NIT Assignment

FLASH-OFDM

Submitted to: Dr. Shilpi Jain

Submitted by:

Ajai Govind G (191065)

Ankit Jain (191074)
Kulvir Singh Gill (191092)

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Content Page No

Abstract 3

Introduction 4

Features 5

Business Implications 10

Key players and Threats 13

Conclusion and Learning 14

References 15

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 ABSTRACT

The popularity of the Internet and the rate at which technology is expanding and developing has
contributed greatly to the growth of the wireless industry. The consumer demand for high bandwidth
wireless data is the driving force behind almost all current network upgrades and expansions. A large
number of companies including Cisco Systems, Intel, Microsoft, 3Com etc which are non-traditional
telecommunication firms are investing aggressively in wireless product development and in developing
new and better wireless technologies, which illustrates the importance of wireless data communication.

Here we discuss a proprietary 4G next generation technology for mobile wireless internet at high-speed
and low latency while offering all the advantages of CDMA and more.

Keywords: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Quality of Service (QoS), Flarion
technologies, Physical layer, MAC/Link layer, Network layer, ADSL, WiMAX

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INTRODUCTION

Wireless phones are the most ubiquitous means of access to voice communication and it has changed the
way people interact with one another. It has brought friends and family more close even though
physically they are miles apart. It has also changed the way business is conducted, as there is drastic
improvement in productivity with the employees being able to connect and interact with one another
anywhere and anytime. Wireless data networks in a next great paradigm shift are now used extensively to
connect to the internet, thus making wireless data an indispensable part of our daily lives just like wireless
voice.

FLASH-OFDM (FLASH (Fast Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff) OFDM(Orthogonal

Frequency Division Multiplexing)) from Flarion Technologies, is a fast wireless broadband technology
that can give a wireless broadband link to homes, offices or mobile PCs and supports high data rates at
very low packet and delay losses, also known as latencies, over a distributed all-IP wireless network. The
low-latency will enable real-time mobile interactive and multimedia applications and thus it can provide
nearly ADSL performance. It is an innovative air interface technology designed for the delivery of
advanced Internet services in the mobile environment. At the heart of the technology is the RadioRouter
product, which will lead to an order of magnitude cost advantage over third generation (3G) wireless
networks for mobile data access. It operates on a licensed spectrum but at low frequencies like 450MHz,
700MHz, 800MHz, thus achieving larger coverage area with a single base station. Thus, it is a
particularly interesting option for emerging markets, and especially for rural areas that may lack other
telecommunications infrastructure. However, at the 450MHz spectrum there is significantly less
bandwidth than at higher frequencies. Therefore, while FLASH-OFDM operating at low frequencies can
be feasible for rural and not very densely populated areas, it lacks the sufficient capacity for big cities.

The Flash OFDM technology is based on the OFDM air link, a wireless access method that combines the
attributes of its two predecessors — TDMA and CDMA — to address the unique demands posed by
mobile users of broadband data and packetized voice applications. It is the only really mobile all-IP based
broadband on the markets. The spec is a pre-standard implementation of the IEEE 802.20 wireless
broadband standard that could compete with the Wi-Max 802.16 standard. It doesn't suffer from the Wi-Fi
networks limitations in security and limited coverage, neither the limitations mobile circuit switched
networks like heavy system structure slow access times. The technology allows users travelling at 250
km/hour to download data at speeds up to 1.5Mbit/s or upload at speeds up to 500Kbit/s.

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FEATURES

In Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communications channel is divided into segments according
to time and in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) segments are according to spreading codes.
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a technique which provides the best of the
benefits of TDMA and CDMA where the communications channel is divided into a number of equally
spaced frequency bands and a subcarrier carrying a portion of the user information is transmitted in each
band. OFDM spread spectrum technique distributes the data over a large number of carriers that are
spaced apart at precise frequencies (tones). This spacing provides the orthogonality which prevents the
demodulators from seeing frequencies other than their own. Thus each subcarrier is orthogonal
(independent of each other) with every other subcarrier, differentiating OFDM from the commonly used
frequency division multiplexing (FDM). OFDM also allows the spectrum of each tone to overlap, and
because they are orthogonal, they do not interfere with each other. By allowing the tones to overlap, the
overall amount of spectrum required is reduced.

