Peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction techniques based on nonlinear functions (clipping, companding techniques, etc) are the most straightforward PAPR reduction methods. These techniques reduce the PAPR at the cost of generating distortions. In this paper, we prove basing on Bussgang theorem that in context of PAPR reduction techniques using nonlinear functions, the uncorrelated component resulting in nonlinear process of the input signal amplitude is the component for PAPR reduction. Based on this result, we propose to reduce PAPR of multicarrier systems by exploiting the unused subcarriers embedded in their spectrums to carry the component for PAPR reduction without BER degradation and without Out-Of-Band (OOB) emission. Later in the paper, the classical clipping function is used to reduce the PAPR of the wireless local area networks (WLAN) system based on IEEE 802.11 a/g standard without BER degradation and OOB emission.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR), Nonlinear functions