Background
Today's prevalence of multimedia communication devices places a high demand on wired and wireless communication systems. The wide range of user applications and requirements, coupled with the fast variation of wireless channels, places added pressure on the already overcrowded and inefficiently allocated conventional radio spectrum. User mobility, the short wavelength of a broadband wireless signal and the constant change in traffic from low voice to high broadband video communications places a constant load on multimedia communication systems. To make matters worse, traditional design methodology anticipates the "worst case" wireless channel condition, a scenario that can result in a total commitment of system resources to one sole user. Great efficiencies in bandwidth utilization, reducing latency and other communication resources stand to be gained by upgrading the transmission protocol to better serve current mobile and fixed communication conditions and requirements.
Description of the Invention
An adaptive transmission technique has been developed at Western University to address these challenges. Our adaptive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system offers a substantial improvement in spectrum efficiency and flexibility over conventional wireless communication systems. In this system, pre-coded cyclic prefix (PCP) provides a mechanism of sensing characteristics for spectrum sharing and eliminates the preambles and handshaking process that would otherwise occur upon any change in transmission parameters. The result is a flexible, robust and efficient platform for wireless or wired transmission communications.
Potential Advantages
• Efficient use of radio spectrum
• Highly flexible versus fixed radio transmissions
Potential Applications
• Wired/wireless networks
Patent Status
• US patent number 8,565,063 issued
• CA patent application number 2,665,585 in prosecution.
