Generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) as a New Multicarrier waveform for machine type communication (MTC)

Due to the use of many cheap devices for machine type communication (MTC), relaxed synchronization conditions are required in terms of time and frequency misalignments if one wants to reduce network overhead and latency. Consequently, new waveforms that are robust to imperfect synchronization were considered for MTC communication. Among MCM waveforms under consideration, the most suitable for MTC seem to be generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM), because GFDM is based on a block based structure consisting of several orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and a cyclic prefix (CP) that is added at the beginning of each block instead that at the beginning of each symbol, as happens in OFDM. The sub-carriers are pulse shaped by circular filtering which makes it applicable for short burst transmission. Employing circular filter in GFDM with windowing or guard symbol insertion reduces the OOB emissions compared to OFDM. Moreover, since a tail biting technique is used in GFDM, this makes the CP length independent of transmit and receive filters lengths. This allows reducing the overhead caused by the CP, thus increasing the spectral efficiency.

This talk discusses the work and results presented by prof. Frank Fitzek and prof. Gerhard P. Fettweis at Summer School in “5G lab Summer school 2016”