Low overhead equalization algorithm for simultaneously estimating channel and mitigating intrinsic imaginary interference in IMDD-OQAM-OFDM system

Abstract In this paper, we propose a low-overhead equalization algorithm used in the intensity modulation direct detection (IMDD) system with offset-quadrature amplitude modulation orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OQAM-OFDM) modulation. By utilizing the complex interference approximation (IA) structure and the comb pilot-based frequency domain intra-symbol averaging and intra-subcarrier linear interpolation (CFAL) method, the OQAM-OFDM signal’s intrinsic imaginary non-orthogonal distortions can be mitigated and the low overhead of channel estimation with high estimation accuracy can be achieved. The experiment and numerical simulation are constructed to evaluate the proposed IA-CFAL algorithm from the aspects of bit error rate (BER) performance, mean square error (MSE), dispersion tolerance, time jitter tolerance and complexity. Comparison with the previous algorithms are made to prove its robustness to transmission impairments with low training overhead.