Scattered pilot pattern and channel estimation method for MIMO-OFDM systems

1. A method of inserting pilot symbols into Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frames transmitted on a plurality N of transmitting antennas, N>=2, the OFDM frames having a time domain and a frequency domain, each OFDM frame comprising a plurality of OFDM symbols, the method comprising the steps of:

for the N transmit antennas, transmitting sets of N pilot symbols, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency, each set of N pilot symbols comprising a pilot symbol for each antenna,

wherein for the N transmit antennas, transmitting sets of N pilot symbols, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency comprises:

inserting sets of N pilot symbols at locations that form at least one diagonal arrangement in time-frequency,

wherein inserting sets of N pilot symbols comprises:

when N is equal to two, for each antenna,

alternating insertion of null symbol locations and pilot symbols in the at least one diagonal arrangement for a first antenna of the pair of antennas and alternating insertion of pilot symbols and null symbol locations in the at least one diagonal arrangement for a second antenna of the pair of antennas,

wherein the null symbol locations of the first antenna correspond to a same location in time-frequency as the pilot symbols of the second antenna, and vice versa.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting sets of N pilot symbols, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency comprises:

transmitting a set of N pilot symbols in a respective location within the scattered pattern on a same sub-carrier.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the sets of N pilot symbols with a power level greater than a power level of data symbols, depending upon a value reflective of channel conditions.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the sets of N pilot symbols with a power level which is dynamically adjusted to ensure sufficiently accurate reception as a function of a modulation type applied to sub-carriers carrying data.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising inserting sets of N pilot symbols in an OFDM resource for an additional group of N transmitting antennas wherein transmitting sets of N pilot symbols in a respective pattern in time-frequency for the additional group of N transmitting antennas comprises:

employing the same respective pattern of pilot symbols as the N transmitting antennas where N≧2, but offset in at least one of time and frequency.

6. A method comprising:

a first transmitter implementing the method of claim 1 ;

at least one other transmitter implementing the method of claim 4 using scattered patterns offset from those used by the first transmitter.

7. The transmitter of claim 1 wherein a set of N pilot symbols in a respective location within the scattered pattern is transmitted on a same sub-carrier.

8. A method of inserting pilot symbols into Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frames transmitted on a plurality N of transmitting antennas, N>=2, the OFDM frames having a time domain and a frequency domain, each OFDM frame comprising a plurality of OFDM symbols, the method comprising the steps of:

for the N transmit antennas, transmitting sets of N pilot symbols, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency, each set of N pilot symbols comprising a pilot symbol for each antenna,

for each location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency:

generating a group of L uncoded pilot symbols;

performing space time block coding (STBC) on the group of L uncoded pilot symbols to produce an N×N STBC block, L and N determining an STBC code rate;

transmitting one row or column of the STBC block on each antenna on a specific sub-carrier.

9. A method of inserting pilot symbols into Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frames transmitted on a plurality N of transmitting antennas, N>=2, the OFDM frames having a time domain and a frequency domain, each OFDM frame comprising a plurality of OFDM symbols, the method comprising the steps of:

for the N transmit antennas, transmitting sets of N pilot symbols, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency, each set of N pilot symbols comprising a pilot symbol for each antenna,

wherein transmitting sets of N pilot symbols, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency comprises:

providing a first plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier positions;

providing a second plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier positions offset from said first plurality;

inserting the sets of N pilot symbols alternately in time using the first plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier positions and the second plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier positions.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier positions is offset from the first plurality of equally spaced-subcarrier positions by half the spacing between adjacent sub-carriers of the first plurality of sub-carrier positions thereby forming a diamond shaped arrangement.

11. A transmitter comprising:

a plurality N of transmit antennas, N>=2;

an OFDM frame generator that inserts pilot symbols into Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frames transmitted on the plurality N of transmit antennas, the OFDM frames having a time domain and a frequency domain, each OFDM frame comprising a plurality of OFDM symbols, such that for the N transmit antennas, sets of N pilot symbols are transmitted, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency, each set of N pilot symbols comprising a pilot symbol for each antenna;

the transmitter further operable to, for each location in the scattered pattern:

generate a group of L uncoded pilot symbols;

perform space time block coding (STBC) on the group of L pilot symbols to produce an N×N STBC block;

transmit one row or column of the STBC block on each antenna.

12. The transmitter of claim 11 further operable to transmit the sets of N pilot symbols with a power level greater than a power level of data symbols depending on a value reflective of channel conditions.

13. The transmitter of claim 11 further operable to transmit the sets of N pilot symbols with a power level which is dynamically adjusted to ensure sufficiently accurate reception.

14. A transmitter comprising:

a plurality N of transmit antennas. N>=2;

an OFDM frame generator that inserts pilot symbols into Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frames transmitted on the plurality N of transmit antennas, the OFDM frames having a time domain and a frequency domain, each OFDM frame comprising a plurality of OFDM symbols, such that for the N transmit antennas, sets of N pilot symbols are transmitted, each set being in a location within a scattered pattern in time-frequency, each set of N pilot symbols comprising a pilot symbol for each antenna,

wherein the OFDM frame generator is operable to:

define a first plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier locations;

define a second plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier locations offset from said first plurality;

wherein the sets of N pilot symbols are inserted alternately in time using the first plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier locations and the second plurality of equally spaced sub-carrier locations.

15. The transmitter of claim 14 wherein spacing between locations of the scattered pattern in time-frequency is optimized to allow a fast extraction of scattered pilot symbols without requiring the computation of a complete FFT.