A Dissertation Report on

Pilot based channel estimation for single input single output

(SISO) system
Submitted by
Name of Student
(ID No: 12PGEC036)

Under Supervision of
Prof. Brijesh Shah
Associate Professor

EC802 Project-I

Master of Technology (Electronics & Communication)

In the field of
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ENGINEERING

V.T.Patel Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering

Faculty of Technology & Engineering
Charotar University of Science and Technology, Changa
DEC 2013

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the progress report for the dissertation entitled Pilot based channel
estimation for single input single output (SISO) system submitted by Patel
Snehalkumar kanubhai. (12PGEC036), in EC802 ProjectI in the Fourth Semester of
MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION) in the
field of COMMUNICAION SYSTEM ENGINEERING of Charotar University of
Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) is a record of the bona-fide work carried out by
him/her under my guidance and supervision. The work submitted, in my opinion, has
reached to a level required for being accepted for the examination.

Guide:
Prof. Brijesh Shah
Associate Professor,
V.T Patel Dept of E&C Engineering,
Faculty of Technology & Engineering,
Charotar University of Science &
Technology, Changa

Head:
Prof. N.D. Shah
Associate Professor,
V.T Patel Dept of E&C Engineering,
Faculty of Technology & Engineering,
Charotar University of Science &
Technology, Changa

Certificate of Examiner

The Dissertation entitled

Pilot based channel estimation for single input single output (SISO) system
Submitted By
SNEHAL K PATEL
(12PGEC036)

As a partial fulfillment of the requirement

for the degree of

Master of Technology
(Electronics and Communication)
of CHARUSAT in the field of

Communication Systems Engineering

is hereby approved for the degree.

Internal Examiner

Date :
Place :

External Examiner

ACKNOLEDGEMENT

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Project work, lays the foundation of students career today. The satisfaction that
comes with successful completion of task would be but incomplete without the
mention of the people who made it possible. It gives us immense pleasure to
acknowledge all those who have extended their valuable guidance and
magnanimous help.

It is a matter of great pleasure and privilege to have this dissertation work entitled:
Pilot based channel estimation for single input single output (siso) system

With a deep sense of gratitude, I wish to express sincere thanks to my honorable

guide Prof. Brijesh Shah(Associate Professor, Electronics & Communication
Department, CSPIT, Changa, CHARUSAT) who has the attitude and substance
of a genius and has been a great source of inspiration throughout the project. I am
fortunate to be given the opportunity of working under him. In spite of a tight
schedule, he always found time for my difficulties and patiently answered to all my
queries. He not only provided the necessary guidance and support, but also
continuously motivated me to give my best in this advanced project.

I would be my proud privilege to tender the lexes of appreciation in respect of

Head of Department, Electronics and Communication, Prof. N. D. Shah, for his
encouragement, guidance and kind support. I would be grateful in thanking
Department of Electronics and Communication of Chandubhai S Patel Institute of
Technology, Changa for providing me with all the mandatory requirements as and
when needed.

SNEHAL PATEL

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Wireless Communication Technology has developed many folds over the past
few years. One of the techniques to enhance the data rates is called Multiple Input
Multiple Output (MIMO) in which multiple antennas are employed both at the
transmitter and the receiver, without increasing the total transmission power or
bandwidth. Multiple signals are transmitted from different antennas at the transmitter
using the same frequency and separated in space. When perfect knowledge of the
wireless channel conditions is available at the receiver, the capacity has been shown
to grow linearly with the number of antennas. However, the channel conditions must
be estimated since perfect channel knowledge is never known a priori. Various
channel estimation techniques are employed in order to judge the physical effects of
the medium present. In this project, we analyze and implement estimation techniques
for MIMO Systems such as Least Squares (LS). This technique is therefore compared
to effectively estimate the channel in MIMO Systems.

ii

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig 1.1

Single Input Single output (SISO) 1x1.

Fig 1.2

Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) 1x2

Fig 1.3

Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) 2x1

Fig 1.4

Multiple Input Multiple Outputs (MIMO) 2x2

Fig 1.5

Multipath Effects in an Urban Scenario

Fig 1.6

(a)transmitted signal (b)Multiple copies of transmitted signals

Fig 1.7

Example of the response of a time-invariant multipath channel to a very

narrow pulse
Fig 1.8

A receiver moving at velocity, thus causing a Doppler shift

Fig 3.1

a general channel estimation procedure

15

Fig 3.2

Block diagram for a system utilizing channel estimator and detection.

