M. Li et al.
: A Channel Estimation Method Based on Frequency-Domain Pilots and Time-Domain Processing for OFDM Systems
A Channel Estimation Method Based on Frequency-Domain Pilots
and Time-Domain Processing for OFDM Systems
Mingqi Li, Jianguo Tan and Wenjun Zhang
Abstract — A channel estimation method based on
frequency-domain pilots and time-domain processing (FPTP)
is proposed for OFDM systems in time-varying channels.
Through Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), the channel
impulse response (CIR) is estimated by using the frequency-
domain pilots, which is equivalent to the CIR estimated by
cyclic correlation using time-domain pilot sequence. Hence,
the channel estimation error, caused by the spectral leakage
of the DFT, can be reduced by canceling the non-idea auto-
correlation property of the pilot sequence in time-domain. At
the same time, the complicated cyclic correlation computation
in time-domain is evitable. The theoretical analysis and
simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms
the traditional DFT-based method and Wiener filter algorithm
in time-varying multi-path fading channels. Moreover, the
uncoded bit error rate (BER) performance of proposed
algorithm is very close to that with perfect channel knowledge,
especially in fast fading channels1.
Index Terms — OFDM, channel estimation,
correlation, DFT.
I. INTRODUCTION
OFDM (orthogonal frequency diversion multiplexing) is an
effective technique to perform high speed digital transmission
in a severe multi-path fading channel [1]. This technique has
been adopted in Europe by the ITU-R as transmission
standards for DAB (digital audio broadcasting) [2] in 1995
and for DVB (digital video broadcasting)[3] in 1997,
respectively.
For coherently modulated OFDM systems, it is necessary to
estimate the fading channels. In time-varying channels, pilot
symbol aided methods of channel estimation are usually
applied for OFDM systems. There are typically two kinds of
patterns of pilot symbol arrangement for channel estimation of
OFDM systems. The first one is block-type, and another
comb-type [4,5]. For the former type, all sub-carriers of an
OFDM symbol are reserved for pilots with a specific period.
The channel estimation of OFDM symbols for data is achieved
by interpolation in time-domain or decision feedback
algorithms [4]. In order to overcome the inter-symbol
interference (ISI), OFDM systems usually have a long symbol
period and guard interval, which limits the application of
block-type of pilot arrangement to slow fading channels. For
1
Mingqi Li is with the Institute of Image Communication and Information
Processing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R.China (e-mail:
mqlee@sjtu.edu.cn).
Jianguo Tan is with the Institute of Image Communication and
Information Processing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R.China
(e-mail: tjg@sjtu.edu.cn ).
Contributed Paper
Manuscript received September 3, 2004 0098 3063/04/$20.00 © 2004 IEEE
1049
the later type, some sub-carriers of every OFDM symbol are
reserved for pilots. The sub-channels for data transmission can
be estimated by interpolating the channel frequency response
(CFR) at pilot frequency [6]. Hence, the comb-type of pilot
arrangement can be applied to OFDM systems in fast fading
channels. However, if the channel fading changes significantly
during an OFDM symbol period, inter-carrier interference
(ICI) appears [7]. Since the pilots for channel estimation are
also affected by ICI, the performance of channel estimation
will degrade significantly when those pilots are used for
interpolation in frequency-domain directly.
Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) based channel estimation
methods are proposed in [8-10]. These methods estimate the
channel impulse response (CIR) by an inverse DFT (IDFT).
After noise reduction processing in time-domain, the result is
transformed back to frequency-domain to obtain the CFR by a
DFT. Since the channel power concentrates to a relatively
small number of CIR samples whereas the noise power equally
cyclic
distributes in the whole CIR sample vector, the effects of noise
can be reduced by the time-domain processing. Moreover,
since the DFT can be implemented with fast algorithms, the
complexity of the algorithms is much smaller than that of the
linear minimum mean square estimation (LMMSE) algorithms
[9]. However, in practical OFDM systems, some virtual sub-
carriers are reserved for easing the requirements on the filter.
As an example, in DVB-T systems of 2K mode, 343 sub-
carriers are used as virtual sub-carriers [3]. In this case, the
CIR estimated by DFT appears a spectral leakage.
Consequently, the channel power distributes in the whole CIR
sample vector. If several main paths in the estimated CIR are
chosen to obtain the CFR, an significant estimation error floor
will appear at high signal to noise ratio (SNR). However, if all
samples in the estimated CIR are chosen, the performance of
noise suppressing will be decreased.
A frequency pilot time average (FPTA) method is presented
in [11]. The method achieves almost the same performance as
DFT-based LMMSE algorithms in [9], whereas the complexity
is kept low. However, the method is based on the following
two assumptions. One is that the time-domain pilot sequence
within an OFDM symbol consists of some identical parts,
which is only valid if the pilots are evenly inserted in all sub-
carriers. For OFDM systems with large amount of virtual sub-
carriers, the non-ideal autocorrelation function of pilot
sequence will degrades the performance of channel estimation.
Another assumption is that the channel does not change during
one OFDM symbol period, which is usually not true in fast
fading channels.
A frequency-domain pilot time domain correlation (FPTC)
method is proposed in [12]. Its major advantage is the
1050 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 50, No. 4, NOVEMBER 2004

