Channel Estimation and Tracking Algorithms for Harsh Vehicle to Vehicle Environments

The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication channels are highly time-varying, making reliable communication difficult. This problem is particularly challenging because the standard for V2V communication (IEEE 802.11p standard) is based on the WLAN IEEE 802.11a standard, which was designed for indoor and relatively stationary channels. In this paper, novel channel estimation and tracking algorithms for highly time varying channels are proposed. The proposed algorithms utilize the finite alphabet property of the transmitted symbol, time domain truncation, decision-directed feedback, pilot information as well as V2V channel characteristics. The proposed algorithms improve the overall system performance in terms of bit error rate, enabling the system to achieve higher data rates and larger packet lengths at high relative velocities. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms achieve improved performance for all the V2V channel models with different velocities, and for different modulation schemes and packet sizes as compared to the conventional least squares estimator and other previously proposed channel estimation techniques for V2V channels.