Performance analysis of uncoded and coded OFDM broadband transmission over low voltage power-line channels with impulsive noise

Broadband communications for indoor power-line networks with impulsive noise using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is considered. From earlier investigations, it is known that this channel suffers from multipath fading and frequency selectivity along with man-made impulsive bursty noise. Nevertheless, the calculated channel capacity limit promises very high data rates over this channel. Enhancement techniques, such as coding can help an OFDM system to tackle impulsive noise burst. In this paper, the bit error rate (BER) performance of the OFDM system under impulsive noise and frequency fading is theoretically analyzed and closed form expression for the performance is derived. Two different impulsive noise environment models are studied and it is confirmed that both models represent the same environment. Furthermore, a theoretical upper bound on the performance of coded OFDM system is obtained, given perfect interleaving. The effect of the interleaver length on coding performance is also studied. Simulations show that the upper bound is quite tight for the case of employing a longer interleaver. The effect of interleaver size on the system performance is studied, as well.