A Stochastic Resonance Framework for PAPR Reduction in Multi-Carrier Waveforms: Simulation and Experimental Validation

Abstract

High peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) remains a major challenge in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and its variants. This paper proposes a Collins stochastic resonance (C-SR)-based framework for PAPR reduction in generic multi-carrier systems. The proposed method employs multiple stochastic resonance branches and waveform reconstruction filtering to suppress the occurrence of extreme signal peaks without iterative optimization. Simulation results show PAPR reductions of 3.5–5.1 dB at a complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) level of $10^{-3}$. Experimental investigations using a commercial amplifier demonstrate reduced spectral regrowth and adjacent-channel emissions under nonlinear transmission conditions while maintaining acceptable error vector magnitude (EVM) performance. The results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed C-SR framework in mitigating nonlinear distortion in future high-capacity multi-carrier communication systems.