Analysis and performance evaluation of a pilot-aided interpolated

channel estimator for OFDM systems

Athanasios Doukas
*
, Grigorios Kalivas
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras Campus of Rion, Greece
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 15 December 2008
Received in revised form 7 August 2009
Accepted 10 October 2009
Available online 20 November 2009
Keywords:
BER
Interpolation
MSE
OFDM
a b s t r a c t
In this paper, we propose a novel pilot-aided channel estimator through interpolation for
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems that replaces part of the vir-
tual subcarriers with pilot subcarriers (pilots) reducing the interpolation error while keep-
ing the code rate stable. A novel thorough analysis of the Mean Square Error (MSE) of the
proposed estimator is given for the general case where data subcarriers are positioned
before the rst and after the last pilot. Simulations show the improvement of the proposed
scheme in MSE and Bit Error Rate (BER) when applied to a practical OFDM wireless local
area network type of system with realistic channel conditions.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is widely applied in wireless communication systems for Wireless
Local Area Networks (WLAN) and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) due to its robustness to multipath delay making them
capable to provide high data rate transmission with high bandwidth efciency [1]. Accurate channel estimation can be used
to improve performance by allowing for coherent demodulation. The time variation of the wideband channel leads to the
necessity of a continuous estimation method, in contrast to the time invariant channel where a training sequence (preamble)
sent at the beginning of each transmission burst is adequate.
A widely used approach to perform channel estimation in coherent OFDM systems is by employing previously known
subcarriers (pilots) inserted in the timefrequency grid. The pilots can be uniformly distributed within an OFDM symbol
and to the other subcarriers nulls or data can be assigned. When nulls are assigned to the non-pilots subcarriers a comb-type
training symbol (CN) is obtained and when data are assigned a comb-type pilot-aided symbol (CD) is obtained. When all sub-
carriers are pilots, a block-type training symbol (BP) is obtained. Channel estimation with a CN or a CD symbol requires an
interpolation technique in order to obtain the channel estimation for the rest of subcarriers. The most widely used interpo-
lation techniques are the linear and second order polynomial interpolation [29], the cubic-spline interpolation [10], the Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) [11,12] interpolation performed in time or frequency domain [13].
In this paper, we analyze the performance of a novel pilot arrangement scheme for channel estimation through interpo-
lation for OFDM systems with low pilot to data subcarriers ratio (sparse pilot) grid. These systems are of special interest since
the pilot spacing is too large and the channel estimation is quite poor. The usual way to cope with the inherent increased
channel estimation error due to the frequency selectivity and the sparse pilot grid is to dense the pilot grid by inserting addi-
tional pilots. Yet this usual approach lowers the transmission rate. In this work, we propose a novel scheme where additional
pilots are inserted in the frequency grid replacing some of the Virtual Subcarriers (VS) retaining this way the code rate
0045-7906/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compeleceng.2009.10.001
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 6939922611.
E-mail addresses: adoukas@ee.upatras.gr (A. Doukas), kalivas@ee.upatras.gr (G. Kalivas).
Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423
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j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ compel eceng
constant. The slightly denser pilot grid reduces the interpolation error signicantly, due to the original low pilot to data sub-
carrier ratio, and in this way a performance enhancement is achieved.
Another important issue in interpolated channel estimation is edge interpolation extrapolation [14]: channel estimation
on data subcarriers that are not located among pilots. Even that the important role of the edge interpolation in the perfor-
mance of the system has been recognized only a few efforts have been done to deal with it [15,16]. Trough the proposed
scheme we manage to reduce the number of data subcarriers where edge interpolation has to be applied and in this way
its deteriorating effect is decreased. Furthermore a novel detailed analysis of the Mean Square Error (MSE) is given for
the case where a linear interpolator is used. The analysis is given for a generalized OFDM system where the number of edge
subcarriers at the two edges is different. This is in contrast to [9] where a pilot is present in one of the two edges.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme we apply it on a system with a low pilot to data subcarrier ratio
such as IEEE 802.11a WLAN OFDM system and examine its performance. Furthermore in contrast to other works we give
emphasis on a WLAN-type practical OFDM system operating in realistic channel models, where the guard interval is not al-
ways greater than the maximum delay spread. In [6,7] simplied channels not oriented for WLAN applications are used
(channel models with ve and six taps, respectively) whereas the guard interval is chosen to be always greater than the delay
spread (s
d
). Only Kim et al. [9] uses WLAN channels (BRAN channels). However the pilot grid used in [9] is very dense for
practical systems. Simulation results in terms of MSE and Bit Error Rate (BER) corroborate our theoretical analysis and show
that a signicant performance improvement is achieved, importing only two additional pilots, compared to the original
channel estimation scheme that uses the standard derived positioning of the pilots.
2. Interpolated channel estimator scheme
At the receiver, after the FFT, the received signal at the kth subcarrier, Y
k
, can be expressed as
Y
k
X
k
H
k
W
k
; 0 6 k 6 K 1; 1
where X
k
, H
k
, W
k
and K are the transmitted signal, the channel response, the zero-mean white Gaussian noise with variance
r
2
W
and the total number of subcarriers, respectively.
Channel estimation is performed using the original P uniformly inserted pilots into the transmitted signal. The pilot inser-
tion scheme is depicted in Fig. 1a, where the dashed arrows are the pilots, the solid arrows are the data subcarriers and L = K/
P is the interval between pilots in number of subcarriers. At the pilots, the estimation is performed using the Least Square
(LS) estimation by
Fig. 1. (A) Original and (B) proposed channel estimation scheme through interpolation.
A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423 415

