Implementation of OFDM

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REPORT ON THE SEMINAR TOPIC

Analysis of Companding and Windowing Techniques to reduce Peak-to-Average

Power Ratio(PAPR) in Orthogonal Frequency Division Division
Multiplexing(OFDM)

delivered by
Student name (s) Exam Seat no.(s)
ASHWINI S. DESAI B3203028
MADHURI R. MOHOD B3203080

in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

Bachelor Of Engineering In
ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION of
UNIVERSITY OF PUNE ,
in

CUMMINS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR

WOMEN , KARVENAGAR , PUNE -411052 ,
in the Department of Electronics and
Telecommunication

under the guidance of

Name of Internal guide ( Prof.Mr. A.R. Khedkar )

in the Academic year

2008 - 09

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This is to certify that

Student names
MOHOD MADHURI RAMESH
DESAI ASHWINI SRINIVAS

have successfully delivered a SEMINAR on their PROJECT TOPIC

ANALYSIS OF COMPANDING AND WINDOWING TECHNIQUES FOR REDUCTION
OF PEAK-TO-AVERAGE POWER RATIO (PAPR) IN ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY
DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (OFDM)

in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Engineering in
ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION of UNIVERSITY OF
PUNE ,

in

CUMMINS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN ,

KARVENAGAR ,
PUNE-52 .

Sign. of Internal guide Sign. of H.O.D. Sign. &

Seal of Principal
(Name : - Prof. Mr. A.R. KHEDKAR)

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Prof. Mr. A.R. Khedkar for his continuous valuable
guidance, support, valuable suggestions and his precious time in every possible way inspite of his
busy schedule throughout our project activity.

We would also like to express our gratitude towards our Project Co-ordinator Prof.
Mr. M.S. Patankar for his constant guidance during our project. We would also like to thank our
H.O.D. Prof. Mr. S.V. Kulkarni for his continuous encouragement.

We take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to all the staff members of
Electronic and Telecommunication Department for their help whenever required. Finally we express
our sincere thanks to all those who helped us indirectly or directly in this project.

Student Names:-
1. Ashwini S. Desai Exam no:-B3203028
2. Madhuri R. Mohod Exam no:-B3203080

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ABSTRACT

Digital multimedia applications create an ever increasing demand for broad band
communication systems. The technical requirements for related products are very high but
it is desired that the solutions must be cheap to implement, feasible or lead to sub optimal
results. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a method that allows to
transmit high data rates over extremely hostile channels at a comparatively low
complexity than the traditional single carrier techniques.

This project aims at implementing OFDM system in Matlab and at observing its
performance in the presence of noise. By utilizing two techniques, namely-Companding
and Windowing we intend to obtain transmitted data with reduced Peak-to-Average Power
Ratio. In OFDM system, a large number of closely-spaced orthogonal sub-carriers are
used to carry data. The data are divided into several parallel data streams or channels, one
for each sub-carrier. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a conventional modulation
scheme such as quadrature amplitude modulation or phase shift keying at a low symbol
rate, maintaining total data rates similar to conventional single-carrier modulation schemes
in the same bandwidth. OFDM is especially suitable for high-speed communication due to
its resistance to intersymbol interference (ISI).

Matlab programming is used to implement OFDM transmitter and receiver.

Matlab simulation accepts inputs of text or audio files as well as binary, sinusoidal, or
random data. It then generates the corresponding OFDM transmission, simulates a
channel, attempts to recover the input data, and performs an analysis to determine the
PAPR of the system. Companding and Windowing techniques are then applied to obtain
the same data with reduced PAPR.

