BER Analysis for Asymmetric OFDM Systems

To alleviate the high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) and sensitivity to Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO) problems, an Asymmetric OFDM (A-OFDM) system has been recently proposed. In this paper, the theoretical Bit Error Rate (BER) analysis of the A-OFDM systems is presented. Various modulation methods, i.e., BPSK and M-ray QAM, and equalization techniques, i.e., Zero Forcing (ZF) and Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) criteria are considered. The authors' analysis shows that the BER performance of the A-OFDM system bridges that of conventional OFDM and single carrier systems. Certain advanced equalizers, such as MMSE equalizer, are found to significantly improve the BER performance of the A-OFDM systems. The analysis approach is generally applicable to most modulation schemes and can be extended to any precoded OFDM systems.