Enhanced channel estimation using Cyclic Prefix in MIMO STBC OFDM sytems

Channel estimation is an important part of any receiver design. This paper presents an improved iterative joint channel estimation and data detection algorithm for Space Time Block Coded (STBC) MIMO OFDM systems in fast fading environments. The algorithm utilizes both time and frequency correlation information. We show how the Cyclic Prefix (CP) can be used to enhance the joint channel estimation and data detection process. We present two variations of the Expectation Maximization (EM) based Forward Backward (FB) Kalman filter algorithm utilizing the CP information and provide their performance comparison. Simulation results show that the proposed use of CP to aid the EM based FB Kalman algorithm results in improved performance.