17

Fig 3.3

GSM burst structure; channel estimator utilizes the known training bits

17

Fig 3.4

Block diagram of a noise-corrupted system with LS Estimation

22

Fig 3.5

Block diagram of co-channel signal system

23

Fig 3.6

Simulation layout for 2 co-channel signals and joint channel estimation

26

Fig 3.7

Simulation layout for single signal with interference and LS channel Estimation

26

Fig 4.1

SISO channel estimation with 8 pilots/frame

27

Fig 4.2

SISO channel estimation with 40 Pilot Symbols

28

iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
WLAN

Wireless Local Area Network

WMAN

Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

A/V

Audio/Visual

WiMax

Worldwide Inter-Operability of Microwave Access

SISO

Single Input Single Output

SIMO

Single Input Multiple Output

MISO

Multiple Input Single Output

MIMO

Multi Input Multi Output

CSI

Channel State Information

BER

Bit Error Rate

STC

Space-Time coding

SFC

Space-Frequency Coding

STFC

Space-Time-Frequency Coding

V-BLAST

Vertical Bell Labs Layered Space Time

ML

Maximum Likelihood

ZF

Zero-Forcing

MMSE

Minimum-Mean-Square Error

SNR

Signal-to-Noise Ratios

FIR

Finite Impulse Response

PSAM

Pilot Symbol Assisted Modulation

DPC

Dirty-Paper Coding

RCE

Robust Channel Estimation

ARCE

Approximate Robust Channel Estimation

ISI

Inter Symbol Interference

LS

Least-Squares

LMMSE

Linear Minimum Mean Squared Error

QAM

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

MAP

Maximum A-Posteriori

LLR

Log Likelihood Ratio

STBC

Space Time Block Codes

MRC

Maximal Ratio Combining

EGC

Equal Gain Combining

i.i.d

independently identically distributed

iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
BWA

Broadband Wireless Access

3G

Third Generation

STTC

Space-Time Trellis Code

MSE

Mean Square Error

PSAM

Pilot-Symbol-Aided-Modulation

PSA

Pilot-Symbol-Aided

AWGN

Additive White Gaussian Noise

BLUE

Best Linear Unbiased Estimate

ACF

Auto-Correlation Function

BPSK

Binary Phase-Shift Keying

LIST OF SYMBOLS

LIST OF SYMBOLS
TX

Transmitter

RX

Receiver

Nt

Transmitting Antenna

Nr

Receiving Antenna

fd

Doppler shift

Vehicle Speed

fc

Carrier Frequency

| P(f)|

Power Spectral Density of the faded amplitude

fdmax

Maximum Fade Rate

ma

Mean

s2

Variance

J ()
0

zero-order Bessel function

Matrix of channel

Noise

Rhh

Auto-Covariance Matrix of h

n2

noise variance

Tc

Channel Coherence Time

max

maximum delay spread

f max

Doppler Frequency

Df

Pilot Spacing in Frequency

Dt

Pilot Spacing in time domain

OFDM symbol duration without the guard interval

Tsym

OFDM symbol duration with the guard interval

Signal Bandwidth

vi

Contents

CONTENTS
Acknowledgement..

Abstract...

ii

List of figures..

iii

List of Abbreviations ..

iv

List of Symbols..

vi

Contents..

viii

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.2 Different wireless systems: siso, simo, miso and mimo

1.2.1

Single Input Single Output (SISO)

1.2.2

Single Input Multiple Outputs (SIMO)

1.2.3

Multiple Input Single Output (MISO)

1.2.4

Multiple Input and Multiple Outputs (MIMO)

1.3 Wireless Channel Properties

1.3.1

Multipath Effect and Time Varying Nature of the Channel

1.3.2

Doppler Shift

1.3.3

Statistical Models for Fading Channels

1.3.4

Rayleigh Fading

1.4 Organization

10

1.5 Advantages and applications

11

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

12

3. CHANNEL ESTIMATION

15

3.1 Introduction
3.1.1

Need for Channel Estimation

3.2 Block diagram for channel estimation

15
16
16

3.2.1

Transmitter

17

3.2.2

Receiver

19

3.3 Types of Channel Estimations

20

3.3.1

Training Sequences

20
viii

Contents

3.3.2

Blind method

20

3.3.3

Semi Blind

21

3.4 Channel estimation techniques

21

3.4.1

Least Square channel estimation technique

21

3.4.1.1

Channel estimator for single signal

21

3.4.1.2

Joint channel estimator for 2 signals

23

3.4.1.3

Simulation of joint channel estimation

25

4. SIMULATION RESULTS

27

4.1 Performance of SISO Systems Using Least Square Channel Estimation Method

27

4.2 Simulation result

27

CONCLUSION

29

FUTURE SCOPE

30

REFERENCES

31

ix

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND:
Normally the standard and conventional Wi-Fi system uses one antenna to
receive and one to transmit data. MIMO overcomes the bottlenecks in the
conventionally used Single Input, Single Output (SISO) system in the last decade
and has evolved as a prime and promising area of research in the field of wireless
communication. The possibilities to increase the channel capacity in the SISO
wireless system is quite limited, provided the bandwidth is increased allowing the
corresponding increase in the bits per second or to increase the transmit power,
allowing a higher level modulation scheme to be utilized for a given bit error rate,
effectively increasing the bits per second within the same bandwidth. The problem
with both of these techniques is that any increase in power or bandwidth can
negatively impact other communications systems operating in adjacent spectral
channels or within a given geographic area. As such, bandwidth and power for a
given communications system are generally well regulated, limiting the ability of
the system to support any increase in the capacity or performance.
MIMO uses two or more antennas at each end of a connection to send and
receive data, enabling transmitter and receiver to accept signals more efficiently
than with a single antenna and thus overcomes the problems and restrictions
compared to the conventional system. The multiple antennas at the transmitter and
receiver can achieve a data rate, which is very much higher than that of the SISO
system. In order to support the larger data rate coupled with high quality and to
fight against effects of multipath fading and additive noise in the channel multiple
copies of signal over various paths to multiple receivers is used.
The success of MIMO lies in its ability to utilize the multipath reception,
which was considered to be an unavoidable byproduct of radio communications,
and convert it into a distinct advantage that actually multiplies transmission speed
and improves throughput. The multiple antennas improve the performance of the
system through various diversity techniques like time, frequency, space and

