Abstract: By virtue of one embodiment of the present invention, dynamic signal to noise ratio measurements made on received signals are used to identify degraded segments of a channel. The degraded segments are then no longer used for transmitting payload data. In the context of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system, degraded OFDM subchannels, as determined on a real-time basis, are not used to transmit payload data. In an OFDM network where access is shared in the time domain among multiple transmitters and a single allocable time slot includes an integer number of OFDM bursts, the medium access control layer adjusts packet length, and therefore the amount of data to be included in a given slot, in response to the fluctuating number of available subchannels.

Abstract: By virtue of one embodiment of the present invention, dynamic signal to noise ratio measurements made on received signals are used to identify degraded segments of a channel. The degraded segments are then no longer used for transmitting payload data. In the context of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system, degraded OFDM subchannels, as determined on a real-time basis, are not used to transmit payload data. In an OFDM network where access is shared in the time domain among multiple transmitters and a single allocable time slot includes an integer number of OFDM bursts, the medium access control layer adjusts packet length, and therefore the amount of data to be included in a given slot, in response to the fluctuating number of available subchannels.

Abstract: By virtue of one embodiment of the present invention, dynamic signal to noise ratio measurements made on received signals are used to identify degraded segments of a channel. The degraded segments are then no longer used for transmitting payload data. In the context of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system, degraded OFDM subchannels, as determined on a real-time basis, are not used to transmit payload data. In an OFDM network where access is shared in the time domain among multiple transmitters and a single allocable time slot includes an integer number of OFDM bursts, the medium access control layer adjusts packet length, and therefore the amount of data to be included in a given slot, in response to the fluctuating number of available subchannels.

Abstract: Systems and methods for appending cyclic prefixes to OFDM bursts while employing minimal additional memory and adding minimal latency are provided. This facilitates lower cost implementations of OFDM communication systems including systems that carry real time traffic such as telephony and video conferencing. The phases of frequency domain symbols are rotated prior to application of the IFFT so that cyclic prefix addition may be implemented as cyclic postfix addition. Cyclic postfix addition requires much less memory and imposes much less latency then cyclic prefix addition.

Abstract: A chirp waveform is employed in establishing timing synchronization between nodes of a data communication network. In one embodiment, the chirp waveform is combined with a waveform modulated with data to form a synchronization waveform. The receiver of the synchronization waveform determines an alignment of the chirp waveform to a template chirp waveform to synchronize timing between nodes.

Abstract: This invention relates to decoding symbols in the form of modulated carriers which are encoded using orthogonal frequency divsion multiplexing. The modulated carriers are supplied to a decoder which is preferably a Viterbi decoder. The decoder symbols are then recoded and passed to a comparator where they are compared with the incoming modulated carriers to locate errors between each recoded symbol and the corresponding modulated carrier symbol. The error rate for each carrier is derived by a counter and the indications of error rate and the modulated carriers are used to address entries in a look up table from which a decoder decodes the symbols represented by the modulated carriers.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus in which a differentially coded signal having forward error correction added to the encoded data can be decoded with an improved bit error rate performanceApparatus for decoding a differentially encoded input signal having forward error correction added to the encoded data, the apparatus comprising: a differential decoder to receive the input signal and to decode the data in each differentially encoded signal interval thereof by reference to the data in a previous differentially encoded signal interval; error correcting means to correct errors in the decoded signal form the decoder; and means for supplying to the decoder the corrected data from each signal interval to act as a reference for decoding the data in a following signal interval.