A Novel Channel Estimator for Uplink MC-CDMA Systems

We develop a novel channel estimation technique for uplink multicarrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) systems in this paper. First, the pilot strategy to effectively shift multiple channels into non-overlapped regions is employed. Second, the proposed scheme estimates the channel parameters including the number of channel taps and multipath time delays via Hannan-Quinn (HQ) criterion. Third, with the help of the estimated channel parameters, channel impulse response can be estimated more accurately. A major contribution of the proposed scheme is that it enables robust performance, and is computationally more efficient compared with the previous counterparts. Finally, the expected results are verified through computer simulation.