Efficient Semi-Blind Subspace Channel Estimation for MIMO-OFDM System

Abstract

This paper deals with channel estimation for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) wireless communications systems. Herein, we propose a semi-blind (SB) subspace channel estimation technique for which an identifiability result is first established for the subspace based criterion. Our algorithm adopts the MIMO-OFDM system model without cyclic prefix and takes advantage of the circulant property of the channel matrix to achieve lower computational complexity and to accelerate the algorithm's convergence by generating a group of sub vectors from each received OFDM symbol. Then, through simulations, we show that the proposed method leads to a significant performance gain as compared to the existing SB subspace methods as well as to the classical last-squares channel estimator.