Combined Channel Estimation and Turbo Equalization for Wireless Channels

Single-carrier linear modulation techniques combined with frequency-domain equalization provide a viable alternative to multicarrier techniques for combating multipath fading in channels with large delay spread. Such modulations tolerate frequency offset and have well controlled peak to average power ratio. They have comparable complexity to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, and are more robust to synchronization errors. If error correction coding is used, then information can be iteratively passed between the equalizer and the decoder to improve performance. This is referred to as turbo equalization. To date, several turbo equalization schemes have been proposed, but little work has been done to address the problem of channel estimation for the turbo equalization process. The work in this thesis considers frequency-domain turbo equalization with imperfect channel state information (CSI) at the receiver for different wireless channels. A receiver structure incorporating joint frequency-domain turbo equalization and timedomain channel estimation is developed. The novelty of this scheme lies in the combination of time-domain channel estimation and frequency-domain turbo equalization, and in its extension to high level modulation formats. The performance of the system is investigated by a combination of analysis and computer simulation. It is found that the system performs well over a range of dispersive channels.