Phase Noise Spectral Limits in OFDM Systems

OFDM is recognized to be one of the best transmission techniques for wideband wireless communication systems. However, it exhibits two main drawbacks: its large amplitude fluctuation and its sensitivity to phase noise. Here we consider the phase noise impairments, taking care of the phase noise spectrum, which diverges form the classical Wiener model as the carrier frequency increases. Moreover, we show that the phase noise distortion can be decomposed in two terms, one dependent on the symbol under detection and the other dependent on the symbols of adjacent subcarriers, so that the performance degradation depends on both the constellation used in each subcarrier and the phase noise spectrum. As a consequence of this new results, the penalty due to phase noise expressed in terms of the average signal/noise plus interference ratio is not applicable in the case of modulations with non-constant amplitude constellations, such as 16- or 64-QAM. The method proposed here achieves a good accuracy, while keeping a low computational complexity, and it is confirmed by simulations. Roberto Corvaja was born in Padova (Italy) in 1967. He graduated at the Universisty of Padova in Electronic Enginering on 1990 and got his Ph.D. at the Univeristy of Padova in 1994. Since 1994 he is with the Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informatica of the University of Padova as a researcher and assistant professor on digital communications. Between 1994 and 1995 he spent 8 months at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol (UK), working on equalization for a DECT receiver. His research activity in the past has regarded optical fibre communications systems and now is devoted to wireless communication systems. Silvano Pupolin was born in Venice, Italy, on February 17, 1947. He received the Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Padova, Padova, Italy, in 1970. Since then he joined the Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informatica of the Universita' di Padova, where he currently is a Full Professor of Electrical Communications. He spent the summer 1985 at AT&T Bell Laboratories on leave from Padova, doing research on digital radio systems. He has been actively engaged in researches on digital communication systems since 1970. The topics covered has been: performance of baseband digital comunication systems, line encoding for spectral shaping, timing extraction, direct detection fiber optic system, spread spectrum communication systems, digital radio communications, with emphasis to the adaptive linearization of the High-Power-Amplifier. Actually, he is actively engaged in researches on digital radio, spread s pectrum systems, packet radio networks, personal communication systems and Cellular access to broadband systems for interactive communications. He is also National Project leader for a research on Personal Communication Systems. Dr. Pupolin is a Senior Member of IEEE and Member of AEI.     

Performance evaluation of ASK phase-diversity lightwave systems

Phase diversity coherent systems are gaining increasing interest with the increase of the bit rate in optical transmissions. In this work, an accurate approach for the evaluation of the error probability in ASK phase-diversity lightwave systems is presented. The approach is based on a Gaussian quadrature rule integration, which takes into account the exact characterization of the filtered phase noise through its moments. The effects of the laser linewidth on the error probability for hybrid circuits with different number of ports are derived and discussed. Also, the effects of the frequency offset are considered     

Crosstalk interference in FSK coherent optical systems

In this work, the impairment due to crosstalk interference in a FSK coherent optical system is investigated. The crosstalk can arise from both co-channel interference due to the dual-filter receiver structure, and inter-channel interference due to the frequency division multiplexing technique in multichannel systems. Here, we perform the analysis of a multichannel system, taking into account simultaneously the two contributions to interference. An approximation of the crosstalk contributions seems necessary in order to carry out the analysis. The joint moment characterization of the filtered phase noise and of the interference is suitable to get accurate results     

Performance of CDMA with differential detection in the presence of phase noise and multiuser interference

Phase noise can be a major source of performance degradation in low-cost, low-bit-rate digital systems operating in the millimeter wavelength band. The use of code-division multiple access (CDMA) for several new applications is envisaged, and the study of the effects of phase noise shows that even CDMA systems exhibit a performance degradation comparable to that of standard modulation formats. The use of CDMA with a differential modulation at the chip level improves the system performance with a simpler demodulator at the expense of the enhancement of multiuser interference. In this paper we propose a new approach to CDMA modulation, and a possible solution is suggested to obtain a tradeoff between the performance degradation due to the phase noise and to the multiuser interference.     

QoS Analysis in Overlay Bluetooth-WiFi Networks with Profile-Based Vertical Handover

The performance of an overlay Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11b (WiFi) network is considered in terms of quality of service parameters such as the packet latency, the packet error rate, and the throughput, in the presence of a vertical handover procedure, taking into account the mutual Bluetooth-WiFi interference and showing the influence of the main system parameters. The objective is to maximize the user QoS allowing the mobile to switch from a network to the other, with the so-called vertical handover. The basic idea is to activate the vertical handover, not on the basis of the received power level, but by the crossing of thresholds defined by the user profile, which comprises objective values for parameters such as the packet error rate and the packet delay. The results show that the use of the vertical handover procedure can lead to an improvement in the QoS parameters     

Synthesis and conformational studies of peptides containing TOAC, a spin-labelled C alpha, alpha-disubstituted glycine

A variety of host L-alanine homo-peptides (to the pentamer) containing one or two spin-labelled TOAC (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-4-amino-4-carboxylic acid) residues were synthesized by solution methods and fully characterized. The conformational features of the terminally blocked, doubly spin-labelled TOAC-(Ala)2-TOAC-Ala-pentapeptide were examined in the crystal state by X-ray diffraction and in solution using a combination of techniques (Fourier transform infrared, circular dichroism, cyclic voltammetry and electron spin resonance) in comparison with singly labelled shorter peptides. The 3(10)-helical structure of the pentapeptide, promoted by the two C alpha, alpha-disubstituted glycines under favourable experimental conditions, allows an interaction to take place between the two nitroxide TOAC side chains spaced by one turn of the helix. Taken together, these results suggest that TOAC is an excellent probe for exploring bends and helices in doubly labelled peptides.     

Accurate performance evaluation of weakly coherent optical systems

An accurate performance evaluation approach which uses a closed-form exact analytical expression of the phase noise moments is presented. This enables one to derive a high-order Gaussian quadrature rule for the integrations needed to take into account the phase noise in the computation of error probability. A systematic comparison with results obtained through a Monte Carlo simulation shows that the approach is more accurate than previous methods. The analysis is performed on ASK and FSK heterodyne receivers with integrate-and-dump filtering, envelope detection, and optimized postdetection low-pass filtering. The feasibility of ASK and FSK heterodyne systems at bit rates comparable to the spectral line bandwidth of the laser sources is confirmed. The theory applied seems to be adequate to attack other problems, such as the evaluation of the effects of crosstalk between the FSK filters or among frequency division multiplexed channels     

Investigation of the inner environment of carbon nanotubes with a fullerene-nitroxide probe

A fulleropyrrolidine bearing a nitroxide free radical has been inserted into single-walled carbon nanotubes with the aid of supercritical CO2. Thanks to the encapsulated paramagnetic probes, it has been possible to detect and characterize the resulting peapod-like structure through electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. In particular, the analysis of spectral parameters derived from extensive EPR studies has elucidated the orientation and the residual rotational dynamics of the molecules embedded in the nanotubes. A limited anisotropic rotational freedom of the encapsulated fullerene nitroxide reveals a rather strong interaction of the probe with the surrounding nanotube walls. The interaction seems to involve the fullerene cage (as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy) and not the nitroxide moiety, whose EPR spectral characteristics, such as the isotropic hyperfine constant and the g-tensor, remain unaltered after encapsulation.