A Robust Threshold for Iterative Channel Estimation in OFDM Systems

A novel threshold computation method for pilot symbol assisted iterative channel estimation in OFDM systems is considered. As the bits are transmitted in packets, the proposed technique is based on calculating a particular threshold for each data packet in order to select the reliable decoder output symbols to improve the channel estimation performance. Iteratively, additional pilot symbols are established according to the threshold and the channel is re-estimated with the new pilots inserted to the known channel estimation pilot set. The proposed threshold calculation method for selecting additional pilots performs better than non-iterative channel estimation, no threshold and fixed threshold techniques in poor HF channel simulations

Channel estimation, data detection and carrier frequency offset estimation in OFDM systems

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) plays an important role in the implementation of high data rate communication. In this thesis, the problems of data detection and channel and carrier frequency offset estimation in OFDM systems are studied. Multi-symbol non-coherent data detection is studied which performs data detection by processing multiple symbols without the knowledge of the channel impulse response (CIR). For coherent data detection, the CIR needs to be estimated. Our objective in this thesis is to work on blind channel estimators which can extract the CIR using just one block of received OFDM data. A blind channel estimator for (Single Input Multi Output) SIMO OFDM systems is derived. The conditions under which the estimator is identifiable is studied and solutions to resolve the phase ambiguity of the proposed estimator are given.A channel estimator for superimposed OFDM systems is proposed and its CRB is derived. The idea of simultaneous transmission of pilot and data symbols on each subcarrier, the so called superimposed technique, introduces the efficient use of bandwidth in OFDM context. Pilot symbols can be added to data symbols to enable CIR estimation without sacrificing the data rate. Despite the many advantages of OFDM, it suffers from sensitivity to carrier frequency offset (CFO). CFO destroys the orthogonality between the subcarriers. Thus, it is necessary for the receiver to estimate and compensate for the frequency offset. Several high accuracy estimators are derived. These include CFO estimators, as well as a joint iterative channel/CFO estimator/data detector for superimposed OFDM. The objective is to achieve CFO estimation with using just one OFDM block of received data and without the knowledge of CIR

Iterative channel estimation techniques for multiple input multiple output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Izmir, 2007Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 77-78)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxii, 78 leavesOrthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is well-known for its efficient high speed transmission and robustness to frequency-selective fading channels. On the other hand, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems have the ability to increase capacity and reliability of a wireless communication system compared to single-input single-output (SISO) systems. Hence, the integration of the two technologies has the potential to meet the ever growing demands of future communication systems. In these systems, channel estimation is very crucial to demodulate the data coherently. For a good channel estimation, spectral efficiency and lower computational complexity are two important points to be considered. In this thesis, we explore different channel estimation techniques in order to improve estimation performance by increasing the bandwidth efficiency and reducing the computational complexity for both SISO-OFDM and MIMO-OFDM systems. We first investigate pilot and Expectation-Maximization (EM)-based channel estimation techniques and compare their performances. Next, we explore different pilot arrangements by reducing the number of pilot symbols in one OFDM frame to improve bandwidth efficiency. We obtain the bit error rate and the channel estimation performance for these pilot arrangements. Then, in order to decrase the computational complexity, we propose an iterative channel estimation technique, which establishes a link between the decision block and channel estimation block using virtual subcarriers. We compare this proposed technique with EM-based channel estimation in terms of performance and complexity. These channel estimation techniques are also applied to STBC-OFDM and V-BLAST structured MIMO-OFDM systems. Finally, we investigate a joint EM-based channel estimation and signal detection technique for V-BLAST OFDM system

Learning to Estimate: A Real-Time Online Learning Framework for MIMO-OFDM Channel Estimation

In this paper we introduce StructNet-CE, a novel real-time online learning framework for MIMO-OFDM channel estimation, which only utilizes over-the-air (OTA) pilot symbols for online training and converges within one OFDM subframe. The design of StructNet-CE leverages the structure information in the MIMO-OFDM system, including the repetitive structure of modulation constellation and the invariant property of symbol classification to inter-stream interference. The embedded structure information enables StructNet-CE to conduct channel estimation with a binary classification task and accurately learn channel coefficients with as few as two pilot OFDM symbols. Experiments show that the channel estimation performance is significantly improved with the incorporation of structure knowledge. StructNet-CE is compatible and readily applicable to current and future wireless networks, demonstrating the effectiveness and importance of combining machine learning techniques with domain knowledge for wireless communication systems

