Iterative MAP Channel Estimation Based on Factor Graph for OFDM Mobile Communications

To maintain good transmission performance of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) mobile communications over fast-fading channels, iterative maximum a posteriori (MAP) receivers that iterate channel estimation and signal detection on the basis of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm have been investigated. In order to make such a MAP receiver more robust against time-variant channels, this paper derives channel estimation with subcarrier removal from the perspective of a message-passing algorithm on factor graphs. The subcarrier removal estimates the channel frequency response by using the detected signals of all subcarriers other than that of a targeted subcarrier. This modification can avoid the repetitive use of incorrectly detected signals for the channel estimation. Computer simulations under fast-fading conditions demonstrate that the EM-based MAP receiver performing the subcarrier removal can improve the packet error rate (PER) drastically.