Throughput Analysis of Wavelet OFDM in Broadband Power Line Communications

Windowed orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and wavelet OFDM have been proposed as multicarrier techniques for broadband communications over the power line network by the standard IEEE 1901. The windowed OFDM has been extensively researched and employed in different fields of communication, while the wavelet OFDM has been recently recommended for the first time in a standard. This paper is aimed to show that the wavelet OFDM, which basically is an extended lapped transform-based multicarrier modulation (ELT-MCM), is a viable and attractive alternative for data transmission in hostile scenarios, such as in-home power line communications (PLC). To this end, we obtain theoretical expressions for ELT-MCM of: 1) the desired signal power; 2) the inter-symbol interference power; 3) the inter-carrier interference power; and 4) the noise power at the receiver side. These expressions are used to derive the throughput. This paper includes several computer simulations that show that ELT-MCM is an efficient alternative to improve data rates in the PLC systems.