robustness against the timing and frequency synchronization with CIR

errors. However, the method requires the correlation
∑
L −1
hm ( n , τ ) = l =0
hl ; m , nδ (τ − τ l ) (4)
computation with a size the same as the number of total sub-
where hl ; m , n is the channel impulse response of path l at time
carriers of OFDM systems. When the number of sub-carriers is
large, the complexity of the method is high. Moreover, mN s + n , τ l is the corresponding path delays normalized by
although the non-ideal autocorrelation properties of pilot the sampling interval, and L is the total number of channel
sequence are analyzed in [12], the algorithm solving the paths. The maximum path delay is assumed not exceed the
problem is not presented. length of guard interval. For simplifying analysis, perfect
In this paper, a channel estimation method based on synchronization is assumed in the receiver. Following cyclic
frequency-domain pilot and time-domain processing (FPTP) is prefix removing, the N samples of OFDM symbol m for
proposed. Through DFT, the CIR is estimated by using the OFDM demodulation are
frequency-domain pilots, which is equivalent to the CIR L −1
estimated by cyclic correlation using the time-domain pilot ym ,n = ∑ hl ;m ,n ( d m ,( n −τ ) l N
)
+ p m ,( n −τ l ) N + wm , n (5)
sequence. The proposed method is different from the l =0
traditional DFT-based algorithms, and does not require the , n = 0,1, ..., N − 1
large size correlation computation in the time-domain.
where (⋅) N denotes modulo N . wm , n is the complex-valued
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II
proposes the system model, and addresses the principle of AWGN with zero mean and variance σ w2 .
channel estimation by the cyclic correlation using the time- The cyclic correlation function can be formulated as
domain pilot sequence. Section III presents an algorithm of N −1

reducing the correlation error caused by the non-ideal C xy ( n ) = x n yn = ∑ x(

k =0
∗
k − n )N
yk (6)
autocorrelation property of the pilot sequence. Section IV
where superscript ∗ denotes the complex conjugate.
proposes the method of detecting channel paths. The
performances of proposed method are evaluated in section V. A. In Quasi-Static Fading Channels
In quasi-static fading channels, it is assumed that the
II. SYSTEM MODEL channel does not change during one OFDM symbol period.
Assume that the modulation of OFDM is implemented by an The CIR becomes
hm ( n ) = ∑ hl ; m δ ( n − τ l )
L −1
inverse DFT of size N in the transmitter. Among the N sub- (7)
l =0
carriers, 2 K + 1 of that are used to transmit the complex data
where hl ; m is the complex gains of path l at time m -th OFDM
and pilot symbols. The data and pilot symbols transmitted by
sub-carrier k of OFDM symbol m are denoted by a m , k and symbol period. The received signal becomes

bm , k . After OFDM modulation, N g samples of cyclic prefix (

y m , n = hm ( n ) ⊗ d m , n + p m , n + wm , n ) (8)
where ⊗ denotes the cyclic convolution.
are padded at the beginning of the N samples of the output of
Since the pilots are known in the receiver, the time-domain
the IDFT. The N s ( N s = N + N g ) samples of OFDM
pilot sequence can be reproduced. The output of cyclic
symbol m are given as correlation between the received signal and the local time-
K
1 domain pilot sequence is given by
sm ,n = ∑ (a m ,k + bm , k ) e j 2π nk / N
1
N k =− K
(1) rm ( n ) = p m , n  hm ( n ) ⊗ ( d m , n + p m , n ) + wm , n  (9)
= d m , n + pm ,n P
, n = − N g , ... − 1, 0,1,..., N − 1 where P = ∑ N −1 p m . n 2 , is the total power of the pilot
n=0

