On Ultra Extended Cyclic Prefix in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Systems: The Case of LTE Downlink

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier scheme used in modern broadband wireless communication systems to transmit data over a number of orthogonal subcarriers. When transmitted signals arrive at the receiver by more than one path of different length, the received signals are staggered in time; this is multipath propagation. To mitigate the effect of dispersed channel distortion caused by random channel delay spread, Cyclic Prefix (CP) is introduced to eliminate Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI). In the literature, researchers have focused on carrying out investigations (or studies) mainly on the two existing CP insertions, namely: normal and extended CPs. Both CPs have limitations with respect to handling channel delay spreads. In the current work, a new CP, herein referred to as “ultra extended” CP is proposed to address delay spreads beyond the limits of the normal and extended CPs. The efficacy of the proposed ultra extended CP is tested via simulation under different scenarios. It is shown by the results obtained that the proposed CP can efficiently handle delay spreads beyond the limits of the existing normal and extended CP, and can indeed be implemented in the design of future telecommunication systems to accommodate higher channel delay spreads and it ensures wider cell coverage.