This paper proposes an efficient wireless uplink strategy named filter bank single carrier frequency division multiple access. The proposed system combines the low peak-to-average power ratio of precoded orthogonal frequency division multiple access with the reduced out-of-band emission of filter bank multicarrier scheme. We present a complete mathematical analysis of the proposed model and derive the conditions to be fulfilled by the transmit filter for perfect data recovery. We further introduce a transmit filter design to enhance the peak-to-average power ratio and out-of-band emission characteristics of the proposed system. This paper also analyzes the sensitivity of the filter bank single carrier frequency division multiple access system to carrier frequency offset (CFO) and suggests a low complexity interference compensation scheme, under the assumption of perfect knowledge of CFO at the receiver. Later on, the assumption on CFO parameter is removed, and a blind interference compensation technique based on firefly algorithm is developed. Finally, a detailed simulation study is performed to substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.KEYWORDS carrier frequency offset, filter bank multicarrier, firefly algorithm, out-of-band emission, peak-toaverage power ratio, precoded OFDMA