ECE 734

Final Project Report

Prof. Yu-Hen Hu

Methods of modulation and

demodulation in OFDM system:
implement and analysis for BER
performance, hardware performance,
and hardware complexity

by
Hsin-Yu Chen
Abstract
The structure and algorithm of IDFT DFT, the conventional method used in
modulation/demodulation process in OFDM system, has matured today. Researchers
have developed new transforms in an effort to replace this traditional structure, such
as DHT-based structure (Discrete Hartley Transform) and DWT-based (Discrete
Wavelet Transform) structure. In this project, all three structures will be implemented
in MATLAB to acquire their BER (Bit Error Rate) performances, and the results will
be compared and analyzed along with other two aspects, hardware performance and
hardware complexity to gain a complete view of their advantages and disadvantages.

Introduction
In OFDM system, IDFT DFT hardware in the transceiver is conventionally
designed jointly to carry out IDFT and DFT functions for transmission and receiving
processes, respectively. To date, the development of IDFT DFT structure and
algorithm used in the modulation/demodulation process has reached its maturity. In
the last few decades, researchers have proposed several alternative transforms to
replace IDFT DFT, such as DHT (Discrete Hartley Transform) IDHT (Inverse
Discrete Hartley Transform) and DWT (Discrete Wavelet Transform) IDWT (Inverse
Discrete Wavelet Transform). Past research has individually compared one of the
many transforms to the DFT-based structure on one or two of the performance aspects,
such as BER performance, hardware performance, or hardware complexity. For
example, the DHT-based structure in research [1] generates similar BER performance
and lower complexity. A DWT-based structure in research [2] shows better BER
performance under certain conditions. A lot of effort [3] [4] [5] was put into
implementing the hardware to lower the complexity or increase the operating speed.

Motivation and Goal

As indicated in the background research review, researchers in the field of
OFDM system have compared DHT-based and DWT-based structure to DFT-based
structure on either the BER performance or the hardware performance and complexity.
However, I have not found research that offers an exhaustive comparison among all
three structures with their respective BER performance, hardware performance, and
hardware complexity. I believe by running a synthesized analysis with all three
structures on all the aspects will give us more complete information and will provide a
useful direction for future research to invest their research time and money.
DFT-based
d OFDM
An Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system is a
multi-carrier
carrier system which utilizes a parallel processing technique allowing the
simultaneous transmission of data on many closely spaced, orthogonal sub-carriers.
sub carriers.
Inverse Discrete Fourier
rier transform (IDFT) and Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) in a
conventional OFDM system are used to multiplex the signals together and decode the
signal at the receiver respectively. The N-point IDFT is defined as:

∑ π/
x = X W , n=0 ,1 ,…,N-1, where W = e
√

The system adds cyclic prefixes (CP) before transmitting the signal. The purpose
of this is to increase the delay spread of the channel so that it becomes longer than the
channel impulse response. The purpose of this is to minimize inter-symbol
interference (ISI). However, the CP has the disadvantage of reducing the spectral
containment of the channels. Here is the diagram of DFT-based OFDM:

DHT-based
based OFDM
For the current DFT-based
based OFDM-based
OFDM transceivers, the modulator
tor needs to
compute a long-length
length IDFT, and the demodulator needs to compute a long-length
long length
DFT. For such computations, a great number of complex multiplications are required.
Clearly, the complexity of a D
DFT -based OFDM would be reduced if the
correspondingng modulator and demodulator could be replaced by discrete Hartley
transforms. The N-point
point IDFT is defined as:

x = ∑ X H ,…,N where H = sin 2πk/N + cos 2

, n=0, 1 ,…,N-1, 2πk/N
√
 The DHT involves only real-valued
real valued arithmetic and has an identical inverse. Like
the DFT, there have been a number of fast algorithms and hardware architectures
available for the DHT computation. It is shown that the proposed DHT
DHT-based
based OFDM
achieves the same transmission performance as the DFT-based
DFT based OFDM, but requires
less computationall complexity. Here is the diagram of DHT-based OFDM:

DWT-based
based OFDM
In DFT-based
based OFDM, a CP is added to eliminate ISI. But this can decrease
bandwidth efficiency greatly. Discrete Wavelet transforms have been considered as
alternative platforms for replacing
placing IDFT
ID and DFT. FT. By using the transform, the
spectral containment of the channels is better since it does
does not use CP which gives
DWT-based
based OFDM an advantage of bandwidth efficiency. The N-point
N point IDFT is
defined as:
φ(t) = 1, 0 ≤ t ≤ , (−1, 1/2 ≤ t ≤ 1) , x =∑ C φ(t − nT)