H
pL
Y
pL
=X
pL
; p 0; 1; . . . ; P 1: 2
When L P2 an interpolation method has to be applied to the rest of subcarriers to get the channel estimate, by using the
estimate at the pilots. For simplicity reasons a linear interpolation method is chosen and the channel estimation at the
(pL + )th subcarrier is given by

H
pL

L
L

H
pL


L

H
p1 L
1 6 6 L 1: 3
In practical OFDM systems, not all the subcarriers bearing data are located among pilots. Thus edge interpolation is ap-
plied to obtain the channel estimation information. In the referenced OFDM systems edge interpolation is applied only to one
of the two edges because a pilot is usually considered to be at the end of the frequency grid. Thus for the subcarriers before
the pLth pilot the left edge interpolation is given by

H
pL

L
L


H
pL


L


H
p1L
1 6 6 L L
2
; 4
where L L
2
is the number of subcarriers before the pLth pilot subcarrier. In Fig. 1a this original conguration is illustrated
where we can notice that there are no data subcarriers after the (P 1)Lth pilot at the right hand side.
A drawback of the channel estimation through interpolation in systems with sparse pilot grid is the limited ability to track
the frequency selectivity of the channel. Due to the large pilot frequency spacing the estimated Channel Impulse Response
(CIR) is quite different from the actual CIR, as can be seen in Fig. 1a where the estimated CIR is shown with solid line and the
actual CIR with dashed line. Consequently the fades of the channel cannot be fully identied resulting into interpolation er-
ror. Another issue identied in OFDM systems with edge interpolation is that the pilots used to get the edge channel esti-
mates,