where sequence. Without loss of generality, we assume that the time-

domain pilot sequences of all OFDM symbols are generated by
∑
K
d m ,n = 1 N a m , k e j 2 π nk / N
k =− K (2) the same number of frequency-domain pilots through IDFT.
N ∑
K
p m ,n = 1 b e j 2 π nk / N
k = − K m ,k
Therefore, the time-domain pilot sequences of all OFDM
are the time-domain data and pilot sequence in OFDM symbol symbols have same total power. From appendix A, we know
m respectively. The data and pilots take values that p m ,n (
hm ( n ) ⊗ d m , n = 0 , ) and
 data , k ∈ D m ,
a m ,k = 
± β , k ∈ Sm
bm , k =  (3) p m ,n ( hm ( n ) ⊗ pm ,n ) P = h%m ( n ) . Hence, the output of
 0 , otherwise  0 , otherwise cyclic correlation becomes
where Dm and Sm are the sets of sub-carriers for data and rm ( n ) = h%m ( n ) + w% m , n (10)
pilots in m -th OFDM symbol respectively. data denotes the where w% m , n = p m , n wm , n P is an AWGN with zero mean
modulated data symbols, and β is the level of pilots. The
and variance σ w2 / P , and
signal is transmitted over a time-varying multi-path channel
M. Li et al.: A Channel Estimation Method Based on Frequency-Domain Pilots and Time-Domain Processing for OFDM Systems 1051

N p −1
β2 L −1
 N −1 p 2
h%m ( n ) = hm ( n ) + ∑h e
− j 2 π (τ l − n ) k 0 / N
∑e − j 2 π k '(τ l − n ) ∆ p / N
 ∑ k = 0 m ,k = P , n = 0 (15)
P
l ;m C pm pm ( n ) = 
 ACerrm ( n )
l =0 k '= 0
τl ≠n , n≠0
(11) where ACerrm ( n ) is the correlation error. Obviously, if the
is the effective component of the estimation of CIR hm ( n ) .
error term is subtracted from the autocorrelation function, the
N p is the number of frequency-domain pilots, ∆p is the pilot function will become the ideal Kronecher function.
spacing, and k0 is the sub-carrier index of the first pilot. The A. In Fading Channel with Only One Path
second term at the right side of (11) can be view as both the For simplifying the analysis, the fading channel with only
spectral leakage caused by non-ideal sampling at CFR and the one path is considered at first. If channel does not change
correlation error caused by non-ideal correlation function of during one OFDM symbol period, the channel impulse
pilot sequence. If N p = N ∆ p and 0 ≤ k 0 + N / 2 ≤ ∆ p − 1 , response is assumed as
then the spectral leakage term in (11) is equal to zero. hm ( n ) = hl ; m δ ( n − τ l ) (16)
Consequently, yields h%m ( n ) = hm ( n ) . Then the output of the cyclic correlation is given as

B. In Fast Fading Channels

1
rm ( n ) = hm (τ l ) p m , n
P
( )
p m ,( n −τ ) + d m ,( n −τ ) + w% m , n
l N l N

In fast fading channels, the received signal is given as (17)

L −1
where
ym ,n = ∑ hl ;m ,n ( d m ,( n −τ ) + p m ,( n −τ l ) N + wm , n ) (12)
 N −1 p 2
 ∑ k =0 m , k = P, n = τ l
l N
l =0
, n = 0,1, ..., N − 1 pm,n pm,( n−τ ) =  (18)
 ACerr ( n − τ l ) N , n ≠ τ l
l

From appendix B, the output of cyclic correlation becomes

rm ( n ) = h%m ( n ) + η m , n + w% m , n (13) = C pm pm ( n − τ l ) N

where ηm , n is the time-domain equivalent noise of ICI caused Form appendix A, d m ,( n −τ ) = 0 . Then the
p m ,n
l

by the channel variation during one OFDM symbol period. correlation error can be canceled by
When the number of sub-carriers is sufficiently large, the ICI 1
hˆm ( n ) = rm ( n ) − rm (τ l ) ACerr ( n − τ l ) N (19)
can be modeled as Gaussion random variable with zero mean P
and variance σ I2 [7]. Hence, ηm ,n can be treated as a Gaussion If the path can be estimated correctly by the cyclic correlation
random variable with zero mean and variance σ I2 / P . The computation, namely, rm (τ l ) = hm (τ l ) , the CIR can be