OFDM is a modulation technique in that it enables user data to be modulated onto the tones. The
information is modulated onto a tone by adjusting the tone's phase, amplitude, or both. OFDM can also be
considered a multiple access technique, because an individual tone or groups of tones can be assigned to
different users. Each user can be assigned a predetermined number of tones when they have information
to send, or alternatively, a user can be assigned a variable number of tones based on the amount of
information that they have to send.

OFDM can be combined with frequency hopping to create a spread spectrum system, realizing the
benefits of frequency diversity and interference averaging previously described for CDMA. In a
frequency hopping spread spectrum system, each user's set of tones is changed after each time period
(usually corresponding to a modulation symbol). By switching frequencies after each symbol time, the

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losses due to frequency selective fading are minimized. OFDM therefore provides the best of the benefits
of TDMA and CDMA while avoiding the limitations of each.

Usually a layered network protocol design is employed in Wired IP communication systems and it is
made up of 5 layers that perform certain functions in the network. The physical layer, medium access
control (MAC)/link layer and network layer are responsible for network access. FLASH-OFDM employs
the same approach to a wireless medium. The physical layer (known as pipe) deals with the physical
means of sending data over a communications medium. The MAC layer controls access to the physical
layer and shares it among many users and the link layer uses procedures and protocols to carry data across
it (the link layer also detects and corrects transmission errors). Finally, the network layer performs routing
within the wireless network, and also determines how data packets are transferred between modems.

FLASH-OFDM is a vertically integrated design spanning the physical, MAC, and link layers, while the
network layer and the remaining layers are horizontally layered, inter-networked and purely IP-based,
enabling reuse of existing off-the-shelf IP infrastructure equipment and protocols. This all-IP
infrastructure is one of many reasons why FLASH-OFDM is able to deliver a user experience that mirrors
a wired broadband connection. A diagram which depicts this layer design difference in traditional data
network/air interface and in FLASH-OFDM is shown below.

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 Figure: Flash-OFDM Deployment in OSI Model Illustration

Physical layer

The OFDM physical layer creates a robust multiple access technology to deal with the impairments and
uncertainties of the wireless channel. Flash-OFDM uses fast hopping across all tones in a pseudorandom
predetermined pattern, making it a spread spectrum technology. With fast hopping, a user that is assigned
one tone does not transmit every symbol on the same tone, but uses a hopping pattern to jump to a
different tone for every symbol. Different base stations use different hopping patterns, and each uses the
entire available spectrum (frequency reuse of 1). Spread spectrum allows the data to be packetized and
spread out over a wide range of bandwidth, then re-assembled into its original message. Because of this,
FLASH-OFDM supports a larger number of users and transmissions, and is highly secure.

Thus, FLASH-OFDM captures the significant advantages of CDMA (frequency diversity and intercell
interference averaging) and TDMA (intracell interference averaging). Additionally the physical layer
makes it possible to transmit a single bit with essentially no overhead because of its resource allocation
attributes. This efficiency dramatically reduces overall complexity, costs and latency, and enables the
development of a very fine-grained and flexible MAC/link layer.

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MAC/Link Layer

The responsibility of the MAC and link layers is to efficiently and reliably share the physical layer
("pipe") among a large number of mobile users. It is the MAC and link layers where even larger
differentiators are found, including contention-free access for low latency and enhanced Quality of
Service (QoS), fast automatic repeat request (ARQ) for low latency and greater reliability, and session
control for bandwidth maximization and overall user capacity.

