Analysis and Comparison of Time Replica and Time Linear Interpolation for Pilot Aided Channel Estimation in OFDM Systems

This paper analyzes and compares two time interpolators, i.e., time replica and time linear interpolator, for pilot aided channel estimation in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The mean square error (MSE) of two interpolators is theoretically derived for the general case. The equally spaced pilot arrangement is proposed as a special platform for these two time interpolators. Based on this proposed platform, the MSE of two time interpolators at the virtual pilot tones is derived analytically; moreover, the MSE of per channel estimator at the entire OFDM symbol based on per time interpolator is also derived. The effectiveness of the theoretical analysis is demonstrated by numerical simulation in both the time-invariant frequency-selective channel and the time varying frequency-selective channel.