FFT-based estimation of thermal noise and rise over thermal in a wireless communication system

An apparatus for communication, comprising:

• at least one processor configured to:
• obtain power values for multiple frequency bins in a sideband outside of a signal band;
• measure a sideband thermal noise for the sideband based at least in part on the power values;
• and to estimate thermal noise for the signal band using the sideband thermal noise, wherein the sideband comprises guard subcarriers and the signal band comprises subcarriers among a plurality of subcarriers.

An apparatus for communication, comprising:

• means for obtaining power values for multiple frequency bins in a sideband outside of a signal band;
• and
• means for measuring a sideband thermal noise for the sideband based at least in part on the power values and estimating thermal noise for the signal band using the sideband thermal noise,
• wherein the sideband comprises guard subcarriers and the signal band comprises subcarriers among a plurality of subcarriers.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:
• code for causing the at least one computer to obtain power values for multiple frequency bins in a sideband outside of a signal band;
• code for causing the at least one computer to determine a sideband thermal noise in the sideband based at least in part on the power values;
• and code for causing the at least one computer to estimate thermal noise for the signal band using the sideband thermal noise, wherein the sideband comprises guard subcarriers and the signal band comprises subcarriers among a plurality of subcarriers.

A method of estimating thermal noise in a communication system, comprising:

• receiving one or more signals over a signal band;
• obtaining multiple blocks of power values, each block comprising power values for multiple frequency bins in a sideband outside of the signal band;
• averaging power values for each of the multiple frequency bins across the multiple blocks to obtain an average power value for the frequency bin, determining a smallest average power value among multiple average power values for the multiple frequency bins;
• and estimating a sideband thermal noise for the sideband based on the smallest average power value and estimating a rise-over-thermal for the signal band using the sideband thermal noise for a corresponding thermal noise measurement of the signal band, wherein the sideband comprises guard subcarriers and the signal band comprises subcarriers among a plurality of subcarriers.

A method of estimating thermal noise in a communication system, comprising:

• receiving one or more signals over a signal band;
• obtaining samples comprising a desired signal centered at a frequency higher than direct current (DC) of the signal band;
• partitioning the samples into blocks of K samples, where K is greater than one;
• transforming each block of K samples to obtain a corresponding block of K transform coefficients for K frequency bins;
• demultiplexing each block of K transform coefficients to obtain transform coefficients for multiple frequency bins in a left sideband part and a right sideband part outside of the signal band;
• computing power of the transform coefficients for the multiple frequency bins to obtain power values for the multiple frequency bins;
• estimating a sideband thermal noise of the sideband based on the power values for the multiple frequency bins;
• and estimating a rise-over-thermal for the signal band using the sideband thermal noise as a corresponding thermal noise measurement of the signal band, wherein the sideband comprises guard subcarriers and the signal band comprises subcarriers among a plurality of subcarriers.