Effect of forward error correction codes on the performance of LDS-OFDM

In this paper, selection criteria of Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes, in particular, the convolutional codes are evaluated for a novel air interface scheme, called Low Density Signature Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (LDS-OFDM). In this regard, the mutual information transfer characteristics of turbo Multiuser Detector (MUD) are investigated using Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) charts. LDS-OFDM uses Low Density Signature structure for spreading the data symbols in frequency domain. This technique benefits from frequency diversity in addition to its ability of supporting parallel data streams more than the number of subcarriers (overloaded condition). The turbo MUD couples the data symbols' detector of LDS scheme with users' FEC decoders through the message passing principle.