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Index

1. Abbreviations and symbols…………………………………….…..6

2. Study of basic communication systems……………………………8
2.1 3rd Generation Wireless System………………………….……8
2.2 4th Generation Wireless System……………………………......9

3. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing……………………...10

3.1 How is OFDM system different from
other communication system……………………………………11
3.2 Need for multiple carrier system………………………………..11
3.3 Orthogonality…………………………………………………...12
3.3.1 Advantages of Orthogonality…………………………………12

4. OFDM Transceiver……………………………………………...…..16
4.1 OFDM Transmitter………………………………………..…....17
4.2 OFDM Receiver……………………………………………..…18
4.2.1 Serial to parallel conversion……………………………….....19
4.2.2 Subcarrier modulation……………………………………..…19
4.2.3 Frequency to time domain conversion…………………….....19
4.2.4 Guard Period……………………………………………..…..19
4.2.5 Cyclic Prefix………………………………………….….…..20
4.3 Effect of White Gaussian Noise……………………………….21
4.4 Channel Coding……………………………………………..…21
4.4.1 Frequency Selective Fading………………………………….22
4.4.2 Interleaving………………………………………………..…23
5. Peak-to-Average Power Ratio(PAPR)……………………………...23
6. Techniques to overcome high PAPR…………………………….....25
5.1 Companding………………………………………………...….25
5.2 Windowing…………………………………………………......26

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Abbreviations and Symbols

2G: Second Generation mobile phone system (GSM, IS-95)

3G: Third Generation mobile phone system (systems using WCDMA)
4G: Fourth Generation mobile phone system
AM: Amplitude Modulation
AWGN : Additive White Gaussian Noise
B/s/Hz: Bits per second per hertz (unit of spectral efficiency)
BER: Bit Error Rate
Bps: Bits per second
BPSK: Binary Phase Shift Keying
BS: Base Station
CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
CF: Crest Factor (peak to average power ratio of the RF envelope)
DAB: Digital Audio Broadcasting
dB: Decibel (ratio in log scale)
DC: Direct Current (0 Hz)
DFT: Discrete Fourier Transform
DSSS: Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
FDM: Frequency Division Multiplexing
FFT: Fast Fourier Transform
FIR: Finite Impulse Response (digital filter)
FM: Frequency Modulation
Fs: Sample Frequency
FSK: Frequency Shift Keying
GHz: Gigahertz - 109 Hz
GMSK: Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
GSM: Global System for Mobile communications
HDTV: High Definition Television
IFFT: Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
ISI: Inter-Symbol Interference
kbps Kilo bits per second (103 bps)
kHz: Kilohertz - 103 Hz
km : Kilometer (103 m)
mv: Metre
Mbps: Mega bits per second (106 bps)
MHz: Megahertz - 106Hz
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group (Video compression standard)
OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QOS Quality Of Service
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

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RF Radio Frequency
RMS Root Mean Squared
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
SSB Single Side Band
TDM: Time Division Multiplexing
TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access
UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
Ms: Microsecond (10-6 s)
W-CDMA: Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access
WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network
WLL: Wireless Local Loop

Introduction important chapters Introduction important chapters

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1. Study of basic techniques of communication:

1.1 3rd Generation Wireless System:

Third generation mobile systems such as the Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) and CDMA2000 are striving to provide
higher data rates than current 2G systems.

These systems shift to more data oriented services such as Internet access.

Third generation systems use Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access
(WCDMA) as the carrier modulation scheme. This modulation scheme has a high
multipath tolerance, flexible data rate, and allows a greater cellular spectral
efficiency than 2G systems.

Third generation systems provide a significantly higher data rate (64 kbps – 2
Mbps) than second-generation systems (9.6 – 14.4kbps). The higher data rate of
3G systems will be able to support a wide range of applications including Internet
access, voice communications and mobile videophones.

In addition to this, they offer permanent network connectivity, such as wireless
appliances, notebooks with built in mobile phones, remote logging, wireless web
cameras, car navigation systems, and so forth.

3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more

advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved
spectral efficiency. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephony, video calls,
and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment.

3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more
advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved
spectral efficiency.

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1.2 4th Generation Wireless System:

The commercial rollout of these systems is likely to begin

around 2008 - 2012, and will replace 3rd generation technology

It is likely that they will be able to extendthe capabilities of 3G networks,
allowing a greater range of applications, and improved universal access.

