Carrier-phase and frequency-estimation bounds for transmissions with embedded reference symbols

The true Crame´r-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for the joint estimation of carrier phase and frequency is derived for transmission bursts with interleaved reference and phase-shift keying/quadrature amplitude modulated data symbols. Results are presented for the special cases of midamble, and preamble and postamble, pilot-symbol insertion. The derivation reveals that the CRLB is a function of the location of the reference symbols in the burst, the number of reference symbols, the number of data symbols, the signal-to-noise ratio and the data-modulation scheme. By distributing the reference symbols symmetrically about the center of the burst and analyzing relative to the middle of the signal vector, the joint frequency and phase estimation can be decoupled, and the optimal phase estimation is achieved. In the decoupled case, the phase CRLB is independent of the location of reference symbols in the burst. In a symmetrical burst, the use of a preamble and postamble is found to provide a lower frequency-estimation CRLB than that with a midamble. It appears that the frequency CRLB is reduced as the reference symbols are symmetrically distributed closer to the ends of the burst.