In this paper, we introduce and characterize a new filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) architecture, based on flexible zero padding (FZP), suitable for applications obeying stringent latency requirements. FZP conveniently distributes zeros between transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) waveforms, and covers cyclic prefix (CP) and zero padding (ZP) as special extremal cases, providing, in this way, a bridge between classical CP-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and ZP-OFDM. It has the merit of being the only possible architecture that guarantees optimum confined and autonomous transmission and reception of each OFDM symbol within the symbol period, leading to a minimized latency. We assess the best achievable signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) performances, of all possible FBMC configurations, obeying the FZP architecture, through a systematic optimization of their Tx and Rx waveforms, using the ping-pong optimized pulse shaping (POPS) algorithm. We also assess the whole communication link performance, in terms of raw and coded bit error rate (BER), for several representative FZP configurations. It turns out that the medium alternative between CP and ZP, which evenly distributes FZP between the Tx and Rx waveforms, does not provide a significant improvement in signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) and BER, for slightly time dispersive channels, but brings more robustness to time synchronization errors. The conducted study shows that conventional CP-OFDM remains an interesting alternative since it leads to an insignificant degradation in SIR, compared to the optimal FZP configuration, while providing a decorrelated noise at the receiver, beneficial for short coded packets.

中文翻译：

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弥合CP-OFDM和ZP-OFDM之间的差距，以在5G中提供超低延迟服务

在本文中，我们介绍并描述了一种新的基于灵活零填充（FZP）的滤波器组多载波（FBMC）架构，适用于满足严格延迟要求的应用。FZP方便地在发送（Tx）和接收（Rx）波形之间分配零，并作为特殊极端情况覆盖循环前缀（CP）和零填充（ZP），以这种方式提供了经典CP正交频分复用之间的桥梁（OFDM）和ZP-OFDM。它具有作为唯一可能的架构的优点，该架构保证了在符号周期内每个OFDM符号的最佳限制和自主传输和接收，从而使等待时间最小化。我们遵循FZP架构，评估所有可能的FBMC配置中最佳的可达到的信号干扰干扰比（SINR）性能，通过使用乒乓优化脉冲整形（POPS）算法对其Tx和Rx波形进行系统优化。我们还根据原始和编码误码率（BER）评估了几种代表性FZP配置的整个通信链路性能。事实证明，对于CP和ZP之间的中等替代方案（在Tx和Rx波形之间平均分配FZP），对于时间分散性较弱的信道而言，它并未显着改善信噪比（SIR）和BER，但带来了对时间同步错误的鲁棒性更高。进行的研究表明，传统的CP-OFDM仍然是一个有趣的选择，因为与最佳FZP配置相比，它导致SIR的下降不明显，同时在接收机处提供了去相关的噪声，