INTRODUCTION

polarization. It basically uses the principle of spatial diversity to distinguish

among different signals on the same frequency.
The Datas are transmitted over N transmit antennas through a specifically
designed MIMO channel to M receive antennas. Moreover, the transmission can
be encoded so that information on each can be used to help reconstruct the
information on the others. Just like error detection / correction codes, space-time
block coding here allows us to increase reliability in addition to throughput.
Space-time diversity has the advantage of using the same bandwidth as that of
SISO system with high data rate transfer and quality. To be precise, MIMO
utilizes a multiple antenna system to take advantage of the multi-path affect in RF
technology, rather than fight against it as conventional 802.11 Access Points do,
as a result the improvement in both range and capacity provides substantially
more reliable signal quality and greater bandwidth.
The multipath radio reception is one of the driving force behind the usage and
outcome of MIMO based system. The signal being send to the receiver contains
not only a direct line-of-sight radio signal, but also a large number of reflected
radio waves. For example if a radio is listed in a running car, the received signals
are not only from the direct station transmitter but also it receives many other
signals from other directions. Obstacles block the line-of sight and the mobile
antenna with a delay receives different waves.
This delay results in out of phase with the original and it the signal is boosted
or cancelled due to this effect. More over the reflected waves interfere with the
direct wave and results in the degradation in the performance of the link. Also this
phase difference introduces noise and distortion and fading of the signals, which
results in the increase in the error rate.

1.2 DIFFERENT WIRELESS SYSTEMS: SISO, SIMO, MISO AND MIMO

1.2.1. Single Input Single Output (SISO)
Its wireless system model which uses one antenna at transmitter and one
antenna at receiver. Its overall performance largely dependent on channel behavior
and environment. It is used in radio and TV broadcast and our personal wireless
technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

INTRODUCTION

Fig1.1: Single Input Single output (SISO) 1x1.

1.2.2 Single Input Multiple Outputs (SIMO)

It uses one antenna at transmitter and multiple antennas at receiver. It is
logical to use SIMO for uplink scenarios. The receiver can either choose the best
antenna to receive the stronger signal (selection diversity) or combine signals from all
antennas in order to increase SNR (Maximal Ratio Receiver Combining or MRRC).

Fig1.2: Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) 1x2.

1.2.3. Multiple Input Single Output (MISO)

We use several antenna at transmitter side whereas single antenna at receiver
side. It is more usually to use MISO for downlink scenarios.

Fig 1.3: Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) 2x1.

3

INTRODUCTION

1.2.4. Multiple Input and Multiple Outputs (MIMO)

Multiple antenna both transmitter and receiver side are used in this system. It
is very hot topic today in wireless technology such us PAN, LAN, MAN and WAN to
increase data rate multiple times to satisfy the bandwidth demand of broadband users.

Fig1.4: Multiple Input Multiple Outputs (MIMO) 2x2.

1.3 Wireless Channel Properties

Signal multipath occurs when the transmitted signal arrives at the receiver via
multiple propagation paths. Each of these paths may have a separate phase,
attenuation, delay and Doppler frequency associated with it [16]. This propagation
paths places fundamental limitations on the performance of the wireless
communication system because the transmitted signal travels through different paths
and interact with objects in the environment. These interactions include reflection,
refraction, diffraction, and scattering which cause attenuation and variations in the
received signal power and phase shift of the transmitted signal. Due to this random
phase shift associated with each received signal, they might add up destructively,
resulting in a phenomenon called fading. The Doppler shift, which is the relative
movement between the transmitter and the receiver, also impact the fading
characteristics of the signal. The effects of the wireless environment can be
categorized as path loss or attenuation, large-scale (long-term fading), and small-scale
(short-term) fading.

INTRODUCTION

Fig1.5: Multipath Effects in an Urban Scenario

1.3.1 Multipath Effect and Time Varying Nature of the Channel
In this section we consider channels for time-variant multipath channels. Their
characterization serves as a model for signal transmission over many radio channels.
The time-variant impulse responses of these channels are a consequence of the
constantly changing physical characteristics of the media.
The multipath effect is a phenomenon that causes multiple versions of the
transmitted signal to arrive at the receiver at different time delays. Reflecting objects
and scatters in the transmission environment generate multiple versions of the
transmitted signal as shown in Figure (1.5). Each of the paths will have different
characteristics, such as amplitude, phase, arrive time, and angle of arrival. The
multiple signals may constructively or destructively add up at the receiver, thus
creating the rapid fluctuations in the received signal envelope. When the signals add
up constructively it will increase the signal power at the receiver, but destructive
summation will cause fades in the received signal, which corresponds to the sudden
drops in received power. Multipath does not only cause fluctuations in the received
power, but it also affects the shape of the pulse as it is transmitted through the
channel. The arrival of the multiple versions will broaden the transmitted signal. As

INTRODUCTION

illustrated in Figure (1.6), the transmitted signal arriving at different times will
overlap with each other and lead to broadening of the envelope of the pulse.

Fig 1.6: (a) transmitted signal (b) Multiple copies of transmitted signals.
The signal power and arrival times of the multipath signals are used to
characterize the channel. If for example, we transmit an extremely short pulse, ideally
an impulse, over a time-varying multipath channel the received signal may appear as a
train of pulses, as shown in Figure (1.7). Hence, one characteristics of a multipath
medium is the time spread introduced in the signal that is transmitted through the
channel.

