Continuous and Burst Pilot Sequences for Channel Estimation in FBMC-OQAM

Filter bank multicarrier offset quadrature amplitude modulation (FBMC) has advantages over the well-known orthogonal frequency division multiplexing due to its improved time-frequency efficiency. However, the self-interference of FBMC is an important issue in order to perform the channel estimation. To face this interference in FBMC, several pilot-based schemes have been proposed, but with a high complexity. We propose a novel approach, simple yet effective, based on the use of continuous pilot sequences (CPS) in FBMC. Our scheme considers an adequately designed pilot sequence, taking into account the self interference, combined with a low-complexity channel estimation method that has a better performance in terms of mean squared error (MSE) and symbol error rate than previous methods proposed in the literature. Additionally, we also introduce burst pilot sequences, which have the same benefits of CPS while they reduce the number of required pilots and, thus, increase the available resources for data transmission. Moreover, we derive an analytical model to theoretically characterize the MSE of our proposed schemes. Simulation results have confirmed the validity of these theoretical expressions since their values match perfectly.

Continuous and Burst Pilot Sequences for Channel Estimation in FBMC-OQAM Articles