The Tight Bound for the Number of Pilots in Channel Estimation for OFDM Systems

Maryam Imani, Hamidreza Bakhshi

Electrical Engineering Department, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/cn.2012.42019                

Abstract

Coherent detection in OFDM systems requires accurate channel state information (CSI) at the receiver. Channel estimation based on pilot-symbol-assisted transmissions provides a reliable way to obtain CSI. Use of pilot symbols for channel estimation, introduces overhead and it is desirable to keep the number of pilot symbols as minimum as possible. This paper introduces a new tight bound for the number of pilots in channel estimation using adaptive scheme in OFDM systems. We calculate the minimum number of necessary pilots using two approaches. The first approach for the number of pilots is obtained based on Doppler frequency shift estimation and the second approach is acquired based on channel length estimation using second order statistics of received signal. Finally we obtain the tight bound for the number of pilots using attained values.

Keywords

Doppler Frequency Shift; Second Order Statistics; Channel Estimation; Pilot; OFDM

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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