Channel estimation based on statistical frames and confidence level in OFDM systems

Abstract

Channel estimation is an important module for improving the performance of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. The pilot-based least square (LS) algorithm can improve the channel estimation accuracy and the symbol error rate (SER) performance of the communication system. In pilot-based channel estimation, a certain number of pilots are inserted at fixed intervals between OFDM symbols to estimate the initial channel information, and channel estimation results can be obtained by one-dimensional linear interpolation. The minimum mean square error (MMSE) and linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) algorithms involve the inverse operation of the channel matrix. If the number of subcarriers increases, the dimension of the matrix becomes large. Therefore, the inverse operation is more complex. To overcome the disadvantages of the conventional channel estimation methods, this paper proposes a novel OFDM channel estimation method based on statistical frames and the confidence level. The noise variance in the estimated channel impulse response (CIR) can be largely reduced under statistical frames and the confidence level; therefore, it reduces the computational complexity and improves the accuracy of channel estimation. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed channel estimation method based on the confidence level in time-varying dynamic wireless channels.