2009 10th ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligences, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing

A Novel Carrier Frequency Offset Estimation Scheme in MIMO OFDM Systems

Li-Ming He
School of Information Engineering Changan University Xian, China Email: limhe08@yahoo.com.cn

Abstract - The combination of Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is regarded as a promising technique for the future wireless communications. However, the performance of MIMO OFDM systems is very sensitive to carrier frequency offset (CFO) which introduces inter-carrier-interference (ICI). Consequently, CFO estimation plays a key role in MIMO OFDM systems. In this paper, a novel CFO estimation scheme is proposed, which is based on training sequences composed of repeated pseudo-noise (PN) sequences. In the proposed scheme, single-g estimators are adopted for CFO acquisition to get large estimation range. And, multiple-g estimators are used for CFO tracking to improve estimation accuracy. Performance analyses on our scheme are conducted. And, simulation results demonstrate that all the estimators in our scheme have superior performance, and are more robust and accurate than Schenks scheme [10] [11] both in the AWGN channel and in the multipath channel. Keywords-Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), carrier frequency offset (CFO)

identical training symbols [5]. The limit of the acquisition range is 1/2 of the subcarrier spacing. Moose increased this range by using shorter training symbols, but that reduced estimation accuracy. Schmidl and Cox designed a robust frequency and timing offset estimator [6]. They also used two training symbols, and provided a very wide acquisition range for the CFO. Michele Morelli and Umberto Mengali extended Schmidl and Cox algorithm [7], and they only used one training symbol. Van de Beek presented the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator which exploits the redundancy associated with the cyclic prefix (CP) in front of OFDM symbols [8]. This scheme needs no training symbol, but its performance depends on the length of CP, and its estimation range is only 1/2 of the subcarrier spacing. So far, there are few papers about CFO estimation in MIMO OFDM systems. In [9], Mody et al. proposed a scheme which uses training sequences composed of repeated data to realize fine CFO estimation in time domain. After performing the FFT transform of the training sequences, coarse CFO estimation is achieved in frequency domain. Schenk and Zelst also proposed a method which uses repeated data as training sequences, but they realize coarse and fine frequency synchronization at the same time in time domain [10] [11]. And this methods estimation range is inversely proportional to the length of repeated data. On different antennas, the data are the same but with different initial states. In [12], Yao and Giannakis developed a low-complexity blind CFO estimator for OFDM systems, which can be applied to CFO estimation in MIMO OFDM systems. [13] presents pilot designs for consistent frequency offset estimation of MIMO OFDM systems in frequency-selective fading channels. A novel blind carrier frequency offset estimator is derived for MIMO OFDM system based on the subspace projection approach in [14]. In this paper, the CFO estimation in MIMO OFDM systems is studied, assuming that time synchronization has been well performed. And, a novel frequency synchronization scheme is proposed, which uses repeated pseudo-noise (PN) sequences as training sequences to correct CFO. The training sequences on different transmit antennas are different and all have good cross-correlation function. In our proposed scheme, single-g estimators are adopted for CFO acquisition to obtain large estimation range. And, multiple-g estimators are used for CFO tracking to improve estimation accuracy. Performance analyses on the proposed scheme are provided in this paper. Simulation results demonstrate that all the estimators in our scheme

I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has gained much interest for its advantages over conventional single carrier systems, such as robustness in combating multi-path fading, high spectral efficiency, etc. [1]. OFDM has been adopted as the key modulation technique in digital audio broadcasting (DAB) [2], digital video broadcasting terrestrial TV (DVB-T) [3] and asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL), etc. Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) system uses multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver, and the spatial diversity is obtained by spatially separated antennas. Because of high capacity and spectral efficiency in rich scattering environment [4], MIMO system becomes more and more attractive. MIMO OFDM, the combination of MIMO and OFDM, is a promising technique for the future wireless communications. However, similar to the single-input single-output (SISO) OFDM, one of the disadvantages of MIMO OFDM is its sensitivity to carrier frequency offset (CFO), which is caused by Doppler shifts or unmatched oscillators and introduces inter-carrier-interference (ICI). Many schemes for estimating CFO in SISO OFDM systems have been proposed in recent years. Moose proposed the maximum likelihood estimator which can correct the CFO in frequency domain after the FFT of two

978-0-7695-3642-2/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE DOI 10.1109/SNPD.2009.107

156

have very good performance, and are more robust and accurate than Schenks scheme [10] [11] in both the AWGN channel and the multipath channel. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section II gives a brief description of MIMO OFDM system and the structure of training sequences used for CFO estimation. The proposed CFO estimation scheme and its performance analyses are presented in Section III. And, simulation results are discussed in Section IV. Finally, Section V gives the conclusions. II. MIMO OFDM SYSTEM A typical MIMO OFDM implementation is shown in Fig. 1. It has Q transmit antennas and L receive antennas, denoted as a Q*L system.

