Abstract:
The present invention provides an FM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation process that enable high-speed data communications over any transmission media and networks. The process is implemented with a modem device modulator and demodulator that provides communication with several other modem devices along any communication media that uses an FM OFDM modulation technique, a physical transmission medium such as power lines, or wireless (air), or cable, or twisted pairs communication media.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to telecommunication devices, and more particularly to a modulation technique used for enabling and transmitting various media types and digital data at very high speeds over any communication media.  
         [0002]     Typically, a telecommunication modem is composed of two components. The first component is the modulator, which typically modulates digital data and provides that modulated data to the transmitter. The second component is the demodulator that demodulates the modulated data back to digital data.  
         [0003]     OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) or FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) is used in the telecommunication industry. Although it can be combined with adaptive coding and modulation techniques, such as flexible selection among different codes and coding rate, 64 QAM, 32 QAM, 16 QAM, QPSK and BPSK constellations, to approach channel capacity, certain Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is required for each coding and modulation combination to achieve a desired Bit Error Rate (BER) performance. Even higher SNRs are needed if the system adopts larger alphabet size for higher data rate. Also, adaptive coding can be used with OFDM based on SNR variations. For example, when the signal is heavily attenuated through the channel, the same data can be repeated several times to boost the SNR at the receiver end for a reliable recovery. However, this would reduce the throughput of the communication system.  
         [0004]     In order to achieve desired SNRs for reliable communication and keep the throughput high, the present invention intends to Frequency Modulate (FM) the OFDM data stream before transmission and FM demodulate the RF data stream before demodulating the OFDM data stream.  
         [0005]     FM OFDM can gain 10-20 dB SNR that will result in significantly longer distance communication without increasing the transmit power level and significantly higher throughput to keep the high speed for the communication media. These communication media include but are not limited to AC and DC power line carrier communication, wireless communication, cable, telephone lines, twisted pairs, and coaxial cable communications. DC power line communications includes the communication over the DC wiring harness for moving vehicles like trucks, buses, SUV&#39;s and etc.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     Briefly stated, in a first embodiment, the present invention defines a new modulation technique that enable high-speed data communications over any transmission media and networks. The FM OFDM modulation technique for communication comprises: 
        a modem device that provides communication with several other modem devices along any communication media that uses FM OFDM modulation technique,     a physical transmission medium, including but not limited to various power lines, or wireless (air), or cable, or twisted pairs communication media.     a modem device modulator that receives bit streams from video, voice, internet or other digital data sources, and which consists of a FM OFDM modulator that comprises:     1. receiver feedback information retrieval     2. coding scheme selection     3. coding and interleaving     4. constellation selection among BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM, etc.     5. digital modulation     6. pilot symbol insertion     7. carrier mapping     8. IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transfer)     9. adding cyclic prefix     10. peak limiting     11. low pass filtering     12. ADC (analog to digital converter)     13. FM (Frequency Modulator) for I and Q     and a modem device demodulator that sends bit streams to video, voice, internet or other data sources, and which consists of a FM OFDM demodulator that comprises:     1. decoding and de-interleaving     2. demodulation (BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM, etc.)     3. channel estimation     4. carrier demapping     5. FFT (Fast Fourier Transfer)     6. cyclic prefix removal     7. frequency offset estimation and compensation     8. synchronization and timing offset estimation     9. DAC (digital to analog converter)     10. FM (Frequency Demodulator)       
 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0034]     The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunctions with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings embodiments that are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings, like numerals are used to indicate like elements throughout. In the drawings:  
         [0035]      FIG. 1  is a graphical illustration of the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) transmitter (modulator) for power line carrier (PLC) communication that includes a power line coupler, RF and analog circuitry, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0036]      FIG. 2  is a graphical illustration of the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) receiver (demodulator) for power line carrier communication that includes a power line coupler, RF and analog circuitry, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0037]      FIG. 3  is one of the graphical illustrations of the FM (Frequency Modulated) OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) transmitter (modulator) for power line communication that includes a power line coupler, RF and analog circuitry, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0038]      FIG. 3A  is another graphical illustration of the FM (Frequency Modulated) OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) transmitter (modulator) for power line communication that includes a power line coupler, RF and analog circuitry, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0039]      FIG. 4  is one of the graphical illustrations of the FM (Frequency Demodulated) OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) receiver (demodulator) for power line communication that includes a power line coupler, RF and analog circuitry, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0040]      FIG. 4A  is another graphical illustration of the FM (Frequency Demodulated) OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) receiver (demodulator) for power line communication that includes a power line coupler, RF and analog circuitry, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0041]      FIG. 5  is one of the graphical illustrations of the FM modulator using Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS), in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0042]      FIG. 6  is another graphical illustration of the FM modulator, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0043]      FIG. 7  is a graphical illustration of a typical FM demodulator, in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0044]     The present invention presents improvements to an OFDM or FDM based communication application by FM modulating the OFDM or FDM signals before transmission and FM demodulating the carrier frequencies before OFDM or FDM demodulation.  
