Maximal Ratio Combining Detection in OFDM Systems with Virtual Carriers Over V2V Channels

J Alberto Del Puerto-Flores; Francisco R Castillo-Soria; J Vázquez-Castillo; R R Palacio Cinco

doi:10.3390/s23156728

Maximal Ratio Combining Detection in OFDM Systems with Virtual Carriers Over V2V Channels

Sensors (Basel). 2023 Jul 27;23(15):6728. doi: 10.3390/s23156728.

Authors

J Alberto Del Puerto-Flores¹, Francisco R Castillo-Soria², J Vázquez-Castillo³, R R Palacio Cinco⁴

Affiliations

¹ Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Álvaro del Portillo 49, Zapopan 45010, JAL, Mexico.
² Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí 78290, SLP, Mexico.
³ División de Ciencias, Ingeniería y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Quintana Roo, Chetumal 77019, Mexico.
⁴ Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, Unidad Navojoa 85860, Mexico.

Abstract

This paper examines the performance of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication channels. More specifically, a doubly selective channel under high intercarrier interference (ICI) is considered. Current solutions involve complex detection and/or reduced spectral efficiency receivers. This paper proposes the use of virtual carriers (VC) in an OFDM system with a low-complexity maximal ratio combining (MRC) detector to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance. The results show that VC provides diversity in received data, resulting in a ≥5 dB gain compared to previous OFDM systems with conventional linear/nonlinear detectors used as a reference. The detector presented in this paper has linear complexity, making it a suitable solution for real-time V2V communication systems.

Keywords: OFDM systems; V2V; maximal ratio combining (MRC); vehicular communications; virtual carriers.

Grants and funding

The authors would like to thank Universidad Panamericana, for their support through the program “Fomento a la Investigación UP 2022”, and project “Diseño de sistema de comunicación vehículo a vehículo MIMO-OFDM basado en modulación por índice” UP-CI-2022-GDL-ING. And to the Universidad Panamericana Dirección Institucional de Investigación.