Robust multicarrier CDMA receiver for coded power-line communications

Abstract

Existing indoor power-line grids are a potential solution to the last mile problem for broadband communication providers. However, power-line communication (PLC) channels suffer from deep frequency notches and severe impulsive noise making powerful signal processing essential if these channels are to be utilized. Broadband communications using Multicarrier Code Division Multiple Access(MC-CDMA) with channel coding is considered. Although resilient to frequency-selective fading, the coding gain from turbo signal processing is substantially compromised in the presence of impulsive noise. To overcome this, we propose a low complexity non-linear matched filter utilizing M-estimation technique. We will show that this matched M-estimate filter is indispensable in providing efficient baseband filtering in impulsive channels.