ri (k ) = hl ,i cl (k ) exp{
l =1

j 2 k } + ni (k ) Nt (1)

where ni(k) is the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) on the ith receive antenna with zero mean and variance n2, cl(k) is the training sequence on the lth transmit antenna, hl,i is the channel gain between the lth transmit antenna and the ith receive antenna, and denotes the CFO normalized to the intercarrier spacing. III. CARRIER FREQUENCY OFFSET ESTIMATION In this section, a novel CFO estimation scheme is proposed, in which CFO is estimated based on training sequences composed of repeated PN sequences. The training sequence contains M (a positive integer) identical PN sequences (not including the CP). At the transmitter, the first PN sequence is generated through reducing the DFT length to Np. To generate the rest PN sequences, the first one is just duplicated M-1 times. In our proposed scheme, at the transmitter, number M is important, and should be appropriately selected. At the receiver, as time synchronization has been performed, the start of the received training sequence can be found. The CFO estimation includes: acquisition and tracking. In acquisition, a large range of CFO can be estimated. And in tracking, the estimation range is much smaller. However, the estimation accuracy of tracking is better than that of acquisition. After acquisition, the remaining CFO must be within the tracking range; otherwise, the tracking algorithm will not work correctly. In our proposed scheme, the acquisition range and tracking range are decided by two parameters: M and g. g is called after Correlation Distance and its meaning will be given in the following subsection. If M is decided, the maximum permitted value for g is M-1. A. CFO Acquisition Algorithm On the same antenna, the corresponding samples from different PN sequences in a received training sequence have some phase difference, which is caused by CFO and can be used to estimate CFO. When there is no channel fading and noise, the relationship between corresponding samples from different PN sequences in a received training sequence on the same antenna is given by:

Figure 1. Q*L MIMO OFDM system with Q transmit antennas and L receive antennas.

To distinguish the antennas and estimate the CFO, each transmit antenna should be assigned a unique training sequence. The training sequences are composed of repeated PN sequences which have good cross-correlation function, thus the interference of inter-transmit antennas is eliminated. The structure of the training sequences is shown in Fig. 2. The length of training sequence is Nt, and that of PN sequence is Np. Let M be N t / N p , which is the integer

ri (k + gN p ) = ri (k )e

j 2 g N p / N t

i [1, L], k [0, N t gN p 1]

(2)

Where ri(k) represents the kth sample of the training sequence on the ith antenna.
Figure 2. The structure of training sequences in transmit antennas.

We define

part of Nt/Np. The last PN sequence in the training sequence may be incomplete. The received signal on the ith receive antenna is

g =
i =1

L Nt gN p 1

k =0

ri (k + gN p )ri* (k )
(3)

g [1, M 1]

157

Where g is Correlation Distance denoting the distance (the number of PN sequences) between two correlated samples. The difference between corresponding samples is =2gNp/Nt which can be estimated by =angle(g). So, the CFO can be estimated as:

N Var egM | < t | 2gNp 1 82g2 0

N Nt (2 t g) Np s2 N 2 t NP

Nt = angle( g ) 2 gN p g [1, M 1]
(4) In Eq. (4), is estimated with single g. This kind of estimators is named as single-g estimators. They are adopted for CFO acquisition. And, the estimation range is ||<Nt/(2gNp). B. CFO Tracking Algorithm For different g, g are independently and identically distributed (IID) Gaussian random variables. Then, multiple different single-g estimators can be used together to estimate CFO to improve estimation accuracy, named as multiple-g estimator. Suppose m different single-g estimators ((Ntangle{g1}/2g1Np), (Ntangle{g2}/2g2Np), , (Ntangle{gm}/2gmNp) are used. One multiple-g estimator is given by:

R2 sin2( 2g) Nt Nt (2 N g) 2 P s +Rcos( 2g) 2 Nt NP R2 sin2( 2g) Nt Nt (2 N g) P 4 Nt s 2 NP

2 2

f (R)dRd

1 82g2 0

N Nt (2 t g) Np s2 N 2 t NP

f (R)dRd

i =1

Nt angle(gi ) 2 gi N p

m m [1, M 1] g1, g2 ,..., gm [1, M 1], gi g j (1 i j m)

2 Nt Nt (2N g) P s4 N 2 t NP 2 2 1 2 2 2 1+ (7) = 2 2 e 2 2 2 8 g Nt Nt Nt (2 g) Nt (2 g) NP NP 4 4 s s Nt 2 Nt 2 N NP P = 1 1 1 g|M 1+ e 82g2 gM g|M |

(5)

