Iterative Channel Estimation and Equalization for STBC MC-CDMA System over Time- and Frequency-Selective Fading Channels

This paper investigates the performance of a downlink space-time block code (STBC) multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) system employing a receiver with iterative channel estimation (ICE) and iterative equalization (IE). ICE based on the Kalman filter whereas IE based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalizer. The performance of this system is investigated under time-varying multipath fading channels with different fading rates. Simulation results demonstrate that a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain of 2-2.5 dB can be added when employing ICE and IE for 4 iterations with only few training symbols (less than 10% of bandwidth efficiency loss) even when channels have high fading rate.