Optimal Power Allocation for Channel Estimation in MIMO-OFDM System with Per-Subcarrier Transmit Antenna Selection

A novel hybrid channel estimator is proposed for multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) system with per-subcarrier transmit antenna selection having optimal power allocation among subcarriers. In practice, antenna selection information is transmitted through a binary symmetric control channel with a crossover probability. Linear minimum mean-square error (LMMSE) technique is optimal technique for channel estimation in MIMO-OFDM system. Though LMMSE estimator performs well at low signal to noise ratio (SNR), in the presence of antenna-to-subcarrier-assignment error (ATSA), it introduces irreducible error at high SNR. We have proved that relaxed MMSE (RMMSE) estimator overcomes the performance degradation at high SNR. The proposed hybrid estimator combines the benefits of LMMSE at low SNR and RMMSE estimator at high SNR. The vector mean square error (MSE) expression is modified as scalar expression so that an optimal power allocation can be performed. The convex optimization problem is formulated and solved to allocate optimal power to subcarriers minimizing the MSE, subject to transmit sum power constraint. Further, an analytical expression for SNR threshold at which the hybrid estimator is to be switched from LMMSE to RMMSE is derived. The simulation results show that the proposed hybrid estimator gives robust performance, irrespective of ATSA error.