A Comparative Analysis of Different Digital Modulation

Schemes with OFDM for QoS support over

Wireless Network
B.K Mishra , S.K Singh, Mahendra Sharma, Umesh Sharma and Rohit Mishra
Principal-Thakur College of Engineering & Technology , Thakur Village, Kandivali (East) Mumbai-400101,
Research Scholar- Mukesh Patel School of Technology , Management & Engineering, NMIMS University,
Santacruz, Mumbai-400056. MobNo. +919892434085. India
Thakur College of Science and Commerce, Kandivali (East), Mumbai -400101 India
PG Student-Thakur College of Science and Commerce, Kandivali (East), Mumbai -400101 India
[email protected], [email protected] ,[email protected],
[email protected]

Abstract— The migration to 4G networks will bring a new forming a block of spectrum. The frequency spacing and time
level of expectation to wireless communications. As after synchronization of the carriers is chosen in such a way that the
digital wireless revolution made mobile phones available carriers are orthogonal, meaning that they do not cause
for everyone, the higher speeds and packet delivery of 4G interference to each other. This is despite the carriers
networks will make high quality multimedia available overlapping each other in the frequency domain. The name
everywhere. The key to achieving this higher level of ‘OFDM’ is derived from the fact that the digital data is sent
service delivery is a new air interface. Orthogonal using many carriers, each of a different frequency (Frequency
Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is an alternative Division Multiplexing) and these carriers are orthogonal to
wireless modulation technology to CDMA. OFDM has the each other, hence Orthogonal Frequency Division
potential to surpass the capacity of CDMA systems and Multiplexing.
provide the wireless access method for 4G systems. OFDM In OFDM, usable bandwidth is divided into a large number of
is a digital modulation and multiplexing technique. In this smaller bandwidths that are mathematically orthogonal using
paper, we have discussed various digital modulation fast Fourier transforms (FFTs). Reconstruction of the band is
techniques such as BPSK (2bits), QPSK (4 bits), 8-PSK performed by the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT).
and 16-PSK. We have designed simulation environment in Attenuation is drop in signal power when transmitting from
MATLAB with various configurations of OFDM one point to another which is caused due to shadowing /slow
technique. fading and it can be avoided by splitting the signal into many
The main objective of our work is to measure Bit small bandwidth carriers like OFDM does. This lead to small
Error Rate with different modulation schemes and come loss in carrier rather than complete loss. Delay spread is the
to the best configuration to achieve better utilization of time spread between the arrival of the first and last multipath
bandwidth. We have studied existing configurations with signal seen by receiver. In digital system the delay spread can
analog and digital modulation techniques and compared lead to inter-symbol interference. This can be minimized in
the results. The driving force behind the need to satisfy many ways, one method is to reduce the symbol rate by
this requirement is the explosion in mobile telephone, reducing the data rate for each channel i.e split the bandwidth
Internet and multimedia services coupled with a limited into more channels by using frequency division multiplexing
radio spectrum. In this paper we have also considered how another is to use a coding scheme while is relevant to inter
OFDM can improve the real time video streaming over the symbol interference such as CDMA.
wireless network
Related Work:
Keywords- OFDM; 3G; 4G; BPSK; QPSK; Bit Error Rate. Phase-shift keying (PSK) is a digital modulation scheme that
Introduction conveys data by changing, or modulating, the phase of a
reference signal (the carrier wave).
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is an
alternative wireless modulation technology to CDMA. OFDM Any digital modulation scheme uses a finite number of
has the potential to surpass the capacity of CDMA systems distinct signals to represent digital data. PSK uses a finite
and provide the wireless access method for 4G systems. number of phases; each assigned a unique pattern of binary
OFDM is a modulation scheme that allows digital data to be digits. Usually, each phase encodes an equal number of bits.
efficiently and reliably transmitted over a radio channel, even Each pattern of bits forms the symbol that is represented by
