Blind channel estimation in delay diversity for frequency selective channels

Delay diversity is an effective transmit diversity technique to combat adverse effects of fading. Thus far, previous work in delay diversity assumed that perfect estimates of current channel fading conditions are available at the receiver and training symbols are required to estimate the channel from the transmitter to the receiver. However, increasing the number of the antennas increases the required training interval and reduces the available time within which data may be transmitted. Learning the channel coefficients becomes increasingly difficult for the frequency selective channels. In this paper, with the subspace method and the delay character of delay diversity, a channel estimation method is proposed, which does not use training symbols. It addresses the transmit diversity for a frequency selective channel from a single carrier perspective in the form of a simple equivalent flat fading model. Monte Carlo simulations give the performance of channel estimation and the performance comparison of our channel-estimation-based detector with decision feedback equalization, which uses the perfect channel information.