Thus, 4G networks should encompass broadband wireless services, such as
High Definition Television (HDTV) (4 - 20 Mbps) and computer network
applications (1 - 100 Mbps). This will allow 4G networks to replace many of the
functions of WLAN systems.

The spectral efficiency of 3G networks is too low to support high data rate
services at low cost.As a consequence one of the main focuses of 4G systems will
be to significantly improve the spectral efficiency.

In addition to high data rates, future systems must support a higher Quality Of
Service (QOS) than current cellular systems, which are designed to achieve 90 -
95% coverage i.e. network connection can be obtained over 90 - 95% of the area of
the cell.

This will become inadequate as more systems become dependent on wireless
networking. As a result 4G systems are likely to require a QOS closer to 98-99.5%.

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2. OFDM System:
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is becoming the chosen
modulation technique for wireless communications. Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM) can be termed as an alternative wireless modulation technology to
CDMA. OFDM has the potential to surpass the capacity of CDMA systems and provide the
wireless access method for 4G systems. Many research centers in the world have specialized
teams working in the optimization of OFDM for countless applications.

History:
The origins of OFDM development started in the late 1950’s with the
introduction of Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) for data communications. In
1966 Chang patented the structure of OFDM and published the concept of
using orthogonal overlapping multi-tone signals for data communications. In 1971
Weinstein introduced the idea of using a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) for
implementation of the generation and reception of OFDM signals, eliminating the
requirement for banks of analog subcarrier oscillators. This presented an opportunity
for an easy implementation of OFDM, especially with the use of Fast Fourier
Transforms (FFT), which are an efficient implementation of the DFT. This suggested
that the easiest implementation of OFDM is with the use of Digital Signal Processing
(DSP), which can implement FFT algorithms. It is only recently that the advances in
integrated circuit technology have made the implementation of OFDM cost effective.
The reliance on DSP prevented the wide spread use of OFDM during the early
development of OFDM. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s that work began on the
development of OFDM for commercial use, with the introduction of the Digital
Audio Broadcasting (DAB) system.

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2.1 How is OFDM different from other communication

systems??

A common problem found in high-speed communication is inter-symbol interference

(ISI). ISI occurs when a transmission interferes with itself and the receiver cannot decode
the transmission correctly. For example, in a wireless communication system such as that
shown in the following figure, the same transmission is sent in all directions.

Because the signal reflects from large objects such as mountains or buildings, the receiver
sees more than one copy of the signal. In communication terminology, this is called
multipath. Since the indirect paths take more time to travel to the receiver, the delayed
copies of the signal interfere with the direct signal, causing ISI.

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2.2 Need For Multiple-Carrier System:

OFDM is especially suitable for high-speed communication due to its resistance to ISI.
OFDM overcomes the effects of multipath by breaking the signal into many narrow
bandwidth carriers. This results in a low symbol rate reducing the amount of ISI. In
addition to this, a guard period is added to the start of each symbol, removing the effects of
ISI for multipath signals delayed less than the guard period.
As communication systems increase their information transfer speed, the time for each
transmission necessarily becomes shorter. Since the delay time caused by multipath remains
constant, ISI becomes a limitation in high-data-rate communication. OFDM avoids this
problem by sending many low speed transmissions simultaneously. For example, the figure
below shows two ways to transmit the same four pieces of binary data.

Traditional vs. OFDM Communication

Suppose that this transmission takes four seconds. Then, each piece of data in the left picture
has a duration of one second. On the other hand, OFDM would send the four pieces
simultaneously as shown on the right. In this case, each piece of data has a duration of four
seconds. This longer duration leads to fewer problems with ISI. Another reason to consider
OFDM is low-complexity implementation for high-speed systems compared to traditional
single carrier techniques.