The MAC layer leverages the ability of OFDM to support many low-bit-rate dedicated control channels
(those that carry very little data), enabling a larger set of active users and traffic streams. FLASH-OFDM
IP awareness provides the ability to distinguish between the priorities of each user's traffic and application
services (packets flows are classified with fine granularity), allowing wireless operators to maximize
revenue through multi-tiered pricing; public safety agencies and enterprises to have priority access over
less critical users; and end users to choose service plans based on their needs and budgets. Contention-
free access in FLASH-OFDM also reduces overall latency, making the experience similar to wired
broadband systems.

One other important aspect of the MAC layer is its ability to rapidly schedule active users between 'on
state' (users are downloading a web page) and 'hold state' (users are reading that web page). Sharing the
pipe in real time among only those users who require it results in efficient use of bandwidth, low overall
latency and enhanced QoS for a large number of mobile users. Enhanced QoS enables mobile operators to
maximize revenue through tiered services, and the public safety and security sector to have priority access
over less critical users.

The link layer runs over and uses the physical layer to carry data from a transmitter to a receiver, and is
responsible for network reliability. FLASH-OFDM provides high reliability through a link layer that
features a fast automatic repeat request (ARQ), which is used to check transmitted data for errors. If one
is found, the message is retransmitted very quickly. Therefore, with loop times at less than 10
milliseconds, FLASH-OFDM ARQ latency is very low. This enables low-latency retransmission of
frames received in error, and allows end users to run applications as they would on their wired broadband
connection.

This combination of high reliability and low latency is critical for support of interactive applications, such
as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), instant voice and data messaging, online gaming and a host of
other enterprise-specific applications. It also equates to overall performance. FLASH-OFDM downlink

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typical data rates of 1 to 1.5 Mbps are exactly that, because the system quickly repairs transmission errors
so that data flows without interruption.

Network Layer

FLASH-OFDM was designed to be seamlessly deployable within pure IP-based network architecture and
complies with the IETF architecture. As such, the technology uses IP mobility management, IP security
and IP QoS, while removing the need for specialized radio access networks and complex/costly protocols.

The RadioRouter base station is a combination of a wireless base station and an IP access router that
performs in some ways similar to an IP-savvy WLAN access point, but provides fully mobile, wide area
network coverage. All network access functionality resides in the RadioRouter base station, which
wirelessly extends the edge of the IP network.

The autonomy of the RadioRouter base stations is one of the more critical attributes of the FLASH-
OFDM network layer. In adjacent cells, RadioRouter base stations do not need to be aware of each other,
and timing or frequency synchronization is not required between them. These characteristics translate into
lower system planning, deployment and maintenance costs, which allow administrators to deploy a
cellular infrastructure more similar to that of a wireless LAN.

This autonomy leads to another advantage at the network layer - RadioRouter base stations are backhaul-
agnostic, meaning that they can attach to an IP domain via any backhaul technology (T1, gigabit Ethernet,
ATM, etc.). This leads to a very scalable and flexible architecture, which permits the IP domain to use
any IP networking infrastructure to lower costs.

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BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is an important technology because so many developing

communications standards require the high throughput and multi-path advantages that are possible.
OFDM has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital communication, wireless as well as
over copper wires. The primary advantage of OFDM over single-carrier schemes is its ability to cope with
severe channel conditions — for example, attenuation of high frequencies at a long copper wire,
narrowband interference and frequency-selective fading due to multipath — without complex
equalization filters. Channel equalization is simplified because OFDM may be viewed as using many
slowly-modulated narrowband signals rather than one rapidly modulated wideband signal. Low symbol
rate makes the use of a guard interval between symbols affordable, making it possible to handle time
spreading and eliminate inter-symbol interference (ISI).

OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) technologies will help take mobile applications to
new dimensions. For example, these technologies will allow a mobile user to download a ½ Megabit
picture in a half second or a 30-Megabit video in 30 seconds. This is twice as fast as the typical download
speeds for cable or DSL. OFDM demonstrations completed in Nortel labs push this even further to allow
a user to download a 1 Megabyte file in a quarter of a second. This is between 16 and 32 times faster than
cable or DSL. Thus all future wireless communications - beyond 3G - will be powered by OFDM. This
technology will provide greater spectrum efficiencies and help improve network performance by
providing better coverage, capacity, and data throughput.

