A Generalized Prefix Construction for OFDM Systems Over Quasi-Static Channels

TL;DR

This paper introduces a generalized prefix for OFDM systems that improves error rates and robustness over traditional cyclic prefix methods, with comparable complexity suitable for practical deployment.

Contribution

A novel generalized prefix construction method for OFDM that enhances performance and robustness while maintaining low complexity.

Findings

Outperforms traditional cyclic prefix in bit error rate

More robust against channel estimation errors and mobility

Comparable complexity to existing CP methods

Abstract

All practical OFDM systems require a prefix to eliminate inter-symbol interference at the receiver. Cyclic prefix (CP) and zero-padding are well-known prefix construction methods, the former being the most employed technique in practice due to its lower complexity. In this paper we construct an OFDM system with a generalized CP. It is shown that the proposed generalized prefix effectively makes the channel experienced by the packet different from the actual channel. Using an optimization procedure, lower bit error rates can be achieved, outperforming other prefix construction techniques. At the same time the complexity of the technique is comparable to the CP method. The presented simulation results show that the proposed technique not only outperforms the CP method, but is also more robust in the presence of channel estimation errors and mobility. The proposed method is appropriate for practical OFDM systems.