Fig 1.7: Example of the response of a time-invariant multipath channel to a very

narrow pulse.
6

INTRODUCTION

A second characteristic is due to the time variations in the structure of the

medium. As a result of such time variations, the nature of the multipath varies with
time. That is, if we repeat the pulse-surrounding experiment over and over, we shall
observe changes in the received pulse train, which will include changes in the sizes of
the individual pulses, changes in the relative delays among the pulses, and, quite
often, changes in the number of pulse as shown in Figure. Moreover, the time
variations appear to be unpredictable to the user of the channel. Therefore it is
reasonable to characterize the time-variant multipath channel statistically.
1.3.2 Doppler Shift
Due to the relative motion between the transmitter and the receiver, each
multipath wave is subjected to a shift in frequency. The frequency shift of the
received signal caused by the relative motion is called the Doppler shift. It is
proportional to the speed of the mobile unit. Consider a situation when only a single
tone of frequency fc is transmitted and received signal consists of only one wave
coming at an incident angle with respect to the direction of the vehicle motion as in
Figure (1.8). The Doppler shift of the received signal, denoted by fd, is given by

Where, v is the vehicle speed and c is the speed of the light and fc is the carrier
frequency.
The Doppler shift in a multipath propagation environment spreads the
bandwidth of the multipath waves within the range of fc fdmax where fdmax is the
maximum Doppler shift, given by

The maximum Doppler shift is also referred as the maximum fade rate. As a
result, a single tone transmitted gives rise to a received signal with a spectrum of
nonzero width.
7

INTRODUCTION

This phenomenon is called frequency dispersion of the channel.

Fig1.8: A receiver moving at velocity, thus causing a Doppler shift

1.3.3 Statistical Models for Fading Channels
Because of the multiplicity of factors involved in propagation in mobile
transceiver environment, it is convenient to apply statistical techniques to describe
signal variations. In a narrow band system, the transmitted signal usually occupy a
bandwidth smaller than the channels coherence bandwidth, which is defined as the
frequency range over which the channel fading process is correlated. That is, all
spectral components of the transmitted signal are subject to the same fading
attenuation. This type of fading is referred to as frequency nonselective or frequency
flat. On the other hand, if the transmitted signal bandwidth is greater than the channel
coherence bandwidth, the spectral components of the transmitted signal with a
frequency separation larger than the coherence bandwidth are faded independently.
The received signal spectrum becomes distorted, since the relationships between
various spectral components are not the same asin the transmitted signal. This
phenomenon is known as frequency selective fading. In wideband systems, the
transmitted signals usually undergo frequency selective fading. In the next section we
will see some points about Rayleigh Fading channel, because among the different
models that are used in wireless fading channels, Rayleigh fading is going to be used
by our system.
1.3.4 Rayleigh Fading
Consider the transmission of a single tone with constant amplitude. In a
typical land mobile radio channel for example, we may assume that the direct wave is
obstructed and the mobile unit receives only reflected waves. When the number of
8

INTRODUCTION

reflected waves is large, according to the central limit theorem, two quadrature
components of the received signal are uncorrelated Gaussian random process with
zero mean and variance. As a result, the envelope of the received signal at any time
instant undergoes a Rayleigh probability distribution. The probability density function
of the Rayleigh distribution is given by

If the probability density function in Equation (2.3) is normalized so that the

average signal power (E[a2]) is unity, then the normalized Rayleigh distribution
becomes

The mean and the variance are

In fading channels with a maximum Doppler shift of fdmin, the received signal
experiences a form of frequency spreading and is band-limited between fc fdmin.
Assuming an omni directional antenna with waves arriving in the horizontal plane, a
large number of reflected waves and a uniform received power over incident angles,
the power spectral density of the faded amplitude, denoted by | P(f)|, is given by

INTRODUCTION

Where f is the frequency and fdmax is the maximum fade rate. The value of
fdmax Ts is the maximum fade rate normalized by symbol rate. It serves as a measure
of channel memory. For correlated fading channels this parameter is in the range 0
<fdmax<Ts<1,
Indicating a finite channel memory and lastly the autocorrelation function of
the fading process is given by

1.4 ORGANIZATION
We have so far discussed the constraint of current SISO technology and
explained the potential of a MIMO system in meeting the demands of high-data-rate
applications. A brief overview of MIMO systems has been provided to motivate the
work of the thesis. In the following we provide an outline of subsequent chapters.
In Chapter 2, required background information and literature survey is
presented.
In Chapter 3, describes about the channel estimation basics, types of channel
estimation and algorithm to estimate the channel.
In Chapter 4, computer simulation results demonstrate the performance of the
estimator.
In Chapter 5, conclusions to the thesis by providing a brief review of the
previous chapters and summarizing the contributions of the thesis. Possible future
work arising from the thesis is also discussed.

