Performance analysis of pilot pattern design for channel estimation in LTE downlink

Abstract

An efficient pilot pattern design can improve both the spectral efficiency and the reliability of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. Usually, the pilot structure in LTE system is predetermined regardless of the channel variation. In this paper the problem of pilot pattern design is tackled. The pilot symbols spacing that gives the best performance in terms of BER is established as the optimum pilot pattern. The performance of the proposed design is confirmed through simulation and compared to the LTE standard pilot spacing where it is shown that pilot spacing adjustment is not efficient in slow fading channel.