It is used for CFO tracking. And, the estimation range of multiple-g estimator is ||<Nt/(2Npmax{g1,g2,,gm}). C. Performance Analysis For each single-g estimator in Eq. (4), it is apparent that the estimation error can be reduced by increasing M. But, as the training sequence length is finite, M cant be increased infinitely. The estimation error of each single-g estimator can be represented as eg|M. So, the Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLB) for these single-g estimators are found to be:

N t (2
Where

g |M =
i

Nt g i ) 2 Np

Nt (4 + 2) NP

(8)

The estimation error of estimators in Eq. (5) can be written as:

Var{eg |M | <

Nt Nt 1 i 2 } Nt 2 gN p g 2 i(2 g )i N p 2 i N i Np

e =

g [1, M 1], =

s2 n2

m m [1, M 1] g1 , g 2 ,..., g m [1, M 1], gi g j (1 i j m)

So, the CRLB for these multiple-g estimators are:

m M

e
i =1

gi |M

(6)

(9)

Where is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) per receive antenna. When the SNR is high, be approximated as:

Var{eg |M | <

Nt } can 2 gN p

158

m Var{eM | <

Nt } 2 N p i Max{ g1 , g 2 ,..., g m }

uniformly distributed in the interval [0, 2] and the gain is exponentially related to the corresponding path delay by

Nt 1 m 1 2 { }i 2 m i =1 N i g 2 i(2 N t g ) 2 i N i p i i Np m [1, M 1] g1 , g 2 ,..., g m [1, M 1], g i g j (1 i j m)

At
m Var{eM | <

hi = exp(

i
5

)
(13)

In our simulations, the phase of each path is set to 0 because the phase of each path will not affect the performance of the proposed scheme

high

Nt } 2 N p i Max{g1 , g 2 ,..., g m }

approximated as:
m Var{eM | <

The simulation results for the proposed scheme in the (10) AWGN channel are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. For Fig. 3, a 66 MIMO OFDM system is assumed, and a single-g SNR, estimator (g=2) and two multiple-g estimators (m=2, g=1, 4, and m=4, g=3, 4, 5, 6) are considered. For Fig. 4, it is can be assumed that a 64 MIMO OFDM system is used. Figs. 5 and 6 show the performance comparison results between the proposed scheme and Schenks scheme. From Figs. 3 and 4, it can be seen that the performance of multiple-g estimator is better than that of single-g estimator, and when m increases, the performance improvement of multiple-g estimator becomes larger. And, in the AWGN channel, the performance of multiple-g estimator with large m is very near the theoretical limit CRLB, especially when SNR is large.

Nt } 2 N p iMax{g1 , g2 ,..., gm } (11)

1 1 gi|M 1 + e m 1 gi | M gi | M 2 2 2 gi 8 m i =1 1 < m M 1, g1 , g2 ,..., gm [1, M 1], gi g j (1 i j m)

N t (2
Where g | M = i

1E-3

Nt g i ) 2 Np

single-g estimator (g=2) multiple-g estimator (m=2,g=1,4) multiple-g estimator (m=4,g=3,4,5,6) CRLB (Cramer-Rao lower bounds)

Nt (4 + 2) NP

MSE (mean square error)

(12)

1E-4

1E-5

The estimation error of one multiple-g estimator may be much smaller than each single-g estimator used by it, especially when all these single-g estimators have the same or close accuracy. If one multiple-g estimator uses m different single-g estimators whose estimation errors are IID random variables with zero mean, increasing m can result in performance improvement. IV. SIMULATION RESULTS The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated through simulations. In the simulations, a wireless system operating at 3.2 GHz with bandwidth of 5 MHz is assumed. And, it is assumed that Nt equals 1024, and Np equals 128. The modulation type is QPSK. As mentioned above, it is assumed that time synchronization has been already achieved, and here only CFO estimation is considered. The simulations are run in the AWGN channel and the mutipath channel. The multipath channel consists of 6 independent Rayleigh-fading paths whose delay i is equal to 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 samples, respectively. Each path of the multipath channel introduces a phase and gain. The phase is

1E-6

1E-7 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

SNR (db)

Figure 3. MSE versus SNR in a 66 MIMO OFDM system in the AWGN channel.

159

1E-3

single-g estimator (g=2) multiple-g estimator (m=4,g=3,4,5,6) CRLB (Cramer-Rao lower bounds) MSE (mean square error)
MSE (mean square error)
1E-4

1E-3

Schenk's scheme single-g estimator (g=2) multiple-g estimator (m=4,g=3,4,5,6) CRLB (Cramer-Rao lower bounds)

1E-4

1E-5

1E-5

1E-6

1E-6

1E-7 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

1E-7 -10

-5

10

15

20

25

30

35

SNR (db)

SNR (db)

Figure 4. MSE versus SNR in a 64 MIMO OFDM system in the AWGN channel.