10

INTRODUCTION

1.5ADVANTAGES AND APPLICATIONS

The main advantages of using multiple antennas when transmitting over
wireless link are:
Array gain: Using multiple antennas can considerably increase the range and the
coverage; as a result more areas can be covered with minimum base stations. Also it
reduces the transmitting power.
Spatial diversity: The high data throughout can be achieved as the spatial diversity
increases the robustness of the wireless link.
Interference suppression: Spatial dimensions of the multiple antennas help to
suppress the interfering signals, and this improves the capacity of the system.
The MIMO bases system are used widely in various application in modern wireless
system such as,

Wireless LANs

Wireless local loop

Broadband systems

High-speed fixed and mobile wireless

Voice/data wireless networks

Acoustic communications

HDTV

11

LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

Dr. Dinesh B. Bhoyar, Dr. C. G. Dethe and Dr. M. M. Mushrif [1] estimated
the channel by LMS and LLMS algorithm for various modulation scheme like QPSKPSK-BPSK and conclude that as we take smaller step size better the steady state error
and improved SNR.
Hailang he and Ying Zeng [2] estimated the channel using comb type pilot
arrangement but they used new optimal pilot design method instead large pseudoinverse matrix which decrease the complexity by great extent and concluded that the
new method has better BER performance.
R S Ganesh, Dr. J. Jayakumari [3] estimated the channel using LS and MMSE
algorithm for block type and comb type pilot carrier and concluded that the MMSE
has lower BER and lower MSE than LS algorithm and comb type pilot carrier has
lower BER and lower MSE than block type pilot carrier.
RisanuriHidayat and Budi Satiyanto [4] estimated the channel using least
square method and concluded that the higher the SNR, higher the accuracy of channel
estimation.
K. Vidhya and R. Shankarkumarused [5] two types of channel estimation
techniques and concluded that the LS algorithm has very low computational
complexity and can be used as initiator but to improve the accuracy of channel
MMSE has to be used in which feedback of output is used and has the BER closest to
ideal one.
Moinulhossain and S. M. Farhad [6] used the three methods to estimate the
channel RLS,LMS and VSS-LMS(variable step size LMS) and concluded that the
RLS algorithm has MSE performance, tracking ability and anti noise though it
required complex computational than others.
KhalidaNooriandsami Ahmed Haider [7] used recursive least square method
to estimate the channel and compared two sets of antenna arrays one was 2*2 and
another was 3*3 for three different modulation schemes BPSK,QPSK,8PSK and
12

LITERATURE REVIEW

concluded that the later one has significant low BER for given SNR. And also as we
increase the modulation scheme the BER increases.
Quasi mehbubarrahman and Mostofahafnawi [8] compared the channel
estimation technique for time and freq. domain for that they used 2*1 antenna
configuration and used rayleign fading channel as environment and concluded that the
time domain technique has low computational complexity and better SER.
Ye Li, Jack H Winter and Nelson R Sollenburger [9] used two sets of transmit
antennas, one is 4*4 and another is 4*8 and they concluded that the later one has
better WER.
M.A.Mohammadi, M.Ardabilipour ,B.Moussakhani and Z.Mobini [10]
propose a method in which optimum training sequences are derived based on
calculated MSE for LS channel estimation. Then utilizing these training sequences,
adaptive methods based on LMS and RLS are applied to estimate the channel for a
system which emits independent data streams from transmitter antennas. Proposed
method is capable of computing all sub-channel coefficients between a receiver
antenna and all transmitters.
Hala M. Mahmoud, Allam S. Mousa and Rashid Saleem propose [11] Kalman
and Least Square (LS) estimators to estimate the Channel Frequency Response (CFR)
at the pilots location, then CFR at data sub channels are obtained by mean of
interpolation between estimates at pilot locations. Different types of interpolations
have been used such as: low pass interpolation, spine cubic interpolation and linear
interpolation. Kalman estimation has better performance than LS estimation.
Meng-Han Hsieh and Che-Ho [12] We propose the channel estimation
methods for OFDM systems based on comb-type pilot sub-carrier arrangement. The
channel estimation algorithm based on comb-type pilots is divided into pilot signal
estimation and channel interpolation. The pilot signal estimation is based on LS or
MMSE criteria, together with channel interpolation which is based on piecewiselinear interpolation or piecewise second-order polynomial interpolation. The
computational complexity of pilot signal estimation based on MMSE criterion can be
reduced by using a simplified LMMSE estimator with low-rank approximation using
singular value decomposition.
Kala Praveen Bagadi and Prof. Susmita Das [13] compare channel estimation
based on both block-type pilot and comb-type arrangements in both SISO and MIMO
13

LITERATURE REVIEW

OFDM based systems. Channel estimation based on comb-type pilot arrangement is

achieved by giving the channel estimation methods at the pilot frequencies and the
interpolation of the channel at data frequencies. The estimators can be used to
efficiently estimate the channel in both OFDM systems given certain knowledge
about the channel statistics. The MMSE estimator assumes a priori knowledge of
noise variance and channel covariance. The advantage of diversity in MIMO system
results in less BER than SISO system. And simulation results show that MMSE
estimation for MIMO OFDM provides less MSE than other systems.

14

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

CHAPTER 3
CHANNEL ESTIMATION

3.1 INTRODUCTION:
A channel can describe everything from the source to the sink of a radio
signal. This includes the physical medium (free space, fiber, waveguides etc.)
between the transmitter and the receiver through which the signal propagates. An
essential feature of any physical medium is, that the transmitted signal is received at
the receiver, corrupted in a variety of ways by frequency and phase-distortion, inter
symbol interference and thermal noise.
A channel model on the other hand can be thought of as a mathematical
representation of the transfer characteristics of this physical medium.
Channel estimation is simply defined as the process of characterizing the
effect of the physical channel on the input sequence. If the channel is assumed to be
linear, the channel estimate is simply the estimate of the impulse response of the
system. It must be stressed once more that channel estimation is only a mathematical
representation of what is truly happening. A good channel estimate is one where
some sort of error minimization criteria is satisfied.