effective component of the estimation of CIR is given as estimated as

β 2 L −1
N p −1 hˆm ( n ) = hm (τ l ) δ ( n − τ l ) + w% m , n (20)
h%m ( n ) = hm ( n ) + ∑ l ;m
P l =0
h e
− j 2 π (τ l − n ) k 0 / N
∑
k '= 0
e
− j 2 π k '(τ l − n ) ∆ p / N
If rm (τ l ) ≠ hm (τ l ) , some residual correlation errors will be
τl ≠n
remained. However, from (19), it is known that the residual
(14)
error is determined by both the path estimation error and the
where hm ( n ) = ∑ L −1 hl ;mδ ( n − τ l ) , and hl ;m = 1/ N ∑ N −1 hl ;m,n . path energy. In fact, for the path with high energy, the path
l =0 n =0
From appendix A and B, we know that the output of cyclic estimation error is usually small; whereas for the path with a
correlation in (10) and (13) can be obtained by frequency significant estimation error, its energy is usually low.
pilots through an IDFT. Therefore, the residual error is usually small.
In fast fading channels, assume the channel impulse
III. CYCLIC CORRELATION ERROR CANCELLATION response is hm ( n , τ ) = hl ; m , nδ (τ − τ l ) , and the output of the
Due to the band limitation effect of frequency-domain pilots,
cyclic correlation is given as
the cyclic autocorrelation function of the time-domain pilot
sequence is not the ideal Kronecher function. Consequently,
the each path estimated by the cyclic correlation contains not
rm ( n ) =
1
P  ( l N
)
p m , n  hl ; m , n p m ,( n −τ ) + d m ,( n −τ )  + w% m , n
l N 
(21)
only the effective component of itself but also the correlation
In this case, the correlation error can be cancelled by the same
error components coming from other paths. Fortunately, the
way as (19). Since the amplitude and phase of the path are
correlation errors can be eliminated from the estimated CIR
changed during one OFDM symbol period, the ideal
according to the path delays and gains.
estimation of the path is its mean value. Hence, the estimated
The cyclic autocorrelation function of time-domain pilot
CIR is given as
sequence of OFDM symbol m is given by
hˆm ( n ) = hm (τ l ) δ ( n − τ l ) + η m , n + w% m , n (22)
where hm (τ l ) = 1 / N ∑ N −1 hl ; m , n . Due to the effect of ICI,
n=0
1052 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 50, No. 4, NOVEMBER 2004

there is an additional noise term (the time-domain equivalent
noise of ICI) η m , n in the estimated CIR.
B. In Multi-path Fading Channels
In multi-path fading channels, the correlation errors of paths
are affected each other. Since the correlation error is
determined by the energy of paths, the weak paths are more
affected than the strong paths in the estimated CIR. In other
words, the estimated strong paths are more reliable. Therefore,
in multi-path fading channels, the order of canceling
correlation error should be from strong paths to weak paths.
For each path, the same method as in (19) can be applied.
The steps of correlation error cancellation (CEC) can be
summarized as follow.
1. Set the maximum number of path Lmax , let the path
number L = Lmax , clear iteration variable i = 0 , and let
rm0 ( n ) = rm ( n ) . rm ( n ) is the estimated CIR in (13).
2. Calculate the power of each sample in the estimated CIR
rmi ( n )
2
of i -th iteration, and find the path with the
maximum power.
3. Cancel the correlation error caused by the strongest path
from the CIR rmi ( n ) by (19) and subtract the path form
rmi ( n ) , then get a new estimator of the CIR rmi +1 ( n ) .
4. Calculate the difference of the CIR between before and
after correlation error cancellation in i − th iteration.
the effect of the spectral leakage, the window function will
cause an error floor to the estimated CFR [8][10]. For the
proposed algorithm, the spectral leakage is canceled
significantly. Therefore, if only effective paths in the estimated
CIR are chosen to estimate CFR, the estimation error can be
reduced greatly.
When SNR is low, the mean power of weak paths is usually
close to, even lower than, that of noise. Hence, it is difficult to
directly find weak paths in the above coarse estimated CIR,
especially for paths in deep fading. In the mobile environment,
it can be assumed that the amplitude and phase of channel
paths are changed fast, but the variation of path delay is slow
[13]. Therefore, the path to noise power ratio (PNR) can be
improved by averaging several consecutive estimated CIR. For
Rayleigh fading channels, path gains are complex Gaussian
random variables with zero mean. Hence, the path power will
be reduced significantly if the CIR is directly averaged. In [14],
the averaging is performed on each squared sample of the CIR.
Since the noise in the CIR is not reduced by this method, the
PNR is not increased. However, notice that the gain of each
channel path is correlative in time-domain, but noise samples
in the CIR are not correlative. By the information, the CIR can
be averaged by
1 N av −1 ˆ∗
hˆm ( n ) = ∑ hm−i ( n ) hˆm−i −1 ( n )
N av i =0
1 N av −1 ( ∗ (
=
N
∑  hm −i ( n ) hm −i −1 ( n ) + w% m* −i ,n w% m −i −1,n + ηm* −i ,nηm −i −1,n 

