Low-complexity joint channel estimation and symbol detection for OFDMA systems

In this paper, we propose a joint channel estimation and symbol detection (JCESD) algorithm relying on message-passing algorithms (MPA) for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems. The channel estimation and symbol detection leverage the framework of expectation propagation (EP) and belief propagation (BP) with the aid of Gaussian approximation, respectively. Furthermore, to reduce the computation complexity involved in channel estimation, the matrix inversion is transformed into a series of diagonal matrix inversions through the Sherman-Morrison formula. Simulation experiments show that the proposed algorithm can reduce the pilot overhead by about 50%, compared with the traditional linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) algorithm, and can approach to the bit error rate (BER) performance bound of perfectly known channel state information within 0.1 dB.