDM: Coded Orthogonal frequency division multiplex. A form of OFDM where error correction coding is incorporated into the signal.COFDM offers real benefit in the presence of isolated narrow-band interfering signals.

Figure5:Multipath trnsmission 6.2 Flash OFDM: This is a variant of OFDM that was developed by Flarion and it is a fast hopped form of OFDM. It uses multiple tones and fast hopping to spread signals over a given spectrum band. 6.3 OFDMA: Orthogonal frequency division multiple access. A scheme used to provide a multiple access capability for applications such as cellular telecommunications when using OFDM technologies. 6.4 VOFDM: Vector OFDM. This form of OFDM uses the concept of MIMO technology. It is being developed by CISCO Systems. MIMO stands for Multiple Input Multiple output and it uses

multiple antennas to transmit and receive the signals so that multi-path effects can be utilised to enhance the signal reception and improve the transmission speeds that can be supported.

Figure6:Vector OFDM Transmission 6.5 WOFDM: Wideband OFDM. The concept of this form of OFDM is that it uses a degree of spacing between the channels that is large enough that any frequency errors between transmitter and receiver do not affect the performance. It is particularly applicable to Wi-Fi systems. Each of these forms of OFDM utilise the same basic concept of using close spaced orthogonal carriers each carrying low data rate signals. During the demodulation phase the data is then combined to provide the complete signal. OFDM and COFDM have gained a significant presence in the wireless market place. The combination of high data capacity, high spectral efficiency, and its resilience to interference as a result of multi-path effects means that it is ideal for the high data applications that are becoming a common factor in today's communications scene.

7.APPLICATIONS
A lot of applications that use OFDM technology have spawned over the last few years. In this section, one such application will be described in detail, while a introduction to the other applications will be provided. 7.1 Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a standard for broadcasting Digital Television over satellites, cables and thorough terrestrial (wireless) transmission. DVB was standardized by the ETSI in 1997 [9]. The following are some important parameters of DVB: _ DVB has two modes of operation: the 2k mode with 1705 sub-carriers and the 8k modes with 6817 sub-carriers. DVB uses QPSK, 16-QAM or 64-QAM sub-carrier modulation. DVB uses a Reed-Solomon outer code (204,188,t=8) and a inner convolutional code with generator polynomials (177,133 octal) combined with two layers of interleaving for errorcontrol. Pilot Sub-carriers are used to obtain reference amplitudes and phases for coherent demodulation. Two-dimensional channel estimation is performed using the pilot sub carriers, which aids in the reception of the OFDM signal.

7.2 Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)

OFDM is used in ADSL connections that follow the G.DMT (ITU G.992.1) standard, in which existing copper wires are used to achieve high-speed data connections. Long copper wires suffer from attenuation at high frequencies. The fact that OFDM can cope with this frequency selective attenuation and with narrow-band interference are the main reasons it is frequently used in applications such as ADSL modems. However, DSL cannot be used on every copper pair; interference may become significant if more than 25% of phone lines coming into a central office are used for DSL.

7.3 Wireless LANs

Wireless LANs are one of the most important applications of OFDM. A lot of standards have been proposed for Wireless LANs during the past decade, most of then based on spreadspectrum schemes. In July 1998, IEEE Wireless LAN standardization group IEEE 802.11 10

standardized a scheme based on OFDM operating in the 5-GHz band. It is interesting to note that this standard is one of the first packet-based one to use OFDM.

7.4 Powerline Technology

OFDM is used by many powerline devices to extend Ethernet connections to other rooms in a home through its power wiring. Adaptive modulation is particularly important with such a noisy channel as electrical wiring. The IEEE 1901 standards include two incompatible physical layers that both use OFDM.[9] The ITU-T G.hn standard, which provides high-speed local area networking over existing home wiring (power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables) is based on a PHY layer that specifies OFDM with adaptive modulation and a Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) FEC code.

11

8.ADVANTAGES

Can easily adapt to severe channel conditions without complex time-domain equalization. Robust against narrow-band co-channel interference. Robust against intersymbol interference (ISI) and fading caused by multipath propagation.

High spectral efficiency as compared to conventional modulation schemes, spread spectrum, etc.

Efficient implementation using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Low sensitivity to time synchronization errors. Tuned sub-channel receiver filters are not required (unlike conventional FDM). Facilitates single frequency networks (SFNs); i.e., transmitter macrodiversity.

12

9.DISADVANTAGES

Sensitive to Doppler shift. Sensitive to frequency synchronization problems. High peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR), requiring linear transmitter circuitry, which suffers from poor power efficiency.

Loss of efficiency caused by cyclic prefix/guard interval.

13

CONCLUSION
OFDM has several interesting properties that suit its use over Wireless channels and hence many Wireless standards have started to use OFDM for modulation and multiple access. The various methods of generation and demodulation of OFDM and specific issues such as linearity and synchronization were analyzed. This adaptability results in a high spectral efficiency and reliability.

14

REFERENCES
[1] Thibault L. and Le M.T., Performance Evaluation of COFDM for Digital Audio

Broadcasting, Part I:Parametric Study, IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, Vol. 43, No. 1, pages 64-75, March 1997 [2] Wahlqvist M., stberg C., Beek J., Edfors O., Brjesson P., A Conceptual Study of OFDMbased Multiple Acess Schemes, Technical Report Tdoc 117/96, ETSI STC SMG2 meeting no 18, Helsinki, Finland, May 1996, http://www.sm.luth.se/csee/sp/publications/ [3] Lee D., Cheun K., A new symbol timing recovery algorithm for OFDM systems, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 43, No. 3, pages 766-775, August 1997 [4] Moose P., A Technique for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Frequency Offset Correction, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 42, No. 10, pages 2908-2914, October 1994

15