Pilot Design Criteria for Single Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization on a Real-Time DSP-Based MIMO Test-Bed

In this paper, single carrier frequency domain equalization with space time transmit diversity was implemented and evaluated in real-time using a DSP-based wireless MIMO test-bed. A new pilot structure for joint Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO) and channel estimation is proposed and evaluated, to address the adverse inter-symbol interference and the severe CFO due to hardware impairments. The channel estimation method is done in the frequency domain using a non-parametric interpolation method. The new pilot scheme results in significant reduction of the required overhead signalling compared to previous schemes.