Estimation of fast fading channels in OFDM

In this paper, we investigate OFDM transmission over fast fading channels. In such scenarios, the Doppler spread of the channel and synchronization errors cause intercarrier interference (ICI) and complicate channel estimation because the channel cannot be assumed constant during the transmission of an OFDM block. Channel estimation in rapidly time-varying scenarios becomes critical, an we propose a scheme for estimating channel parameters varying within a transmission block. Along with the channel estimation scheme, we also examine the issue of pilot tone placement and show that in time-varying channels it may be better to group pilot tones together into clumps equispaced onto the FFT grid; this placement technique is in contrast to the common wisdom for time-invariant channels. Finally we provide numerical results.