Here is a diagram of DWT-based

based OFDM:
Simulation

Stage 1

Using MATLAB to create an OFDM system (without channel effect, CP and noise)
and then run simulation with a random input. The results, as shown below, indicate
that both DHT-based and DWT-based OFDM generates the same output as IDFT/DFT.
Therefore, it is safe to say that IDFT/DFT can be replaced by either IDHT/DHT or
IDWT/DWT.

A. Input data:

Input
3

2.5

2
Amplitude

1.5

0.5

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Data
B. DHT-based OFDM output data:
Output
3

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

C. DWT-based OFDM output data:

Output
3

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Stage 2

I added the AWGN channel into the OFDM system and calculated the BER for each
system. The results showed that DWT out performed both DFT and DHT system
while the later two produced very similar BER performance.

Table 1: SIMULATION PARAMETERS

Number of DWT point 2048
Number of DHT point 2048
Number of DFT point 2048
Modulation BPSK
Channel AWGN

Bit error probability curve for BPSK modulation

-1
10

simulationDWT
-2 simulationDFT
10
simulationDHT
Bit Error Rate

-3
10

-4
10

-5
10
0 5 10 15 20 25
Eb/No, dB
Conclusion
In BER performance simulation, different orthogonal based OFDM systems
(DFT-based OFDM, DWT-based OFDM, and DHT-based OFDM systems) were
compared over AWGN channel. DWT-based OFDM system performs much better
than DHT-based OFDM and DFT-based OFDM systems on AWGN channel. The
BER performance of DHT-based OFDM is almost the same as that of DHT-based
OFDM system over AWGN channel.

In hardware comparison, research has suggested that DHT-based OFDM has the
potential to lower the hardware complexity compare to DFT-based OFDM because it
has an identical inverse and real-valued arithmetic [2][10]. However, it is still too
early to determine its efficiency without more fully developed hardware architecture
and algorithm.

DWT-based OFDM was only recently introduced to be applied in OFDM system

but it holds a even better potential to produce low hardware complexity because it
doesn’t need a CP. With its strong BER performance shown in this study, it is worth
starting/continuing the development of its hardware architecture and algorithm.
References

1. C. L. Wang and C. H. Chang, “A novel DHT-based FFT IFFT Processor for

ADSL transceivers,” in Proc. 1999 IEEE Int. Symp. Circuits Syst., Orlando, FL,
May 30 - June 2, 1999, pp. 51-55

2. K. Abdullah and Z. M. Hussain, “Studies on DWT-OFDM and FFT-OFDM

Systems”, SMIEEE, 2009

3. Y. Jung, H. Yoon, and J. Kim, “New efficient FFT algorithm and pipeline
implementation results for OFDM/DMT applications,” Consumer Electronics,
IEEE Trans., vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 14 - 20, Feb. 2003

4. D. F. Chiper and V. Munteanu, “A new design approach to VLSI parallel

implementation of discrete Hartley transform”, Volume 1, 17-20 June 1996
Page(s):207 - 212 vol.1 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ ISIE. 1996.548420

5. Lung-Hee Suk, Dae-Won Kim, Taek-Won Kwon, Suk-Kun Hyung, Jun-rim Choi,
“A 8192 complex point FFT/IFFT for COFDM modulation scheme in DVB-T
system,” Proceedings of IEEE International SOC Conference 2003, pp. 131-134,
Sept. 2003.

6. Lihong Jia, Yonghong Ciao, Jouni Isoaho, Hannu Tenhunen, “A new

VLSI-oriented FFT algorithm and implementation,” Proceedings of ASIC 1998,
pp. 337-341, Sept. 1998.

7. R. N. Bracewell, “The fast Hartley transform,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 72, pp.
1010-1018, Aug. 1984.

8. H. S. Hou, “The fast Hartley transform algorithm,” IEEE Trans. Comput., vol.
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9. C. -L. Wang, C. -T. Ho, and Y. -T. Chang, “A novel systolic design for fast
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10. C. -L. Wang and C. -H Chang, “A novel DHT-based FFWIFFT processor for
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