Pilot symbol assisted BPSK on Rayleigh fading channels with diversity: performance analysis and parameter optimization

The loss due to imperfect channel estimation is derived for pilot symbol assisted binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) on fading channels with diversity. The presented approach, which holds for both narrow-band and spread spectrum communication, further provides an analytical optimization of pilot symbol spacing. The loss due to channel estimation is demonstrated to be low if the maximum Doppler frequency is significantly less than the bit rate.