FPGA implementation of OFDM physical layer

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Egyptian Armed Forces.

Abstract

Abstract:
Future wireless applications, targeting multimedia and high-speed internet access,
require techniques to improve the link capacity and robustness. Current and future
communication schemes tend to use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) systems in order to provide high baud rates and less intersymbol interference.
The 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.16 and 802.20 standards all rely on the OFDM [1].
This paper presents an implementation of an OFDM physical layer on Field
Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The FPGA implementation allows flexible
integration of extensions to improve the quality of service. The difficult task is the
implementation of the FFT/IFFT module in the OFDM system. Two approaches of
implementation also introduced. Simulation results and Hardware (HW) tests are
presented, and a comparison between the two approaches of implementation is
discussed.

Keywords