Pilot-symbol-aided iterative channel estimation for OFDM-based systems

13th European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2005; Antalya; Turkey; 4 September 2005 through 8 September 2005In this paper, we propose a pilot-symbol-aided iterative channel estimation for coded OFDM-based systems. We use the symbol APP provided by the channel decoder to form groups of virtual pilots. According to their reliabilities, we combine these groups to improve the channel estimation. We also compare the proposed algorithm with the EM algorithm. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based systems are strong candidates for an air interface of future fourth-generation mobile wireless systems which provide high data rates and high mobility. In order to achieve the potential advantages of OFDM-based systems, the channel coefficients should be estimated with minimum error. The channel estimation can be improved using more pilot symbols [1]. However, it causes data rate reduction or bandwidth expansion. Therefore, spectrally efficient channel estimation techniques should be considered. In this case, the iterative techniques provide an improvement on the channel estimator performance without requiring additional pilots

Preamble-Based Channel Estimation for CP-OFDM and OFDM/OQAM Systems: A Comparative Study

In this paper, preamble-based least squares (LS) channel estimation in OFDM systems of the QAM and offset QAM (OQAM) types is considered, in both the frequency and the time domains. The construction of optimal (in the mean squared error (MSE) sense) preambles is investigated, for both the cases of full (all tones carrying pilot symbols) and sparse (a subset of pilot tones, surrounded by nulls or data) preambles. The two OFDM systems are compared for the same transmit power, which, for cyclic prefix (CP) based OFDM/QAM, also includes the power spent for CP transmission. OFDM/OQAM, with a sparse preamble consisting of equipowered and equispaced pilots embedded in zeros, turns out to perform at least as well as CP-OFDM. Simulations results are presented that verify the analysis

Iterative Channel Estimation for SISO and MIMO-OFDM Systems in Time-Varying Channels

Abstract-This paper proposes a simple and efficient algorithm using polynomial interpolation for SISO and MIMO-OFDM systems in a fast time-varying channel. The time averages of the multipath complex gains, over the effective duration of each OFDM symbol, are estimated using LS criterion. After that, the time variation of the channel within several OFDM symbols are obtained by interpolating the time average values using polynomial interpolation. Specifically, we propose and evaluate the performance of channel estimation using third-degree polynomial interpolation with an adaptive pilot scheme in order to optimally use pilot tones over time varying channels. The ICI can be cancelled by using partial successive interference cancellation (PSIC) in data symbol detection instead of basic SIC method. Keywords-Channel estimation, OFDM, MIMO, Mobile multipath channel. I. INTRODUCTION OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) has been widely applied in wireless communication systems due to its high data rate transmission and its robustness to multipath channel delay In OFDM systems, channel estimation is usually performed by sending training pilot symbols on subcarriers known at the receiver and the quality of the estimation depends on the pilot arrangement. Since the channel's response is a slow varying process, the pilot symbols essentially sample this process and therefore need to have a density that is high enough to reconstruct the channel's response at the receiver side • The amount of pilot symbols to be transmitted; • The complexity of the estimator. The MMSE estimators have good performance but high complexity. The LS estimator has low complexity, but its performance is not as good as that of the MMSE estimators In the present paper, we present an iterative algorithm for channel estimation with inter-sub-carrierinterference (ICI) cancellation in MIMO OFDM systems using polynomial modeling (P-BEM) and an adaptive pilot pattern. For a Jakes' spectrum Rayleigh gain, it has been shown in The proposed algorithm, with less number of pilot tones and with low computational complexity, gives a good performance over the conventional methods. This proposed algorithm can in fact be considered as an extension of an algorithm for time-variant channels My Abdelkader Youssefi et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET

Data Detection and Channel Estimation of OFDM Systems Using Differential Modulation

