Maximal Ratio Combining Detection in OFDM Systems with Virtual Carriers Over V2V Channels

This paper examines the performance of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication channels. More specifically, a doubly selective channel under high intercarrier interference (ICI) is considered. Current solutions involve complex detection and/or reduced spectral efficiency receivers. This paper proposes the use of virtual carriers (VC) in an OFDM system with a low-complexity maximal ratio combining (MRC) detector to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance. The results show that VC provides diversity in received data, resulting in a ≥5 dB gain compared to previous OFDM systems with conventional linear/nonlinear detectors used as a reference. The detector presented in this paper has linear complexity, making it a suitable solution for real-time V2V communication systems.