New Channel Interpolation Method for OFDM Systems by Nearest Pilot Padding

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing scheme has many attractive characteristics that make it a useful scheme to combat multi-path environments and to be able to transmit at high data rates. If the data symbol is not transmitted differentially, coherent detection is obliged and the channel estimation process is indispensable. In this proposal, different methods for channel interpolation are investigated for estimating the channel state information when a rectangular pilot pattern is used. A new and simple method named NPI (Nearest Padding Interpolation) for channel sample interpolation is proposed and its performance is analysed. The main concluded result show that it can be considered as a good alternative comparing with a variety of actual channel estimation methods in terms of the Mean Square Error (MSE), the Mean Phase Error (MPE) and the computational cost.