Training Signal Design and Tradeoffs for Spectrally-Efficient Multi-User MIMO-OFDM Systems

In this paper, we design MMSE-optimal training sequences for multi-user MIMO-OFDM systems with an arbitrary number of transmit antennas and an arbitrary number of training symbols. It addresses spectrally-efficient uplink transmission scenarios where the users overlap in time and frequency and are separated using spatial processing at the base station. The robustness of the proposed training sequences to residual carrier frequency offset and phase noise is evaluated. This analysis reveals an interesting design tradeoff between the peak-to-average power ratio of a training sequence and the increase in channel estimation mean squared error over the ideal case when these two impairments are not present.