H
pL
and

H
p1 L
, and the edge subcarriers have a signicant frequency distance. This fact along with the frequency
selectivity of the channel result into inaccurate channel estimates that increase the channel estimation error. Furthermore
in practical WLAN OFDM systems, such as HIPERLAN/2, IEEE 802.11a, edge subcarriers are located at both sides, resulting
into right and left edge interpolation. For example in IEEE 802.11a there are ve edge subcarriers at the right edge and an-
other six at the left edge.
The usual approach to overcome these problems is by making the pilot grid denser by replacing data subcarriers with
pilots. Such a scheme requires a minor change in the standard structure of the symbol but mainly decreases the code rate
that is crucial for every transmission system. Furthermore using this approach no action is taken to overcome the edge inter-
polation problem.
In this work in order to overcome these burdens we propose to dense the pilot grid by replacing Virtual Subcarriers (VS)
with pilots. VS are placed at the two edges, right and left, of the frequency grid as shown in Fig. 1a and they are null sub-
carriers bearing no information without contribution to the transmission rate. Thus through the proposed scheme the code
rate is not decreased. The proposed pilot insertion scheme achieves to reduce the pilot frequency distance getting a system
with a total number of pilots equal to Q = (original pilots + VS replaced) pilots, as in Fig. 1b shown as dashed arrows. The
pilots in the new OFDM symbol are redistributed in order to achieve equal spacing among subcarriers that is the optimum
way of positioning them. In systems with low pilot to data subcarriers ratio a small increase in the number of pilots will
result into a signicant performance increase.
In most of the OFDM systems, lters with rectangular impulse response are used for pulse shaping reasons, resulting into
increased side lobes of each subcarrier spectrum. A Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) having a frequency response with
small transition bands is used to overcome this problem and in this way VS are used at the edge of the available bandwidth.
If the subcarrier spectra have large and slowly decreasing sidelobes a great number of VS would be used to cope with the
signal distortion caused from the DAC. Thus their replacement would increase the Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) [1, p.
45]. In order to enhance the resistance of our system to ISI due to VS decrease we can use other than rectangular pulses,
relaxing at the same time the needs of the Digital to Analog converter (DAC) for VS [17,18]. Thus the VS decrease is feasible
without ISI increase. In every way, using other than rectangular lters or not, the performance degradation from the ISI in-
crease is expected to be lower than the performance improvement from the pilot insertion due to the low number of VS that
are replaced.
The importance of the proposed scheme can be further enhanced taking under consideration that the proposed scheme
targets systems with low pilot to data subcarriers ratio. These are the systems that mainly require performance improve-
ment and can provide signicant performance improvement that will justify such changes. In contrary, systems with high
pilot to data ratio are not that critical because an increase in the number of pilots will slightly increase the already high per-
formance [9].
In our work we take under consideration that in a practical OFDM symbol there are two edge interpolation areas, the right
and the left. Through the proposed scheme the number of edge subcarriers is decreased, if we consider that in the original
system we could have two edges. Furthermore the pilots that will be used for the edge interpolation are closer to the edge
subcarriers. Thus additional performance improvement is expected.
We should note that the proposed scheme is independent of the choice of interpolation method because it intends to im-
prove the performance of the system by reducing the interpolation error of the specic interpolation method used. A more
complex interpolation scheme than the linear, for example cubic, would probably give better performance results as a result
416 A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423
of the inherent better estimation capabilities of the cubic interpolation compared to the linear. Yet linear interpolation can
depict the true performance improvement coming solely from the proposed scheme that will not be combined with the per-
formance improvement coming from the applied interpolation scheme.
Due to the change of the number of pilots of the system, the equations describing the system are changed. Even that their
change is not radical we choose to give them again as they will be helpful in the MSE analysis. Now the received signal at the
kth subcarrier, Y
k
, can be expressed as
Y
k
X
k
H
k
W
k
; 0 6 k 6 G 1; 5
where G is the new total number of subcarriers.
The Q pilots are uniformly inserted into the transmitted signal with an interval between pilots equal to M = G/Q in number
of subcarriers. The LS estimation can be expressed by

H
qM
Y
qM
=X
qM
; q 0; 1; . . . ; Q 1; 6
and the channel estimation at the (qM + m)th subcarrier is given by

H
qMm

M m
M

H
qM

m
M

H
q1M
1 6 m 6 M 1: 7
At the two edges, the right edge interpolation beyond the (Q 1)Mth pilot is given by

H
Q1Mm

m
M


H
Q2M

M m
M


H
Q1M
1 6 m 6 M M
1
; 8
and for the subcarriers before the qMth subcarrier the left edge interpolation is given by

H
qMm

M m
M


H
qM

m
M


H
q1M
1 6 m 6 M M
2
; 9
where M M
1
and M M
2
are the number of subcarriers after the (Q 1)Mth pilot and before the qMth pilot subcarrier,
respectively.
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
10
0
SNR (dB)
M
S
E
M=16 (4 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Theoritical
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=16 (4 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 20 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 20 Hz Theoritical
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 20 Hz Simulated
Fig. 2. MSE performance in BRAN Channel A for BPSK modulation, Doppler 0 and 20 Hz, with 4 and (4 + 2) pilots used.
A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423 417
3. Performance analysis
The total number of subcarriers can be expressed as
G Pilots Linear Interpolation Subcarriers Left Edge Interpolation Subcarriers
Right Edge Interpolation Subcarriers
Q M
ue
M M
1
M M
2
) M
ue
G Q M M
1
M M
2
: 10a
The average MSE of estimation, including the interpolation error from the ISI, is written as

e Q e
P
M
ue
e
L
M M
1
e
GR
M M
2
e
GL
Q e
P
G Q M M
1
M M
2
e
L
M M
1
e
GR
M M
2
e
GL
; 10b
where e
P
is the MSE of estimation for pilots, e
L
for the linear interpolator, e
GR
for the right edge interpolator, and e
GL
for the
left edge interpolator. We normalize the average MSE dividing with the total number of subcarriers G

