N7617C Signal Studio for WLAN 2026 Update 1.0 software encodes the data according to the standard, which is shown in the table of OFDM payload characteristics. The payload data is scrambled, encoded, and interleaved. Interleaving and scrambling can be turned ON or OFF. The forward error correction (FEC) that is added to the signal increases robustness of the symbol in the event the amplitude of any of the subcarriers diminish enough to create bit errors.
The data rate and the modulation format are coupled in the Signal Studio software, so that when a data rate is selected, the software will automatically select the modulation format as defined in the standard.
After channel coding has been added to the data, and symbol mapping has been performed, a 64-point FFT is applied to the data. Refer to the following figure. The data is mapped onto the following 48 data subcarriers:
–26 to –22,
–20 to –8,
–6 to –1,
1 to 6,
8 to 20, and
22 to 26.
The subcarriers are accessible in the Signal Studio software in the Subcarrier Setup Menu. Four pilot subcarriers are inserted to provide timing information for the receiver.
Afterwards, a guard interval is added to the symbol. This guard interval helps to reduce inter-symbol interference (ISI) from signal delay spreads caused by multipath transmission. The guard interval needs to be larger than the delay spread to minimize ISI.
Figure 1. Creation of an OFDM data symbol