i =0

av

∑
N g −1 2
e (i ) = n=0
rmi +1 ( n ) − rmi ( n ) . (23)
where N av is the number of OFDM symbols for averaging.
5. Finish the CEC if e ( i ) > e ( i − 1 ) or i > L . Otherwise, (
return to step 2. hm ( n ) is the effective estimation of paths in hˆm ( n ) . Before
Notice that for the estimation of CIR of first several OFDM averaging, form (22), the average PNR of path l is given as
symbols, the path number L is equal to the set value Lmax . α 2P (24)
PNR (τ l ) = 2 l 2
After that, the path number L is given by the following path σw +σI
detection algorithm. where α l2 = E  hm (τ l )  , is the mean power of l -th path.
2

The performance of proposed CEC algorithm is affected  

more by the first strongest path than other paths. In some After averaging, form (23), the average PNR of l -th path is
scenarios, the power of the strongest path is close to that of its defined as
adjacent paths, which will increase the estimation error of the  Nav −1 ( ( 
E  ∑ hm∗ −i (τ l ) hm −i −1 (τ l ) 
strongest path, and reduce the performance of CEC, especially (25)
PNR (τ l ) =  i =0 
in high SNR. In this case, the performance can be improved by
 Nav −1 2

twice CEC. At first, the correlation error is canceled by the E  ∑ ( w% m* −i ,n w% m −i −1,n + ηm* −i ,nηm −i −1,n ) 
above CEC algorithm. Then, in the correlation error canceled  i =0 
CIR, we can obtain a more accurate estimator of the strongest
Assume the channel is modeled as a wide sense stationary
path. Substituting the accurate estimated path for the original
uncorrelated scattering (WSSUS) fading channel. Then,
one, we do the CEC again. ( (
E  hm∗ (τ l ) hm − ∆ m (τ l )  ≈ E  hm∗ (τ l ) hm − ∆ m (τ l )  = ρα l2 ,
   
IV. PATH DETECTION ρ = J 0 (2π f D ∆ mTs ) , f D is the maximum Doppler frequency,
Due to the effect of AWGN and ICI, the CFR, obtained by J 0 (⋅) is the zeroth order Bessel function of the first kind, Ts is
the correlation errors canceled CIR directly transformed to the the OFDM symbol duration. Consequently, the average PNR
frequency-domain, will suffer from a significant error when of l -th path becomes
SNR is low or Doppler frequency is high. For DFT-based
PNR (τ l ) ≈ N av ρα l2 P σ w4 + σ I4 (26)
algorithms, a window function is usually added to the
estimated CIR before the DFT transform. However, because of
M. Li et al.: A Channel Estimation Method Based on Frequency-Domain Pilots and Time-Domain Processing for OFDM Systems 1053

6. If the PNR of a sample is greater than a given threshold,

the corresponding position n of the sample is estimated
as the path delay and the corresponding sample in hˆm ( n )
is regarded as an effective estimation of paths in the CIR.
7. Select all estimated paths in hˆm ( n ) to obtain the CFR by a
DFT transform of size N .
The key of detecting channel paths is to set the PNR
threshold. Thanks to the averaging of the estimated CIR, the
average power of effective paths is much larger than the noise
power, which eases the setting of the PNR threshold.
The metric of PNR of the paths is given as

D (n) =
Re hˆm ( n ) { }
(28)
1
{ }
2
∑ Re hˆm ( n )
N g − Lmax n∈C1

where C1 is the set of samples in the CIR hˆm ( n ) except the

maximum Lmax samples. For the l -th path, the mean value of
the PNR metric is
ρ Pα l2 2 N av (29)
D (τ l ) ≈
σ w4 + σ I4
Assume the path expected to be detected has a power lower
than the AWGN power at most γ dB. Then the PNR threshold
can be given as
ρ Pσ w2 2 N av 10 − γ /10 (30)
PNRthr = ≈ ρ P 2 N av 10 − γ /10
σw +σI
4 4

