Performance comparison between single-carrier and OFDM using the cutoff rate

This article aims to establish a performance comparison between the Single Carrier with Cyclic Prefix (SCCP) and the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems in terms of the cutoff rate. We consider both linearly equalized SCCP (LE-SCCP) and the SCCP equalized with a decision feedback equalizer (DFE-SCCP). A theoretical approach to the problem is proposed and simulation results showing the cutoff rate for several coding rates are also presented. Still, the systems BLER are evaluated and its dependency on the coding rate are analyzed and compared to the behavior shown by the cutoff rate analysis.