Reduced-complexity simulation of the effect of non-stationary interference on DMT-based DSL systems

One of the factors affecting the performance of DSL systems is non-stationary interference, comprising of impulse noise and radio-frequency ingress (RFI). The evaluation of the impact of non-stationary interference becomes increasingly important as DSL systems operate at higher rates and the SNR margins are lowered. Because of the complexity of the models of non-stationary interference, simulations are often used for the accurate prediction of the performance of DSL systems. This study begins with a discussion on some issues that pertain to the simulation of the impact of non-stationary disturbances on DSL systems. Then, a reduced-complexity simulation method of the effect of non-stationary interference on DMT-based DSL systems is presented. It is argued that the method is a good candidate for the simulation of the impact of low-energy non-stationary disturbances. In addition to reducing the computations, it is shown that the method does not cause a significant loss of accuracy of the predicted error rate.