Impact of front-end filters on bit error rate performances in WLAN-OFDM transceivers

OFDM-based WLAN standards target wireless communications in the 5 GHz band for consumer multimedia applications. Digital OFDM transceiver ICs based on frequency domain equalization have been presented. However, it is still a challenge to build a complete system including the front-end with minimum degradation of the overall performance. Focussing on the filters in a mixed-signal WLAN-OFDM front-end, careless design will lead to significant degradation of the system performance, even if the filters fulfil the spectral specifications. We developed a efficient model to analyze the impact on system performance of these filters. This model can be used for designing front-end filters with limited and controllable system performance degradation.