Analytic performance evaluation of MIMO OFDM with pilot-aided channel estimation on doubly selective channels

In this work, the effects of channel estimation errors on the performance of a maximum likelihood detector (MLD) in a MIMO OFDM system are assessed. The analysis is conducted in the framework of a long-term evolution (LTE) air interface and is based on a robust pilot aided channel estimator. The correlation coefficient between the estimate and the real channel is computed and the impact of interpolation errors on the detector is evaluated as a function of key design parameters such as the pilot spacing and the number of transmit antennas. The effect of partial knowledge of the channel statistics at the receiver side is studied with special emphasis on the role of the delay and Doppler spread of the channel. Our analysis accounts for both time and frequency selectivity of the channel and thus also for the intercarrier interference arising in a typical time varying propagation scenario. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.