Performance Analysis of a Channel Estimator using Linear Interpolation for OFDM Systems

In this work, the performance of a pilot symbol assisted channel estimator using linear interpolation for practical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is examined. A novel analysis of the mean square error (MSE) is given for an OFDM system in which data subcarriers are also positioned before the first and after the last pilot subcarrier and their number is different at the two edges. The performance of the estimator, in both MSE and bit error rate (BER) terms, is characterized by the number and distance of the inserted pilots and the Doppler spread. Simulations show the influence of these factors on MSE and BER performance.