Adaptive MC-CDMA multiple channel estimation and tracking over time-varying multipath fading channels

Multicarrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) combines multicarrier transmission with direct-sequence (DS) spread spectrum techniques. In this study, several possible channel models of MC-CDMA systems are considered as a multi-state switching Markov process to match the time-varying multipath fading channel. A novel multiple channel estimator, which consists of several possible channel models and can be self-adjusted to fit different channel uncertain conditions, is proposed for MC-CDMA systems to effectively estimate channel coefficients in the frequency domain over time-varying multipath fading channels. Based on the proposed channel estimation, an enhanced minimum mean-square error (MMSE) equalizer is employed for symbol detection of MC-CDMA systems. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed multiple channel estimator can track the channel more accurately than the conventional channel estimators. With the consideration of channel estimation error as a channel noise to improve symbol detection, the enhanced equalizer based on the proposed multiple channel estimator performs much better than those based on the conventional channel estimators in bit error rate (BER).