A multicarrier system based on the fractional Fourier transform for time-frequency-selective channels

Traditional multicarrier techniques perform a frequency-domain decomposition of a channel characterized by frequency-selective distortion in a plurality of subchannels that are affected by frequency flat distortion. The distortion in each independent subchannel can then be easily compensated by simple gain and phase adjustments. Typically, digital Fourier transform schemes make the implementation of the multicarrier system feasible and attractive with respect to single-carrier systems. However, when the channel is time-frequency-selective, as it usually happens in the rapidly fading wireless channel, this traditional methodology fails. Since the channel frequency response is rapidly time-varying, the optimal transmission/reception methodology should be able to process nonstationary signals. In other words, the subchannel carrier frequencies should be time-varying and ideally decompose the frequency distortion of the channel perfectly at any instant in time. However, this ideally optimal approach presents significant challenges both in terms of conceptual and computational complexity. The idea disclosed in this work is that a nonstationary approach can be approximated using signal bases that are especially suited for the analysis/synthesis of nonstationary signals. We propose in fact the use of a multicarrier system that employs orthogonal signal bases of the chirp type that in practice correspond to the fractional Fourier transform signal basis. The significance of the methodology relies on the important practical consideration that analysis/synthesis methods of the fractional Fourier type can be implemented with a complexity that is equivalent to the traditional fast Fourier transform.