Iterative Maximal Ratio Combining Channel Estimation for Multiuser Detection on a Time Frequency Selective Wireless CDMA Channel

In this paper, we investigate the performance of DS-CDMA systems in dispersive fading channels. We develop a low-complexity receiver that jointly performs channel estimation and multiuser decoding in an iterative manner. Pilot symbols, together with the soft decoding information on the transmitted data are harnessed to estimate the time-varying channel states, which in turn leads to improved detection and decoding results. We show through simulation and mean square error analysis that the proposed system can sustain a high-throughput WCDMA transmission.