Applying Channel Estimation in MIMO Network Coding protocol

in this paper, a combination of MIMO and network coding, based on MINEC protocol, is used for improving the performance of the relay networks in fading environments. We have introduced the concept of channel estimation into the proposed three-node relay network. When the receiver is having no knowledge of the channel, then the Rayleigh fading channel has to be estimated using some technique, as the channel state information is required at the receiver for the decoding process. In this brief, Least Square Channel Estimation is presented to estimate the channel for Maximum Likelihood Decoding at the detector. Thus, a comparison of the Probability of Error verses SNR characteristic is shown when the channel is assumed to be known at the receiver and when it is estimated. Also an improvement in the error performance is depicted when MIMO is used with network coding and when MIMO is not employed and only network coding is used. Keywords— Alamouti Code, MIMO, Network Coding, Pilot symbol based Least Square Channel Estimation, Relay Network, Spatial Diversity, Spatial Multiplexing, STBC.