Performance analysis of blind channel estimation for precoded multiuser systems

Precoder has been shown to be able to provide source diversity and design flexibility. In this paper we employ precoding techniques for block transmission based on a multirate filterbank structure. To accommodate multiuser communication with variable data rates, different precoders with corresponding coefficients and up/down sampling rates are used. However, due to unknown multipath distortion, different interferences may exist in the received data, such as multiuser interference, intersymbol interference and interblock interference. To estimate channel parameters for a desired user, we employ all structured signature waveforms associated with different symbols of that user and apply subspace techniques. Therefore better performance of channel estimator can be achieved than the conventional subspace method based only on the signature of the current symbol. The delay for that user can also be jointly estimated. Channel identifiability conditions and asymptotic channel estimation error are investigated in detail. Numerical examples are provided to justify the proposed method.