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In an OFDM scheme, a large number of orthogonal, overlapping, narrow band

Sub-channels or sub carriers, transmitted in parallel, divide the available transmission
bandwidth. The separation of the sub carriers is theoretically minimal such that
there is a very compact spectral utilization.
But the question arises…why we use a multi-carrier system. There are 2 main reasons:

During transmission, data may be lost in one or two sub-carriers, but in a multi-carrier
system, we do not lose the whole stream

It helps combat frequency-selective channel fading.

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2.3 Orthogonality:
Orthogonality:

Signals are orthogonal if they are mutually independent of each other.

Two signals are said to be orthogonal when their dot product is equal to zero.

Let’s take a sine wave of frequency m and multiply it by sinusoid of a frequency n,
where both m and n are integers. The integral or the area under the product is given
by:
f(t) = sin mwt x sin nwt

By simple trigonometric relationship,yhis is equal to a sum of two sinusoids of

frequency (n-m) and (n+m)
= 0.5(n-m) + 0.5(n+m)
These two components are each a sinusoid,so the integral is equal to zero over one
period.

Orthogonality is a property that allows multiple information signals to be transmitted
perfectly over a common channel and detected, without interference. Loss of
orthogonality results in blurring between these information signals and degradation in
communications.

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The subcarriers in an OFDM signal are spaced as close as is theoretically possible

while maintain orthogonality between them. OFDM achieves orthogonality in the
frequency domain by allocating each of the separate information signals onto different
subcarriers.

OFDM signals are made up from a sum of sinusoids, with each corresponding to a
subcarrier.
The baseband frequency of each subcarrier is chosen to be an integer multiple of the inverse
of the symbol time, resulting in all subcarriers having an integer number of cycles per
symbol. As a consequence the subcarriers are orthogonal to each other

The orthogonal nature of the transmission is a result of the peak of each subcarrier
corresponding to the nulls of all other subcarriers. When this signal is detected using a
Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) the spectrum is not continuous , but has discrete
samples.This will be elaborated in the transceiver section of OFDM.

2.3.1 Advantages of Orthogonality:

• There is no need of introducing guard bands
• Orthogonality offers high spectral efficiency
• It simplifies design of transmitter and receiver
• Cross-talk is eliminated
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OFDM Transceiver
3. OFDM Transceiver

3. OFDM Transceiver

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3.1 OFDM TRANSMITTER

OFDM transmitters generate both the carrier and the data signal simultaneously with purely
digital circuits residing in the specialized DSP(Digital Signal Processor) microchips. The specific
process of digital signal generation used in OFDM is based on the series of mathematical
computations known as an Inverse Fourier Transform, and the process results in the formation of
a complex modulated waveform at the output of the transmitter.The incoming serial data is first
converted from serial to parallel and grouped into x bits each to form a complex number. The
complex numbers are modulated in a base band fashion by the IFFT and converted back to serial
data for transmission. A guard interval is inserted between symbols to avoid intersymbol
interference (ISI) caused by multipath distortion. The discrete symbols are converted to analog
and lowpass filtered for RF up-conversion.

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3.2 OFDM RECEIVER

The receiver performs the reverse operation of the transmitter, mixing the RF signal to base
band for processing, then using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to analyse the signal in the
frequency domain. The amplitude and phase of the subcarriers is then picked out and converted
back to digital data.
The IFFT and the FFT are complementary function and the most appropriate
term depends on whether the signal is being received or generated. In cases where the signal is
independent of this distinction then the term FFT and IFFT is used.

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3.2.1 SERIAL TO PARALLEL CONVERSION

Data to be transmitted is typically in the form of a serial data stream. In OFDM, each symbol
typically transmits 40 - 4000 bits, and so a serial to parallel conversion stage is needed to
convert the input serial bit stream to the data to be transmitted in each OFDM symbol. The data
allocated to each symbol depends on the modulation scheme used and the number of sub
carriers. For example, for a sub carrier modulationof 16-QAM each sub carrier carries 4 bits of
data, and so for a transmission using 100 sub carriers the number of bits per symbol would be
400.

