Performance of Up-link MC-CDMA System with Frequency Offset and Imperfect Channel Estimation Simultaneously over Nakagami Fading Channels

In this paper, effects of carrier frequency offset on performance of uplink MC-CDMA (Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access) system in Nakagami fading channel are investigated through the theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo computer simulations. Both perfect maximal-ratio combining (MRC) and equal gain combining (EGC) receivers are analyzed; the impact of imperfect channel fading estimation on the performance of MRC is also explored. The performance of MC-CDMA system is also compared with that of the conventional single-carrier DS-CDMA system. Our results indicate that the performance of MC-CDMA system is sensitive to even small values of carrier frequency offset and that the performance of MC-CDMA system improves as number of subcarriers increases. In perfect channel fading estimation, the overall performance of MRC is superior to EGC. However, when imperfect or inaccurate channel fading estimation exists, which leads to serious performance degradation, EGC becomes superior to MRC. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.