Pilot Based Channel Estimation and Synchronization in OFDM System

ABSTRACTWhile inter-symbol interference is not of concern, inter-carrier interference that is caused by carrier frequency offset (CFO) is more concerned in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The estimation of channel impulse response (CIR) is another important parameter of interest in the system. Recently, a number of approaches for the joint estimation of CFO and CIR in OFDM systems have been proposed in the literature, and most of them are traditional maximum-likelihood-based approaches. In this paper, we propose a number of mixture cost-reference particle filtering (CRPF) approaches for joint estimation of CIR and CFO, and a couple of them can be applied without the knowledge of both state and measurement noise statistics. Conventional least mean squares algorithm or recursive least squares algorithm is jointly employed with recently developed CRPF for nonlinear and multiple parameters estimation in OFDM systems. The computer simulation results show that mixture CRPFs are more robust against particle impoverishment (PI) problem than standard mixture particle filtering (PF) and mixture regularized PF (RPF) approaches although RPF was particularly developed to tackle the PI problem. In this paper, we investigate a number of mixture PF approaches including ones that do not need the information of noise statistics for the joint estimation of CFO and channel in OFDM systems.

This paper addresses the effective sparse channel estimation based on the most significant taps (MST) selection with high spectral efficiency and moderate computational complexity for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The main goal of this paper is to obtain an efficient time domain threshold and achieve the channel estimation performance approaching the least squares (LS) method with exact sparsity (exact number of non-zero channel taps) without using prior knowledge of both channel statistics and noise standard deviation. Firstly, classical LS method is used to get an initial channel impulse response (CIR) estimate. Then a novel effective threshold, estimated from the noise coefficients of the initial estimated CIR, is proposed. Finally, the obtained threshold is used to select the most significant taps. Simulations show that the proposed method is able to achieve good channel estimation performances for sparse channel within a comparatively wide range of sparsity with small number of pilots and moderate computational complexity.

In orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, it is generally assumed that the channel response is static in an OFDM symbol period. However, the assumption does not hold in high-mobility environments. As a result, intercarrier interference (ICI) is induced and the system performance is degraded. A simple remedy for this problem is the application of the zero-forcing (ZF) and minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalizers. Unfortunately, the direct ZF method requires the inversion of an NxN ICI matrix, where N is the number of subcarriers. When N is large, the computational complexity can become prohibitively high. As for the direct MMSE method, in addition to an NxN matrix inverse, it requires an extra NxN matrix multiplication, making the required computational complexity higher compared to the direct ZF method. In this dissertation, we first propose a low-complexity ZF method to solve the problem in single-input-single-output (SISO) OFDM systems. The main idea is to explore the special structure inherent in the ICI matrix and to apply Newton's iteration for matrix inversion. With our formulation, fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) can be used in the iterative process, reducing the complexity from O(N^3) to O(Nlog_2 N) . Also, the required number of the iteration is typically one or two. We also analyze the convergence behavior of the proposed method and derive the theoretical output signal-to-interference-noise-ratio (SINR). For the MMSE method, we first reformulate the MMSE solution in a way that the extra matrix multiplication can be avoided. Similar to the ZF method, we then exploit the structure of the ICI matrix and apply Newton's iteration to reduce the complexity of the matrix inversion. For a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) OFDM system, the required complexity of the ZF and MMSE methods becomes more intractable. We then manage to extend the proposed ZF and MMSE methods for SISO-OFDM systems to MIMO-OFDM systems. It turns out that the computational complexity can be reduced even more significantly. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed methods is almost as good as that of the direct ZF and MMSE methods, while the required computational complexity is reduced dramatically. Finally, we explore the application of the proposed methods in mobility-induced ICI mitigation for OFDM multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and in carrier frequency offset (CFO) induced ICI mitigation for OFDMA uplink systems. As that in OFDM systems, the proposed methods can reduce the required computational complexity, effectively.

This paper deals with channel estimation for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems with transmit diversity. Space time coded OFDM systems, which can provide transmit diversity, require perfect channel estimation to improve communication quality. In actual OFDM systems, training sequences are usually used for channel estimation. The authors propose a training based channel estimation strategy suitable for space time coded OFDM systems. This novel strategy provides enhanced performance, high spectrum efficiency and relatively low computation complexity.

