OFDM Receiver Impulsive Noise Rejection via CSI Derating

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing OFDM receivers struggle to effectively mitigate weak but frequent impulsive noise, which causes significant degradation in demodulation due to its broadband nature and short duration, leading to inaccuracies in noise variance estimation and subsequent data errors.

Innovation Solution

The method involves using channel state information (CSI) in the frequency domain to derate noise estimates for individual OFDM symbols exceeding a threshold, reducing their influence on the decoding process, thereby improving soft information generation and accuracy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If noise variance estimation is performed using conventional methods in OFDM receivers, then the receiver can process signals, but weak but frequent impulsive noise causes significant degradation in demodulation accuracy

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenoise variance estimation accuracyVSAvoiddemodulation accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the noise estimation process by treating each OFDM symbol independently. Instead of using a single long-term average noise estimate for all symbols, the system calculates individual noise estimates for each symbol and applies derating selectively to symbols affected by impulsive noise. This segmentation allows the receiver to identify and mitigate the impact of weak but frequent impulsive noise events that would otherwise corrupt the overall noise variance estimation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Stability of the object's composition

If the receiver uses long-term average noise estimates, then it can maintain stable operation, but it cannot detect and mitigate short-duration impulsive noise events

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenoise estimate stabilityVSAvoidimpulsive noise detection
Core Design Contradiction:
Stability of the object's compositionVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by calculating a threshold value based on the long-term average noise estimate before processing individual OFDM symbols. This pre-established threshold enables the system to quickly identify symbols with impulsive noise by comparing their individual noise estimates against the threshold, without requiring the long-term average to adapt to each impulsive event. The preliminary threshold acts as a reference that maintains stability while enabling detection of deviations caused by impulsive noise.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Device complexity

If all OFDM symbols are processed with equal weight in decoding, then the decoding process is simple, but symbols corrupted by impulsive noise significantly degrade overall performance

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedecoding process complexityVSAvoiddata accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by differentiating the treatment of individual OFDM symbols based on their noise characteristics. Symbols with noise estimates exceeding the threshold are derated (assigned reduced weight) while symbols below the threshold are processed normally. This creates a non-uniform quality distribution across symbols, where affected symbols contribute less to the decoding process. The local quality approach maintains relatively simple decoding logic while significantly improving data accuracy by reducing the influence of corrupted symbols.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP3043492B1Impulsive noise rejection
Publication Date: 2020.02.05 IMAGINATION TECH LTD
  • EP3043492B1 patent drawingFigure 1
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  • EP3043492B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A method of rejecting impulsive noise in an OFDM receiver is described. The impulsive noise is rejected using channel state information (CSI) and is performed in the frequency domain. A noise power estimate (furthermore referred to as a noise value) is measured for a single OFDM symbol and compared to a threshold value, which may be generated based on a short-term average of OFDM symbols not corrupted by impulsive noise or predicted based on a small number of previously measured OFDM symbols not corrupted by impulsive noise. If the noise estimate for the particular OFDM symbol exceeds the threshold value, the CSI for that symbol is derated (i.e. modified) to reduce the influence of the information from this symbol on the decoding process.