A Multi-Carrier Waveform Design for 5G and beyond Communication Systems

The next generation communication network (NGCN) is expected to provide higher spectral efficiency, low latency, large throughput and massive machine-to-machine type communications. In this regard, the design of the multi-carrier waveform (MCW) is posing a major research problem for the NGCN. To overcome the stated problem, a lot of state-of-the-art work exists that proposes various MCW alternative to the standard orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform. It is true that OFDM was used in a number of real-time communication systems of fourth generation (4G) networks. However, their use in the upcoming fifth generation (5G) network is not very feasible. This is because of the strict requirements of 5G communication systems, which also extend beyond 5G systems; hence rendering the use of OFDM infeasible for newer communication standards. To satisfy the requirements of upcoming communication networks, there is a dire need for MCWs with better flexibility. In this regard, a precoding-based MCW has been proposed. The proposed MCW fulfills the requirements of the NGCN in terms of low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), high spectral efficiency and throughput. The MCW proposed in this work uses power-domain multiplexing such as non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and phase rotation by using the selective mapping (SLM) and generalized chirp-like (GCL) precoding of the input signal to the universal filtered multi-carriers (UFMC) modulations. Statistical analysis of the PAPR is presented by using the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF). The MATLAB® simulations have been carried out to implement the CCDF of PAPR and results show that a PAPR gain of 5.4 dB is obtained when the proposed waveform is compared with the standard NOMA-UFMC waveform at clip rate of 10−3, using 4-QAM.