A Frequency Offset Transmit Reference System in Dense Multipath Environments: Propagation Effects and Design Considerations

Frequency offset transmit reference (FoTR)—a noncoherent spread spectrum technique—is considered in dense multipath fading environments, in the context of wideband communication. The interplay between system parameters and propagation effects is investigated. Analytical relations between key design parameters and the channel delay spread are derived, which provide a framework for determining reasonable system parameters that optimize the performance. An approximated closed-form expression for the outage probability is also obtained, which is shown to be fairly accurate for low outage probabilities. It is shown that FoTR suffers significantly from noise-enhancement, but, is nonetheless, robust against frequency-selective fading. A large value of frequency offset can significantly deteriorate the performance, particularly in environments with large channel delay spreads. This restricts the maximum data rate as well as the multiple-access capability of the scheme. Despite the limitations, FoTR can be a useful communication scheme for low data rate sensor networks deployed in dense multipath environments, particularly where the design demands a simple receiver and a low outage probability.