3.2.2 SUB CARRIER MODULATION

Once each subcarrier has been allocated bits for transmission, they are mapped using a
modulation scheme to a subcarrier amplitude and phase, which is represented by a complex In-
phase and Quadrature-phase (IQ) vector.
In the receiver, mapping the received IQ vector back to the data
word performs subcarrier demodulation.

3.2.3 FREQUENCY TO TIME DOMAIN CONVERSION

After the subcarrier modulation stage each of the data subcarriers is set to an amplitude and
phase based on the data being sent and the modulation scheme; all unused subcarriers are set to
zero. This sets up the OFDM signal in the frequency domain. An IFFT is then used to convert
this signal to the time domain, allowing it to be transmitted.

3.2.4 GUARD PERIOD

For a given system bandwidth the symbol rate for an OFDM signal is much lower than a single
carrier transmission scheme. For example for a single carrier BPSK modulation, the symbol rate
corresponds to the bit rate of the transmission. However for OFDM the system bandwidth is
broken up into Nc subcarriers, resulting in a symbol rate that is Nc times lower than the single
carrier transmission. This low symbol rate makes OFDM naturally resistant to effects of Inter-
Symbol Interference (ISI) caused by multipath propagation.
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3.2.5 Cyclic Prefix:

In an OFDM symbol the cyclic prefix is a repeat of the end of the symbol at the
beginning

The purpose is to allow multipath to settle before the main data arrives at the receiver

The length of the cyclic prefix is often equal to the guard interval

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3.3 EFFECT OF ADDITIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE

ON OFDM:
Noise exists in all communications systems operating over an analog physical channel, such as
radio. The main sources are thermal background noise, electrical noise in the receiver amplifiers,
and inter-cellular interference. In addition to this noise can also be generated internally to the
communications system as a result of Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI), Inter-Carrier Interference
(ICI), and Inter-Modulation Distortion (IMD). These sources of noise decrease the Signal to
Noise
Ratio (SNR), ultimately limiting the spectral efficiency of the system.
Most types of noise present in radio communication systems can be modelled
accurately using Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). This noise has a uniform spectral
density making it white and a Gaussian distribution in amplitude also referred to as a normal
distribution or bell curve.
OFDM signals have a flat spectral density and a Gaussian amplitude
distribution provided that the number of carriers is large. Because of this the inter-cellular
interference from other OFDM systems have AWGN properties. For the same reason
ICI, ISI, and IMD also have AWGN properties for OFDM signals.

3.4 CHANNEL CODING

The goal of channel coding, or error control coding, is to improve bit error ratio (BER)
performance by adding structured redundancy to the transmitted data. Channel coding means that
additional redundant bits are added to the signal to enable error detection and error correction.
Channel impairments can cause errors to the signal; these impairments can be e.g. noise, fading,
interference or jamming. Basic channel coding methods are block coding and convolution
coding.
In OFDM channel coding is done with convolution coding, because
convolution coding offer good performance with low implementation cost. Coding is performed
on serial data before symbol mapping. Convolution coding operates with bit streams

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and has memory that utilizes previous bits to encode or decode following bits. Convolution
encoder is defined with three variables: number of output bits n, number of input bits k and
memory depth L. Encoder maps k input bits into n output bits. From memory length can be
derived constraint length using the equation given below.
Constraint length tells how many output bits are influenced with single input bit. The error
correction capacity is related with this value.
C=n (L+1)

3.4.1 FREQUENCY SELECTIVE FADING

Multipath causes fading changes with frequency. This is due to the phase response of the multipath
components varying with frequency. The received phase, relative to the transmitter, of a multipath
component corresponds to the number of wavelengths the signal has travelled from the
transmitter. The wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency and so for a fixed
transmission path the phase will change with frequency. The path distances of each of the
multipath component is different and so results in a different phase change. Below is an
example of a two-path transmission.

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Path 1 is a direct signal and has a transmission distance of 10m, while the second path is a
reflection with a longer transmission distance of 25 m. This makes the two paths out of phase,
which results in a reduction in the signal amplitude at this frequency.

