Performance Analysis of Pulse Shaping Technique for OFDM PAPR Reduction

Abstract: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is an attractive modulation and multiple access techniques for channels with a nonflat frequency response, as it saves the need for complex equalizers. It can offer high quality performance in terms of bandwidth efficiency, robustness against multipath fading and cost-effective implementation. However, its main disadvantage is the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the output signal. As a result, a linear behavior of the system over a large dynamic range is needed and therefore the efficiency of the output amplifier is reduced. In this paper, we investigate the effect of some of these sets of time waveforms on the OFDM system performance in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER). We evaluate the system performance in AWGN channels. The obtained results indicate that the reduction in PAPR of the investigated methods is associated with considerable improvement in BER performance of the system, in multipath channels, as compared to conventional OFDM. These promising results indicate that pulse shaping with reduced PAPR is an attractive solution for an OFDM system.