in carriers. These carriers are regularly spaced in frequency, the particular phase. The demodulator, which is designed
specifically for the symbol-set used by the modulator, allocating additional resources to users with a poor
determines the phase of the received signal and maps it back transmission path. A significant improvement in spectral
to the symbol it represents, thus recovering the original data. efficiency will be required in order for 4G systems to provide
This requires the receiver to be able to compare the phase of true broadband access. This will only be achieved by
the received signal to a reference signal — such a system is significant advances in multiple aspects of cellular network
termed coherent (and referred to as CPSK). systems, such as network structure, network management,
smart antennas, RF modulation, user allocation, and general
The first generation of networks was mainly used for the
resource allocation.
transmission of analog signals as we know analog signal are
more prone to noise and errors so the all next generation of
networks started using digital data for transmission it mainly
used FDMA.
In the current 2G mobile phones the data rate provided are
very low and the cost is also very high as compared to others
generation of networks. The data rate provided was 9.4 kbps-
14.4 kbps speed
Third generation mobile systems such as the Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) and CDMA2000 was
introduced 2002 onwards . These systems are striving to
provide higher data rates than current 2G systems such as the
Global System for Mobile communications(GSM) and IS-95.
Second generation systems are mainly targeted at providing
voice services, while 3rd generation systems will shift to more
data oriented services such as Internet access.
Fig 1: OFDM Spectrum
Research is going on, on better development of 4th generation
(4G) mobile communication systems. The commercial rollout
of these systems started around 2009, and replaced 3rd Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
generation technology. Few of the aims of 4G networks have
yet been published, however it is likely that they will be to OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is
extend the capabilities of 3G networks, allowing a greater
radio technology with tremendous potential for helping solve
range of applications, and improved universal access.
Ultimately 4G networks should encompass broadband spectrum challenges. OFDM is a modulation technique,
wireless services, such as High Definition Television (HDTV)
depicted in the following graphic, which uses many sub-
(4 - 20 Mbps) and computer network applications (1 - 100
Mbps). This will allow 4G networks to replaced many of the carriers, or tones, to carry a signal.
functions of WLAN systems. However, to cover this
application, cost of service must be reduced significantly from
3G networks. The spectral efficiency of 3G networks is too
low to support high data rate services at low cost. As a
consequence one of the main focuses of 4G systems will be to
significantly improve the spectral efficiency.
In addition to high data rates, future systems must support a
higher Quality Of Service (QOS) than current cellular systems,
which are designed to achieve 90 - 95% coverage i.e. network
connection can be obtained over 90 - 95% of the area of the
cell. This will become inadequate as more systems become
dependent on wireless networking. As a result 4G systems are
likely to require a QOS closer to 98 - 99.5%.In order to
achieve this level of QOS it will require the communication
system to be more flexible and adaptive. In many applications
it is more important to maintain network connectivity than the
actual data rate achieved. If the transmission path is very poor,
e.g. in a building basement, then the data rate has to drop to
maintain the link. Thus the data rate might vary from as low Fig2: OFDM Sub-Carriers
as 1 kbps in extreme conditions, to as high as 20 Mbps for a
good transmission path. Alternatively, for applications
requiring a fixed data rate, the QOS can be improved by
OFDM has some key advantages over the common wireless QPSK is known as quaternary PSK, quadriphase PSK, 4-
access technology known as CDMA, which is used in many of PSK. QPSK uses four points on the constellation diagram,
today’s 3G cellular networks. To begin with, it is more robust, equispaced around a circle. With four phases, QPSK can
which means that it provides better performance in cluttered encode two bits per symbol, shown in the diagram with gray
areas with many reflections (multipath). It also allows for coding to minimize the bit error rate (BER).
simpler receivers.

