Properties and achievable data rate of a cyclic prefix based imperfect reconstruction filter bank multiple access system

Abstract

In this study, the authors propose a cyclic prefix (CP) based imperfect reconstruction (IPR) filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) system in the uplink of multiuser networks, known as filter bank multiple access (FBMA). The prototype filter in the system is a common low‐pass filter without any perfect reconstruction (PR) or nearly perfect reconstruction (NPR) constraint. CP appended input signal format is applied to avoid inter‐symbol interference and facilitate the equalisation task. The received signal is jointly processed by multi‐subband equalisation. Besides, the input data symbols can be complex‐valued due to IPR design. Some properties and achievable data rate of the proposed system are discussed. Simulations illustrate that the proposed system with uniformly/non‐uniformly designed filter bank has a similar achievable data rate to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). Bit error rate performance of the proposed system is better than OFDMA and an error floor always exists when applying conventional PR FBMC to multi‐user networks. In addition, OFDMA is more sensitive to carrier frequency offset than FBMA because of full synchronisation requirement. Therefore, it suggests that the proposed CP based IPR FBMA system works well without PR/NPR conditions and more extensive development is feasible for the filter banks in the foreseeable future.