We propose a time synchronization method which is applicable to both offset quadrature amplitude modulation based filter-bank multicarrier (FBMC-OQAM) system and quadrature amplitude modulation based filter-bank multicarrier (FBMC-QAM) system. Based on the relation between the transmitted data symbols and FBMC signal, we design the scattered symbols to make a specific time domain region empty. Then, we insert the preamble in that region so as to transmit it perfectly. The performance of the proposed synchronization method is compared with the conventional time synchronization methods for the FBMC systems in terms of root mean square error (RMSE) of symbol timing offset (STO), bit error ratio (BER) and correctly detected data bit ratio per frame. Since the proposed method can reduce the resource usage for the synchronization, the resources for data transmission can be increased, thereby improving the spectral efficiency of the FBMC systems.

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of a filter-bank multicarrier-quadrature amplitude modulation (FBMC-QAM) system with two prototype filters. We analyze the effective channel and derive the signal-to-interference ratio for additive white Gaussian noise channels and multipath fading channels. Based on the analysis, the characteristics of the effective channel according to various prototype filter sets and channel models are investigated. Utilizing the effective channels, we design two types of per-tone channel equalizers and evaluate the bit error rate performances by Monte Carlo simulations. The simulation results show that the FBMC-QAM system with two prototype filters can achieve almost the same bit error rate performance as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with cyclic prefix by adopting the signal-level per-tone channel equalizer. Finally, the computational complexity of per-tone channel equalizers is analyzed.