Fig 3.1 a general channel estimation procedure

15

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

In the figure above e (n) is the estimation error. The aim of most channel
estimation algorithms is to minimize the mean squared error (MMSE), E [e2 (n)] when
utilizing as little computational resources as possible in the estimation process.

3.1.1 Need for Channel Estimation

Channel estimation algorithms allow the receiver to approximate the impulse
response of the channel and explain the behavior of the channel. This knowledge of
the channel's behavior is well-utilized in modern radio communications. Adaptive
channel equalizers utilize channel estimates to overcome the effects of inter symbol
interference. Diversity techniques (for e.g. the IS-95 Rake receiver) utilize the channel
estimate to implement a matched filter such that the receiver is optimally matched to
the received signal instead of the transmitted one. Maximum likelihood detectors
utilize channel estimates to minimize the error probability. One of the most important
benefits of channel estimation is that it allows the implementation of coherent
demodulation. Coherent demodulation requires the knowledge of the phase of the
signal. This can be accomplished by using channel estimation techniques. In this
thesis work, we have used channel estimation to extract the information symbols out
of the received signal as most detection schemes require channel information which is
not known a-priori. We know that wireless channels suffer from attenuation due to
multipath in the channel. Due to the multipath channel there is some inter symbol
interference (ISI) in the received signal. Therefore a signal detector needs to know
channel impulse response (CIR) characteristics to ensure successful equalization
(removal of ISI) and extraction of information so as to minimize the error between the
actual transmitted symbols and the symbols extracted from the received signal using
estimated channel information.

3.2 Block diagram for channel estimation:

Fig.3.1 shows a generic simulation layout for a MIMO System, which exploits
channel estimation the digital source is usually protected by channel coding and
interleaved against fading phenomenon, after which the binary signal is modulated
and transmitted over multipath fading channel. Additive noise is added and the sum
signal is received. Due to the multipath channel there is some intersymbol
16

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

interference (ISI) in the received signal. After detection the signal is deinterleaved and
channel decoded to extract the original message.
We are mainly interested in the channel estimation part. Usually CIR is
estimated based on the known training sequence, which is transmitted in every
transmission burst as the receiver can utilize the known training bits and the
corresponding received samples for estimating CIR typically for each burst
separately. There are a few different approaches of channel estimation, like Leastsquares (LS) or Linear Minimum Mean Squared Error (LMMSE) methods [3,4].

Fig. 3.2 Block diagram for a system utilizing channel estimator and detection.

Fig 3.3 GSM burst structure; channel estimator utilizes the known training bits
3.2.1 Transmitter
We focus on the transmitter of a general multiple antenna system in this
section, as shown in Figure 3.2. Data is first encoded and interleaved. Then a block of
Nt symbols is converted from serial to parallel, modulated and then each symbol is
fed to one of the Nt antennas. Thus, the Nt symbols are transmitted.

17

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

Here we use a convolution code for simplicity. The interleaver is introduced

after the encoder, in order to ensure independent fading of the coded bits or symbols.
For modulation, we use BPSK, 16-QAM or QPSK, according to the number of the
antennas. More detailed information about the transmitter modules are shown in the
following parts.
Encoder
A channel encoder is used to introduce some redundancy in the binary
information sequence, which makes the receiver be able to overcome the effects of
noise and interference encountered in the transmission.
Interleaver
If the errors caused by the channel are statistically independent, then the codes
that have been devised for increasing the reliability in the transmission of information
are effective. However, in a fading channel, if the channel is in a deep fading, a large
number of errors occur in sequence. In other words, there exist burst error
characteristics. Interleaving is mainly used to protect the transmission against burst
errors. The encoded data is reordered by the interleaver and transmitted over the
channel. As a result, error bursts are spread out in time so that errors within a
codeword appear to be independent. That way, a burst error affects only a correctable
number of bits in each codeword, so the decoder can decode the code words correctly.
A block interleaver formats the coded data in a rectangular array of m rows and n
columns. Then, this block is read by column as output.
Modulator
A modulator is a device that performs modulation, and serves as the interface
to the communication channel. The primary purpose of the digital modulator is to map
the binary information sequence into signal waveforms. Modulation is the process of
varying a waveform in order to use that signal to convey a message. I have use
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) as the modulation method. In our general
multiple antenna system, when it is a 2 * 2 MIMO system. The reason for doing this
is to reduce the computational complexity of the demodulation.

18

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

3.2.2 Receiver
Figure 3.2 shows the receiver of a general multiple antenna system. First the
received vector is sent to a demodulator. Then a block of Nt demodulated symbols is
converted from parallel to serial, deinterleavered and decoded. Thus the data
transmitted by Nt transmitting antennas are recovered at the receiver. We have two
different kinds of estimations in our general system, Zero- Forcing (ZF) demodulator
and Maximum-Likelihood (ML) demodulator. More detailed information about the
receiver modules are shown in the following parts.
Demodulator
A demodulator is used to recover the information content from the received
signal. The ML demodulator uses soft Maximum A-Posteriori (MAP) to perform
demodulation. The channel matrix remains multidimensional, which means we keep
all the inter-stream interferences during the demodulation. The MAP demodulator
calculates the value of Log Likelihood Ratio (LLR) to denote the belief in a certain
bit. In order to simplify the joint LLR calculation in the ML demodulator, we
introduce a ZF demodulator to our system. A ZF demodulator forces the interference
between streams which are transmitted from different transmitting antennas to zero.
We assume the interference can be nulled out completely, which means the channel
matrix is nulled to be a diagonal matrix. We call it a diagonal channel. Then we can
demodulate this diagonal channel with soft MAP demodulation.
Deinterleaver
At the receiver, after demodulation, a deinterleaver is employed to undo the
effect of the interleaver. The deinterleaver puts the data in proper sequence and passes
it to the decoder. It stores the data in the same rectangular array format as the
interleaver, but it is read out row-wise.
Decoder
A decoder is a device which does the reverse of an encoder, undoing the
encoding so that the original information can be retrieved. There are several
algorithms exist for decoding convolutional codes. We use the Viterbi algorithm for
convolutional decoding in this thesis. The Viterbi algorithm is universally used as it
19

