Error Rate Analysis for Bit-Loaded Coded OFDM

Bit-loaded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with convolutional coding is a powerful technique for transmission over quasi-static frequency-selective fading channels. Motivated by the lack of appropriate error rate analysis techniques for this popular type of system and channel model, we develop a novel analytical method for bit error rate (BER) estimation of bit-loaded coded OFDM systems operating over frequency-selective quasi-static channels with non- ideal interleaving. To illustrate the application of the proposed analysis, we compare the performance of a number of OFDM bit-loading schemes applied to Multiband OFDM (MB-OFDM) for Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio, and to IEEE 802.11a/g systems for wireless local area networks (WLANs). We also propose and evaluate a hybrid loading scheme which selects the best loading for each channel realization from amongst a number of candidates.