Performance studies and receiver design of a MB-OFDM UWB system

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Nonlinear effects in OFDM signal transmission over radio over fibre links

The dynamic range limitations that arise from nonlinearity in low-cost and low complexity directly modulated radio over fibre (RoF) links are examined. Statistical non linear models are presented and applied to the case of a RoF link with a low biased laser diode. The effects of distortion on the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) performance of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signals with different numbers of subcarriers and the connection to the Peak-ta-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the signals are investigated. Statistical distributions of the EVM over a large number of transmitted OFDM frames are gained from experimental measurements and analyses of idealized processes. The measurement results show that as the number of subcarriers is reduced the distribution means are not dependent in the expected way on the statistical PAPR of the transmitted OFDM signals. Instead, it is shown that in regions of moderate distortion the median of the EVM is more closely related to the statistical PAPR and to the required back-off for signals with different numbers of subcarriers. Through the employed statistical analysis, the asymptotic convergence of the EVM result to that expected in the idealized case is observed. The results of this analysis also show, how, including the EVM variance in estimations for back-off might be useful, how, in a measurement, the number of transmitted OFDM frames affects the estimated mean EVM. Differing EVM results for subcarriers at the edge and middle of the signal band show that distortion affects the subcarriers at the middle of the band to a stronger degree and that their behaviour is correlated "to the statistical PAPR of the individual signals. Then, a laser model validated against measured performance is designed arid used for simulating the performance of a subcarrier multiplexed 4th generation mobile/wireless RoF transmission system. Predictions indicate that the architecture provides adequate performance in terms of EVM, for different IFFT sizes and modulation levels of up to 256 QAM (at leastL and a combined raw data rate of up to 3.2 Gbps. Based on a 1.5% EVM transmitter requirement with 256 QAM, a system dynamic range of approximately 5.1 dB is predicted. Finally, the use of companding in a directly modulated RaF link, with the aim of reducing the amplification (and isolation) requirements in the remote antenna unit, is demonstrated, quantified through EVM measurements. The resulting improvements in output power are approximately 4.7 dB at an EVM transmitter requirement of 5.6 %, while in terms of the point of onset of distortion-induced EVM increase, the improvement is approximately 7.6 dB

Modelling and performances assessment of OFDM and fast-OFDM wireless communication systems.

This thesis is mainly concerned with the design, modelling and performance assessment of modulation techniques for use in wireless communication systems. The work is divided, broadly in three areas; a multimode system proposal, an assessment of a new modulation scheme and a system optimisation technique. A multimode system architecture employing GSM and EDGE systems and an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system is proposed. The OFDM system is designed to have similar frame structure, channel allocation and spectrum shape to those of the GSM and EDGE systems. The multimode system is evaluated under typical multipath fading environments specified for GSM/EDGE and adjacent-channel and co-channel interference. The results indicated that the proposed OFDM system can be perfectly integrated within the GSM/EDGE network core. Furthermore, a novel modulation technique is investigated. Fast-OFDM (FOFDM) is a variation of OFDM, which offers twice the bandwidth efficiency when compared to OFDM. However, the bandwidth efficiency only applies to one dimensional modulation schemes (BPSK or M-ASK). The suitability of FOFDM for wireless communications is assessed by studying its performance under receiver front-end distortions and multipath fading environments. The performance of the FOFDM system is compared with the performance of a similar OFDM system. The results indicated that under small distortion conditions, the performance of FOFDM and OFDM is comparable. Finally, the effect of interpolation filtering on OFDM systems in noise limited and interference limited environments is investigated. The aim of this study is to highlight that interference should be taken into consideration when designing systems for wireless communications. In addition, this study can be utilised in software defined radio schemes, offering optimised performance. Overall, this thesis presents work over a range of research areas, providing system proposals, modulation comparisons and system optimisation techniques that can be used by developers of future mobile systems