Fig. 1. Compare of the estimated CIR before and after CEC. SNR=20dB
By comparing (24) with (26), it is shown that, after averaging,
the PNR is increased about N av times. If the channel does
not change too fast, the following approximation can be made
( ( ( (
{ }
Re hm∗ − i (τ l ) hm − i −1 (τ l ) ≈ hm∗ − i (τ l ) hm − i −1 (τ l ) (27)
where Re {}
⋅ denotes the real part of complex numbers.
Therefore, for the real part of (23), the path PNR defined by
(25) will increase about 1.5dB further. By the PNR, the paths
where assume σ w2 σ I2 .
From (30), it is known that the PNR threshold is determined
by the power of paths, AWGN and ICI. However, when SNR
is low, the error of channel estimation by the correlation
computation will increase, which will increase the residual
correlation errors caused by the CEC. Consequently, the PNR
is decreased. Therefore, the PNR threshold should be
decreased with the SNR.
In order to compensate the loss of PNR at low SNR, a
weighting factor of the PNR threshold is given as
N av −1

∑ ∑
2
can be detected form the estimated CIR after the CEC. N av P ⋅ hˆm − i ( n )
The steps of detecting paths are summarized as follow. i = 0 n∈C 2 (31)
ζm = N av −1
1. Set N av and Lmax . 1 2
∑i=0 N g − Lmax
∑
n∈C1
N av hˆm − i ( n )
2. Average the estimated CIR to obtain hˆm ( n ) .
3. { }
In Re hˆ ( n ) , find the maximum Lmax samples and their
where C2 is the set of maximum Lmax samples in Re hˆ ( n ) .
m { }
m
hˆm ( n ) is the estimated CIR after the CEC. In fact, ζ m can be
corresponding positions.
4. { }
Subtract the Lmax samples form Re hˆ ( n ) , and calculate
m
regarded as an estimator of SNR at m -th OFDM symbol
period.
the average power of remain samples. Then take square Finally, the PNR threshold can be given as
root of the average power to obtain an estimator of noise PNRthr = ζ m ρ P 2 N av 10 − γ /10 (32)
power.
5. Divide the maximum Lmax samples by the estimated noise
V. SIMULATION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
power to obtain the estimation of the PNR of paths.
Monte Carlo simulations are used to evaluate the
1054
performances of the proposed channel estimation algorithm. In
the simulation, the time-varying multi-path channel is the GSM
TU (Typical Urban) six taps channel model with Jakes fading
model [15]. Its time delay profile is with tap mean power –3,
0, –2, –6, –8 and –10dB at tap delays 0, 0.2, 0.5, 1.6, 2.3 and
5.0 µ s . Without loss of generality, the average power of multi-
path channels is normalized to unity. The simulated DVB-T
system is the 2K mode with 1/16 guard interval and 16QAM
modulation. The signal to noise ratio is defined as
SNR = E s / N 0 . γ = 20 dB . Lmax = 20 . N av = 10 .
ρ = 0.9125 (The maximum Doppler frequency is 400Hz).
Fig. 1 shows that, before the CEC, there are correlation
errors (spectral leakage) in the estimated CIR, which causes
significant errors between the paths in the estimated CIR and
that in the ideal CIR. However, after the CEC, the correlation
Fig. 2. The probability of correct detecting channel paths in time-
varying channels
errors are reduced greatly, and the path gains of the estimated
CIR are very close to that of the ideal CIR.
Fig. 2 compares the probability of correct detecting channel
paths in time-varying channels when Doppler frequency is
50Hz and 300Hz respectively. It is shown that, the probability
of correct detecting channel paths is increased with SNR.
When SNR is low, the weak channel paths are overwhelmed
by the noise, hence can’t be detected, especially when they are
IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 50, No. 4, NOVEMBER 2004
in deep fading. Interestingly, in fast fading channels, the paths
are more ease to be detected than in slow fading channels.
That is because the channel paths may be in deep fading
during several consecutive OFDM symbols period in slow
fading channel. This reduces the PNR gain achieved by
averaging in (23). However, in fast fading channels, the deep
fading duration is shorter. Therefore, the PNR loss of deep
fading can be compensated by the peak value of paths. This
Fig. 3. Compare of MSE performances of channel estimation algorithms
can be regard as that the fast fading channel provides a time
diversity gain to increase the PNR.
Fig. 3 compares the mean square error (MSE) of proposed
channel estimator with that of DFT-based algorithm [10] and
Wiener filter interpolation algorithm [9] with 6 taps (Wien-6Taps)
and 143 taps (using all scattered pilots) (Wien-All). FPTP-
EstPath(1) and FPTP-EstPath(2) denote the proposed algorithms
using the estimated path number and delay with once and twice
CEC respectively. FPTP-KnowPath(1) and FPTP-KnowPath(2)
denote the proposed algorithm using the perfect path number and
delay with once and twice CEC respectively. Since the DFT-based
algorithm transforms all samples of the estimated CIR to
frequency-domain to obtain the estimation of CFR, its
performance is worse than other algorithms. For Wiener filter
algorithms, the more the tap used, the better the performance. The
MSE of proposed algorithms is lower than Wiener filter and DFT-
M. Li et al.: A Channel Estimation Method Based on Frequency-Domain Pilots and Time-Domain Processing for OFDM Systems 1055

