Combined decoding and channel estimation of OFDM systems in mobile radio networks

An improved method to estimate the channel transfer function of a multi-carrier system (OFDM) is presented. The basic idea is to utilize the (soft) results of a decoding process to estimate and predict the channel coefficients of a frequency selective fading channel. The symbolwise soft-output of the decoder is treated as a reliability of the decoder decision. Using this reliability as a measure it is possible to update the channel estimation by the most reliable decoder decisions.