The performance evaluation of the multi-carrier CDMA system with frequency domain equalization

The combination of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with direct sequence spread spectrum (DS/SS), known as the multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) technique, has been proposed for wireless network applications recently. In this paper, we present a simple channel equalization method (training symbol-based) for the MC-CDMA systems in multipath fading environments, and its performance is analyzed in the downlink case. It is shown that with the aid of guard intervals, the proposed equalizer has an acceptable performance, if the equalizer's parameters are chosen properly. This is also proved by the computer simulation results. It is found that the utilization of guard intervals is a unique advantage for multi-carrier systems, although it reduces the system efficiency in some sense.