         [0045]     FM modulation is well known to be used for a number of applications where long distance communications are important. Typically, FM modulation can gain 10-40 dB SNR (signal to noise ratio) depending on the modulation factor that is being used. Bandwidth determines the SNR. Larger bandwidth communication devices have smaller SNR than smaller bandwidth devices. To reach high speed communication, the requirements will be higher bandwidth. If single or a couple of carrier frequencies are being used for communication, then the bandwidth will need to be larger and therefore the SNR will be lower. Even if FM modulation is used for high speed data communication, the SNR will be lower than an OFDM system.  
         [0046]     For example, if one needs to reach 10 Mbps speed over a communication media by using a 250 Mhz FM modulated carrier frequency over a 60 Mhz bandwidth, then the level of noise will be about −67 dBm. Even recovering about 15-20 dB SNR by using FM still will not provide reliable long distance communications because the noise level is too high. By using 1024 carriers for OFDM with 30 Mhz bandwidth at a center frequency of 250 Mhz, one can reach up to 150 Mbps speed with a noise level of −86 dBm at every 30 Khz carrier frequency. Consequently OFDM could reach longer distance and higher speed communication than FM although it will depend on the transmitted power too. OFDM will be a better choice for FCC emission consideration.  
         [0000]     Block-Wise Description of the OFDM or FDM System from Modulator&#39;s Viewpoint  
         [0000]    
       
         
           
              1. feedback from the receiver is retrieved to make a judgment on the forward direction channel quality;  
              2. the code selection unit picks up a coding scheme based on the previously made channel quality judgment, different codes can be used for higher data rate at the target performance requirement, for example a rate ½ code can be used to replace a rate ⅓ code when the SNR is high;  
              3. in the coding and interleaving unit, digital streams are encoded with the selected code, either a convolutional or a block code, the output of the encoder is interleaved so that errors due to channel distortion scatter across the stream independently;  
              4. the constellation selection unit picks up a signal constellation, or alphabet, among BPSK, QPSK, QAM etc. based on the previously made channel quality judgment, different alphabets can be used for higher data rate at the target performance requirement, for example 64-QAM or 16-QAM can be used to replace QPSK or BPSK when the SNR is high;  
              5. the modulator maps binary output from the coding and interleaving unit to real or complex numbers in the chosen alphabet by the constellation selection unit;  
              6. pilot symbols are inserted into the symbol stream from the modulator based on a channel estimation algorithm of different kinds;  
              7. output of the previous unit is then mapped onto specific bins of an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) unit;  
              8. IFFT unite conducts discrete Fourier transform on the input data;  
              9. the tailing part of an IFFT output block is prepended to the block in this unit to combat the distortion due to multipath propagation, the prepended part is called Cyclic Prefix (CP);  
              10. a limitor is used to make sure the signal is within the amplifier&#39;s dynamic range;  
              11. an optional digital low pass filter is used to confine the signal within the desired band, this functionality can also be achieved with an analog low pass filter.  
              12. the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signal components are then fed to two separate Digital to Analog Converters (DACs). The analog outputs of the DACs are amplified, filtered and mixed with the local oscillator (LO) signal.  
              13. the mixer output is then sequentially filtered, amplified and fed to a coupler or antenna.  
              14. the coupler or antenna injects carrier frequency signals into physical media. 
