Influence of time-frequency tiling on BER performance in Discrete Wavelet Multitone power line transmission

OFDM is a popular multi-carrier modulation with a straightforward implementation making use of a fast Fourier transform algorithm. Application of a cyclic prefix in it enables efficient and simple equalization in a multipath fading environment. However, the OFDM has also poor spectral characteristic which can decrease its performance in the impulsive noise scenario. As a remedy for this a Discrete Wavelet Multitone (DWMT), known also as Wavelet-OFDM, has been proposed as a promising alternative for many applications. Unfortunately, difficulties with equalization have been a significant problem limiting its usage in telecommunication systems. Therefore, in this paper, we evaluate a performance of a Circular Discrete Wavelet Multitone (CDWMT), which is a circular version of the standard DWMT modulation, in indoor Power Line Communications (PLC) scenario. Since this method also uses the cyclic prefix for channel equalization it is possible to compare fairly obtained results with the OFDM and demonstrate influence of time-frequency tiling, used in the (C)DWMT, on the transmission bit error rate.