A general SER formula for an OFDM system with MDPSK in frequency domain over Rayleigh fading channels

A closed-form formula for symbol-error rate (SER) of an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system with M-ary differential phase-shift keying (MDPSK) in frequency domain over Rayleigh fading channels is obtained. It is found that, by MDPSK in frequency domain, identical SERs can be achieved on all subcarriers. However, both time and frequency dispersion in the channel will introduce error floors. A comparison between OFDM-MDPSK in frequency domain and that in time domain reveals that the former system offers superior SER performance in a fast fading environment, while the latter performs better if the channel is mainly frequency selective. Moreover, the former system has lower implementation complexity.