An Optimal Low Complexity PAPR Reduction Technique for Next Generation OFDM Systems

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is an efficient multi-carrier modulation technique that underlies most of the current and probably future high-speed wireless communication systems. However, the OFDM waveform is characterized by a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), especially when a large number of subcarriers are used. A high PAPR is a major waveform defect since it leads to non-linear distortion when passing through the transmitter's power amplifier. Most of the PAPR reduction techniques found in the literature reduce the PAPR mainly at the cost of either excessive computational complexity or degrading the transmission bit error rate (BER). We propose a low-complexity technique for PAPR reduction based on linear scaling of a portion of signal coefficients by an optimal factor. This paper is backed up by the extensive analysis of various performance metrics, which leads to optimal choices of key parameters and hence maximum achievable gains. The analytic and simulated results show that the proposed technique is capable of reducing the PAPR effectively with negligible effect on BER in return for a slight reduction in data rate. For example, for 1024 subcarriers, the PAPR can be reduced from 13 dB to below 7.4 or 6.9 dB, in return for only 1% or 2% reduction in data rate, respectively. In addition, the achievable PAPR varies very slightly in response to increasing the number of subcarriers. This offers a highly competitive and flexible tradeoff compared with those provided by current techniques found in the literature. Therefore, this technique has a very good potential for practical application in current and future OFDM-based systems, especially those which employ a very large number of subcarriers, such as LTE, DVB-T2, and 5G systems.