On the EVM computation of arbitrary clipped multi-carrier signals

A common figure of merit in multi-carrier systems is the error vector magnitude (EVM). A method for EVM computation of a multi-carrier signal without any underlying model (e.g., the Gaussianity assumption) was proposed in a previous work of the authors. However, it addressed only the case of identical constellations and power loadings in all tones. In practice, however, the constellation and power loading may vary among the tones (e.g., boosted pilots, waterfilling and zero guard bands). Here the earlier approach is generalized in such a way that it is able to accommodate for an accurate analytical EVM computation in the cases of power loading and different constellations for different tones. Moreover, the derivation is valid for a general magnitude clipping function, so that any realistic clipper can be plugged in.