Simplification of a Link Performance Prediction Method Based on Mutual Information

In this paper, we propose a method to predict the block error rate performance of the wireless links in OFDM communication systems. Our approach relies on a performance prediction methodology that uses the mean mutual information per coded bit as quality measure. We make a simplification within this methodology such that, contrary to existing approaches, our method needs the generation and storage of much less reference performance curves. Simulation results obtained for both additive white Gaussian noise and multipath fading channels demonstrate the very good prediction capability of the proposed method.