3.4.2 INTERLEAVING
Because of frequency selective fading, in OFDM certain sub channels can be located in a
deep fades in channel and information carried by these sub carriers are lost. This effect
causes errors to occur in bursts rather than being randomly scattered. To make errors appear
more randomly, interleaving is performed on the coded bit stream. Interleaving is a way to
permute bits in a certain way and at the receiver reverse permutation is performed. A
commonly used interleaving method is block interleaving. In block interleaving data is
written in to a matrix row-by-row and read out column-by-column.

4. PEAK TO AVERAGE POWER RATIO

The main disadvantage of OFDM is high peak to average power ratio(PAPR).A high peak to
average power ratio causes saturation in power amplifiers, leading to intermodulation
products among the sub carriers and disturbing out of band energy. Therefore, it is desirable
to reduce the PAPR.

By definition we have,
PAPR= Peak Amplitude of the Signal
Average value of the Signal

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An OFDM signal consists of a number of independent sub carriers, which can give a large
peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) when added coherently. When N signals are
added with the same phase, they produce a peak power that is N times the average power.
As a result, linear behavior of the system over a large dynamic range is needed and the
efficiency of the output amplifier is reduced. The average power must be kept low in order
to prevent the transmitter amplifier saturation. Minimizing the PAPR allows higher.

By definition we have,

PAPR= Peak Amplitude of the Signal

Average value of the Signal

PAPR = ((xk)^2)max / E{(xk)^2 1<=k<=N

Where E{(xk)^2} stands for the expected value or average value of the time domain signal.

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5. TECHNIQUES TO OVERCOME HIGH PAPR:

A) Companding
B) Windowing

5.1 Companding
In companding method, compression is used in the transmitter and expansion in the receiver. By
considering the approximate Rayleigh distribution of the OFDM amplitudes, we compress the
dynamic range with a memory-less transformation at the transmitter and expand the amplitude
level at the receiver. This transformation essentially changes the probability distribution of the
amplitude of OFDM signal and achieves the PAPR reduction by both enlarging the small
amplitudes and compressing large signals. The power is adaptively allocated for each sub-
carrier according to the distribution in each block.

Companding Transform
Our strategy in this work involves applying u-law companding at the transmitter to
reduce the PAPR of the transmitted waveform so as to reduce distortion through the
transmit amplifier and allow operation closer to amplifier saturation. Values of u ranging
between 0.125 and 64 were used in the study since the optimal performance was found to
reside within this range of operation.
Let sdat(n) be the baseband OFDM signal associated with the data symbol. In the case of u-law
companding for a selected u, the compressed OFDM signal, sc(n), is formed as:
Sc(n)= K(u) Smax{ ln[1+ u |Sdat (n)|]}
{ln[1+u]} * sign[Sdat (n)]

Where Smax = max (Sdat (n))

and where K(u) is a normalization constant such that the average power of the
companded signal is equal to the average power of the uncompanded signal. A proposed
approximation for K(u) is
K(u) = ln(1 + u)
u

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However, this approximation is not highly accurate, and in practice, would lead to
unnecessary degradation in the demodulation performance. To mitigate errors
introduced by normalization inaccuracies, numerically-determined values of K(u) were
computed and employed instead, where long-term power averages of both uncompanded
and companded OFDM symbols were numerically estimated to find K(u). The resulting
values are plotted in the figure along side the approximation.

Normalization Constant for Different Values of the Companding

Parameter, with No=64 and 4x Oversampling

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An example of a time-domain signal associated with a data symbol before and after
companding (with u = 16) is shown in the figure below, where the companded signal is scaled
to yield an average power equal to the uncompanded signal. The net result is that companding
increases the low-level signal components and reduces the high-level signal components. In
the figure, the solid line corresponds to the uncompanded signal, and the dashed line
corresponds to the companded signal.

