Channel and noise variance estimation and tracking algorithms for unique-word based single-carrier systems

Single-carrier (SC) wireless communication systems generally require knowledge of the channel and the variance of the additive noise process to equalize a received message. Obtaining this information can be straightforward in stationary environments, however, these parameters constantly change in mobile environments. In this paper, we propose novel algorithms for estimating and tracking the channel and noise variance in SC systems by exploiting a unique word (UW) extension. These UW-based algorithms benefit from low complexity and lend themselves to SC systems employing frequency-domain equalization at the receiver.