Non-Orthogonal Signal and System Design for Wireless Communications

The thesis presents research in non-orthogonal multi-carrier signals, in which: (i) a new signal format termed truncated orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (TOFDM) is proposed to improve data rates in wireless communication systems, such as those used in mobile/cellular systems and wireless local area networks (LANs), and (ii) a new design and experimental implementation of a real-time spectrally efficient frequency division multiplexing (SEFDM) system are reported. This research proposes a modified version of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) format, obtained by truncating OFDM symbols in the time-domain. In TOFDM, subcarriers are no longer orthogonally packed in the frequency-domain as time samples are only partially transmitted, leading to improved spectral efficiency. In this work, (i) analytical expressions are derived for the newly proposed TOFDM signal, followed by (ii) interference analysis, (iii) systems design for uncoded and coded schemes, (iv) experimental implementation and (v) performance evaluation of the new proposed signal and system, with comparisons to conventional OFDM systems. Results indicate that signals can be recovered with truncated symbol transmission. Based on the TOFDM principle, a new receiving technique, termed partial symbol recovery (PSR), is designed and implemented in software de ned radio (SDR), that allows efficient operation of two users for overlapping data, in wireless communication systems operating with collisions. The PSR technique is based on recovery of collision-free partial OFDM symbols, followed by the reconstruction of complete symbols to recover progressively the frames of two users suffering collisions. The system is evaluated in a testbed of 12-nodes using SDR platforms. The thesis also proposes channel estimation and equalization technique for non-orthogonal signals in 5G scenarios, using an orthogonal demodulator and zero padding. Finally, the implementation of complete SEFDM systems in real-time is investigated and described in detail