Analysis and simulation of wireless OFDM communications

Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-134).The increase in the number of wireless devices and the requirement for higher data rates places an increasing demand on bandwidth. This necessitates the need for communication systems with increased throughput and capacity. Multiple input multiple output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) is one way to meet this need. OFDM is used in many wireless communication devices and offers high spectral efficiency and resilience to multipath channel effects. Though OFDM is sensitive to synchronization errors, it makes the task of channel equalization simple. MIMO makes use of multiple antennas to increase throughput without increasing transmitter power or bandwidth. This thesis presents an introduction to the multipath fading channel and describes an appropriate channel model. Several modulation schemes are presented that are often used in conjunction with OFDM . Mathematical definitions and analysis of OFDM are given along with a discrete implementation common to modern communication systems. Synchronization errors are described mathematically and simulated, as well as techniques to estimate and correct those errors at the receiver. Lastly, space time coding, spatial multiplexing, and beamforming are presented as techniques used in (MIMO)