OFDM is a combination technique between modulation and

multiplexing. Modulation is a mapping of the information on
changes in the carrier phase, frequency or amplitude or their
combination. Meanwhile, multiplexing is a method of sharing
a bandwidth with other independent data channel. In
multiplexing, independent signals from different sources are
sharing the channel spectrum. In OFDM, multiplexing is
applied to independent signals but these independent signals
are a sub-set of the one main signal. In OFDM the signal itself
is first split into independent channels, modulated by data and Fig 3: Constellation Diagram BPSK
then re-multiplexed to create the OFDM carrier.
The multicarrier transmission technique uses the discrete
Fourier transform. By using a DFT, the whole bandwidth will
be split into N sub channels. As a result, a high data stream
will be transformed into N low rate streams, which are
transmitted over different sub-channels. OFDM symbols,
which contain several
modulation symbols, are formed as linear combinations of
mutually orthogonal complex exponentials of finite duration.
The splitting of high rate data stream into a number of lower
rate streams results in the increase of symbol duration. Mean
while a lower rate parallel subcarriers reduces the relative Fig 4: Constellation Diagram QPSK
amount of The mathematical analysis shows that QPSK can be used
dispersion in time caused by multipath delay spread. either to double the data rate compared with a BPSK system
Therefore OFDM is an advanced modulation technique which while maintaining the same bandwidth of the signal, or
is suitable for high-speed data transmission due to its to maintain the data-rate of BPSK but halving the bandwidth
advantages in dealing with the multipath propagation problem needed. In this latter case, the BER of QPSK is exactly the
and bandwidth efficiency. same as the BER of BPSK - and deciding differently is a
Different Modulation Techniques: common confusion when considering or describing QPSK.
BPSK(2-PSK)
QPSK(4-PSK) Given that radio communication channels are allocated by
8-PSK agencies such as the Federal Communication
16-PSK Commission giving a prescribed (maximum) bandwidth, the
advantage of QPSK over BPSK becomes evident: QPSK
BPSK (also sometimes called PRK, Phase Reversal Keying,
transmits twice the data rate in a given bandwidth compared to
or 2PSK) is the simplest form of phase shift keying (PSK). It
BPSK - at the same BER. The engineering penalty that is paid
uses two phases which are separated by 180° and so can also
is that QPSK transmitters and receivers are more complicated
be termed 2-PSK. It does not particularly matter exactly where
than the ones for BPSK. However, with modern electronics
the constellation points are positioned, and in this figure they
technology, the penalty in cost is very moderate.
are shown on the real axis, at 0° and 180°. This modulation is
the most robust of all the PSKs since it takes the highest level 8-PSK the variant of QPSK uses two identical constellations
of noise or distortion to make the demodulator reach an which are rotated by 45° (π / 4 radians, hence the name) with
incorrect decision. It is, however, only able to modulate at 1 respect to one another. Usually, either the even or odd
bit/symbol (as seen in the figure) and so is unsuitable for high symbols are used to select points from one of the
data-rate applications when bandwidth is limited. constellations and the other symbols select points from the
other constellation. This also reduces the phase-shifts from a
In the presence of an arbitrary phase-shift introduced by
maximum of 180°, but only to a maximum of 135° and so the
the communications channel, the demodulator is unable to tell
amplitude fluctuations of π / 4–QPSK are between OQPSK
which constellation point is which. As a result, the data is
and non-offset QPSK.
often differentially encoded prior to modulation.
One property this modulation scheme possesses is that if the The modulation techniques used in this project are 2-
modulated signal is represented in the complex domain, it PSK, 4-PSK (QPSK), 8-PSK and 16-PSK. The
does not have any paths through the origin. In other words, the output of this modulation technique is real and
signal does not pass through the origin. This lowers the imaginary value. Only real part is taken into
dynamical range of fluctuations in the signal which is consideration. The real part is sent to next block for
desirable when engineering communications signals. further processing.
4. OFDM modulation
Convert serial data into parallel.
Apply IFFT to the parallel data.
Add cyclic prefix to the processed data.
Convert parallel data to serial.
5. Send the signal
Add noise to the carrier.
Pass carriers through AWGN channel taking
SNR=11db.
6. OFDM Demodulation
Convert serial to parallel.
Remove cyclic prefix.
Apply FFT.
7. Demodulation
Apply corresponding demodulation technique.
8. Decode the data
Fig 5: Constellation Diagram 8-PSK Decoder for convolution encoding technique is
Vertibri Decoder, which is used.
9. The received data is then checked with original input
data and BER and Loss of bit is calculated.

Basic structure of OFDM that is used for simulation is as

follows.

Fig 6: Constellation Diagram 16-PSK

Implementation of OFDM
OFDM is digital modulation as well as multiplexing technique.
So we have chosen PSK as digital modulation technique.
Different form of PSK such as BPSK(2-PSK),QPSK(4-PSK),
8-PSK and 16-PSK has been used to evaluate to find which
modulation technique will be suitable to get maximum benefit
from available network.

Steps Involved in Simulation:

1. Take input
It can be random data, sine wave, cosine wave or
sound input.
2. Encode the data
Encode the data using Convolution Encoding
technique. Fig7: General Structure of OFDM implementation
3. Modulation
 Fig12: Received OFDM Signal

Fig8: Block Diagram OFDM (Sender and Receiver)

Fig11: Sent OFDM Signal

Performance evaluation
Fig9: Original Data Sent The performance of network is calculated on basis of BER
and No. of bits that’s has been lost. We have used Matlab to
simulate our performance. To make channel as that of real
world we have used AWGN noise channel where we can set
SNR but we have used constant SNR as 11. All the data that
we got from the simulation is listed in table below. The total
number of bits that is transmitted is 10000 where we have 50
frames and each frame contains 200 bits of data. We have
compared all the PSK modulation technique and the table
below shows that 2-PSK is the best one but as we are
considering about proper utilization of bandwidth 4-PSK is
the best one as we have less error and less BER as compared
to others modulation technique except 2-PSK.
We have also compared it along with using 4-QAM for
comparative study but 4-PSK is far much better than 4-QAM.

Fig10: Received Data

Tabular Format for Analysis
Modulation Total bit Bit Loss BER
2-PSK 10000 0 0
4-PSK 10000 3 1.5000e-004
8-PSK 10000 983 0.0328
16-PSK 10000 5983 0.1496
4-QAM 10000 7 3.5000e-004

Table 1: Comparative Analysis of Different Modulation

techniques.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Our sincere thanks to Thakur educational trust and
management to provide all the facilities and infrastructure to
carried out the research work.

References

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