The Basics Of OFDM

This article is second in a series of quarterly guest

columns by Mark Elo, RF Marketing Director,
Keithley Instruments, Inc.

Introduction
As the demand for fast mobile data rates increases, engineers are constantly looking for
new transmission methods. Until recently, this was achieved by simply increasing the
symbol rate. However, the advent of OFDM (orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing) provides an innovative way to provide broadband data at a relatively low
symbol rate, making it a much more robust modulation technique for multipath
environments such as homes, offices, or cars.
In this article, well explore the basics of OFDM and the new demands placed on RF test
instrumentation that will need to test the next generation of wireless communication
devices.

How Does OFDM Work?

Broadband data at a slow symbol rate sounds contradictory at first; however, the trick to
OFDM is to transmit multiple symbols in parallel by using many carriers. Thus, we can
keep the symbol rate low on each individual carrier and achieve high bandwidth by
having many thousands of carriers. For example, mobile WiMAX (Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access) can have in excess of 2,000 carriers. This
explains the frequency division multiplex part of OFDM. However, the orthogonal
part is the real key to how the system works. If the carrier spacing is made equal to the
symbol rate, this can significantly reduce the cross-carrier interface and allow for the
modulation of many carriers, called sub-carriers, in a relatively small bandwidth. For
example, WLAN 802.11g has 52 sub-carriers, spaced at 312.5 kHz, with an overall
bandwidth of 16.25 MHz.

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Guest Column
The OFDM radio design uses an IFFT (inverse fast Fourier transform) to create the
composite time domain signal from the multiple symbols as show in Figure 1. The time
domain waveform can then be modulated using a standard quadrature modulator, upconverted amplified and transmitted.

Figure 1: OFDM can be implemented by using an IFFT (inverse fast Fourier transform) in the transmitter
and, conversely, an FFT in the receiver. In the transmitter, the IFFT converts the parallel input signals into
the two modulated sine waves in the output. Its as if the IFFT acts as a specialized multiplexer.

For reception, the OFDM signal includes several sub-carriers (Figure 2) designated as
pilot carriers, which are used as reference for phase and amplitude for synchronizing the
receiver as it demodulates the data in the other sub-carriers.

Figure 2: An OFDM signal includes several sub-carriers designated as pilot carriers that are used as
reference for phase and amplitude for synchronizing the receiver as it demodulates the data in the other
sub-carriers.

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Guest Column
OFDM offers a number of advantages over other types of modulation schemes. For
starters, OFDM is spectrally efficient, meaning that it carries more data per unit of
bandwidth than methods such as GSM and W-CDMA. Figure 3 shows a comparison of
the spectral efficiency of the leading cellular technologies and how they compare to
WLAN and WiMAX. Fourth-generation technology, known as LTE (Long Term
Evolution) and UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), will use OFDM or a related method
known as OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access).

Figure 3: The figure shows the spectral efficiency of the leading cellular technologies and how they
compare to WLAN and WiMAX. Fourth-generation technology, often referred to as LTE, will use OFDM.

OFDM also tolerates environments with high RF interference extremely well. Some
wireless protocols that use OFDM such as WLAN operate in the unregulated ISM
(industrial, scientific, and medical) bands, where they must co-exist with unregulated
devices, including analog cordless phones, microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices, digital
cordless phones, and WLAN.

OFDM, WLAN, And WiMAX

In terms of speed versus mobility, the WLAN and WiMAX standards provide a marked
increase in data speed over traditional cellular-based communications technology.
WLAN is defined by the IEEE 802.11 standard, of which there are several variations, a
through g. The original WLAN standard is 802.11b, which is not based on OFDM.
802.11a and 802.11g are the same; 802.11a works in the 5 GHz ISM band and 802.11g
works in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. 802.11j is a slower symbol rate version of 802.11g for

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Guest Column
the Japanese market, and 802.11n is based on multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO)
technology.
In OFDM, all the carriers are used to facilitate a single link. OFDMA assigns different
groups of sub-carriers to different users in a similar fashion as in CDMA. OFDMAs
best-known use is in WiMAX.
WiMAX is very similar in concept to 802.11, but the demands of multiple simultaneous
users make the implementation much more complex. There are two major variations of
WiMAX: fixed and mobile. The mobile version, 802.16e-2005, facilitates the link
between mobile devices. It uses SOFDMA (scalable OFDMA), which interoperates with
OFDMA but requires new equipment. 802.16e also adds MIMO.
The fixed version of WiMAX, 802.16-2004, uses OFDMA and operates from 2 to 11
GHz and delivers a practical data rate of 10 Mbps over 2 km.
Fixed WiMAX is similar in some respects to WLAN in that it has an OFDM physical
layer. Mobile WiMAX is based on an OFDMA physical layer and uses both frequency
division multiplex and time division multiplex. Groups of sub-carriers represent
individual data streams, and each group of sub-carriers also has a frame structure. The
frame structure equates to a packet with a timing gap between the uplink and downlink,
called the transition gap.
Mobile WiMAX is a dynamic system. The amount of data transferred is a function of the
modulation type and symbol rate on each set of sub-carriers. If the link quality is good, a
high-throughput modulation type such as QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) is
used, and most of the bandwidth is consumed, thus limiting the number of users on the
system. As the user moves further away from the base station, the signal quality
decreases, and with it decreases the ability to maintain a high throughput. A lower
throughput modulation scheme such as QPSK (quadrature phase-shift keying) would then
be employed. This, of course, does not require a large group of sub-carriers, so the
system can support more users.
A typical WiMAX measurement involves a packet structure containing downlink (DL)
and uplink (UL) data, each separated by a transition gap. The UL contains more data and
would use a complex modulation format such as QAM. This is what we have chosen to
demodulate, although we could also demodulate the DL portion, which is QPSK. We can
even demodulate both and display a hybrid of the two modulation types in the
constellation.
Many conventional RF test instruments lack the signal processing capability to quickly
perform the measurements demanded by OFDM. DSP (digital signal processing)enhanced architecture makes it possible to perform the analysis very quickly.
Test equipment for WLAN must have a frequency range up to about 6 GHz and be able
to modulate or demodulate OFDM signals with a bandwidth of up to 16.25 MHz for all

As seen in the April 1, 2008 edition of the RF Globalnet (www.rfglobalnet.com) newsletter.

Guest Column
types apart from 802.11n, which has a maximum bandwidth of 40 MHz. Another key
consideration for instrumentation is bandwidth: WiMAX and WLAN have bandwidths
that can exceed 25 MHz.

Conclusion
The future of wireless and of fourth-generation cellular systems, such as LTE or UMB,
will be based on a combination of OFDM types of modulation and MIMO radio
configurations. When choosing test equipment for testing todays radio standards, its
important to consider the evolution of wireless technology and to ensure that test
equipment will be able to handle todays testing needs as well as the technologies of
tomorrow.

Figure 4: Fourth-generation cellular systems will be based on a combination of OFDM types of

modulation and MIMO radio configurations. When choosing test equipment for testing todays radio
standards, its important to consider the evolution of wireless technology and to ensure that your purchases
are forward compatible.

About The Author

Mark Elo (melo@keithley.com) is RF marketing director for Keithley Instruments. He
joined the company in 2006 after working for Agilent Technologies in marketing and
R&D management positions. Elo holds a bachelor's degree in engineering with honors
from the University of Salford, Lancashire, England, and an MBA from Herriot Watt
University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

As seen in the April 1, 2008 edition of the RF Globalnet (www.rfglobalnet.com) newsletter.