International Journal of Applied Engineering Research

ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 6, Number 23 (2011) pp. 2695-2704

Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm



BER Analysis of MIMO-OFDM Wireless
Communication System with MATLAB Simulink


Er. Ruchin Mangla and Er. Abhijeet Kumar

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,
M. M. University, Mullana (Ambala), Haryana, India
E-mail: ruchin_engg@yahoo.co.in, abhi_459@yahoo.co.in


Abstract

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a popular method for
high data rate wireless transmission. OFDM may be combined with antenna
arrays at the transmitter and receiver to increase the diversity gain and enhance
the system capacity on time variant and frequency selective channels, resulting
in Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) configuration. A multiple-input
multiple-output (MIMO) communication System combined with the
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation technique
can achieve reliable high data rate transmission over broadband wireless
channels. The bit error rate (BER) performance analysis of an OFDM wireless
communication system is carried out considering the effect of fading and
multipath dispersion. Analysis is extended to include multiple-input and
multiple output (MIMO) transceiver configuration to combat the effect of
fading. Further, forward error correction coding such as Convolutional Coding
(CC) is also applied to improve the BER of a MIMO-OFDM system. The
performance of MIMO OFDM is evaluated on the basis of Bit Error Rate
(BER).


Introduction
The basic principle of OFDM is to split a high-rate data stream into a number of lower
rate streams that are transmitted simultaneously over a number of subcarriers. The
relative amount of dispersion in time caused by multipath delay spread is decreased
because the symbol duration increases for lower rate parallel subcarriers. The other
problem to solve is the intersymbol interference, which is eliminated almost
completely by introducing a guard time in every OFDM symbol. This means that in
the guard time, the OFDM symbol is cyclically extended to avoid intercarrier
interference. An OFDM signal is a sum of subcarriers that are individually modulated
2696 Er. Ruchin Mangla and Er. Abhijeet Kumar


by using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation
(QAM). The application of multiple antennas at both transmitter (TX) and receiver
(RX) side of wireless communication systems is proposed in many contributions over
the last few years.
This system is widely known as multiple-input multiple-out (MIMO), which
provides the benefit of increased range, robustness and improved data rate. When
applying this techniques to wideband communication, the combination of the MIMO
architectures with the multicarrier techniques to every subcarrier, separately. Research
concerning MIMO-OFDM based systems mainly focuses on systems impaired by
additive white Gaussian receiver noise and spatial correlated channels. When
impairments will arise, which can largely influence the performance of the wireless
system.
Several research work has been carried out on the performance evaluation of an
OFDM system both analytically and also by simulations [1]-[6]. The BER
performance results for OFDM system over fading channels are reported in [1]-[4].
The performance of non-coherently detected BFSK/OFDM over multipath fading
channels with noise is investigated in [1]. This analysis demonstrate that it is possible
to transmit information in selective channels with no symbol interference. Expression
of the Bit Error Probability(BEP) are derived in the context of frequency selective
Rician fading channels with and without convolutional coding. Reference [2]
proposes an approximate derivation method of the bit error rate (BER) in
DQPSK/OFDM systems over frequency non-selective Nakagami-Rice and Rayleigh
fading channels. Performance of OFDM has been evaluated in fading channels
exhibiting both time-selectivity and frequency-selectivity in [3]. Reference [4]
proposed a simple method that is an approximation closed-form equation of the bit
error rate (BER) in DPSK/OFDM systems mentioned above over both time and
frequency selective Rician fading channels. Reference [5] shows the impact of ICI
Cancelling Space- Frequency Block Code for MISO-OFDM over the Fast Fading
Channels. Performance evaluation of multiantenna OFDM systems in fading channels
with additive Transmitter and receiver impairments has been carried out in Reference
[6]. BER of MIMO-OFDM Systems with Carrier Frequency Offset and Channel
Estimation Errors discussed in reference [7]. Reference [8] shows the Inter carrier
interference in MIMO-OFDM system. Reference [9] shows the bit-error rate (BER) of
multilevel quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) in flat Rayleigh fading
channel is also analyzed. The performance of MIMO OFDM is evaluated on the basis
of Bit Error Rate (BER) and Mean Square Error (MSE) level. Reference [10]
Described a new simulator that can perform the BER analysis using OFDM
technology and generate respective plots for bit errors vs signal energy (Eb/No) for
several modulation schemes & different noise effects in three types of channels
(namely AWGN, Rayleigh and Rician). In this research work, we evaluate the
performance of MIMO-OFDM systems on the basis of BER over AWGN channel
with convolutional coding.

System Model of OFDM
An OFDM system has the three main parts: transmitter, channel and receiver. The
BER Analysis of MIMO-OFDM Wireless Communication System 2697


basic components of an OFDM transmitter are channel coding, QPSK modulator, sub-
carrier assignment i.e. OFDM baseband modulator and single carrier modulator
shown in Figure 1. Since OFDM is preferably used for the uplink in a multiuser
environment, low-order modulation such as QPSK with Gray mapping is preferred.
However, basically high-order modulation (64-QAM) can also be employed. The sub-
carrier assignment can be fixed or dynamic. In practice, in order to increase the
system robustness a dynamic assignment of sub-carriers (i.e., frequency hopping) for
each user is preferable. For pulse shaping, rectangular shaping is usually used which
results for K users in an OFDM-type signal at the receiver side. In summary, where
only one sub-carrier is assigned to a user, the modulator for the user could be a single-
carrier modulator. If several carriers are used for a given terminal station, the
modulator will be a multi-carrier (OFDM) modulator.



