Pilot symbol assisted channel estimation for OFDM-based cognitive radio systems

In this article, challenges regarding the provision of channel state information (CSI) in non-contiguous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (NC-OFDM) cognitive radio (CR) systems are addressed. We propose a novel scheme that utilizes cross entropy (CE) optimization together with an analytical pilot power distribution technique to design pilot symbols that minimizes the channel estimate mean squared error (MSE) of frequency-selective channels. The optimal selection of pilot subcarriers is a combinatorial problem that requires heavy computations. To reduce the computational complexity, the CE optimization is utilized to determine the position of pilot subcarriers. Then, for a given pilot placement obtained by the CE algorithm, a closed form expression to obtain optimal pilot power distribution is employed. Simulation results indicate that, the proposed pilot symbol design provides better channel estimate MSE as well as the bit error rate (BER) performance when compared with the conventional equal powered pilot design.