Wireless channel estimation in OFDM systems based on collaborative filtering techniques

Velimir Švedek – Adrian Satja Kurdija – Željko Ilić

   In this paper, a new channel estimation algorithm in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems is proposed. The proposed algorithm is suitable for cases with low density of pilot sub-carriers, where standard interpolation methods (linear, second order and cubic spline interpolation) are inaccurate. The algorithm improves the interpolation methods by employing memory based collaborative filtering (CF) techniques which are less sensitive to the number and location of the pilot subcarriers. CF algorithms are usually used in the context of recommender systems (e-commerce) for predictions of the unknown user-item ratings based on known values of similar users. The advantage of CF is the ability to efficiently produce quality predictions with highly sparse data. Computer simulations are used to verify the proposed channel estimation algorithm and demonstrate that the proposed algorithm improves predictive accuracy metrics, such as Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), compared to usual estimation methods.

Keywords: OFDM, channel estimation, collaborative filtering, interpolation methods

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