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

achieves Maximum Likelihood performance. The input of the decoder is the

calculated and interleavered LLR values. However, the complexity of the algorithm
increases exponentially with the constraint length of the convolutional code.
Therefore, the Viterbi algorithm can be applied only to codes with low constraint
length, as in our thesis, we use a convolutional code with constraint length 7.

3.3 Types of Channel Estimations

3.3.1 Training Sequences
Once a model has been established, its parameters need to be continuously
updated (estimated) in order to minimize the error as the channel changes. If the
receiver has a-priori knowledge of the information being sent over the channel, it can
utilize this knowledge to obtain an accurate estimate of the impulse response of the
channel. This method is simply called Training sequence based Channel estimation
[2,3]. It has the advantage of being used in any radio communications system quite
easily. Even though this is the 0most popular method in use today, it still has its
drawbacks. One of the obvious drawbacks is that it is wasteful of bandwidth. Precious
bits in a frame that might have been otherwise used to transport information are
stuffed with training sequences for channel estimation. This method also suffers due
to the fact that most communication systems send information lumped frames. It is
only after the receipt of the whole frame that the channel estimate can be extracted
from the embedded training sequence. For fast fading channels this might not be
adequate since the coherence time of the channel might be shorter than the frame
time.

3.3.2 Blind method

Blind methods on the other hand require no training sequences. They utilize
certain underlying mathematical information about the kind of data being transmitted.
These methods might be bandwidth efficient but still have their own drawbacks. They
are notoriously slow to converge (more than 1000 symbols may be required for an
FIR channel with 10 coefficients0). Their other drawback is that these methods are
extremely computationally intensive and hence are impractical to implement in real20

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

time systems. They also do not have the portability of training sequence-based
methods. One algorithm that works for a particular system may not work with another
due to the fact they send different types of information over the channel.

3.3.3 Semi Blind

It is worth pointing out that most of the existing blind and semiblind MIMO
OFDM channel estimation methods are based on the second-order statistics of a long
vector whose size is equal to or larger than the number of subcarriers. To estimate the
correlation matrix reliably, they need a large number of OFDM symbols, which is not
suitable for fast time-varying channels. In addition, because the matrices involved in
these algorithms are of huge size, their computational complexity is extremely high.
In contrast, a linear prediction-based semiblind algorithm that is based on the secondorder statistics of a short vector with a size only slightly larger the channel length has
been found much more efficient than the conventional LS methods for the estimation
of frequency-selective MIMO channels.

3.4 Channel estimation techniques:

3.4.1 Least Square channel estimation technique:
3.4.1.1 Channel estimator for single signal [4]:
Consider first a communication system, which is only corrupted by noise as
depicted in Fig.3.4 below. Digital signal is transmitted over a fading multipath
channel hL, after which the signal has memory of L symbols. Thermal noise is
generated at the receiver and it is modeled by additive white Gaussian noise n, which
is sampled at the symbol rate. The demodulation problem here is to detect the
transmitted bits a from the received signal y. Besides the received signal the detector
^

needs also the channel estimates h , which are provided by a specific channel estimator
device.

21

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

Fig. 3.4 Block diagram of a noise-corrupted system with LS Estimation

The received signal y can be expressed as follows

y Mh n

(3.1)

Where, the complex channel impulse response h of the wanted signal is expressed as

h h0

h1 hL

(3.2)

And n denotes the noise samples. Within each transmission burst the transmitter sends
a unique training sequence, which is divided into a reference length of P and guard
period of L bits, and denoted by

m m0

m1 mP L1

(3.3)

having bipolar elements mi {1,1} .Finally to achieve Eq. (3.1) the circulant
training sequence matrix is formed as

mL
m
M L 1

mL P 1

m1
m2

mP

m0
m1

mP 1

(3.4)

The LS channel estimates are found by minimizing the following squared error
quantity
^

h arg h min y Mh

(3.5)

Assuming white Gaussian noise the solution is given by

^

hLS ( M H M ) 1 M H y

(3.6)

22

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

Where () H and () 1 denote the Hermitian and inverse matrices, respectively. The given
solution is also the Best Linear Unbiased Estimate (BLUE) for the channel
coefficients. The given solution is further simplified to
^

1 H
M y
P

(3.7)

provided that the periodic Auto-Correlation Function (ACF) of the training sequence
is ideal with the small delays from 1 to L, because the correlation matrix M H M
becomes diagonal. This holds for GSM training sequences, whenever reference length
16 is chosen. The estimates given by the last equation (3.7) are simply scaled
correlations between the received signal and training sequence.

