An overview of peak-to-average power ratio reduction schemes for OFDM signals

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been adopted as a standard for various high data rate wireless communication systems due to the spectral bandwidth efficiency, robustness to frequency selective fading channels, etc. However, implementation of the OFDM system entails several difficulties. One of the major drawbacks is the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), which results in intercarrier interference, high out-of-band radiation, and bit error rate performance degradation, mainly due to the nonlinearity of the high power amplifier. This paper reviews the conventional PAPR reduction schemes and their modifications for achieving the low computational complexity required for practical implementation in wireless communication systems.