Performance analysis of OFDM based UWB systems with a frequency-domain CDMA for multiple SOPs

In this paper, a performance analysis for the frequency-domain code-division multiple-access (CDMA) of multiple simultaneously operating piconets (SOPs) in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) based ultra-wideband (UWB) systems is presented. Two different strategies for the accommodation of multiples SOPs, namely, the variable spreading factor (VSF) scheme with minimal spreading and the multicode scheme with maximal spreading, were considered. The channel is assumed to be Rayleigh fading with exponentially decaying delay power profile. Furthermore, the analysis takes into account the intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by the multipath delay components exceeding the guard interval. Numerical results demonstrate that the frequency-domain CDMA can be employed to accommodate multiple SOPs while maintaining acceptable performance when a suitable subcarrier combining method is used. The VSF and multicode schemes result in a similar performance when the number of SOPS is large, while notable differences are pointed out when there are only a few SOPs.