Subcarriers Suppression Methods for OFDM Systems with Decode-and-Forward Network Coding

This paper deals with the performance evaluation of Decode and Forward Physical Layer Network Coding schemes under multipath fading channel propagation conditions. Physical Layer Network Coding in Two Way Relay Networks ideally allows to drastically increase the network throughput. However, under the assumption of actual channel propagation conditions, the performance quickly degrades due to high decoding error probability. With the aim of counteracting this drawback, the paper proposes a suitable approach for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing systems based on a signal pre-equalization technique. Furthermore, in order to lower the decoding error probability, three subcarriers suppression methods are introduced. These methods differ from each other for the performance achieved and the required amount of signaling that nodes have to exchange. An important result obtained here is that the combined use of channel inversion and subcarriers suppression allows to enhance the system reliability with a slight decrease of the throughput.