A rank-reduced LMMSE canceller for narrowband interference suppression in OFDM-based systems

We present a narrowband interference (NBI) canceller that suppresses spectral leakage in an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based system caused by a narrowband (NB) signal. In our scenario, we assume that the spectrum of the NB signal is within the spectrum of the OFDM signal. This can be the case, e.g., on digital subscriber lines (DSL) and in new unlicensed frequency bands for radio transmission. The canceller makes linear minimum mean-square error estimates of the spectral leakage by measuring the NBI on a few modulated or unmodulated OFDM subcarriers. It uses a model of the NB signal’s power spectral density as a priori information. Using frequency invariant design it is possible to cancel NBI from signals that are changing their frequency location with significantly reduced complexity overhead. The operational complexity of the canceller can be lowered by using the theory of optimal rank reduction and using the time-bandwidth product of the NB signal. Analytical performance evaluations, as well as Monte Carlo simulations, also show that without perfect a priori information this canceller can suppress the spectral leakage from a strong NB signal (e.g., with equal power as the OFDM signal) to well below the background noise floor for typical applications where it causes negligible signal to noise ratio and symbol error rate degradation.