Multiple Access Scheme for Downlink:
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA):
The purpose of the orthogonal frequency division multiple access is to divide the one high data rate stream into several
low data rate streams and transmit all into parallel. In ofdma there is no need for each low data rate stream to assign
UE.ofdma is a frequency multiplexing among several users by assigning different set of sub carriers to different user’s
transmission will be orthogonal to each other. Now before the transmission of any kind of data each user has to know
what frequency band he is allowed to use and maps its data symbols onto the corresponding sub carriers fig1 illustrate
the idea. Each sub carrier can individually assign its own modulation scheme. In LTE the downlink modulation
schemes are QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM .
Ofdma supports overlapping of sub carriers without any interface between the carriers, by doing this almost 50% of
bandwidth is saved due to the orthogonality of the code compare to non overlapping technique. Fig2.
fig1
Figure 2
Fig 3: Three sub carrier with in a ofdm symbol
OFDM Generation:
The generation method of ofdm is as follows.
i.The N input complex symbols are padded with zero to get Ns symbols. These symbols are used to calculate the
IFFT.The output of the IFFT is the basic ofdm symbols.
ii.Must be choose a specific guard time known as Tg on the base of delay spread of the multi path channel. Number of
samples which are corresponding to this guard time must be taken from the beginning of the ofdm symbols and added
on the end of the symbols.
iii.The ofdm symbol must be multiplied with the raised cosine window to remove the power of out of band sub carriers.
LTE Downlink Transmission Scheme:
The downlink transmission scheme of LTE is based on OFDMA. OFDMA has several benefits like its robustness
against multipath fading and efficient receiver architecture. in fig 4 shown the representation of ofdm signal in this fig
a 5Mhz signal is shown .Data symbols are independently modulated and transmitted over high number of closely
spaced orthogonal sub carriers. In time domain a guard interval may added to compensate the inter ofdm symbol
interference due to the channel delay spread. In E-UTRA the guard interval is a cyclic prefix which is inserted before
every ofdm symbol.
fig4
OFDM Advantage:
Ofdm has some inherent advantage for the wireless communication. here the some important reasons are discussed that
why the ofdm is becoming most popular in wireless industry.
1. Multipath delay spread Tolerance:
The increase in symbol time of ofdm symbol by N time (N is the number of sub carriers) will increase the effectiveness
of ofdm against ISI which is the main cause of multipath delay spread. By using the proper design of ofdm we can also
completely eliminate the ISI from the system.
2. Effectiveness against channel distortion:
In ofdm system the bandwidth of each sub carrier is very small so the amplitude response over this narrow bandwidth
will be flat. In case of the high Amplitude distortion an equalizer of very simple structure is will be enough to minimize
the distortion in each sub carrier.
3. Throughput maximization(Transmission at capacity):
Sub carrier modulation scheme improve the flexibility of ofdm to distortion and channel fading make it possible for
system to utilize the maximum possible capacity by using the technique known as channel loading. Assume that the
transmission channel has fading notch (cut) corresponding the certain sub carrier in a certain frequency range. if we
detect this notch and assume that the notch does not vary fast as compared to the symbol duration of the ofdm symbols
then it is possible to change the modulation and coding scheme for this particular sub carrier. So that the capacity as a
whole is maximized overall the sub carrier. But in case of single sub carrier system nothing can be against such kind of
fading notches.
4. Robustness Against impulse noise:
OFDMA systems inherently robust against the impulse noise. Since the symbol duration of the ofdm signal is much
larger then the corresponding single carrier signal. So a very low chance that the impulse noise might be cause of
symbol errors. Thus the handlings of burst type error are not really required for ofdm systems.
