A COFDM-based radio for HDR LOS networked communications

A coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (COFDM) radio has been developed for high data rate (HDR) line-of-sight (LOS) communications in a mobile wireless network. COFDM has been chosen over more traditional single carrier adaptive equalization modulation techniques due to its better bandwidth efficiency and to its increased robustness to multipath fading and to interference. The radio is designed to operate in a burst mode, asynchronously exchanging radio frequency (RF) packets with other nodes in a wireless network. The data rate in each burst is optimized to provide the maximum data rate supported by the channel conditions. Four data rates are presently supported within a 600 kHz channelization; 1536 kbps, 768 kbps, 384 kbps, and 64 kbps. In addition, the radio may be operated in a synchronous continuous mode for broadcast or point-to-point applications.