based algorithms, especially at low SNR and high Doppler
frequency. Due to the more accurate estimator of the strongest path,
the proposed algorithm with twice CEC has a lower MSE than
with only once at high SNR. Moreover, since some weak paths are
undetectable in slow fading channels, the performances of
proposed algorithms with the estimated path number and delay are
slight inferior to that with the perfect path number and delay.
However, in fast fading channels, both of algorithms have almost
the same performances because the channel paths can be
accurately estimated. Furthermore, since the correlation error of
paths are affected each other, it is difficult to cancel the correlation
error completely, which causes a MSE floor for the proposed
algorithms at high SNR Nevertheless, the MSE floor is still lower
than the MSE of DFT-based and Wiener filter algorithms within
the practical SNR range.
performances are almost the same. Moreover, when SNR is not
very high, the BER performances of proposed algorithms are very
close to that with perfect channel knowledge (Perf), especially in
fast fading channel.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a channel estimation method based on
frequency-domain pilot time-domain processing (FPTP) is
proposed for OFDM systems in time-varying channels.
Through DFT, the CIR is estimated by using the frequency-
domain pilots, which is equivalent to the CIR estimated by the
cyclic correlation using the time-domain pilot sequence. The
proposed method is different from the traditional DFT-based
algorithms, and does not require the large size correlation
computation. The theoretical analysis and simulation results
show that the MSE and BER performances of the proposed
method are better than that of the DFT-based and Wiener filter
algorithms in time-varying multi-path fading channels.
Moreover, the BER performance of proposed algorithm is very
close to that with perfect channel knowledge, especially in fast
fading channels.

APPENDIX A
Assume the channel does not change during one OFDM
symbol period. Let z m , n = hm ( n ) ⊗ d m , n , then the output of
cyclic correlation between the received data sequence and the
local pilot sequence is given by
qm ,n = pm ,n z m ,n P (A-1)
The DFT of (A-1) is given as
N −1
1
Qm , k =
N
∑q
n=0
m ,n e − j 2π nk / N

N ∗ (A-2)
= bm , k ⋅ Z m , k
P
N
= H m , k ⋅ a m , k ⋅ bm∗ , k
P
N ∑ n = 0 d m , n e − j 2π nk / N ,
N −1
where a m , k = 1

∑
N −1
bm , k = 1 N n=0
p m , n e − j 2π nk / N ,
N ∑
N −1
Z m ,k = 1 n=0
z m , n e − j 2π nk / N = H m , k ⋅ a m , k ,

∑
N −1
H m ,k = n=0
hm ( n ) e − j 2π nk / N .
From (3), it is known that a m , k ⋅ bm∗ , k = 0 , k ∈ [ − K , K ] . Hence,
Fig. 4. Compare of BER performances of channel estimation Q m , k = 0 , and q m , n = 0 .
algorithms in time-varying channels.
Let g m .n = hm ( n ) ⊗ p m , n . Then the output of cyclic
The uncoded bit error rate (BER) performances of proposed
algorithm is also compared with that of DFT-based and Wiener correlation between the received pilot sequence and the local
filter interpolation algorithms in Fig. 4. The proposed algorithm is pilot sequence is expressed as
a litter bit worse than the Wien-All algorithm only at high SNR in vm , n = p m , n g m , n P (A-3)
slow fading channels. In other cases, the proposed algorithms The DFT of (A-3) is expressed as
outperform the DFT-based and Wiener filter interpolation
algorithms. Although the MSE performances of FPTP-EstPath(1)
and FPTP-EstPath(2) have a litter difference, their BER
1056 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 50, No. 4, NOVEMBER 2004

