Receiver with channel estimation circuitry

1. Receive circuitry for demodulating an input signal received from a transmission channel, the input signal comprising symbols having a number of sub-carriers (N) comprising a plurality of data sub-carriers modulated by data signals and, in at least certain symbols, a plurality of pilot sub-carriers modulated by reference signals, the receive circuitry comprising:

a Fourier transform block arranged to separate the received input signal into N frequency signals (K n ) corresponding to the sub-carrier frequencies;

a channel estimation block arranged to provide pilot frequency channel estimations (Y n ) based on frequency signals (K P ) corresponding to frequencies on which pilot sub-carriers are present;

a frequency interpolation filter arranged to provide channel estimations (Ĥ n ) of the entire channel, said frequency interpolation filter comprising at least one filter receiving the pilot frequency channel estimations from the channel estimation block and performing filtering based on a plurality (Q) of said pilot channel estimations at a time; and

a memory arranged to store filter coefficients for the at least one filter, said coefficients being based on time distribution of the channel power of the transmission channel determined independently of said pilot frequency channel estimations, wherein said model is based on a χ 2 distribution,

wherein said coefficients are determined based on the discrete Fourier transform of samples (αj) of said model.

2. The receive circuitry of claim 1 , wherein each of said samples (αj) is determined as follows:

α j=σ 2 ( j/Fs ),

where j=0, 1, 2 . . . , (N−1) and N is the number of sub-carrier frequencies, and Fs is a sampling frequency equal to N multiplied by a sub-carrier spacing and σ 2 (j/Fs) is the power attenuation at delay time (j/Fs).

3. Receive circuitry for demodulating an input signal received from a transmission channel, the input signal comprising symbols having a number of sub-carriers (N) comprising a plurality of data sub-carriers modulated by data signals and, in at least certain symbols, a plurality of pilot sub-carriers modulated by reference signals, the receive circuitry comprising:

a Fourier transform block arranged to separate the received input signal into N frequency signals (K n ) corresponding to the sub-carrier frequencies;

a channel estimation block arranged to provide pilot frequency channel estimations (Y n ) based on frequency signals (K P ) corresponding to frequencies on which pilot sub-carriers are present;

a frequency interpolation filter arranged to provide channel estimations (Ĥ n ) of the entire channel, said frequency interpolation filter comprising at least one filter receiving the pilot frequency channel estimations from the channel estimation block and performing filtering based on a plurality (Q) of said pilot channel estimations at a time; and

a memory arranged to store filter coefficients for the at least one filter, said coefficients being based on time distribution of the channel power of the transmission channel determined independently of said pilot frequency channel estimations, wherein said model is based on a χ 2 distribution,

wherein said memory is arranged to store a plurality of sets of filter coefficients, each of said sets of filter coefficients being based on a different model of the time distribution of the channel power, each model being independent of said pilot frequency channel estimations, the receive circuitry further comprising circuitry for selecting one of said sets of filter coefficients.

4. The receive circuitry of claim 3 , wherein each model has a different non-zero time duration, and wherein said circuitry selects one of said sets of coefficients based on an estimated non-zero time duration of the time distribution of the channel power in the transmission channel.

5. The receive circuitry of claim 1 , wherein said at least one filter is a finite impulse response (FIR) filter arranged to perform a filtering function based on minimizing a mean square error of the channel estimations (Ĥ p ).

6. The receive circuitry of claim 1 , wherein said at least one filter is a Wiener filter, and wherein said input signal is modulated based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM).

7. An electronic device comprising an input for receiving the input signal, RF circuitry for digitalising the input signal, and the receive circuitry of claim 1 .

8. A mobile telephone comprising an input for receiving the input signal, RF circuitry for digitalising the input signal, and the receive circuitry of claim 1 .

9. A set-top-box comprising an input for receiving the input signal, RF circuitry for digitalising the input signal, and the receive circuitry of claim 1 .

10. The receive circuitry of claim 1 , wherein said model representing the time distribution of the channel power of the transmission channel is based on the following equation:

σ 2 (τ)− Aτe −Bτ 2

where A and B are constants, τ is the time delay of each one of samples (αj) of the model and σ 2 (α) is a power attenuation at delay τ.

11. The receive circuitry of claim 1 , wherein each of said pilot sub-carriers comprises at least one of a left and right neighbouring sub-carrier, and wherein said at least one filter comprises a first filter arranged to provide a channel estimation (Ĥ p ) for the pilot sub-carriers, a second filter arranged to provide a channel estimation (Ĥ p +1) for the left neighbours of the pilot sub-carriers, and a third filter arranged to provide a channel estimation (Ĥ p +2) for the right neighbours of the pilot sub-carriers.

12. A method of demodulating an input signal received from a transmission channel, the input signal comprising symbols having N sub-carriers comprising a plurality of data sub-carriers modulated by data signals and, in at least certain symbols, a plurality of pilot sub-carriers modulated by reference signals, the method comprising:

separating the received input signal into N frequency signals (K n ) corresponding to the sub-carrier frequencies;

determining a pilot frequency channel estimation (Ĥ p ) of the transmission channel based on the frequency signals corresponding to pilot sub-carriers;

filtering by at least one filter said pilot frequency channel estimations to determine an estimation (Ĥ n ) of the entire channel, wherein filter coefficients for the at least one filter are based on a model of the time distribution of the channel power of the transmission channel, said model being independent of said pilot frequency channel estimation, wherein said model is based on a χ 2 distribution; and

selecting one of a plurality of sets of filter coefficients, each of said sets of filter coefficients being based on a different model of the time distribution of the channel power, each different model being independent of said pilot frequency channel estimation.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising estimating a duration of the time distribution of the channel power, wherein each of said different models has a different non-zero duration, and said selection is based on said estimated duration of the time distribution.