Joint Synchronization, Channel Length Estimation, and Channel Estimation for the Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimator for High Speed Wireless Communications

The performance of channel-estimation-based maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) depends on the accuracy of the channel estimate. Conventional least-squares channel estimators preset a fixed length for the channel. For wireless communications, however, the actual length of the channel is environment-dependent and in general unknown. It is therefore desirable to modify conventional channel estimation algorithms so that the length of the channel estimator adapts to the actual channel. In this paper, we propose a least-squares algorithm for joint synchronization, channel length estimation, and channel estimation. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme is robust against propagation environment and achieves the best trade-off between performance and complexity.