 
 Block-wise Description of the OFDM or FDM System from Demodulator&#39;s Viewpoint 
 
           
         
       
     
         [0061]     In the analog part, the carrier frequency signals retrieved from physical transmission media by means of a coupler is amplified, filtered and mixed to generate the intermediate frequency (IF) signal, the IF signal is further amplified, filtered and mixed to generate the baseband signal. This baseband signal is again amplified and filtered. The I and Q components of the filter output are fed into two separate Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs). The digitized I/Q components then propagate through the following blocks: 
        1. The digital I/Q signals first go through a unit that finds the start and end of a data frame;     2. The second unit estimates and compensates for frequency offset, i.e., the difference between transmit LO frequency and receive LO frequency embedded in the IQ samples;     3. The third unit removes the cyclic prefix of each IFFT block;     4. The fourth unit conducts Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on each IFFT block after CP is removed;     5. Carrier demapper separates the pilot and information bearing bins in the output of FFT unit;     6. The channel estimation unit generates estimates of noise power and channel gain at each FFT bin;     7. With the help of channel gain and noise power estimates, the demodulator generates hard or soft decisions on the modulating bits;     8. The de-interleaver permutes the hard or soft decisions and then feeds its output to a decoder which generates bit streams to be delivered to the upper layer applications such as internet, video/audio/telephone/data.        
 
         [0070]      FIG. 1  shows the transmitter, coupler and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Modulator, which is a multi-carrier modulation scheme by means of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This modulation scheme takes as input bit streams  1  from any application, such as voice/video/audio/internet. It retrieves forward channel quality feedback from the receiver  42  and selects a good code  40 , such as a block code or a convolutional code, to encode the bit streams accordingly, then interleaves  2  the encoded bits to break error bursts at the receiver end into scattered individual errors across the whole transmission. The Receiver feedback retrieval  42 , the Code Selection  40 , the Constellation selection  41 , coding &amp; interleaving  2 , and modulation  3  accomplishes the adaptive coding and adaptive modulation for the OFDM system. The OFDM system further converts interleaved bits into real or complex symbols in an alphabet  3  which is selected  41  based on channel condition feedback. Different alphabets can be used for a higher data rate at the target performance requirement, for example 64-QAM or 16-QAM can be used to replace QPSK or BPSK when the channel signal to noise ratio is high. After pilot symbols  4  are inserted, the composite symbol stream modulates specific carriers  5  via Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IET)  6 . A tailing part is copied to the beginning of the IFFT results to make the Cyclic Prefix (CP)  7 . A limitor  8  is used to make sure the digital signal is within the amplifier&#39;s dynamic range. An optional digital low pass filter  9  can also be used to confine the signal within the desired band. This functionality may alternatively be achieved with an analog low pass filter. The in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the digital signal are now fed to two separate Digital to Analog Converters (DACs)  10 . The analog outputs of the DACs are amplified, filtered and mixed  11  with the local oscillator (LO) signal. The mixer output is sequentially filtered, amplified and sent to a coupler or antenna  12 , which will transmit the DSP carrier frequency signals to the communication media  25  like power line, air, coax cable, or twisted pair cable.  
         [0071]      FIG. 2  shows the receiver, coupler and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Demodulator. In the analog part, the carrier frequency signal retrieved from physical transmission media  25  by means of a coupler or antenna  12  is amplified, filtered and mixed  11  to generate the intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and the IF signal is again amplified, filtered and mixed  11  to generate the base band signal. This base band signal is further amplified and filtered. The I and Q components of the filter output are sent to two separate Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs)  13 . From the digitized I/Q components, the frame header is located by means of synchronization algorithms  14 . Frequency offset  15  or the difference between transmit LO and receive LO is estimated and compensated. Based on the knowledge of the frame header, the cyclic prefix  16  of each transmitted IFFT block is removed and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)  17  is conducted. From obtained results on pilot-bearing carriers  18 , channel estimation algorithm  19  delivers noise power and channel gain estimates which facilitates the generation of hard or soft decisions on the encoded bits  20 . The hard or soft decisions are finally de-interleaved and fed to the decoder  21  that gives bit streams  22  transmitted for upper layer applications such as internet, video/audio/data.  
