Supervised Phase Correction of Blind Space–Time DS-CDMA Channel Estimates

Blind channel-estimation algorithms return phase-ambiguous estimates. From a receiver design point of view, the phase-ambiguity problem can be by-passed by differential modulation and detection at the expense of a well-known performance loss, in comparison with direct modulation and coherent detection schemes. An alternative approach is followed in this paper. A theoretical minimum mean-square error phase-estimation criterion leads to a supervised phase-recovery procedure that directly corrects the phase of arbitrary linear filter receivers through a simple closed-form projection operation. Conveniently, any known blind channel-estimation algorithm can be used to provide the initial phase-ambiguous estimate. The presentation is given in the context of adaptive space-time receiver designs for binary phase-shift keying direct-sequence code-division-multiple-access antenna array systems. Numerical and simulation studies support the theoretical developments and show that effective phase correction and multiple-access interference suppression can be achieved with about 2% pilot signaling