[attachment=9565]
 ABSTRACT:
OFDM otherwise called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is a modulation and a multiple access technique that can be applied to mobile communications. OFDM or Multitone modulation as it is sometimes called is the basis for several commercial wireless applications. In OFDM the segments are according to frequency there by dividing the spectrum into a number of equally spaced tones, which are orthogonal with each other and carries a portion of user information on each tone. As the mobile cellular wireless system operates under harsh and challenging channel conditions, the wireless channel is distinct and much more unpredictable than the wired because of the factors such as multipath fading, shadow fading, Doppler spread and time dispersion or delay spread. OFDM over comes the ISI (intersymbol interference) in a multipath environment.
In order to combat these effects the modern wireless systems employ a variety of signal processing techniques, which include the factors such as equalization, error correction coding, spread spectrum, interleaving and diversity. The sinusoidal waveforms making up the OFDM tones have the very special property of being the only eigen functions of a linear channel. With this property and the incorporation of small amount of guard time, called the cyclic prefix to each symbol enables the orthogonality between tones to be preserved in the presence of multipath. The cyclic prefix allows the tones to be realigned at the receiver thus regaining orthogonality and is used to absorb transients from previous bursts caused by multipath. Thus OFDM eliminates the effect of multipath, ISI (intersymbol interference), ICI (intercarrier interference) in Mobile channels.
 INTRODUCTION:
OFDM represents a different system-design approach. It can be thought of as a combination of modulation and multiple-access schemes that segments a communications channel in such a way that many users can share it. Whereas TDMA segments are according to time and CDMA segments are according to spreading codes, OFDM segments are according to frequency. It is a technique that divides the spectrum into a number of equally spaced tones and carries a portion of a user's information on each tone. A tone can be thought of as a frequency, much in the same way that each key on a piano represents a unique frequency. OFDM can be viewed as a form of frequency division multiplexing (FDM), however, OFDM has an important special property that each tone is orthogonal with every other tone. FDM typically requires there to be frequency guard bands between the frequencies so that they do not interfere with each other. OFDM allows the spectrum of each tone to overlap, and because they are orthogonal, they do not interfere with each other.
 DEFINITION:
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a communications technique that divides a communications channel into a number of equally spaced frequency bands. A subcarrier carrying a portion of the user information is transmitted in each band. Each subcarrier is orthogonal (independent of each other) with every other subcarrier, differentiating OFDM from the commonly used frequency division multiplexing (FDM).
OVERVIEW OF OFDM:
This paper describes OFDM and its application to mobile communications. OFDM is a modulation and multiple-access technique that has been explored for more than 20 years. Only recently has it been finding its way into commercial communications systems, as Moore's Law has driven down the cost of the signal processing that is needed to implement OFDM–based systems.
OFDM, or multitone modulation as it is sometimes called, is presently used in a number of commercial wired and wireless applications. On the wired side, it is used for a variant of digital subscriber line (DSL). For wireless, OFDM is the basis for several television and radio broadcast applications, including the European digital broadcast television standard, as well as digital radio in North America. OFDM is also used in several fixed wireless systems and wireless local-area network (LAN) products. A system based on OFDM has been developed to deliver mobile broadband data service at data rates comparable to those of wired services, such as DSL and cable modems.
OFDM enables the creation of a very flexible system architecture that can be used efficiently for a wide range of services, including voice and data. For any mobile system to create a rich user experience, it must provide ubiquitous, fast, and user-friendly connectivity. OFDM has several unique properties that make it especially well suited to handle the challenging environmental conditions experienced by mobile wireless data applications.
 OFDM FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS:
OFDM represents a different system-design approach. It can be thought of as a combination of modulation and multiple-access schemes that segments a communications channel in such a way that many users can share it. Whereas TDMA segments are according to time and CDMA segments are according to spreading codes, OFDM segments are according to frequency. It is a technique that divides the spectrum into a number of equally spaced tones and carries a portion of a user's information on each tone. A tone can be thought of as a frequency, much in the same way that each key on a piano represents a unique frequency. OFDM can be viewed as a form of frequency division multiplexing (FDM), however, OFDM has an important special property that each tone is orthogonal with every other tone. FDM typically requires there to be frequency guard bands between the frequencies so that they do not interfere with each other. OFDM allows the spectrum of each tone to overlap as shown in the fig1, and because they are orthogonal, they do not interfere with each other. By allowing the tones to overlap, the overall amount of spectrum required is reduced.