Figure 5. MSE versus SNR for our proposed scheme and Schenks scheme in the AWGN channel

MSE (mean square error)

Fig. 5 shows the performance comparison between our proposed scheme and Schenks scheme in AWGN channel. At low SNR, the performance of Schenks scheme is better than that of single-g estimator but worse than that of multiple-g estimator. As the SNR increases, there is a performance floor in Schenks scheme, but not in the proposed scheme. Thus, at high SNR, the performance of Schenks scheme is worse than that of both single-g estimator and multiple-g estimator. The performance comparison between the proposed scheme and Schenks scheme in the multipath channel is shown in Fig. 6. At low SNR, just as in the AWGN channel, the performance of Schenks scheme is better than that of single-g estimator but worse than that of multiple-g estimator. As the SNR increases, there exists a performance floor in both Schenks scheme and the proposed scheme. But, this problem is more serious in Schenks scheme than in our scheme. Thus, at high SNR, the performance of Schenks scheme is also worse than both single-g estimator and multiple-g estimator. Comparing Figs. 5 with 6, it is apparent that for our proposed scheme the performance in the AWGN channel is better than that in the multipath channel, and a performance floor only appears in the multipath channel. In general, the proposed scheme is more robust and accurate than Schenks scheme in both the AWGN channel and the multipath channel.

1E-3

Schenk's sheme single-g estimator (g=2) multiple-g estimator (m=4,g=3,4,5,6) CRLB (Cramer-Rao lower bounds)

1E-4

1E-5

1E-6

-10

-5

10

15

20

25

30

35

SNR (db)

Figure 6. MSE versus SNR for our proposed scheme and Schenks scheme in the multipath channel.

V. CONCLUSIONS A novel CFO estimation scheme in MIMO OFDM systems is proposed in this paper. By using repeated PN sequences with good cross-correlation function as training sequences, CFO can be estimated. All estimators in the proposed scheme can work well in both the multipath channel and the AWGN channel. Multiple-g estimators have fewer estimation errors than single-g estimators. The simulation results show the superior performance of our proposed scheme in both the AWGN channel and the multipath channel.

160

REFERENCES
[1] J.A.C. Bingham, Multicarrier Modulation for Data Transmission: An Idea Whose Time Has Come, IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 5-14, May 1990. Radio Broadcasting Systems; Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) to Mobile, Portable and Fixed Receivers, European Telecommunication Standard ETS 300 401 Second Edition, 1997. Digital Broadcasting Systems for Television, Sound and Data Services; Framing Structure, Channel Coding and Modulation for Digital Terrestrial Television, European Telecommunication Standard ETS 300 744, May 1996. A. J. Paulraj, D. A. Gore, R. U. Nabar and H. Bolcskei, An Overview of MIMO Communications - A Key to Gigabit Wireless, Proc. of the IEEE, vol. 92, pp. 198-218, February 2004. P. H. Moose, A Technique for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Frequency Offset Correction, IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 42, pp. 2908-2914, October 1994. T. M. Schmidl and D. C. Cox, Robust Frequency and Timing Synchronization for OFDM, IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 45, pp. 1613-1621, December 1997. M. Morelli and U. Mengali, An Improved Frequency Offset Estimator for OFDM Applications, IEEE Commun. Lett., Vol. 3, pp. 75-77, March 1999.

[8]

[9]

[2]

[10]

[3]

[11]

[4]

[12]

[5]

[13]

[6]

[14]

[7]

J. J. van de Beek, M. Sandell, and P. O. B rjesson, ML Estimation of Time and Frequency Offset in OFDM Systems, IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 45, pp. 1800-1805, July 1997. A. N. Mody and G. L. Stuber, Receiver Implementation for a MIMO OFDM System, Proc. of IEEE GLOBECOM 2002, vol. 1, pp. 716-720, November 2002. T. C. W. Schenk and A. Van Zelst, Frequency Synchronization for MIMO OFDM Wireless LAN Systems, Proc. of IEEE VTC 2003-Fall, vol. 2, pp. 781-785, October 2003. A. van Zelst and T. C. W. Schenk, Implementation of a MIMO OFDM-Based Wireless LAN System, IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 483-494, February 2004. Y. Yao and G. B. Giannakis, Blind Carrier Frequency Offset Estimation in SISO, MIMO, and Multiuser OFDM Systems, IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 173-183, January 2005. Y. Li and H. Minn, Consistent Pilot Designs for Frequency Offset Estimation in MIMO OFDM Systems, Proc. of IEEE ICASSP 2007, vol. 3, pp. 249-252, April 2007. D. Wang, J. Wei and X. Zhang, A Novel Blind Carrier Synchronization Method for MIMO OFDM System, Proc. of IEEE MILCOM 2007, pp. 1-4, October 2007.

161