Performance Evaluation of Single-Carrier and Orthogonal Frequency Divison Multiplexing-Based Autoencoders in Comparison with Low-Density Parity-Check Encoder

Recently, the growing demands for ultra-high speed applications require more advanced and optimal data transmission techniques. Wireless autoencoders have gained significant attention since they provide global optimization of the transceiver structure. This article explores the application of autoencoders to enhance the performance of wireless communication systems. It provides the performance evaluation of the systems using single-carrier and OFDM-based autoencoders under the conditions of AWGN and fading channels. Then, in terms of the BLER metric, the wireless systems with autoencoders are compared with conventional systems using LDPC coding and quadrature amplitude modulation for various configurations. Simulation results indicate that for high-modulation orders (QAM-64 or QAM-256), communication systems employing autoencoders provide superior performance compared to systems using LDPC channel encoding in regions with a low signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio. Specifically, a gain of 1–2 dB in signal power is obtained for single-carrier autoencoders and 0.3–2 dB is obtained for OFDM-based autoencoders. Therefore, wireless communication systems utilizing autoencoders can be considered as a promising candidate for future wireless communication systems.