Zero-tail DFT-spread-OFDM signals

In the existing scheduled radio standards using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) modulation, the Cyclic Prefix (CP) duration is usually hard-coded and set as a compromise between the expected channel characteristics and the necessity of fitting a predefined frame duration. This may lead to system inefficiencies as well as bad coexistence with networks using different CP settings. In this paper, we propose the usage of zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM signals as a solution for decoupling the radio numerology from the expected channel characteristics. Zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM modulation allows to adapt the overhead to the estimated delay spread/propagation delay. Moreover, it enables networks operating over channels with different characteristics to adopt the same numerology, thus improving their coexistence. An analytical description of the zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM signals is provided, as well as a numerical performance evaluation with Monte Carlo simulations. Zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM signals are shown to have approximately the same Block Error Rate (BLER) performance of traditional OFDM, with the further benefit of lower out-of-band (OOB) emissions.