Zero padding OFDM equalization

1. What is the purpose of zero padding?
2. What is equalizer in OFDM?
3. What is the effect of cyclic prefix and zero padding in OFDM?

What is the purpose of zero padding?

Zero padding enables you to obtain more accurate amplitude estimates of resolvable signal components. On the other hand, zero padding does not improve the spectral (frequency) resolution of the DFT. The resolution is determined by the number of samples and the sample rate.

What is equalizer in OFDM?

The OFDM Equalizer block supports ZF and MMSE algorithms for channel equalization in the frequency domain. The block stores the estimated channel information to equalize the OFDM symbols and generates the equalized output using these algorithms.

What is the effect of cyclic prefix and zero padding in OFDM?

If an OFDM symbol is Zero padded instead of cyclic prefix, ISI due to adjacent symbol still gets eliminated, but it cannot be modeled using circular convolution. Circular convolution converts frequency selective multipath channel into flat fading channel.