Digital Processing for an Analogue Subcarrier Multiplexed Mobile Fronthaul

In order to meet the demands of the fifth generation of mobile communication networks (5G), such as very high bit-rates, very low latency and massive machine connectivity, there is a need for a flexible, dynamic, scalable and versatile mobile fronthaul. Current industry fronthaul standards employing sampled radio waveforms for digital transport suffer from spectral inefficiency, making this type of transport impractical for the wide channel bandwidths and multi-antenna systems required by 5G. On the other hand, analogue transport does not suffer from these limitations. It is, however, prone to noise, non-linearity and poor dynamic range. When combined with analogue domain signal aggregation/multiplexing, it also lacks flexibility and scalability, especially at millimetre wave frequencies. Measurements (matched in simulation) of analogue transport at millimetre wave frequencies demonstrate some of these issues. High data rates are demonstrated employing wide bandwidth channels combined using traditional subcarrier multiplexing techniques. However, only a limited number of channels can be multiplexed in this manner, with poor spectral efficiency, as analogue filter limitations do not allow narrow gaps between channels. To this end, over the last few years, there has been significant investigation of analogue transport schemes combined with digital channel aggregation/ de-aggregation (combining/ separating multiple radio waveforms in the digital domain). This work explores such a technique. Digital processing is used at the transmitter to flexibly multiplex a large number of channels in a subcarrier multiplex, without the use of combiners, mixers/ up-converters or Hilbert transforms. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) - derived Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) and Single Sideband (SSB) modulated channels are integrated within a single Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) operation. Channels or channel groups are mapped systematically into Nyquist zones by using, for example, a single IFFT (for a single 5G mobile numerology) or multiple IFFTs (for multiple 5G mobile numerologies). The analogue transport signal generated in this manner is digitally filtered and band-pass sampled at the receiver such that each corresponding channel (e.g. channels destined to the same radio frequency (RF)/ millimetre wave (mmW) frequency) in the multiplex is presented at the same intermediate frequency, due to the mapping employed at the transmitter. Analogue or digital domain mixers/ down-converters are not required with this technique. Furthermore, each corresponding channel can be readily up-converted to their respective RF/mmW channels with minimal per-signal processing. Measurement results, matched in simulation, for large signal multiplexes with both generic and 5G mobile numerologies show error-vector magnitude performance well within specifications, validating the proposed system. For even larger multiplexes and/or multiplexes residing on a higher IF exceeding the analogue bandwidth and sampling rate specifications of the ADCs at the receiver, the use of a bandwidth-extension device is proposed to extend the mapping to a mapping hierarchy and relax the analogue bandwidth and sampling rate requirements of the ADCs. This allows the receiver to still use digital processing, with only minimal analogue processing, to band-pass sample smaller blocks of channels from the larger multiplex, down to the same intermediate frequency. This ensures that each block of channels is within the analogue bandwidth specification of the ADCs. Performance predictions via simulation (based on a system model matched to the measurements) show promising results for very large multiplexes and large channel bandwidths. The multiplexing technique presented in this work thus allows reductions in per-channel processing for heterogeneous networking (or multi-radio access technologies) and multi-antenna configurations. It also creates a re-configurable and adaptable system based on available processing resources, irrespective of changes to the number of channels and channel groups, channel bandwidths and modulation formats

Déploiement de réseaux optiques d'accès NGPON dans des métropoles de pays en développement : proposition de nouvelles techniques d'implémentation de l'OFDM

The rapid development of multimedia services and applications such as broadband Internet, 3G, LTE, has led customers to force operators to increase throughput of all network segments, including the access network. Solutions using optical fiber tend to gradually replace cable based-copper or coaxial communications to ensure larger transfer capacity. The optical fiber is a very attractive medium because its linear attenuation is very low and its bandwidth very high. However, the chromatic dispersion of the fiber associated with the chirp of the optical sources limit the rise in flowrate in future optical access networks (beyond rates of 10 Gb/s) NG-PON (Next Generation Passive Optical Network). In this context, modulation formats with higher spectral efficiency than NRZ-OOK could be selected. OFDM is a solution to increase the spectral efficiency, while ensuring a better performance and high robustness against frequency selective channel such as fiber optics. In this thesis, we proposed a new OFDM techniques implementation for NG-PON and evaluated their performance in an IM/DD channel. We showed by simulations system of a realistic optical channel, that New DCO, New INC-ACO and DC-ACO OFDM techniques are able to increase the limited transmission distances imposed by the NRZ-OOK modulation with the use of low-cost components. Thus, we showed that using the “Minimization and E-Tight (MET)”or the Levin-Campello algorithm, the New DCO and DC-ACO techniques permit to achieve data rates of 10 Gb/s with a split ratio of 1 × 64 over a distance of 70 km with New DCO and 55 km for DC-ACO. Then we conclude that the New AMOFDM approach is a good choice for the deployment of optical access networks in metropolitan cities of developing countries.L’évolution rapide des services et applications multimédias (Internet haut débit, 3G, LTE) a entrainé un besoin chez les clients qui contraint les opérateurs à augmenter le débit de tous les segments du réseau, y compris le réseau d’accès. Les solutions utilisant la fibre optique tendent à remplacer progressivement les liaisons câblées (cuivre ou coaxial) afin de garantir des capacités de transfert plus importantes. La fibre optique est un medium très attractif car son atténuation linéique est très faible et sa bande passante importante. Cependant la dispersion chromatique de la fibre associée au chirp des sources optiques limite la montée en débit dans les futurs réseaux d’accès optiques (débits au-delà de 10 Gb/s) NG-PON (Next Generation Passive Optical Network). Dans ce contexte, des formats de modulation à efficacité spectrale meilleure que le NRZ pourraient être retenus. L’OFDM est une solution pour accroître l’efficacité spectrale, tout en garantissant une meilleure performance et une grande robustesse face aux canaux sélectifs en fréquence comme la fibre optique. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous avons proposé de nouvelles techniques d’implémentation de l’OFDM pour le NG-PON et évalué leurs performances dans un canal IM/DD. Nous avons montré par des simulations système dans un canal optique réaliste, que les techniques New DCO, New INC-ACO et DC-ACO sont capables d’augmenter les limitations de distances de transmission imposées par la modulation NRZ-OOK (Non-Return to Zero On-Off Keying) avec l’utilisation de composants bas coût. Ainsi, nous avons montré qu’avec les méthodes «MET (Minimization E-Tight)» et Levin-Campello, les techniques New DCO et DC-ACO permettent de réaliser des débits de 10 Gb/s sur une distance de 70 km en New DCO et 55 km en DC-ACO avec un taux de partage de 1×64. Cela permet d’affirmer que l’approche New AMOFDM serait un bon candidat pour le déploiement de réseaux d’accès optiques dans les métropoles de pays en développement