Basic FFT, OFDM Transmitter
To generate OFDM successfully the relationship between all the carriers must be
carefully controlled to maintain the orthogonality of the carriers. For this reason, OFDM
is generated by firstly choosing the spectrum required, based on the input data, and
modulation scheme used. Each carrier to be produced is assigned some data to
transmit. The required amplitude and phase of the carrier is then calculated based on
the modulation scheme (typically differential BPSK, QPSK, or QAM). The required
spectrum is then converted back to its time domain signal using an Inverse Fourier
Transform. In most applications, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) is used. The
IFFT performs the transformation very efficiently, and provides a simple way of ensuring
the carrier signals produced are orthogonal.