Robust SC-FDMA subcarrier mapping for non-linear channels

Multicarrier modulations have several advantages, allowing them to be adopted in a large number of communication systems; one of their drawbacks is that they are particularly affected by non-linear distortion, typical of power-constrained systems. Among several multicarrier communication systems, the single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) is gaining an increasing interest in the satellite area due to its usage in the DVB-NGH, and the research efforts in DVB-TM-RCS2 and DVB-TM-S2. In this paper we consider the application of single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) to satellite communications, by investigating the effect of different mapping schemes in terms of both in-band distortion and out-of-band spectral regrowth when a non-linear amplifier is present in the transmit equipment. The outcomes of this analysis demonstrate that a mapping based on Minimum Shift Keying (MSK) outperforms the conventional QPSK mapping in terms of resilience to non-linear distortion.