Channel estimation for coherent multi-carrier CDMA systems over fast fading channels

For multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) systems, the pilot carrier-aided technique has been considered for coherent detection. An optimal number of pilot carriers to minimize the bit error rate (BER) has been found under a fast fading channel environment. It is also shown that the result can be applied to direct sequence (DS)-CDMA systems with the pilot chip-aided technique.