A MC-CDMA system analysis in a software radio context

This paper presents a Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (Mc-Cdma) system analysis in a software radio context. Based on a combination of multi-carrier modulation and code division multiple access,Mc-Cdma benefits from the main advantages from both schemes: high spectral efficiency, high flexibility, multiple access capabilities, etc. It is firstly shown why, nowadays,Mc-Cdma is undoubtedly a high potential candidate for the air interface of the 4G cellular networks. TheMc-Cdma concept and the block-diagrams of the transmitter and the receiver are presented first. Afterwards, the technical issues concerning the processing devices for the implementation ofMc-Cdma systems in a software radio context are analysed. The advantages and disadvantages of Digital Signal Processors (Dsps) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (Fgpas) components are discussed. The implementation ofMc-Cdma systems and the integration of signal processing algorithms as Fast Hadamard Transform (Fht) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (Ifft) are considered and analysed for the first time. Finally, implementation results with a mixed prototyping board are presented. Then, it is shown that a new combination of the flow graphs ofFht andIfft leads to interesting computation savings and that hardware structures asFgpas are more adapted thanDsps to those intensive computation functions. Finally, for the completeMc-Cdma modem implementation, the necessity of a Co-Design methodology is highlighted in order to obtain the best matching between algorithms and architecture.