         [0072]      FIG. 3  shows the Frequency Modulated (FM) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Modulator which is a multi-carrier modulation scheme by means of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This modulation scheme takes as input bit streams  1  from any application, such as voice/video/audio/internet. It retrieves forward channel quality feedback from the receiver  42  and selects a good code  40 , such as a block code or a convolutional code, to encode the bit streams accordingly, then interleaves  2  the encoded bits to break error bursts at the receiver end into scattered individual errors across the whole transmission. The Receiver feedback retrieval  42 , the Code Selection  40 , the Constellation selection  41 , coding &amp; interleaving  2 , and modulation  3  accomplishes the adaptive coding and adaptive modulation for the OFDM system. The OFDM system further converts interleaved bits into real or complex symbols in an alphabet  3  which is selected  41  based on channel condition feedback. Different alphabets can be used for a higher data rate at the target performance requirement, for example 64-QAM or 16-QAM can be used to replace QPSK or BPSK when the channel signal to noise ratio is high. After pilot symbols  4  are inserted, the composite symbol stream modulates specific carriers  5  via Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT)  6 . A tailing part is copied to the beginning of the IFFT results to make the Cyclic Prefix (CP)  7 . A limitor  8  is used to make sure the digital signal is within the amplifier&#39;s dynamic range. An optional digital low pass filter  9  can also be used to confine the signal within the desired band. This functionality may alternatively be achieved with an analog low pass filter. The in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the digital signal are now fed to two separate Digital to Analog Converters (DACs)  10 . The analog outputs of the DACs are amplified, filtered, I and Q is converted together  23  and FM Modulated  24  with the local oscillator (LO) signal. The FM Modulator  24  output is sequentially filtered, amplified and sent to a coupler or antenna  12 , which will transmit the DSP carrier frequency signals to the communication media  25  like power line, air, coax cable, or twisted pair cable.  
         [0073]      FIG. 3A  shows another embodiment of the Frequency Modulated (FM) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Modulator, when I and Q base band converter  23  is not developed yet, which is a multi-carrier modulation scheme by means of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This modulation scheme takes as input bit streams  1  from any application, such as voice/video/audio/internet. It retrieves forward channel quality feedback from the receiver  42  and selects a good code  40 , such as a block code or a convolutional code, to encode the bit streams accordingly, then interleaves  2  the encoded bits to break error bursts at the receiver end into scattered individual errors across the whole transmission. The Receiver feedback retrieval  42 , the Code Selection  40 , the Constellation selection  41 , coding &amp; interleaving  2 , and modulation  3  accomplishes the adaptive coding and adaptive modulation for the OFDM system. The OFDM system further converts interleaved bits into real or complex symbols in an alphabet  3  which is selected  41  based on channel condition feedback. Different alphabets can be used for a higher data rate at the target performance requirement, for example 64-QAM or 16-QAM can be used to replace QPSK or BPSK when the channel signal to noise ratio is high. After pilot symbols  4  are inserted, the composite symbol stream modulates specific carriers  5  via Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT)  6 . A tailing part is copied to the beginning of the IFFT results to make the Cyclic Prefix (CP)  7 . A limitor  8  is used to make sure the digital signal is within the amplifier&#39;s dynamic range. An optional digital low pass filter  9  can also be used to confine the signal within the desired band. This functionality may alternatively be achieved with an analog low pass filter. The in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the digital signal are now fed to two separate Digital to Analog Converters (DACs)  10 . The analog outputs of the DACs are amplified, filtered, and I and Q is separately FM Modulated  24  with two different local oscillator (LO) signals. The two FM Modulators  24  output will create  2  separate frequency bands F 1  and F 2  (for I and Q) for communication which is sequentially filtered, amplified and sent to a coupler F 1  and coupler F 2  or antenna F 1  and antenna F 2   12 , which will transmit the DSP carrier frequency signals to the communication media  25  like power line, air, coax cable, or twisted pair cable.  
         [0074]      FIG. 4  shows the receiver, coupler, FM demodulator and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Demodulator. In the analog part, the carrier frequency signal retrieved from physical transmission media  25  by means of a coupler or antenna  12  is amplified, filtered and mixed  11  to generate the intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and the IF signal is again amplified, filtered and FM Demodulated  26  to generate the base band signal. This base band signal is further converted  27  into I and Q, amplified and filtered. The I and Q components of the filter output are sent to two separate Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs)  13 . From the digitized I/Q components, the frame header is located by means of synchronization algorithms  14 . Frequency offset  15  or the difference between transmit LO and receive LO is estimated and compensated. Based on the knowledge of the frame header, the cyclic prefix  16  of each transmitted IFFT block is removed and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)  17  is conducted. From obtained results on pilot-bearing carriers  18 , channel estimation algorithm  19  delivers noise power and channel gain estimates which facilitates the generation of hard or soft decisions on the encoded bits  20 . The hard or soft decisions are finally de-interleaved and fed to the decoder  21  that gives bit streams  22  transmitted for upper layer applications such as internet, video/audio/data.  