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multicarrier modulation technique which is robust against multipath fading and very easy to implement in transmitters and receivers using the inverse fast Fourier transform and the fast Fourier transform. A guard interval using cyclic prefix is inserted in each OFDM symbol to avoid the inter-symbol interference. This guard interval should be at least equal to, or longer than the maximum delay spread of the channel to combat against inter-symbol interference properly. In coherent detection, channel estimation is required for the data detection of OFDM systems to equalize the channel effects. One of the popular techniques is to insert pilot tones (reference signals) in OFDM symbols. In conventional method, pilot tones are inserted into every OFDM symbols. Channel capacity is wasted due to the transmission of a large number of pilot tones. To overcome this transmission loss, incoherent data detection is introduced in OFDM systems, where it is not needed to estimate the channel at first. We use differential modulation based incoherent detection in this thesis for the data detection of OFDM systems. Data can be encoded in the relative phase of consecutive OFDM symbols (inter-frame modulation) or in the relative phase of an OFDM symbol in adjacent subcarriers (in-frame modulation). We use higher order differential modulation for in-frame modulation to compare the improvement of bit error rate. It should be noted that the single differential modulation scheme uses only one pilot tone, whereas the double differential uses two pilot tones and so on. Thus overhead due to the extra pilot tones in conventional methods are minimized and the detection delay is reduced. It has been observed that the single differential scheme works better in low SNRs (Signal to Noise Ratios) with low channel taps and the double differential works better at higher SNRs. Simulation results show that higher order differential modulation schemes don¡¯t have any further advantages. For inter-frame modulation, we use single differential modulation where only one OFDM symbol is used as a reference symbol. Except the reference symbol, no other overhead is required. We also perform channel estimation using differential modulation. Channel estimation using differential modulation is very easy and channel coefficients can be estimated very accurately without increasing any computational complexity. Our simulation results show that the mean square channel estimation error is about ¡¼10¡½^(-2) at an SNR of 30 dB for double differential in-frame modulation scheme, whereas channel estimation error is about ¡¼10¡½^(-4) for single differential inter-frame modulation. Incoherent data detection using classical DPSK (Differential Phase Shift Keying) causes an SNR loss of approximately 3 dB compared to coherent detection. But in our method, differential detection can estimate the channel coefficients very accurately and our estimated channel can be used in simple coherent detection to improve the system performance and minimize the SNR loss that happens in conventional method

Channel Estimation in Multicarrier Communication Systems

The data rate and spectrum efficiency of wireless mobile communications have been significantly improved over the last decade or so. Recently, the advanced systems such as 3GPP LTE and terrestrial digital TV broadcasting have been sophisticatedly developed using OFDM and CDMA technology. In general, most mobile communication systems transmit bits of information in the radio space to the receiver. The radio channels in mobile radio systems are usually multipath fading channels, which cause inter-symbol interference (ISI) in the received signal. To remove ISI from the signal, there is a need of strong equalizer which requires knowledge on the channel impulse response (CIR).This is primarily provided by a separate channel estimator. Usually the channel estimation is based on the known sequence of bits, which is unique for a certain transmitter and which is repeated in every transmission burst. Thus, the channel estimator is able to estimate CIR for each burst separately by exploiting the known transmitted bits and the corresponding received samples. In this thesis we investigate and compare various efficient channel estimation schemes for OFDM systems which can also be extended to MC DS-CDMA systems.The channel estimation can be performed by either inserting pilot tones into all subcarriers of OFDM symbols with a specific period or inserting pilot tones into each OFDM symbol. Two major types of pilot arrangement such as block type and comb type pilot have been focused employing Least Square Error (LSE) and Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) channel estimators. Block type pilot sub-carriers is especially suitable for slow-fading radio channels whereas comb type pilots provide better resistance to fast fading channels. Also comb type pilot arrangement is sensitive to frequency selectivity when comparing to block type arrangement. However, there is another supervised technique called Implicit Training (IT) based channel estimation which exploits the first order statistics in the received data, induced by superimposing periodic training sequences with good correlation properties, along with the information symbols. Hence, the need for additional time slots for training the equalizer is avoided. The performance of the estimators is presented in terms of the mean square estimation error (MSEE) and bit error rate (BER)