| Emerging technologies such as WiFi and WiMAX are profoundly changing the
landscape of wireless broadband. As we evolve into future generation wireless
networks, a primary challenge is the support of high data rate, integrated multimedia
type traffic over a unified platform. Due to its inherent advantages in
high-speed communication, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)
has become the modem of choice for a number of high profile wireless systems
(e.g., DVB-T, WiFi, WiMAX, Ultra-wideband).
The book aims at providing wireless professionals and graduate students an
up-to-date treatment of the subject area and, more importantly, the technical
concepts which are at the core of broadband air-interface design and implementation.
Our goal was to produce a textbook which would provide enough
background material and discuss advanced principles that could enable significant
improvements in network characteristics not realizable with current wireless
infrastructure .
For readers interested in the WiFi and WiMAX standards, an appendix
describing the latest innovations and applications specifically related to these
standards is provided. On the other hand, the technical discussion in this book
is not narrowly focused on any specific standard. Instead, each chapter contains
a clear exposition of the fundamental aspects of the topic. An important thread
in this book emphasizes design concepts and algorithms for the air-interface of
OFDM-based broadband wireless access networks. We are interested in protocols
that can capture the full potential of OFDM by jointly optimizing the
link-level and the system-level performance metrics. The technical audience will
be exposed to modern principles and methodologies beyond the current wireless
design paradigm. The coverage includes established techniques as well as an
ensemble of research results and articles by the authors that deal with OFDM
modem and OFDMA-based multiple-access schemes. This mix should be beneficial
not only to entry level students needing a comprehensive understanding
of OFDM, but also to senior graduate students and practicing engineers seeking
wireless system design and optimization guidelines. |