         [0075]      FIG. 4A  is another embodiment of the FM OFDM demodulator when the base band converted  27  into I and Q is not developed yet. In this case, I and Q is separately FM demodulated from two different frequency bands like F 3  and F 4  and sent to the OFDM demodulator for data recovery. In the analog part, the two carrier frequency band signal F 3  and F 4  is retrieved from physical transmission media  25  by means of a coupler F 3  and F 4  or antenna F 3  and F 4   12  is amplified, filtered and mixed  11  to generate the intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and the IF signal is again amplified, filtered and F 3  and F 4  frequency bands are separately FM Demodulated  26  to generate the base band signal. These base band I and Q signals separately are further amplified and filtered. The I and Q components of the filter output are sent to two separate Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs)  13 . From the digitized I/Q components, the frame header is located by means of synchronization algorithms  14 . Frequency offset  15  or the difference between transmit LO and receive LO is estimated and compensated. Based on the knowledge of the frame header, the cyclic prefix  16  of each transmitted IFFT block is removed and Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT)  17  is conducted. From obtained results on pilot-bearing carriers  18 , channel estimation algorithm  19  delivers noise power and channel gain estimates which facilitates the generation of hard or soft decisions on the encoded bits  20 . The hard or soft decisions are finally de-interleaved and fed to the decoder  21  that gives bit streams  22  transmitted for upper layer applications such as internet, video/audio/data.  
         [0076]      FIG. 5  shows an embodiment of an FM modulator which uses AD 9852  Integrated Circuits (IC) from Analog Devices, Inc. This IC is a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS)  30  and includes the D/A converters  10  and the FM modulator  24 .  
         [0077]      FIG. 6  shows another embodiment of an FM modulator  64  that uses a Phase Lock Loop (PLL) IC  75  such as the ADF 4111  IC, a Voltage controlled oscillator (VCO)  74  such as the MC 12148  IC (available from Motorola), and a varactor diode  76  such as the MA 4 ST 083 CK (available from M/A-COM, Lowell, Mass.). The varactor  76  oscillates with the L 46  inductor to create the oscillation frequency and the FM modulation, while the PLL  75  controls and stabilize the carrier frequency for the VCO  74 .  
         [0078]      FIG. 7  shows an embodiment of the FM demodulator  26  where an MC 13155 D (available from Motorola) wideband FM limiter IC is used with a RLC tank circuit  84  that determines the carrier frequency and its necessary bandwidth for detection.  
         [0079]     Another example of an FM demodulation scheme is to use a PLL with VCO and charge pump.  
         [0080]     The challenge to do FM OFDM is that OFDM carrier frequencies do not come out as a flat frequency response from the D/A converters. The magnitude variations between each carrier frequency can usually reach 12 dB. Thus, the OFDM processing needs to include more processing power and higher sampling rates in order to get the OFDM carrier frequencies smaller magnitude variations.  
         [0081]     For power line communication, any type of coupler can be used. The present invention prefers to use a capacitive coupler or resin/dielectric-filled coupler for overhead or for underground power lines. A coupler is a transformer. Thus, a transformer can be a capacitive transformer to become a capacitive coupler. A resin-filled coupler means that a transformer is filled in resin. A dielectric-filled coupler means that a transformer is filled with a dielectric material. A capacitive transformer can also be filled with resin or other dielectric material. The transformer primary impedance is the same order of magnitude as that of overhead or underground power lines or larger. A capacitive coupler with a data port may be used here to couple a modem to the line. The line, may be terminated with a resistance approximately equal to the characteristic impedance of the power transmission cable. Modem means herein is the modulator and demodulator. The secondary side of a capacitive coupler that connects to the transmitter and/or receiver is wound about equal number of turns as the primary side of the coupler that is connected through a capacitor to the power line. The coupler has a core between the primary and secondary winding. This coupler can be used for any high voltage power line between 120V AC to 750 KV AC with the necessary safety changes. The most preferred coupler for power line communication is the matching coupler that can match the power line characteristic impedance to the coupler and the coupler can also match the characteristic impedance of the transmitter receiver at anytime and any location.  
         [0082]     Changes can be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. The present invention is thus not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention.