OFDM code-division multiplexing in fading channels

In this paper, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing–code-division multiplexing (OFDM-CDM) is presented and investigated as alternative to conventional OFDM for high rate data transmission. An additional multipath diversity gain can be obtained with OFDM-CDM by spreading each data symbol in frequency and time. The optimum reliability information for the Viterbi decoder is derived for OFDM-CDM systems, and the tradeoff between spreading and channel coding in OFDM systems is presented. By using efficient interference cancellation or joint detection techniques, it can be shown that OFDM-CDM outperforms conventional OFDM with respect to bit error rate (BER) performance and bandwidth efficiency.