ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLEXING PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing ( has emerged as the dominant multi
carrier modulation technique for broadband wireless communications, forming the physical layer
backbone of standards such as IEEE 802.11a/g/n/ac (Wi Fi), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (
LTE Advanced, and 5G New Radio ( This paper presents a comprehensive perfo rmance
analysis of OFDM systems across key metrics including Bit Error Rate ( Peak to Average
Power Ratio ( spectral efficiency, and Inter Symbol Interference ( mitigation
effectiveness. The analysis examines the influence of modulation orde r, cyclic prefix length,
subcarrier spacing, and channel conditions including Additive White Gaussian Noise (
Rayleigh fading, and multipath channels on system performance. Simulation results
demonstrate that OFDM achieves significant ISI immunit y through cyclic prefix insertion, though
PAPR remains a critical design challenge. The paper further evaluates PAPR reduction techniques
including Selective Mapping ( Partial Transmit Sequences ( and clipping and
filtering. Performance compariso ns under varying Signal to Noise Ratio ( conditions are
provided, along with a discussion of trade offs between spectral efficiency and system robustness.
The findings offer practical design guidance for next generation wireless communication systems.