OFDM has several unique properties that make it especially well suited to handle the challenging
environmental conditions experienced by mobile wireless data applications. OFDM is well positioned to
meet the unique demands of mobile packet data traffic. Nevertheless, to seamlessly unwire all the IP
applications inherent in the wired Internet and intranets (including interactive data applications and peer-
to-peer applications), all layers of the OFDM air interface need to be jointly designed and optimized from
the ground up for the IP data world. This means to not rely solely on OFDM's physical layer advantages,
but rather to leverage them into all of the higher layers of the system.

But Flarion’s Flash-OFDM suffers the drawback of being a proprietary technology and is also unlikely to
be used for mobile service deployment in most European countries due to regulatory constraints. Flarion
was constantly trying to integrate the Flash-OFDM with CDMA via the IEEE 802.20 working group for
Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA). Additionally, a lack of support from most major vendors
will translate into poor economies of scale and hence, an expensive and limited range of consumer
devices. Progress towards a standard has been difficult due to internal conflicts of interest within the

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working group, causing it to fall further behind WiMAX/802.16, its rival for the first IEEE wireless
broadband standard. The group’s list of backers is significantly shorter than that of WiMAX/802.16, and
although it is supported by Cisco, it is currently not capturing as much public attention and hype as Intel-
backed WiMAX.

The Flarion technology works in different frequency bands (400 MHz-3.5 GHz), with the UMTS
spectrum (1.9-2.1 GHz) being the ideal licensed band from the company’s point of view. However, the
UMTS spectrum itself, both the FDD and the TDD part, cannot be used for any non-WCDMA
technology, thus making actual deployments of FLASH-OFDM difficult.

Although Flarion’s technology can be licensed by independent equipment vendors, interest from third
parties proves to be less than enthusiastic according to the company as it is still seen as proprietary given
that the IEEE standardization process is still ongoing. The company is currently providing a Wireless
Network Card in PCMCIA format for laptop connectivity and it has internally developed a prototype
Mobile Broadband Handset. The network card achieves download speeds of 1-1.5Mbps and uplink speeds
of 300-500kbps.

Although the network technology was originally optimized for packet data transmissions, with a few
enhancements it can also be used for Voice-over-IP services, which would mean Airdata users could give
up their fixed-line completely, making the product more valuable and attractive. However, the company
says that it does not consider VoIP on its network mass market quite yet given the negative perception
many consumers still have about VoIP due to bad experiences with the first generation of Internet-based
VoIP applications in the late 1990s.

It has established the first partnerships to provide a VoIP product, starting with SIPGate, the VoIP service
of Indigo Networks in Germany. To be able to use the service, customers need to purchase a VoIP adaptor
from SIPGate, connecting their standard analogue phone to Airdata’s aerial.

An important factor determining the voice quality on IP networks is the network’s latency, i.e. the
average roundtrip delay of a packet. This is currently less than 100ms on Airdata’s live network. As a
reference, the ITU says that carrier-grade voice services should achieve a latency of better than 100ms for
acceptable voice quality. The current version of the IPWireless technology (v5.01) can prioritize voice
packets, though Airdata says that only when dedicated bandwidth can be made available for voice and a
more efficient voice codec is available (G729, also used Skype), will the quality improve sufficiently to
push VoIP as a commercial product. The company expects the latency to improve to 50-80ms across its

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whole network and with the new version it expects to be able to offer a guaranteed Quality of Service for
users on premium packages.