e
Q
G
_ _
e
P

G Q
G
_ _

M M
1
G
_ _

M M
2
G
_ _ _ _
e
L

M M
1
G
_ _
e
GR

M M
2
G
_ _
e
GL

1
M
e
P
1
Q
G
_ _

M M
1
G
_ _

M M
2
G
_ _ _ _
e
L

M M
1
G
_ _
e
GR

M M
2
G
_ _
e
GL
)

e

1
M
e
P
M
a
e
L

M M
1
G
e
GR

M M
2
G
e
GL
; 10c
where M
a
= [(M 1)/M] [(M M
1
)/G] [(M M
2
)/G].
Let

e
BP
;

e
CD
and

e
CN
be the average MSE when BP, CN and CD symbol is used for the estimation respectively. For normal-
ization purposes, the pilot subcarriers of CN are boosted

M
p
above of other symbols.
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
10
0
SNR (dB)
M
S
E
M=16 (4 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=16 (4 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 20 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 20 Hz Simulated
Fig. 3. MSE performance in BRAN Channel B for BPSK modulation, Doppler 0 and 20 Hz, with 4 and (4 + 2) pilots used.
418 A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423
The MSE of the estimation for the CD symbol is derived as follows:
a e
P;CD
E

H
qM
H
qM
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _
E
^
Y
qM
X
qM
H
qM
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_
_
_
_
_
_
E
^
Y
qM
X
qM
H
qM
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_
_
_
_
_
_
E
X
qM
H
qM
w
qM
X
qM
H
qM
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _
E w
qM
_
_
_
_
2
_ _
) e
P;CD
r
2
w
; 11
where E{} represents expectation.
b e
L;CN

1
M 1

M1
m1
E

H
qMm
H
qMm
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _

5M 1
3M
R
f
0
M 1
6M
R
f
M R
f
M
_ _
a
2M 1
3M
r
2
w
; 12
as shown in Appendix, where R
f
(s) is the frequency correlation function [1] and
a
1
M 1

M1
m1
M m
M
R
f
m R
f
m
_ _

m
M
R
f
M m R
f
m M
_ _
_ _
: 13
c e
GR;CD

1
M M
1

MM
1
m1
E

H
Q1Mm
H
Q1Mm
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _
F
1
M
1
R
f
0 F
2
M
1
r
2
w
F
3
M
1
R
f
M R
f
M bM
1
; 14
where
bM
c

1
M M
c

MMc
m1
M m
M
R
f
m R
f
m
m
M
_ _
R
f
M m R
f
M m
_ _
;
F
1
M
c
11M
2
7M
c
6M 2M
2
c
3M
c
1
_ _
=3M
2
;
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
10
0
SNR (dB)
M
S
E
M=16 (4 Pilots) QPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) QPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=16 (4 Pilots) QPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) QPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
Fig. 4. MSE performance in BRAN Channel A for QPSK modulation, Doppler 0 Hz, with 4 and (4 + 2) pilots used.
A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423 419
F
2
M
c
8M
2
7M
c
6M 2M
2
c
3M
c
1
_ _
=3M
2
;
F
3
M
c
fM M
c
15M 2M
c
1g=6M
2
: 15
d e
GL;CD

1
M M
2

MM
2
m1
E

H
qMm
H
qMm
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _
F
1
M
2
R
f
0 F
2
M
2
r
2
w
F
3
M
2
R
f
M R
f
M bM
2
:
16
Combining (10)(16), we get the average MSE estimator as

e
BP
r
2
w
; M 1; 17

e
CD

1
M
e
P;CD
M
a
e
L;CD

M M
1
G
e
GR;CD

M M
2
G
e
GL;CD
;
A R
f
0 B R
f
M R
f
M C a D bM
1
E bM
2
F r
2
w
; 18
where A, B, C, D, E and F are respectively
A M
a
5M 1
3M
_ _
F
1
M
1

