Analysis of pilot patterns and channel estimation for DVB-T2

In this paper the second generation digital terrestrial distribution system standardized by the Digital Video Broadcasting Consortium (DVB-T2) is considered and, in particular, pilot assignments and channel estimation methods for DVB-T2 are discussed. The DVB-T2 standard defines eight different scattered pilot patterns to adjust to different channel conditions. Different scattered pilot patterns to be used for each allowed combination of FFT size and guard interval are investigated. Pilot symbol aided channel estimation based on both Least Square (LS) and Linear Minimum Mean-Square Error (LMMSE) is performed to evaluate the performance of different scattered pilot patterns by measuring the bit error rate (BER). Simulations demonstrate that there is an optimum scattered pilot pattern for a specific channel condition, so an opportunity to choose the optimum pilot pattern to adjust to varying channel conditions dynamically is possible.