Uncompanded and Companded Signals with Equal Average Power

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5.2 Windowing
A different approach to reduce the PAPR is to multiply large signal peak with a Gaussian shaped
window or any other window with good spectral properties. Since the OFDM signal is multiplied
with several of these windows the resulting spectrum is a convolution of the original OFDM
spectrum with the spectrum of the applied window. So, ideally the window should be as narrow
band as possible. On the other hand, the window should not be too long in the time domain,
because that implies that many signal samples are affected, which increases the bit error ratio.
Examples of suitable window functions are the Cosine, Kaiser and Hamming window. Peak
windowing technique offers reasonably good reduction in PAPR achieved independent from
number of sub-carriers, at the cost of a slight increase in BER and out of band radiation.

Windowing parameters, window width and attenuation factor, should be selected such a way that it
will reduce the PAPR. However, it is difficult to find a relationship between windowing
parameters and PAPR since the PAPR is random. Generally, the window width should be small in
order to avoid distorting many sample values and the attenuation factor should be selected by
considering PAPR reduction and signal distortion. Further, it is necessary to relate OFDM
parameters with peak windowing.
Peak windowing method is implemented by first considering the
clipping ratio. Here, OFDM signal is clipped whenever it exceeds a clip level say S. The
normalized clipping level, called the clipping ratio, is defined as

Clipping ratio= S/σ

Where σ is the rms power of the OFDM signal and it can be shown that, for an OFDM signal
with N subchannels, s = N for a baseband signal and s = N / 2 for a bandpass signal.
OFDM signal is multiplied by the window function when the signal peak exceeds the
clipping level. Unlike the clipping, the OFDM signal within the windowing width is
modified. This results in a smoothed OFDM signal.

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The PAPR reduction is achieved at the expense of bit error rate (BER)
performance degradation and the out of band radiation. On the other hand PAPR can not be
reduced beyond a certain limit by removing peaks, as the average value of the OFDM signal, also
decreases, which in turn increases the PAPR. Peak windowing method concerns only removing
the peak values, which have low probability of occurrence. OFDM signal exhibits some low
values, we will call it "bottoms", with low probability of occurrence, like peaks. By increasing
these bottoms above certain level, the average value of OFDM signal can be shifted up. These
results in PAPR reduction. Basically, this is like inverted windowing.
Peak Windowing distorts the OFDM signal causing inband distortion and out of band
radiation. Inband distortion causes to BER performance degradation. Figure 4.6 shows
the BER performance of an OFDM signal after windowing for different value of clipping
ratio. When clipping ratio is increased the BER performance is better, but, the reduction
in PAPR is not much. When clipping ratio is low, the amount of peaks removed is high.
Thus, signal has been distorted very much and BER performance degrades. When
clipping ratio is 1.8, there is about 0.5dB loss in SNR at 10-4 BER and PAPR is reduced
by 5dB.

Power Spectral Density of an OFDM Signal

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Conclusion:

We have investigated the performance of OFDM system with companding and windowing as a
PAPR reduction strategy. Impairments from AWGN noise from the channel, and noise
amplification due to the expansion transform at the receiver were considered. MATLAB
Simulation was employed to investigate performance trends. We have seen that with an
appropriate choice of u and amplifier backoff, the companding system can outperform a
system without companding. Thus, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a form of
multi-carrier modulation technique with high spectral efficiency, robustness to channel fading,
immunity to impulse interference, uniform average spectral density capability of handling very
strong echoes and less non linear distortion. We have also inferred that by implementing
Windowing and Companding, the high PAPR of the OFDM system reduces and we obtain a
better quality signal at the receiver.

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References:
1. www.skydsp.com
2. www.complex2real.com
3. OFDM Link Performance with Companding for PAPR Reduction in the Presence
of Non-Linear Amplification Thomas G. Pratt, Nathan Jones, Leslie Smee, and
Michael Torrey
4. Adaptive Techniques for Multiuser OFDM Eric Phillip LAWREY BE (Hons)

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