Low-complexity pilot-aided data detection in MC-CDMA systems

In this paper, the performance of a MultiUser Detection (MUD) receiver is investigated for a multi-carrier-Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA) system in an Indoor environment. Furthermore, low complexity pilot-aided methods are introduced for estimating channel parameters in an effort to study the resistance of the proposed solution to imperfect channel estimates. Simulation results show that benefits of MC-CDMA schemes, in terms of capacity and probability of error (P-e), are enhanced by means of a Selective Parallel Interference Cancellation (S-PIC) receiver (at the expense of moderate increases in overall system complexity). The proposed channel estimation methods, based on a classical mean and a newly Adaptive Mean Square Error (AMSE) algorithm, introduce low performance loss, in terms of P-e and throughput, with respect to the ideal channel estimate situation. Moreover, the AMSE shows better accuracy and faster convergence than the mean algorithm.