A bstract—To overcome the inter-carrier interference (ICI) of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems due to the carrier frequency offset (CFO), an ICA-based carrier synchronization method is proposed. Independent component analysis (ICA) is also known as blind source separation (BSS), which depends on the independence of source signals to separate or extract latent signals of interest. In this paper, we build an analogous ICA model for OFDM systems with the CFO. By virtue of this model, the ICA technique can be utilized to compensate corresponding loss of performance due to imperfect CFO estimation in the conventional method. Theoretical analysis shows that the ICA-based carrier synchronization method not only has maximum likelihood (ML) source recovery ability, but also can improve signal to noise ratio (SNR) of OFDM systems. Simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.

Multi carrier modulation is Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), dividing the large band spectrum into small (narrow) band spectrum.OFDM offers flexibility in adaptation to time varying channel condition by adopting the parameters at each subcarrier accurately.Due to the multipath effect the OFDM system suffers Inter Symbol Interference (ISI).ISI can be reduced by introducing the guard band (cyclic prefix).Time-varying channel estimation is an important activity in next generation wireless communication.Channel estimation is required mainly for the significant signal processing operation in multiple input multiple output MIMO-OFDM systems.In this project DFT -based channel estimation based on block type arrangement is implemented in MAT Lab.The bit error rate (BER) of DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform)based channel estimation is less than the BER of LS (Least Square) and MMSE (Minimum Mean Square Error) based channel estimation with same signal to noise ratio (SNR).

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is widely used to mitigate inter-symbol interference (ISI) from multipath fading. However, the open nature of wireless OFDM systems makes them vulnerable to jamming attacks. In this context, pilot jamming is critical as it focuses on corrupting the symbols used for channel estimation and equalization, degrading the system performance. Although neural networks (NNs) can improve channel estimation and mitigate pilot jamming penalty, they are also themselves susceptible to malicious perturbations known as adversarial examples. If the jamming attack is crafted in order to fool the NN, it represents an adversarial example that impairs the proper behavior of OFDM systems. In this work, we explore two machine learning (ML)-based jamming strategies that are especially intended to degrade the performance of ML-based channel estimators, in addition to a traditional Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) jamming attack. These ML-based attacks create noise patterns designed to reduce the precision of the channel estimation process, thereby compromising the reliability and robustness of the communication system. We highlight the vulnerabilities of wireless communication systems to ML-based pilot jamming attacks that corrupts symbols used for channel estimation, leading to system performance degradation. To mitigate these threats, this paper proposes an adversarial training defense mechanism desined to counter jamming attacks. The effectiveness of this defense is validated through simulation results, demonstrating improved channel estimation performance in the presence of jamming attacks. The proposed defense methods aim to enhance the resilience of OFDM systems against pilot jamming attacks, ensuring more robust communication in wireless environments.

The paper proposes a new iterative method to estimate the carrier frequency offset (CFO) with scattered pilot symbols inserted for channel estimation in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Assuming that the channel remains constant during a few consecutive OFDM blocks, the new method uses the correlations of the pilot symbols in these consecutive OFDM blocks. And an iterative concept is also employed to reduce the inter-carrier interference (ICI) that deteriorates the CFO estimation performance. After a few iterations, the proposed method can achieve the accuracy with no ICI. The mean square error (MSE) of the new method is analyzed and simulation results show the new method outperforms existing methods.

Conventional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system utilizes cyclic prefix (CP) to remove the channel-induced inter-symbol interference (ISI) at the cost of lower spectral efficiency. In this paper, a generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) based equalizer for ISI suppression is proposed for uplink multi-antenna OFDM systems without CP. Based on the block representation of the CP-free OFDM system, there is a natural formulation of the ISI suppression problem under the GSC framework. By further exploiting the signal and ISI signature matrix structures, a computationally efficient partially adaptive (PA) implementation of the GSC-based equalizer is proposed for complexity reduction. The proposed scheme can be extended for the design of a pre-equalizer, which pre-suppresses the ISI and realizes CP-free downlink transmission to ease the computational burden of the mobile unit (MU). Simulation results show that the proposed GSC-based solutions yield equalization performances almost identical to that obtained by the conventional CP-based OFDM systems and are highly resistant to the increase in channel delay spread.

In wireless orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, the knowledge of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) plays an important role for system optimization. Most of the exiting literatures have studied the SNR estimation for perfect synchronization in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, or in frequency selective channels. However, the realistic channels are always doubly selective, and there may exist some residual symbol timing offset (STO) and carrier frequency offset (CFO) after coarse synchronization in the time domain. In this paper, we take these into account and propose a time-domain average SNR estimation scheme using one OFDM training symbol (preamble) which has been divided into multiple parts with equal length. Compared with the timedomain low-complexity SNR estimator (TLSE), our proposed time-domain preamble-based SNR estimator (TPSE) can not only be implemented in the presence of STO and CFO, but also generate more accurate SNR estimation for the channels with large Doppler shift. The estimated SNR value based on our scheme in the time-domain can be further reused to improve the ensuing CFO estimation and fine synchronization efficiently.