1 N −1
Consequently,
Vm ,k =
N
∑v m ,n e − j 2 π nk / N
N
n =0

, k ∈ Sm (A-4)
Qm , k =
P
( H m , k ⋅ a m , k + I md,k m) ⋅ bm∗ ,k (B-3)
N
= H m , k ⋅ bm , k ⋅ bm∗ , k
P N
= I md, k m⋅ bm∗ , k
N 2 P
= β H m ,k From (B-3), it is seen that, due to the Doppler shift of time-
P
varying channels, the orthogonality among sub-carriers is lost,
Adding (A-2) to (A-4), then taking an IDFT of the result, the which will cause the output of cyclic correlation between the
estimation of the CIR is expressed as received data sequence and the local pilot sequence is not
K equal to zero.
1
h%m ( n ) = ∑
N k =− K
(Vm ,k + Q m , k ) e j 2π nk / N Let g m .n = ∑ L −1 hl ; m , n p m ,( n −τ ) . The output of cyclic
l =0 l N
k ∈S m
correlation between the received pilot sequence and the local
β2 K (A-5) pilot sequence is expressed as
=
P
∑
k =− K
H m , k e j 2 π nk / N
vm ,n = p m ,n g m , n P (B-4)
k ∈S m

, n = 0,1,..., N g − 1 The DFT of (B-4) is given as

N
where the maximum path delay is assumed not exceed the Vm ,k =
P
( β 2 H m , k + I mp, k m⋅ bm∗ , k ) , k ∈ S m (B-5)
length of guard interval. From (A-5), it is known that the
output of cyclic correlation between the received signal and where I mp,k m is the ICI at the k -th sub-carrier of m -th OFDM
the local pilot sequence is equivalent to the IDFT of CFR symbol caused by pilot sub-carriers. Adding (B-3) to (B-5),
samples at pilot frequency. In fact, the samples can be replaced the IDFT of the result is expressed as
by the least square (LS) estimation of the CFR at pilot ) 1 K
frequency. Since the number of pilots is much smaller than that hm ( n ) = ∑ ( β 2 H m ,k + I m , k m⋅ bm∗ , k ) e j 2π nk / N
P k =− K
of total sub-carriers, the complexity of proposed algorithm is k∈S m

much lower than that of time-domain correlation algorithms in = h%m ( n ) + η m , n (B-6)

[12].
, n = 0,1,..., N g − 1
Assume pilot spacing is ∆p , the set of pilot sub-carrier
where
indices is S m = k 0 + k ∆ p , k = 0, L , N p − 1 , k 0 is the sub-
1
∑ kk ∈= S−mK I m , k m⋅ bm∗ , k e j 2π nk / N
K
η m ,n = (B-7)
carrier index of the first pilot and N p is the number of pilots. P
Since β 2 N p = P , the estimated CIR in (A-5) becomes is the time-domain equivalent noise caused by ICI, and
N p −1 I m , k m= I md, k m+ I mp, k m is the total ICI at the k -th sub-carrier of
β 2 L −1
(A-6)
h%m ( n ) = hm ( n ) +
P
∑h
l =0
l ;m e − j 2π (τ l − n )k0 / N ∑e
k '=0
− j 2π k '(τ l − n ) ∆p / N
m -th OFDM symbol.
N p −1
τl ≠n
β2 L −1
h%m ( n ) = hm ( n ) +
P
∑l =0
hl ; m e
− j 2 π (τ l − n ) k 0 / N
∑e
k '= 0
− j 2 π k '(τ l − n ) ∆ p / N

APPENDIX B τl ≠n

Assume the channel is time-varying during one OFDM (B-8)

L −1 is the effective path estimation in the CIR hm ( n ) . Since the
symbol period. Let z m , n = ∑ l = 0 hl ;m , n d m ,( n −τ ) l N
. The
channel changes during one OFDM symbol period, the ideal
output of cyclic correlation between the received data
estimation of each path is the mean value of that path during
sequence and the local pilot sequence is expressed as
one OFDM symbol period, and the ideal CIR is given as
qm ,n = pm ,n z m ,n P (B-1)
hm ( n ) = ∑ hl ; m δ ( n − τ l )
L −1
(B-9)
l=0
The DFT of (B-1) is given as
N −1
1
Qm , k =
N
∑q
n=0
m ,n e − j 2π nk / N
(B-2)
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