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KEY PLAYERS AND THREATS

Flarion’s Flash OFDM is considered to be the main rival for Wi-Max. A consortium of companies formed
an alliance aimed at promoting the Flash-OFDM technology which was considered to be the main
competitor for Wi-Max. Leading wireless infrastructure companies who joined the Flarion flash-OFDM
Alliance program included Cisco Systems, Certicom, Compaq, Decibel Products, Enfora, Flarion
Technologies, Funk Software, GTRAN Wireless, Invertix, LCC International Inc., PacketVideo, Pentair
Electronic Packaging and Powerwave Technologies.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics also joined to support Flarion
Technologies flash-OFDM Alliance program. As the key Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
supplier for the Flarion flash-OFDM technology, Philips Semiconductors will design and manufacture
ASICs that support sustained mobile data rates of up to 3Mbps. Laptop computers, PDAs and smart
telephones incorporating these low-power ASICs will bring true broadband mobile services to the mass
market.

The alliance of companies will focus on promoting flash-OFDM for mobile broadband services. Mobile
operators will be able to offer existing rich, multimedia content to customers. With flash-OFDM, users
experience an 'always-on' broadband desktop experience in a fully mobile Wide Area Network (WAN),
just like they do today on their corporate LAN or at home with a broadband connection, without any
limitations to content, security or applications. The Flarion Alliance program members are currently
supporting market trials of the flash-OFDM mobile broadband system.

But then the takeover of Flarion by Qualcomm set the stage for OFDM’s integration with CDMA, which
defined the next step of 3G enhancement. OFDM is being envisaged to be the basis of the WCDMA
evolution to “Super 3G”, implying that operators should wait for this next phase of 3G upgrades rather
than investing in Flash-OFDM networks. OFDM is currently the base radio technology used in many
wireless technologies, including WiFi (802.11), WiMAX (802.16), 802.20, GSM/UMTS cellular and
potentially CDMA cellular. These technologies are becoming recognized industry-wide as a best-in-class
solution for making efficient use of available spectrum, boosting data throughput, significantly reducing
costs for operators, and enabling a better user experience.

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CONCLUSION AND LEARNING

Flash-OFDM is a proprietary technology that was developed by Flarion Technologies. It was at one point
considered to be the main rival for Wi-Max technology which was pioneered by Intel. The takeover of
Flarion technologies by Qualcomm integrated the technology with CDMA and further it has become the
base for most of the current broadband wireless internet technologies. An alliance was formed to further
promote this technology which included various industry leaders in the communication industry like
Philips Semiconductors, Cisco Systems, and Compaq etc.

Various new variants of this technology are present like COFDM, OFDMA, VOFDM, WOFDM etc. But
OFDM and COFDM have gained a significant presence in the wireless market place. The combination of
high data capacity, high spectral efficiency, and its resilience to interference as a result of multi-path
effects means that it is ideal for the high data applications that are becoming a common factor in today's
communications scene.

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REFERENCES

1. http://www.cdt.ltu.se/projectweb/42c13bdf2e759/Flash%20OFDM.html
2. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.ieee802.org/802_tutorials/02-March/next-
gen-wireless.pdf
3. http://www.edaboard.com/thread84853.html
4. http://www.rysavy.com/Articles/ForeverEvolving2.pdf
5. http://www.birraproject.net/Iceland/Presentations/Digita_450_and_Wireless_Broadband.pdf
6. http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/1500641
7. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=7pnQCiU4xF8C&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=Flarion+flash-
OFDM+Alliance&source=bl&ots=Q-FELQlIDg&sig=Do75JTvlFjiN4Z0ITkrtHzIKQOc&hl=en&ei=Ha--
TL3_O8OXcYrX8f0N&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CDMQ6AEwCA#v=onep
age&q=Flarion%20flash-OFDM%20Alliance&f=false
8. http://www.qualcomm.com/search/index.html?query=Flash-OFDM
9. http://www.dosiwa.com/flash-ofdm-modem.html
10. http://www.nxp.com/news/content/file_787.html
11. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/24653780/flash-OFDM-----Mobile-Wireless-Internet-Technology

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