In this paper, we propose a new use of LMMSE and Lr-LMMSE algorithms for channel estimation in OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system which, as known suffers from the time variation of the channel under high mobility conditions using block pilot insertion. The loss of sub channel orthogonality leads to inter-carrier interference (ICI). Using many algorithms for channel estimation, we will show that, for a 16- QAM modulation, the LMMSE algorithm performs well to achieve this estimation but when the SNR (Signal Noise Rate) is high, the three algorithms (LS, LMMSE and Lr-LMMSE) performs similarly. The challenge in this paper is that we will demonstrate that the LMMSE algorithm performs well with the block pilot insertion and is not suitable just with comb pilot insertion.

It is well known that Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems suffer from intercarrier interference (ICI) in mobile environment due to loss of orthogonality among subcarriers caused by Doppler shifts. There exist many ICI mitigation techniques in the literature to improve the performance of OFDM systems. However, most of the existing ICI mitigation techniques assume the OFDM transmission bandwidth is narrow enough that the frequency offsets on all subcarriers are identical. In a wideband OFDM transmission or a non-contiguous OFDM spanning over large bandwidth, the Doppler shifts on different subcarriers are different, especially in high speed aerial vehicle communication systems. In this paper, we analyze the wideband OFDM system in high mobility environment where the frequency offsets vary from subcarrier to subcarrier. We then propose a novel ICI cancellation scheme to eliminate the ICI effect and offer the wideband OFDM system significantly improved BER performance. Simulation results in AWGN channel and multipath fading channel confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in the presence of frequency offset and time variations in the channel, offering the best BER performance available which matches the BER performance of wideband OFDM system without ICI. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to address the ICI problem of varying frequency offsets across subcarriers in wideband OFDM system.

In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, channel variations within an OFDM block destroy orthogonality between subcarriers, resulting in intercarrier interference (ICl), which increases an error floor in proportional to normalized Doppler frequency. To mitigate the effects of channel variations, many schemes have been proposed, but they are computationally complex or at the price of sacrificing spectral efficiency. In this paper, we first provide an ICI analysis in both time- and frequency-domain while existing literatures analyze the ICI effects mainly in the frequency domain. Based on this analysis, we then propose a novel ICI suppression technique, which uses iterative ICI cancellation in time domain and has a computational complexity that is linear in the OFDM symbol length. Channel estimation in rapidly time-varying scenarios is critical for ICl suppression and coherent demodulation. We also propose a scheme for estimating the channel parameters varying within an OFDM block. Along with the channel estimation scheme, we investigate the issue of optimum pilot tone placement. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed ICl suppression method and channel estimation scheme have low computational complexity and good performance for most Doppler frequency of practical importance.

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is robust against frequency selective fading because of the increase of the symbol duration. However, the time-varying nature of the channel causes inter-carrier interference (ICI) which destroys the orthogonal of sub-carriers and degrades the system performance severely. To alleviate the detrimental effect of ICI, there is a need for ICI mitigation within one OFDM symbol. We propose an iterative Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) estimation and cancellation technique for OFDM systems based on regularized constrained total least squares. In the proposed scheme, ICI aren’t treated as additional additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The effect of Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) and inter-symbol interference (ISI) on channel estimation is regarded as perturbation of channel. We propose a novel algorithm for channel estimation o based on regularized constrained total least squares. Computer simulations show that significant improvement can be obtained by the proposed scheme in fast fading channels.

Accurate channel estimation is essential for achieving the performance gains offered by reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided wireless communications. A variety of channel estimation methods have been proposed for such systems; however, none of the existing methods takes into account the effect of synchronization errors such as carrier frequency offset (CFO). In general, CFO can significantly degrade the channel estimation performance of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Motivated by this, we investigate the effect of CFO on channel estimation for RIS-aided OFDM systems. Furthermore, we propose a joint CFO and channel impulse response (CIR) estimation method for these systems. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method, and also demonstrate that the use of time-domain rather than frequency-domain estimation in this context results in an improvement in the mean-squared error (MSE) performance of channel estimation as well as in a significantly lower overall computational complexity.