Peak-To-Average Power Ratio of Single Carrier FDMA Signals with Pulse Shaping

Abstract

Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), which utilizes single carrier modulation and frequency domain equalization is a technique that has similar performance and essentially the same overall complexity as those of OFDM, in which high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) is a major drawback. An outstanding advantage of SC-FDMA is its lower PAPR due to its single carrier structure. In this paper, we analyze the PAPR of SC-FDMA signals with pulse shaping. We analytically derive the time domain SC-FDMA signals and numerically compare PAPR characteristics using the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) of PAPR. The results show that SC-FDMA signals indeed have lower PAPR compared to those of OFDMA. Comparing the two forms of SC-FDMA, we find that localized FDMA (LFDMA) has higher PAPR than interleaved FDMA (IFDMA) but somewhat lower PAPR than OFDMA. Also noticeable is the fact that pulse shaping increases PAPR.