Investigating OFDM suitability to Link Adaptation as a modulation technique for data transfer

Abstract

The project investigates the effectiveness of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) as a modulation technique for wireless radio applications. The main aim was to access the suitability of OFDM as a modulation technique for a fixed wireless data transfer system for geographically challenged areas in Kenya. However, its suitability for more general wireless applications is also accessed. Most third generation mobile phone systems are using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) as their modulation technique. For this reason, CDMA is also investigated so that the performance of CDMA could be compared with OFDM on the basis of various wireless parameters. At the end it is concluded that the good features of both the modulation schemes can be combined in an intelligent way to get the best modulation scheme as a solution for wireless communication high speed requirement, channel problems and increased number of users.