Device and method for compensating for phase distortion in base station of OFDMA-based cellular system

Abstract

Disclosed is a device and method for compensating for phase distortions in a base station of an OFDMA-based cellular system. The method comprises receiving OFDM symbols from a plurality of mobile stations, canceling a symbol guard interval using a reference timing signal, and performing an FFT (fast Fourier transform) process on the OFDM symbols; dividing the OFDM symbols that have undergone FFT processing into subchannel groups of the mobile stations; restoring phases of the OFDM symbols divided into subchannel groups; and performing channel estimation and equalization on the restored OFDM symbols for each mobile station to thereby perform a demodulation process.

1. A method for compensating for phase distortions in a base station of an OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) based cellular system, comprising:
 (a) receiving OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) symbols from a plurality of mobile stations; 
 (b) grouping the plurality of the mobile stations according to a predetermined duration of time, and generating a reference timing signal for each group and relative delay times among the mobile stations; 
 (c) canceling a symbol guard interval using the reference timing signal, and performing an FFT (fast Fourier transform) process on the OFDM symbols; 
 (d) dividing the OFDM symbols that have undergone FFT processing into subchannel groups of the mobile stations; 
 (d)(e) restoring phases of the OFDM symbols divided into subchannel groups based on the estimation of the relative delay times among the mobile stations; and 
 (e)(f) performing channel estimation and equalization on the restored OFDM symbols for each mobile station to thereby perform a demodulation process. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein as to the reference timing signal, predetermined mobile stations with delay times shorter than a predetermined time are formed into the group, and the reference timing signal for decoding mobile station signals of this group is generated. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the reference timing signal is obtained based on the delay time of one of the mobile stations with the shortest delay time within the group. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the FFT process in (a) is performed according to a reference symbol timing of the base station. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein in (e), the phase distorted OFDM symbols of the mobile stations are restored by the relative delay times calculated based on a difference between a delay time of the base station and a reference time resulting from the reference timing signal. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein (f) comprises performing channel estimation and equalization to reduce residual distortions. 
     
     
       7. In a device for compensating for phase distortion of OFDM symbols received from a plurality of mobile stations in a base station of an OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) based cellular system, a phase distortion compensator in the base station of the OFDMA-based cellular system, comprising:
 a symbol guard interval canceller for canceling a symbol guard interval of the OFDM symbols of the plurality of mobile stations received at the base station, the symbol guard interval canceller to cancel the symbol guard time using a reference time; 
 an FFT (fast Fourier transform) processor for performing an FFT process on the OFDM symbols with the cancelled symbol guard interval; 
 a subchannel divider for extracting subchannels allocated to each mobile station from the OFDM symbols that have undergone the FFT process; 
 a symbol timing estimator for grouping the plurality of the mobile stations according to a predetermined duration of time, and generating the reference timing signal for each group and estimating the relative delay times among the OFDM symbols received from the mobile stations; 
 a delay time phase compensator for compensating for phase distortions of the OFDM symbols of the mobile stations of the subchannels extracted by the subchannel group divider by using the relative delay times estimated by the symbol timing estimator; and 
 a channel estimation and equalizer for performing distortion correction of the OFDM symbols of the mobile stations of the subchannels compensated by the delay time phase compensator, the distortion correction being performed according to an amplitude and a phase resulting from a signal channel of the mobile station. 
 
     
     
       8. The device of  claim 7 , wherein the symbol timing estimator further comprises:
 a timing offset estimator for estimating delay times of the mobile stations with respect to a transmit symbol timing of the base station; and 
 a timing controller for grouping together the mobile stations according to the delay times of the mobile stations estimated by the timing offset estimator, obtaining the reference time using a symbol timing of the mobile station with the shortest delay time in each group, and obtaining the relative delay times by using the reference time. 
 
     
     
       9. A method for compensating for phase distortions in a base station of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access based cellular system, comprising:
 receiving orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols from a plurality of mobile stations having a respective delay time;   grouping the plurality of the mobile stations according to a predetermined duration of time, and generating a reference timing signal for each group and relative delay times of the mobile stations;   removing a symbol guard interval using the reference timing signal, and processing the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols; and   grouping the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols that have undergone processing into subchannel groups of the mobile stations.   
     
     
       10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
 restoring phases of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols grouped into subchannel groups based on the estimation of the relative delay times among the mobile stations; and   performing channel estimation and equalization on the restored orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols for each mobile station to thereby perform a demodulation process.   
     
     
       11. The method of claim 10, wherein as to the reference timing signal, predetermined mobile stations with delay times shorter than a predetermined time are formed into the group, and the reference timing signal for decoding mobile station signals of this group is generated. 
     
     
       12. The method of claim 11, wherein the reference timing signal is obtained based on the delay time of one of the mobile stations with the shortest delay time within the group. 
     
     
       13. A phase distortion compensator in the base station of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access based cellular system, comprising:
 a symbol guard interval canceller for canceling symbol guard intervals of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of a plurality of mobile stations received at the base station, the symbol guard interval canceller to cancel the symbol guard intervals using a reference time;   a processor for processing the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols;   a subchannel grouper for extracting subchannels allocated to each mobile station from the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols that have undergone processing; and   a symbol timing estimator for grouping the plurality of the mobile stations according to a predetermined duration of time, and generating the reference timing signal for each group and estimating the relative delay times of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols received from the mobile stations.   
     
     
       14. The phase distortion compensator of claim 13, further comprising:
 a delay time phase compensator for compensating for phase distortions of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of the mobile stations of the subchannels extracted by the subchannel grouper by using the relative delay times estimated by the symbol timing estimator.   
     
     
       15. The phase distortion compensator of claim 14, further comprising:
 a channel estimation and equalizer for performing distortion correction of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols of the mobile stations of the subchannels compensated by the delay time phase compensator, the distortion correction being performed according to an amplitude and a phase resulting from a signal channel of the mobile station.   
     
     
       16. The phase distortion compensator of claim 15, wherein as to the reference timing signal, predetermined mobile stations with delay times shorter than a predetermined time are formed into the group, and the reference timing signal for decoding mobile station signals of this group is generated. 
     
     
       17. The phase distortion compensator of claim 16, wherein the reference timing signal is obtained based on the delay time of one of the mobile stations with the shortest delay time within the group.