Performance of sub-carrier mapping in single carrier FDMA systems under radio mobile channels

Single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) utilizes single carrier modulation at the transmitter and frequency domain equalization at the receiver. It has almost similar performance and essentially the same overall structure of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system with low peak to average power ratio (PAPR). Recently, the SC-FDMA has drawn great attention as an attractive alternative to OFDMA, in the uplink communications where lower PAPR greatly benefits the mobile terminal in terms of manufacturing cost as well as transmit power efficiency. Such power efficiency can provide considerable performance improvements in future wireless communication networks. This article outlines the basic principles of SC-FDMA systems with different types of sub-carrier mapping schemes. Simulation results demonstrate the performance of different sub-carrier mapping schemes under ideal and pedestrian channel condition.