Scattered Pilots and Virtual Carriers Based Frequency Offset Tracking for OFDM Systems: Algorithms, Identifiability, and Performance Analysis

In this paper, we propose a novel carrier frequency offset (CFO) tracking algorithm for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems by exploiting scattered pilot carriers and virtual carriers embedded in the existing OFDM standards. Assuming that the channel remains constant during two consecutive OFDM blocks and perfect timing, a CFO tracking algorithm is proposed using the limited number of pilot carriers in each OFDM block. Identifiability of this pilot based algorithm is fully discussed under the noise free environment, and a constellation rotation strategy is proposed to eliminate the c-ambiguity for arbitrary constellations. A weighted algorithm is then proposed by considering both scattered pilots and virtual carriers. We find that, the pilots increase the performance accuracy of the algorithm, while the virtual carriers reduce the chance of CFO outlier. Therefore, the proposed tracking algorithm is able to achieve full range CFO estimation, can be used before channel estimation, and could provide improved performance compared to existing algorithms. The asymptotic mean square error (MSE) of the proposed algorithm is derived and simulation results agree with the theoretical analysis

Spectral Weighting Functions for Single-symbol Phase-noise Specifications in OFDM Systems

For the specification of phase-noise requirements for the front-end of a HiperLAN/2 system we investigated available literature on the subject. Literature differed in several aspects. One aspect is in the type of phase-noise used (Wiener phase-noise or small-angle phase noise). A Wiener phase-noise based analysis leads to contradictions with the type of analysis normally used in the solid state oscillator literature. However, a phase-noise spectrum with a Wiener phase-noise shape can be used provided that the small-angle approximation is satisfied. An other aspect is whether a Fourier Series or DFT based approach is used. The approaches use weighting functions to relate phase-noise power spectral densities to phase-noise power. The two types of analysis are presented in a unified fashion that allows easy comparison of the weighting functions involved. It can be shown that for practical purposes results are identical. Finally phase-noise specifications for the Hiper-LAN/2 case are presented

NOMA-enhanced computation over multi-access channels

Massive numbers of nodes will be connected in future wireless networks. This brings great difficulty to collect a large amount of data. Instead of collecting the data individually, computation over multi-access channels (CoMAC) provides an intelligent solution by computing a desired function over the air based on the signal-superposition property of wireless channels. To improve the spectrum efficiency in conventional CoMAC, we propose the use of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) for functions in CoMAC. The desired functions are decomposed into several sub-functions, and multiple sub-functions are selected to be superposed over each resource block (RB). The corresponding achievable rate is derived based on sub-function superposition, which prevents a vanishing computation rate for large numbers of nodes. We further study the limiting case when the number of nodes goes to infinity. An exact expression of the rate is derived that provides a lower bound on the computation rate. Compared with existing CoMAC, the NOMA-based CoMAC not only achieves a higher computation rate but also provides an improved non-vanishing rate. Furthermore, the diversity order of the computation rate is derived, which shows that the system performance is dominated by the node with the worst channel gain among these sub-functions in each RB

On Time-Variant Distortions in Multicarrier Transmission with Application to Frequency Offsets and Phase Noise

Phase noise and frequency offsets are due to their time-variant behavior one of the most limiting disturbances in practical OFDM designs and therefore intensively studied by many authors. In this paper we present a generalized framework for the prediction of uncoded system performance in the presence of time-variant distortions including the transmitter and receiver pulse shapes as well as the channel. Therefore, unlike existing studies, our approach can be employed for more general multicarrier schemes. To show the usefulness of our approach, we apply the results to OFDM in the context of frequency offset and Wiener phase noise, yielding improved bounds on the uncoded performance. In particular, we obtain exact formulas for the averaged performance in AWGN and time-invariant multipath channels.Comment: 10 pages (twocolumn), 5 figure