On channel parameter estimation in a space-time bit-interleaved-coded modulation system for multipath DS-CDMA uplink with receive diversity

In this paper, we consider iterative space-time multiuser detection and channel parameter estimation in a bit-interleaved coded modulation scheme for asynchronous direct-sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) transmission over frequency selective, slowly fading channels. Accurate estimation of the channel parameters is critical as it has great impact on the overall BER performance. We present an iterative space-time multiuser (STMU) turbo detection and estimation scheme, based on space alternating generalized expectation maximization (SAGE) algorithm. This algorithm operates on the coded symbols by exchanging soft information between the detector and the estimator. We show through computer simulations that the proposed low complexity STMU receiver considerably outperforms conventional estimation schemes and achieves excellent performance, both in terms of BER and estimation error variance. Finally, we will consider different mapping strategies and investigate their impact on the performance and complexity of the estimator.