A Downstream Crosstalk Channel Estimation Method for Mix of Legacy and Vectoring-Enabled VDSL

—With the latest technology of vectoring, DSL data rates in the order of 100Mbps have become a reality that is under field deployment. The key is to cancel crosstalk from other lines, which is also known as multiuser MIMO cancellation for wireless communications. During the DSL system upgrade phase of field deployment, mix of legacy and vectoring-enabled VDSL lines is inevitable and a channel estimation solution for the entire mix is needed before vectoring can be enforced. This paper describes a practical method for crosstalk channel estimation for downstream vectoring, assuming that a vectoring-enabled DSLAM forces DMT symbol-level timing to be aligned for all of the lines, but also assuming that the location of synch symbols are aligned only among vectoring-enabled lines. Each vectoring-enabled receiver is capable of reporting error samples to vectoring-DSLAM. The estimation method is not only practical, but also matches the performance of Maximum-Likelihood estimator for the selected training sequences.