M M
1
G
_ _
F
1
M
2

M M
2
G
_ _
;
B M
a
M 1
6M
_ _
F
3
M
1

M M
1
G
_ _
F
3
M
2

M M
2
G
_ _
;
C
M 1
M

M M
1
G

M M
2
G
_ _
;
D
M M
1
G
_ _
; E
M M
2
G
_ _
;
F M
a
2M 1
3M
2
_ _
F
2
M
1

M M
1
G
_ _
F
2
M
2

M M
2
G
_ _
:
19
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
SNR (dB)
B
E
R
M=16 (4 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=16 (4 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 20 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. A fd 20 Hz Simulated
M=16 (4 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) BPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
10
-5
Fig. 5. BER performance in BRAN Channels A and B for BPSK modulation, Doppler 0 and 20 Hz, with 4 and (4 + 2) pilots used.
420 A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423

e
CN
can be calculated likewise

e
CD
was calculated but now Efkw
a
=x
a
k
2
g r
2
w
=M because the pilots are

M
p
boosted.
From this analysis we can see that the interpolation error depends on the values of M, (M M
1
), (M M
2
) and R
f
(s). M,
(M M
1
) and (M M
2
) are parameters that depend on the pilot placement scheme while the R
f
(s) depends on the wireless
channel used. Compared to the original OFDM system the proposed channel estimation scheme manages to decrease the pi-
lot distance from L to M. Thus a decrease of the interpolation error is expected. Furthermore the number of edge subcarriers
is decreased from (L L
2
) to (M M
1
) and (M M
2
) at both edges. In this way edge interpolation has to be applied in only
(M M
2
) instead of (L L
2
) subcarriers. To the rest (L L
2
) (M M
2
) subcarriers linear interpolation will be applied, that is
more efcient than the edge interpolation originally applied. Thus we get performance improvement into two ways. Further-
more the distance of the pilots that are used to get the edge interpolation channel estimates from the edge subcarriers is
reduced, resulting into more accurate edge interpolation.
R
f
(s), the frequency correlation function, depends on the frequency selectivity of the wireless channel used. Thus factors
that affect the frequency selectivity of the channel such as the Delay Spread (s
d
) and the Doppler Spread (f
d
) have a direct
impact on the interpolation error. A channel with a relatively small s
d
and f
d
would probably give better estimation results
than one with a relatively higher s
d
and f
d
. Further decrease of the frequency selectivity between pilots can be accomplished
through the decrease of M.
4. Performance results and comparisons
We use the IEEE 802.11a WLAN standard to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. The original system has G = 64,
M = 16 employing BRAN Channels A and B [19]. The CD estimator can be directly used in this application, and its MSE per-
formance is presented in Figs. 24 along with the performance of the original system. The interpolation scheme concerns the
addition of two more pilots by replacing two corresponding Virtual Subcarriers resulting into a total number of 4 + 2 = 6 pi-
lots. This corresponds to 11 data subcarriers between successive pilots (M = 11). The calculated theoretical values for MSE
using the derived formulas in Section 3 were found to be within 0.5 dB to simulated ones, as can be seen in Fig. 2 for the
case of the BPSK modulation. In Figs. 24 the performance improvement, resulting from the proposed insertion scheme,
compared to the original system is evident. This improvement is due to the interpolation error decrease resulting from
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
10
-5
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
10
0
SNR (dB)
B
E
R
M=16 (4 Pilots) QPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) QPSK Ch. A fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=16 (4 Pilots) QPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
M=11 (4+2 Pilots) QPSK Ch. B fd 0 Hz Simulated
Fig. 6. BER performance in BRAN Channels A and B for BPSK and QPSK modulation, Doppler 0 Hz, with 4 and (4 + 2) pilots used.
A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423 421
the decrease of the distance between two successive pilots. Further performance improvement can be achieved through
noise reduction by Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) increase that gives more accurate channel estimates. Yet the pilot spacing,
which remains large, is still the dominant factor in the performance keeping the MSE in the order of 10
1
. Increasing the
number of pilots can result in drastic reduction of MSE ([5,6] for M = 8 and M = 2, respectively).
However, further increase of the number of pilots by replacing more than 2 VS with pilots would result in Inter-Symbol
Interference increase. When a more complex constellation is used, i.e. QPSK instead of BPSK, the performance degradation is
expected. For Doppler values (f
d
) from 10 to 40 Hz and channels with longer s
d
, channel B, MSE performance degradation is
observed, exhibiting an error oor (as in Fig. 2) due to the interpolation error increase. A further decrease of s
d
, lower than
the 50 ns of Channel A, would further improve the performance ([5] for s
d
< 50 ns).
In Figs. 5 and 6, the BER performance of the CD estimator is presented along with the performance of the original system.
The proposed pilot insertion scheme manages to signicantly decrease the estimation and interpolation error and achieve a
performance improvement of about 4 dB compared to the original scheme while maintaining the code rate constant. The
performance is drastically affected by the number of pilots and the frequency selectivity factors of the channel presenting
error oor phenomena due to interpolation error while a scheme operating in channels with shorter s
d
and denser pilot grid
would give even better results. Analogous performance improvement is expected even in sparse pilot systems with thou-
sands subcarriers such as DVB. As the mathematical analysis showed in Section 4, the performance strongly depends on
M and even a small decrease in the pilot spacing would give better performance results. Yet we must always remember
to keep the introduced ISI into the system through our modications at low levels.
5. Conclusion
This work presents a novel pilot insertion scheme for pilot-aided channel estimation through interpolation in OFDM sys-
tems with low pilot to data subcarriers ratio based on the replacement of Virtual Subcarriers with pilots while keeping the
code rate constant. A novel mathematical analysis using a linear interpolator is also provided for a system where data sub-
carriers are also located before the rst and after the last pilot. The analysis showed the dependency of MSE on the frequency
selectivity of the channel. The effectiveness of the pilot insertion scheme was demonstrated in practical WLAN-type OFDM
systems based on existing standards with low number of pilots. The simulation results veried the analysis showing that
frequency selectivity factors such as the type of channel, the delay spread and the Doppler value, have a direct impact on
the performance. Furthermore they showed that the proposed scheme can drastically improve the MSE and BER performance
even in harsh propagation conditions such as BRAN channels and overcome error oor phenomena induced by the interpo-
lation error.
Appendix
To derive e
L,CD
we have
e
L;CD

