A Phase Tracking Scheme Using Iterative Estimation of Residual Frequency Offset in OFDM Systems

Abstract

OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) systems are very sensitive to carrier frequency offset. Although frequency offset is generally compensated for by an automatic frequency control (AFC), residual frequency offset remains after the AFC. Moreover, OFDM signals are also affected by phase noise. Thus, a kind of phase tracking is needed to compensate for these effects. In an OFDM system such as IEEE 802.11a, a phase tracking scheme that uses pilot subcarriers to detect the phase rotation caused by residual frequency offset and phase noise is employed. However, the spectrum of the AFC output signal is shifted by residual frequency offset. That is, the detected phase is the composite phase of the pilot subcarrier and the adjacent subcarrier because of inter-carrier interference (ICI). The compensation based on the composite phase sometimes overcorrects or undercorrects the phase rotation. In this paper, we propose a phase tracking scheme using iterative estimation of residual frequency offset in OFDM systems. The proposed phase tracking scheme estimates residual frequency offset in the frequency domain, and compensates for it in the time domain. The compensation in the time domain mitigates the spectrum shift of the AFC output. Therefore, the proposed scheme can reduce ICI, and track phases more accurately than the conventional phase tracking scheme.