A simple equalization technique to minimize ICI in OFDMA-based femtocell networks

Inter carrier interference (ICI) is deemed as a critical issue in orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems. Though ICI caused by Doppler spread is negligible in femtocell systems, frequent reception of signals over misaligned subcarriers will introduce severe ICI. Successive interference cancellation and decision feedback equalizers are some of the techniques proposed to mitigate ICI. However, most of these methods are highly complex, and thus, not suitable for commercial femtocell systems. In this paper, a simple equalization technique to reduce ICI in OFDMA based femtocell networks is proposed. It has been designed particularly considering the femtocell system´s operating environment and their limited computational capacity. This technique provides excellent ICI reduction performance for smaller delay spreads of the users.