Figure 1: OFDM Transmitter.


At the receiver the main components are the OFDM baseband demodulator,
QPSK demapping, channel decoder (with soft decisions) are used for receiving the
transmitted signal and then processed this signal to get the original transmitted data.
But this received signal is not same as that of the transmitted signal. The received
signal is the approximation of transmitted signal by hard decision methods. For this
purpose OFDM baseband demodulator and QPSK demodulation are used. For error
detection and correction purpose we used channel decoder. In this model we used
Reed Solomon detector for correction of errors.



Figure 2: OFDM Receiver.
2698


OFDM overcomes mo
divides the available band
each channel are made o
close together. The orthog
number of cycles over a sy
null at the centre frequenc
no interference between
theoretically possible. Th
required in FDMA. Each c
1 kHz), thus the resulting
to Multipath delay sprea
significant inter-symbol in

System Model of MIMO
Fig-3 shows a block diagr
this paper we have consid
In a modulation block, the
to Parallel conversion, D
frequency domain.
Figure 3
Fi
Er. Ruchin Mangla and Er. A
ost of the problems with both FDMA and T
dwidth into many narrow band channels . T
orthogonal to each other, allowing them to b
gonality of the carriers means that each carrie
ymbol period. Due to this, the spectrum of ea
cy of each of the other carriers in the system
the carriers, allowing then to be space
his overcomes the problem of overhead
carrier in an OFDM signal has a very narrow
symbol rate is low. This will give the signal a
ad, because the delay spread must be very
nterference.
-OFDM
ram of a MIMO-OFDM wireless communica
dered two receiving antennas and one transm
e followings are carried out to a binary data se
DPSK modulation with differential coding


: Block diagram of MIMO-OFDM System.


igure 4: MIMO-OFDM Transmitter.
Abhijeet Kumar
TDMA. OFDM
The carriers for
be spaced very
er has an integer
ach carrier has a
. This results in
ed as close as
carrier spacing
bandwidth (i.e.
a high tolerance
y long to cause
ation system. In
mitting antenna.
equence : Serial
in the time or


BER Analysis of MIMO-OFDM Wireless Communication System 2699




Figure 5: MIMO-OFDM Receiver


MIMO-OFDM modulation using IFFT, parallel-to-serial conversion and addition
of the GI. It is assumed that the ISI can be completely avoided with the GI which is
longer than the maximum multipath delay. In a transmission block, an MIMO-OFDM
signal is subjected to the fading and is added the white Gaussian noise (AWGN). In a
demodulation block the desired binary data sequence is demodulated from the
received MIMO-OFDM signal through a reverse process of the modulation block.
Why do we use FFT in MIMO-OFDM system ?.To spread the data in time
domain and because it is faster than a DFT. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is
merely a rapid mathematical method for computer applications of DFT. It is the
availability of this technique, and the technology that allows it to be implemented on
integrated circuits at a reasonable price, that has permitted MIMO-OFDM to be
developed as far as it has. The process of transforming from the time domain
representation to the frequency domain representation uses the Fourier transform
itself, whereas the reverse process uses the inverse Fourier transform.
In some respects, MIMO-OFDM is similar to conventional frequency division
multiplexing (FDM). The difference lies in the way in which the signals are
modulated and demodulated. MIMO-OFDM is a method of the digital modulation in
which a signal is split into several narrowband channels at different frequencies. The
technology was first conceived in the 1960s and 1970s during research into
minimizing interference among channels near each other in frequency. MIMO-OFDM
is used in European digital audio broadcast services. The technologies lend itself to
digital television, and are being considered as a method of obtaining high-speed
digital data transmission over conventional telephone lines.

Channel Models
Additive White Gaussian Noise channel
With the transmitted signal vector x, the received signal vector y is given by, y = x + n
where n represents additive white Gaussian noise vector. It follows the normal
distribution with mean and variance
2
.
f(n)= 1 Sqrt (2
2
) exp(-(n-)
2
/2
2
(1)

2700 Er. Ruchin Mangla and Er. Abhijeet Kumar


Flat Fading channel model
It is modeled as, y= ax + n where a is the fading coefficients with PDF and n is the
additive white Gaussian noise vector.
f (a) = 2a exp(-a
2
) for a 0 (2)

Frequency selective fading channel
In this model the channel is considered as a multi-path fading channel. It consists of
multiple independent Rayleigh faders, which is modeled as complex-valued random
processes. By assuming uniform antenna pattern and uniform distributed incident
power, the received signal at the receiver can be expressed as
y=
j
a
j
* x+n (3)

where n is the additive white Gaussian noise and j represents multi-path from
transmitter.

