Equalizing multihop OFDM relay channel under unknown channel orders and Doppler frequencies

In this paper, equalization of multihop relaying orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal is investigated under time-varying channel with unknown noise powers, channel orders and Doppler frequencies. An iterative algorithm is developed under variational expectation maximization (EM) framework. The proposed algorithm iteratively estimates the channel, learns the channel and noise statistical information, and recovers the unknown data, using only limited number of pilot subcarrier in one OFDM symbol. Simulation results show that, without any statistical information, the performance of the proposed algorithm is very close to that of the optimal channel estimation and data detection algorithm, which requires specific information on system structure, channel tap positions, channel lengths, Doppler shifts as well as noise powers.