The real benefits of OFDM become apparent in a frequency selective channel. The introduction of the cyclic prefix (guard period) allows us to remove the Intersymbol Interference (ISI) in the time domain and frequency domain equalization allows us to overcome the channel variations in the frequency domain.

We consider a simple FIR filter for our channel model with coefficients ht=[0.8 0.54 0.24 0.10 0.04]. This is a simplistic approach since the channel coefficients are all real which means that all multipath components are co-phase. To model a more realistic channel we then introduce a uniform phase shift to all the channel coefficients.

We use an FFT size of 128 and cyclic prefix of 32 samples (16.67usec) in the simulation given below.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% FUNCTION TO SIMULATE THE PERFORMANCE OF 64-QAM OFDM IN STATIC FREQUENCY SELECTIVE CHANNEL
% n_bits: Input, length of binary sequence
% n_fft: Input, length of FFT (Fast Fourier Transform)
% EbNodB: Input, energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio
% ber: Output, bit error rate
% Copyright RAYmaps (www.raymaps.com)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
function[ber]= M_QAM_OFDM_fading(n_bits,n_fft,EbNodB)

Eb=7;
M=64;
k=log2(M);
n_cyc=32;
EbNo=10^(EbNodB/10);
x=transpose(round(rand(1,n_bits)));
h1=modem.qammod(M);
h1.inputtype='bit';
h1.symbolorder='gray';
y=modulate(h1,x);
n_sym=length(y)/n_fft;

for n=1:n_sym;
    s_ofdm=sqrt(n_fft)*ifft(y((n-1)*n_fft+1:n*n_fft),n_fft);
    s_ofdm_cyc=[s_ofdm(n_fft-n_cyc+1:n_fft); s_ofdm];
    ht=[0.8 0.54 0.24 0.10 0.04];
    Hf=fft(ht,n_fft);
    r_ofdm_cyc=conv(s_ofdm_cyc,ht);
    r_ofdm_cyc=(r_ofdm_cyc(1:n_fft+n_cyc));
    wn=sqrt((n_fft+n_cyc)/n_fft)*(randn(1,n_fft+n_cyc)+j*randn(1,n_fft+n_cyc));
    r_ofdm_cyc=r_ofdm_cyc+sqrt(Eb/(2*EbNo))*wn.';
    r_ofdm=r_ofdm_cyc(n_cyc+1:n_fft+n_cyc);
    s_est((n-1)*n_fft+1:n*n_fft)=(fft(r_ofdm,n_fft)/sqrt(n_fft))./Hf.';
end

h2=modem.qamdemod(M);
h2.outputtype='bit';
h2.symbolorder='gray';
h2.decisiontype='hard decision';
z=demodulate(h2,s_est.');
ber=(n_bits-sum(x==z))/n_bits
return
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

We also have accounted for the extra energy transmitted for the cyclic prefix in our signal to noise calibration.

It can be seen that up to 12dB the BER performance for the two cases is quite similar, however, after 12dB the BER for the real case drops significantly whereas the BER for the complex case goes down in linear fashion. The error rate can be significantly improved by employing channel coding and antenna diversity schemes.

64-QAM is an important component of the LTE Air Interface that promises higher data rates and spectral efficiencies. Combined with OFDM and MIMO it successfully combats the detrimental effects of the wireless channels and provides data rates in excess of 100Mbps (peak data rate). Here, we discuss a simple example of 64-QAM modulation with OFDM in an AWGN channel. We assume a bandwidth of 1.25MHz which corresponds to an FFT size of 128.

Given below is the code for this scheme.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% FUNCTION TO CALCULATE BER OF 64-QAM OFDM IN AWGN
% n_bits: Input, number of bits
% n_fft: Input, FFT size 
% EbNodB: Input, energy per bit to noise PSD
% ber: Output, bit error rate
% Copyright RAYmaps (www.raymaps.com)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
function[ber]= M_QAM(n_bits,n_fft,EbNodB);
Eb=7;
M=64;
k=log2(M);
EbNo=10^(EbNodB/10);
x=transpose(round(rand(1,n_bits)));
h1=modem.qammod(M);
h1.inputtype='bit';
h1.symbolorder='gray';
y=modulate(h1,x);
n_sym=length(y)/n_fft;
s_ofdm=zeros(1,n_fft);
r_ofdm=zeros(1,n_fft);
for n=1:n_sym;
s_ofdm=sqrt(n_fft)*ifft(y((n-1)*n_fft+1:n*n_fft),n_fft);
wn=randn(1,n_fft)+j*randn(1,n_fft);
r_ofdm=s_ofdm+sqrt(Eb/(2*EbNo))*wn.';
s_est((n-1)*n_fft+1:n*n_fft)=fft(r_ofdm,n_fft)/sqrt(n_fft);
end
h2=modem.qamdemod(M);
h2.outputtype='bit';
h2.symbolorder='gray';
h2.decisiontype='hard decision';
z=demodulate(h2,s_est.');
ber=(n_bits-sum(x==z))/n_bits;
return
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

As discussed previously, with proper normalization of IFFT and FFT operations the performance of OFDM in AWGN is the same as the performance of the underlying modulation scheme. We have not even introduced the cyclic prefix in our simulation because without a fading channel there is no ISI and cyclic prefix (CP) is of no use. We will introduce the CP when we turn our attention to fading channels.

It must be noted that although IFFT and FFT are linear inverses of each other proper normalization is required to maintain the signal levels at the transmitter and receiver.