1
M 1

M1
m1
E

H
qMm
H
qMm
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _

1
M 1

M1
m1
E
M m
M


H
qM

m
M


H
q1M
H
qMm
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _

1
M 1

M1
m1
E
M m
M
H
qM

w
qM
x
qM
_ _

m
M
H
q1M

w
q1M
x
q1M
_ _
H
qMm
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
_ _

1
M 1

M1
m1
E
M m
M
_ _
2
H
2
qM

M m
M
_ _
2

w
qM
x
qM
_ _
2

m
M
_ _
2
H
2
q1M

m
M
_ _
2

w
q1M
x
q1M
_ _
2
_
H
2
qMm
2
M m
M
_ _
2
H
qM

w
qM
x
qM
_ _

M m
M
_ _
H
qM
H
q1M
H
q1M
H
qM
_ _
2
M m
M
_ _

m
M
_ _
H
qM

w
q1M
x
q1M
_ _

M m
M
_ _
H
qM
H
qMm
H
qMm
H
qM
_ _
2
M m
M
_ _

m
M
_ _

w
qM
x
qM
_ _
H
q1M
2
M m
M
_ _

m
M
_ _

w
qM
x
qM
_ _

w
q1M
x
q1M
_ _
2
M m
M
_ _

w
qM
x
qM
_ _
H
qMm
2
m
M
_ _
2
H
q1M

w
q1M
x
q1M
_ _

m
M
_ _
H
q1M
H
qMm
H
qMm
H
q1M
_ _
2
m
M
_ _

w
q1M
x
q1M
_ _
H
qMm
_
: 20
422 A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423
But we have that
EfH
2
qM
g EfH
2
q1M
g EfH
2
qMm
g R
f
0;
E
w
qM
x
qM
_ _
2
_ _
E
w
q1M
x
q1M
_ _
2
_ _
r
2
w
;
E H
qM

w
qM
x
qM
_ _
E
w
qM
x
qM
H
q1M
_ _
E
w
qM
x
qM
H
qMm
_ _
E
w
q1M
x
q1M
H
qMm
_ _
0;
E H
qM
H
q1M
H
q1M
H
qM
_ _
R
f
M R
f
M;
E H
qM
H
qMm
H
qMm
H
qM
_ _
R
f
m R
f
m;
E H
q1M
H
qMm
H
qMm
H
q1M
_ _
R
f
M m R
f
m M:
This way the previous equation becomes
e
L;CD
R
f
0
1
M 1

M1
m1
M m
M
_ _
2

m
M
_ _
2
1
_ _
r
2
w

1
M 1

M1
m1
M m
M
_ _
2

m
M
_ _
2
_ _
fR
f
M R
f
Mg

1
M 1

M1
m1
M m
M
_ _
2

1
M 1

M1
m1
M m
M
R
f
m R
f
m
m
M
R
f
M m R
f
m M
_ _
;
which is the nal result. Into the same way we can calculate e
GR,CD
and e
GL,CD
.
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A. Doukas, G. Kalivas / Computers and Electrical Engineering 36 (2010) 414423 423