Partial response signaling for equalization of OFDM systems in severe multipath channels

OFDM is rapidly finding acceptance as an efficient modulation scheme since it often eliminates the need for an equalizer. Cyclic prefix based OFDM usually curtails ISI between OFDM symbols and permits simple frequency domain compensation of channel effects within an OFDM symbol. However, in outdoor deployments significant multipath reflections necessitate some means of overcoming ISI between OFDM symbols. In this paper, we propose partial response OFDM signaling as one method to combat such ISI. We evaluate the performance of PR signaling for OFDM systems in channels with extensive multipath. We quantify bit error rate performance using PR-OFDM and contrast it with traditional equalizer solutions such as minimum mean square error equalization.