Method and device for channel estimation, equalization, and interference suppression

In a communication system including a receiver having at least one receiving antenna for receiving at least one information burst transmitted by at least one transmitting device where the information burst contains a number of data symbols and a pilot symbol sequence of content known at both the at least one transmitting device and the receiver, a method for computing a channel transfer function between the at least one transmitting device and the at least one receiving antennas, comprising the steps of:

• A) solving a minimization formula according to:
• ##EQU15## wherein Y(k,t) represents a vector of output signals of the at least one receiving antenna, x.sub.j (k,t) represents a pilot symbol, h.sub.j (l) represents a component of a channel modeling sequence, f.sub.l (k) represents a basis function;
• and
• B) computing the channel transfer function between the at least one transmitting device and the at least one receiving antenna according to:
• ##EQU16## wherein h.sub.i (l) is equal to the solution of the minimization function of step.

In a communication system including a receiver having at least one receiving antenna for receiving at least one information burst transmitted by at least one transmitting device where the information burst contains a number of data symbols and a pilot symbol sequence of content known at both the at least one transmitting device and the receiver, a method for computing a channel transfer function between the at least one transmitting device and the at least one receiving antenna, comprising the steps of:

• A) solving a minimization formula according to:
• ##EQU17## wherein Y(k,t) represents a vector of output signals of the at least one receiving antenna, x.sub.j (k,t) represents a pilot symbol, h.sub.j (l) represents a component of a channel modeling sequence, f.sub.l (k) represents a basis function;
• and
• B) computing the channel transfer function between the at least one transmitting device and the at least one receiving antenna according to:
• ##EQU18## wherein h.sub.l (l) is equal to the solution of the minimization function of step.

In a communication system including a plurality of receiving antennas, having a plurality of outputs, for receiving at least one information burst transmitted by at least one transmitting device where the information burst contains a predetermined number of data symbols, a method for combining the outputs of the plurality of receiving antennas to produce at least one combined output signal for recovering the at least one information burst transmitted by the at least one transmitting device, comprising the steps of:

• A) computing for the at least one transmitting device at each of the receiving antennas at least one channel transfer function;
• B) computing for the at least one transmitting device at least one spatial covariance matrix based on the at least one channel transfer function at each of the receiving antennas;
• and
• C) computing for the at least one transmitting device at least one combined output signal based on the outputs of the plurality of receiving antennas and based on the at least one channel transfer function and the at least one spatial covariance matrix for the at least one transmitting device.

In a communication system including a receiver having a plurality of receiving antennas for receiving at least one information burst transmitted by at least one transmitting device where the information burst contains a number of data symbols and a pilot symbol sequence of content known at both the at least one transmitting device and the receiver, a method for combining the outputs of the plurality of receiving antennas to produce at least one combined output signal for recovering the at least one information burst transmitted by the at least one transmitting device, comprising the steps of:

• A) computing for the at least one transmitting device at each of the receiving antennas at least one channel transfer function;
• B) computing for the at least one transmitting device at least one spatial covariance matrix based on the at least one channel transfer function at each of the receiving antennas;
• C) computing for the at least one transmitting device an intermediate signal estimate based on the at least one channel transfer function and the pilot symbol sequence transmitted by the at least one transmitting device;
• D) forming an external interference plus noise signal for each of the receiving antennas by subtracting the intermediate signal estimate of the at least one transmitting device from the output of the receiving antennas;
• E) forming an external interference plus noise spatial covariance matrix based on the external interference plus noise signal;
• and
• F) computing for the at least one transmitting device at least one combined output signal based on the outputs of the plurality of receiving antennas and based on the at least one channel transfer function, the at least one spatial covariance matrix for the at least one transmitting device, and the external interference plus noise spatial covariance matrix.

In a communication system including a receiver having a plurality of receiving antennas for receiving at least one information burst transmitted by at least one transmitting device where the information burst contains a number of data symbols and a pilot symbol sequence of content known at both the at least one transmitting device and the receiver, a method for combining the outputs of the plurality of receiving antennas to produce at least one combined output signal for recovering the at least one information burst transmitted by the at least one transmitting device, comprising the steps of:

• A) computing for the at least one transmitting device at each of the receiving antennas at least one channel transfer function;
• B) computing an external interference plus noise signal for each of the receiving antennas according to:
• ##EQU23## wherein Y(k,t) represents a vector of output signals of the plurality of receiving antennas, H.sub.i (k) represents the at least one channel transfer function for each of the plurality of receiving antennas x.sub.j (k,t) represents a pilot symbol;
• C) computing an external interference plus noise spatial covariance matrix according to:
• R.sub.e =average (x.sub.e (k,t)x.sub.e.sup.H (k,t));
• D) computing a combining weight vector by solving the following minimization formula:
• ##EQU24## E) multiplying the combining weight vector by a vector comprised of the outputs of the plurality of receiving antennas to form the combined output signal in accordance with:
• s.sub.j (k,t)=w.sub.j.sup.H (k)Y(k,t).