Optimum phase error metric for OFDM pilot tone tracking in wireless LAN

A pilot phase error metric in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) receiver comprising:

• means for determining pilot reference points corresponding to a plurality of pilots of an OFDM preamble waveform;
• and
• means for estimating an aggregate phase error of a subsequent OFDM data symbol relative to the pilot reference points using complex signal measurements corresponding to each of the plurality of pilots of the subsequent OFDM data symbol and the pilot reference points;
• wherein the means for estimating comprise means for performing a maximum likelihood-based estimation using the complex signal measurements corresponding to each of the plurality of pilots of the subsequent OFDM data symbol and the pilot reference points.

A pilot phase error metric for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) receiver comprising:

• a reference point storage for storing pilot reference points corresponding to each of a plurality of pilots of an OFDM preamble waveform;
• a maximum likelihood phase error/weighting processor coupled to the reference point storage for processing complex signal measurements corresponding to each of a plurality of pilots of a subsequent OFDM data symbol in comparison to the pilot reference points from the reference point storage;
• and
• a phase error estimator coupled to the maximum likelihood phase error/weighting processor for estimating an aggregate phase error of the OFDM data symbol relative to the pilot reference points from the processed complex signal measurements and the pilot reference points.