Sensitivity analysis of FBMC-based multi-cellular networks to synchronization errors and HPA nonlinearities

In this paper, we study the performance of asynchronous and nonlinear FBMC-based multi-cellular networks. The considered system includes a reference mobile perfectly synchronized with its reference base station (BS) and K interfering BSs. Both synchronization errors and high-power amplifier (HPA) distortions will be considered and a theoretical analysis of the interference signal will be conducted. On the basis of this analysis, we will derive an accurate expression of signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR) and bit error rate (BER) in the presence of a frequency-selective channel. In order to reduce the computational complexity of the BER expression, we applied an interesting lemma based on the moment generating function of the interference power. Finally, the proposed model is evaluated through computer simulations which show a high sensitivity of the asynchronous FBMC-based multi-cellular network to HPA nonlinear distortions.