PAPR reduction technique using pilot symbols for OFDM systems

High peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) is a critical issue in any orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system, such as digital video broadcasting (DVB). Due to the nonlinearity of high power amplifier (HPA), it can result in low power efficiency and performance degradation of systems. In this paper, a tone reservation (TR) approach for PAPR reduction in OFDM systems is proposed by using pilot subcarriers simultaneously for PAPR reduction and channel estimation. At the receiver, a blind detection which avoids sending any side information (SI) is performed. The proposed approach improves the system spectral efficiency compared to the regular TR method that uses a set of useful subcarriers for PAPR reduction only. Simulation results using the current DVB-T2 parameters demonstrate its relevance for future DVB systems.† Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.