MSc Project — FBMC vs. OFDM Waveform Comparison

MATLAB simulations comparing FBMC (Filter Bank Multicarrier) against conventional OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) as candidate waveforms for next-generation (5G) wireless systems.

The study evaluates both modulation schemes across four dimensions:

• BER vs. Eb/N0 — bit error rate performance over AWGN
• PSD — power spectral density / out-of-band emission
• PAPR — peak-to-average power ratio
• Constellation diagram — signal quality visualization

Background

OFDM is the dominant waveform in 4G/LTE, but suffers from high out-of-band leakage and requires a cyclic prefix. FBMC applies a per-subcarrier prototype filter combined with OQAM (Offset QAM) to achieve much lower spectral sidelobes and better spectral efficiency (no cyclic prefix), at the cost of higher implementation complexity. This project quantifies those trade-offs through simulation.

Repository Structure

FBMC scripts

File	Purpose
FBMC_prototype_filter.m	Prototype (PHYDYAS) filter design
FBMC_OQAM_consteallation_diagram.m	OQAM constellation diagram
FBMC_BERvsEbN0_OQAM.m	BER vs. Eb/N0 performance
FBMC_PSD.m	Power spectral density
FBMC_PAPR.m	Peak-to-average power ratio

OFDM scripts

File	Purpose
OFDM_subcarrier_index.m	Subcarrier index mapping
OFDM_consteallation_diagram.m	Constellation diagram
OFDM_BERvsEbN0.m	BER vs. Eb/N0 performance
OFDM_PSD.m	Power spectral density
OFDM_PAPR.m	Peak-to-average power ratio

Comparison scripts

File	Purpose
BERvsEbN0_comparison_FBMC_OFDM.m	Side-by-side BER comparison
PAPR_FBMC_OFDM.m	Side-by-side PAPR comparison

Requirements

• MATLAB (R2015 or later recommended)
• Signal Processing Toolbox

Usage

Open MATLAB, set this folder as the working directory, and run any script directly, e.g.:

% Compare BER performance of FBMC and OFDM
BERvsEbN0_comparison_FBMC_OFDM

% Compare PAPR of FBMC and OFDM
PAPR_FBMC_OFDM

Each script generates its own figure(s). Simulation parameters (number of subcarriers, modulation order, SNR range, number of symbols) are defined at the top of each file and can be adjusted as needed.

License

Academic MSc project — provided for educational and research reference.