3.4.1.2 Joint channel estimator for 2 signals

Let us consider now a communication system in the presence of co-channel
interference that is shown in Fig.3.5. Two synchronized co-channel signals have
independent complex channel impulse responses hL,n h0,n , h1,n ,....., hL,n , n=1, 2 and
T

where L is the length of the channel memory. The sum of the co-channel signals and
noise n is sampled in the receiver. The joint demodulation problem is to detect the
transmitted bit streams a1 and a2 of the two users from the received signal y. To assist
that joint detection operation the joint channel estimator provides channel estimates
^

h1 and h2 .

Fig. 3.5 Block diagram of co-channel signal system

23

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

The complex channel impulse responses of the two synchronous co-channel

~

signals are expressed with a vector h as follows

~
hL ,1
h
hL , 2

(3.8)

containing the channel taps of the individual signals denoted by

hL ,n

h0,n
h
1, n
,


hL ,n

n = 1, 2

(3.9)
~

Hence, h has totally 2*(L+1) elements. Both the transmitters send their unique
training sequences with a reference length of P and guard period of L bits. The
sequences are denoted by

m0,n
m

1, n

, n = 1, 2.
mn

m P L 1,n

(3.10)

The circulant training sequence matrices are denoted by

m1,n
mL , n
m
m2,n
L 1, n
Mn

mL P 1,n mP ,n

m0,n
m1,n
, n = 1, 2.

mP 1,n

(3.11)

and they are gathered into one large matrix

~

M = [M1 M2]

(3.12)

With these notations the received signal y is again given by

~ ~

y M h n

(3.13)

24

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

The LS channel estimates can be found simultaneously for the both users by
minimizing the squared error quantity, which produces in the presence of AWGN the
following solution
^

~ ~ 2

~ H

~ H

h arg h min y M h ( M M ) M y

(3.14)

If the channel estimation errors are uncorrelated and the training sequences are
~ H

properly designed (the correlation matrix M M is close to diagonal), SNR is

degraded approximately by the following factor
~ H

d ce / dB 10. log10 (1 tr{(M M ) 1})

(3.15)

Hence, it is very important to design those two training sequences in the joint
channel estimation so that their cross-correlation is as low as possible to reduce noise
enhancement. For instance, the pair wise properties of the current GSM training
sequences are varying from excellent to very bad.

3.4.1.3 Simulation of joint channel estimation

Simulation layouts for joint channel estimation and single channel estimation
are shown in Fig.3.4.3 and 3.4.4 respectively. In both cases there is similar co-channel
interference present, but only joint channel estimator takes it into account. In the latter
case, the interference can be modeled by any random binary signal, which is just
modulated and transmitted over a multipath channel. But for joint channel estimation
it is required to send a proper training sequence also for the interfering signal, hence
the burst formatting is very important for the interferer also. Shortly, joint channel
estimation requires more accurate modeling for the interferer, because the receiver
exploits some known information on the interference as well.
Another apparent difference between those two simulation cases is the
receiver structure. The joint channel estimator provides two sets of channel estimates,
whereas the conventional LS estimator gives only the estimates for the signal of
interest.

25

CHANNEL ESTIMATION

Fig. 3.6 Simulation layout for 2 co-channel signals and joint channel estimation

Fig. 3.7 Simulation layout for single signal with interference and LS channel
Estimation

26

SIMULATION RESULTS

CHAPTER 4
SIMULATION RESULTS

4.1 Performance of SISO Systems Using Least Square Channel Estimation Method.
In this simulation work, first the random bits to be transmitted are generated.
The pilots are inserted at the pilot locations and data bits at the data locations. These
are then modulated using different modulation techniques like BPSK, QPSK, 8-PSK
and 4-QAM. They are then transmitted over a rayleign fading channel through a
single transmitter antenna. Additive noise is added to the received signal. Now, since
the transmitted pilots and received pilots are known, the channel state information is
estimated using Least Square channel estimation technique. The detector at the
receiver utilizes this estimated channel to obtain the information out of the received
signal which is then demodulated to get random bits.

4.2 Simulation result

Parameters considered:
Frame length =10
Maximum number of errors =100
Maximum number of packets=100
Eb/No varying to 6Db
Number of Tx antennas=1
Number of Rx antennas=1
Number of pilot symbols per frame=8

27

SIMULATION RESULTS

Fig 4.1: SISO channel estimation with 8 pilots/frame

28

SIMULATION RESULTS

29

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION
The report highlights the channel estimation technique based on pilot aided
block type training symbols using LS algorithm. The Channel estimation is one of the
fundamental issues of MIMO system design. The transmitted signal under goes many
effects such reflection, refraction and diffraction. Also due to the mobility, the
channel response can change rapidly over time. At the receiver these channel effects
must be canceled to recover the original signal.
This report presents some approaches to model channel estimation. It is also
shown that the estimation is usually based on the known training bits and
corresponding received samples. In this report comparison between different channel
estimation techniques has been done. Different channel estimation techniques are
simulated in MATLAB.
The BER performance of Least Square channel estimation technique
isevaluated for BPSK for rayleign fading channel for SISO system.The simulation
resultsshow that for Rayleigh channel, the SNR required at BER of 10-2 at 16dB SNR.

30

FUTURE SCOPE

FUTURE SCOPE
MIMO has the potential to sufficiently increase the capacity and reliability of
the system due to the added spatial degree of freedom from multiple independent
paths. Moreover, the use of OFDM techniques makes the system robust to frequency
selective channels. However, these promising features of MIMO-OFDM system have
been difficult to deploy because of the complicated receiver structure due to the
additional unknown parameters. This leads to the extremely complicated channel
estimation schemes for MIMO-OFDM system.

31

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