On the Effect of Voigt Profile Oscillators on OFDM Systems

Phase noise of RF oscillators causes important performance degradation in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. In this brief, we provide an analytical evaluation of the effect of Voigt profile oscillators on OFDM. In contrast to existing analyses, we neither use a small-angle approximation nor assume a Wiener phase noise model. Our method allows us to predict the common error (CE) and the intercarrier interference (ICI) from frequency-domain measurements of the spectrum, which are readily accessible, rather than from direct measurement of the phase noise time-domain characteristics. This brief forms the basis of new closed-form expressions for the variances of the induced ICI and CE, directly mapped to real microwave circuit parameters. © 2011 IEEE.