Analysis of Second-order Statistics Based Semi-blind Channel Estimation in CDMA Channels

The performance of second order statistics (SOS) based semi-blind channel estimation in long-code DS-CDMA systems is analyzed. The covariance matrix of SOS estimates is obtained in the large system limit, and is used to analyze the large-sample performance of two SOS based semi-blind channel estimation algorithms. A notion of blind estimation efficiency is also defined and is examined via simulation results.Comment: To be presented at the 2005 Conference on Information Sciences and System

Hybrid solutions to instantaneous MIMO blind separation and decoding: narrowband, QAM and square cases

Future wireless communication systems are desired to support high data rates and high quality transmission when considering the growing multimedia applications. Increasing the channel throughput leads to the multiple input and multiple output and blind equalization techniques in recent years. Thereby blind MIMO equalization has attracted a great interest.Both system performance and computational complexities play important roles in real time communications. Reducing the computational load and providing accurate performances are the main challenges in present systems. In this thesis, a hybrid method which can provide an affordable complexity with good performance for Blind Equalization in large constellation MIMO systems is proposed first. Saving computational cost happens both in the signal sep- aration part and in signal detection part. First, based on Quadrature amplitude modulation signal characteristics, an efficient and simple nonlinear function for the Independent Compo- nent Analysis is introduced. Second, using the idea of the sphere decoding, we choose the soft information of channels in a sphere, and overcome the so- called curse of dimensionality of the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm and enhance the final results simultaneously. Mathematically, we demonstrate in the digital communication cases, the EM algorithm shows Newton -like convergence.Despite the widespread use of forward -error coding (FEC), most multiple input multiple output (MIMO) blind channel estimation techniques ignore its presence, and instead make the sim- plifying assumption that the transmitted symbols are uncoded. However, FEC induces code structure in the transmitted sequence that can be exploited to improve blind MIMO channel estimates. In final part of this work, we exploit the iterative channel estimation and decoding performance for blind MIMO equalization. Experiments show the improvements achievable by exploiting the existence of coding structures and that it can access the performance of a BCJR equalizer with perfect channel information in a reasonable SNR range. All results are confirmed experimentally for the example of blind equalization in block fading MIMO systems

Interference suppression and parameter estimation in wireless communication systems over time-varing multipath fading channels

This dissertation focuses on providing solutions to two of the most important problems in wireless communication systems design, namely, 1) the interference suppression, and 2) the channel parameter estimation in wireless communication systems over time-varying multipath fading channels. We first study the interference suppression problem in various communication systems under a unified multirate transmultiplexer model. A state-space approach that achieves the optimal realizable equalization (suppression of inter-symbol interference) is proposed, where the Kalman filter is applied to obtain the minimum mean squared error estimate of the transmitted symbols. The properties of the optimal realizable equalizer are analyzed. Its relations with the conventional equalization methods are studied. We show that, although in general a Kalman filter has an infinite impulse response, the Kalman filter based decision-feedback equalizer (Kalman DFE) is a finite length filter. We also propose a novel successive interference cancellation (SIC) scheme to suppress the inter-channel interference encountered in multi-input multi-output systems. Based on spatial filtering theory, the SIC scheme is again converted to a Kalman filtering problem. Combining the Kalman DFE and the SIC scheme in series, the resultant two-stage receiver achieves optimal realizable interference suppression. Our results are the most general ever obtained, and can be applied to any linear channels that have a state-space realization, including time-invariant, time-varying, finite impulse response, and infinite impulse response channels. The second half of the dissertation devotes to the parameter estimation and tracking of single-input single-output time-varying multipath channels. We propose a novel method that can blindly estimate the channel second order statistics (SOS). We establish the channel SOS identifiability condition and propose novel precoder structures that guarantee the blind estimation of the channel SOS and achieve diversities. The estimated channel SOS can then be fit into a low order autoregressive (AR) model characterizing the time evolution of the channel impulse response. Based on this AR model, a new approach to time-varying multipath channel tracking is proposed

On the use of the channel second-order statistics in MMSE receivers for time- and frequency-selective MIMO transmission systems

Equalization of unknown frequency- and time-selective multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channels is often carried out by means of decision feedback receivers. These consist of a channel estimator and a linear filter (for the estimation of the transmitted symbols), interconnected by a feedback loop through a symbol-wise threshold detector. The linear filter is often a minimum mean square error (MMSE) filter, and its mathematical expression involves second-order statistics (SOS) of the channel, which are usually ignored by simply assuming that the channel is a known (deterministic) parameter given by an estimate thereof. This appears to be suboptimal and in this work we investigate the kind of performance gains that can be expected when the MMSE equalizer is obtained using SOS of the channel process. As a result, we demonstrate that improvements of several dBs in the signal-to-noise ratio needed to achieve a prescribed symbol error rate are possible

Blind Channel Estimation for STBC Systems Using Higher-Order Statistics

International audienceThis paper describes a new blind channel estimation algorithm for Space-Time Block Coded (STBC) systems. The proposed method exploits the statistical independence of sources before space-time encoding. The channel matrix is estimated by minimizing a kurtosis-based cost function after Zero-Forcing equalization. In contrast to subspace or Second-Order Statistics (SOS) approaches, the proposed method is more general since it can be employed for the general class of linear STBCs including Spatial Multiplexing, Orthogonal, quasi-Orthogonal and Non-Orthogonal STBCs. Furthermore, unlike other approaches, the method does not require any modification of the transmitter and, consequently, is well-suited for non-cooperative context. Numerical examples corroborate the performance of the proposed algorithm