Sensitivity analysis of FBMC signals to non linear phase distortion

In this paper, we present a theoretical analysis of the impact of High Power Amplifier (HPA) Non-Linear Distortion (NLD) on the Bit Error Rate (BER) of multicarrier techniques. For the aim of this study, the Saleh's model was chosen for NL HPA. Two multicarrier schemes are considered: the classical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and the Filter Bank based Multi-Carrier (FBMC). According to the Bussgang theorem, the in-band NLD is modeled as a complex gain and an independent additive noise term for both modulations. The BER performance of OFDM and FBMC modulations, transmitting over an Additive Withe Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh channels, is theoretically evaluated and compared to simulation results. We have established that OFDM and FBMC modulations show the same performances, in terms of BER, when just amplitude distortion is induced by the HPA. However, FBMC system is more sensitive to phase distortions when no correction is adopted at the receiver. This behavior has been explained by the difference between the probability distribution of the intrinsic interference present in both OFDM and FBMC modulations.