BER FOR M-QAM
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) schemes like 16-QAM and 64-QAM are
used in typical wireless digital communications and 256-QAM, 512-QAM, 1024-
QAM are used in Wifi.In this paper we derived the probability bit error for a general
M-QAM constellation. At the modulator, the data bit stream is split into the in phase
(I) and quadrature (Q) bit streams. The I and Q components together are mapped to
complex symbols using Gray coding. The demodulator splits the complex symbols
into I and Q components and puts them into a decision device (demapper), where they
are demodulated independently against their respective decision boundaries.
Demodulation of I and Q bit streams is identical due to symmetry. Average BER
of M-QAM is then equal to the BER of either I or Q component. Now we consider
square M-QAM information symbols with Gray mapping, which is equivalent to M-
PAM mapping for both the in-phase and quadrature information bits. In this way, the
BER for QAM transmission reduces to the average of the BERs for the in-phase and
quadrature information bits.


MIMO-OFDM Performance Analysis
MIMO-OFDM performance analysis presented in this section is based on computer
simulations. The basic scenario of our simulation is represented by the MIMO-OFDM
transmission system performing through multipath fading and AWGN transmission
channel, at sample time (16e-5)/44 and 44 samples per frame. The encoder of MIMO-
OFDM system uses Binary-Input RS Encoder block which creates a Reed- Solomon
code with message length 11 and codeword length 15. Modulate or mapped the input
signal using the quaternary phase shift keying method, the symbols can be either
binary-demapped or Gray-demapped. Similarly, the Binary-Output RS Decoder block
recovers a binary message vector from a binary Reed-Solomon codeword vector. For
proper decoding, the parameter values in this block should match those in the
corresponding Binary-Input RS Encoder block. The simulation results of MIMO-
OFDM system is shown below:
BER Analysis of MIMO-OFDM Wireless Communication System 2701




Figure 6: MIMO-OFDM Transmitted Signal using QPSK Modulation.



Figure 7: MIMO-OFDM Received Signal using QPSK Modulation.



Figure 8. Scatter Plot of MIMO-OFDM Received Signal by using QPSK Modulation.
2702 Er. Ruchin Mangla and Er. Abhijeet Kumar




Figure 9: MIMO-OFDM Transmitted Signal by using QAM Modulation.



Figure 10: MIMO-OFDM Received Signal by using QAM Modulation.



Figure 11: Scatter Plot of MIMO-OFDM Received Signal by using QAM
Modulation.
BER Analysis of MIMO-OFDM Wireless Communication System 2703


Fig. 6 shows the MIMO-OFDM transmitted signal to the channel. This signal is
passed through the multipath fading and additive white Gaussian noise channel. After
passing this signal from channel we get the MIMO-OFDM received signal as shown
in Fig. 7 which is full of distortions but this distortion is less as compared in the case
of CDMA system. The scatter plot is used to reveal the modulation characteristics,
such as pulse shaping or channel distortions of the signal. Fig. 8 shows the scatter plot
of MIMO-OFDM received signal by using QPSK modulation. The scatter plot
illustrates the effect of fading on the signal constellation. Similarly Fig. 9 shows the
plot of MIMO-OFDM transmitted signal by using QAM modulation. Fig. 10 shows
the plot of MIMO-OFDM received signal by using QAM modulation and Fig. 11
shows the scatter plot of MIMO-OFDM received signal by using QAM modulations.
By comparing these scatter plot figures we get that QAM modulation is best suitable
for MIMO-OFDM system.


Comparison Of MIMO-OFDM Modulation Schemes
In the MIMO-OFDM system the received signal has more fading effects as compared
to MIMO-OFDM transmitted signal which results in more errors in MIMO-OFDM
system. But due to the use of Reed Solomon encoder and decoder in MIMO-OFDM
system which acts as an error check code the BER of MIMO-OFDM is decreased. By
using QPSK modulation scheme the distortion in the received signal is very high so
the BER is very high. But if we use QAM modulation scheme the distortion is less
and the BER is less than QPSK modulation scheme. As we increased the modulation
index of the QAM the BER is decreased.
So we get that from these 64 QAM modulation scheme is very suitable for
MIMO-OFDM system because the transmission rate is very high and the BER is very
low then other modulation schemes at same bandwidth usage. So a large number of
users can efficiently use MIMO-OFDM system by 64 QAM modulation.


Conclusion
The transmission bandwidth of the MIMO-OFDM system by using different
modulation schemes is approximately same but the number of user in 64 QAM
MIMO-OFDM system is more than other modulation schemes. Because each user
uses a very small portion of available bandwidth. But in a transmission system main
concern is on efficient transmission i.e. number of error or distortion is less. So 64
QAM modulated MIMO-OFDM system is more efficient because it has less BER and
less multipath fading effects as compare to other MIMO-OFDM system. We conclude
that 64- QAM modulated MIMO-OFDM system achieves better BER results than
QPSK and other modulated MIMO-OFDM systems for the same bandwidth
efficiency. Moreover, it is observed that the performance of the MIMO-OFDM
wireless communication system over fading channels can be significantly improved
with Convolutional Coding.


2704 Er. Ruchin Mangla and Er. Abhijeet Kumar


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