PROFIL

ANR PROFIL (Broadband PROfessional Mobile Radio based on FILter Bank Multicarrier modulation) project aims at contributing to PMR (Professional Mobile Radio) networks evolutions. These networks, which transmit low data bit rate services for public safety and mission critical applications (usually voice), are asked to meet new requirements for larger bit rate transmission (video). Nevertheless these future PMR Broadband services are required (at first) to share channel bandwidths with current (narrow band) PMR services and to access free spaces between these PMR narrow bands. As a consequence a deep study has to be done in order to keep quality of service (especially of currently deployed PMR services) and to meet new requirements. As a top world-wide leader in PMR, CASSIDIAN proposes multi-carrier modulation for broadband PMR to combat time and frequency selective channels. But regular OFDM modulation is well known to have poor frequency localization due to time rectangular pulses. This is the reason why FBMC (Filter Bank MultiCarrier) modulation is viewed as a serious candidate for next PMR networks generation for the following reasons: no guard interval, very low side lobes and full capacity. Moreover sub channels can be grouped into independent blocks that feature is crucial for scalability and dynamic access. As a consequence PROFIL project objective is to propose a study on FBMC modulation for broadband PMR taking into account both the need of coexistence between PMR networks and performance requirements. The outline of the project is firstly to propose scenarios to define key parameters (number of carriers, pilot scheme, symbol length, etc.) of FBMC in PMR context and secondly to feed works on synchronization and equalization. In parallel, studies on coexistence will be led both on PHY and MAC layers. A demonstrator will be provided at the end of the project so as to illustrate the benefits of FBMC modulation in terms of coexistence and performance. A task will be dedicated to dissemination (publications in conferences and journal) and standardization (particularly at ETSI group) to promote FBMC for broadband PMR.