Channel order selection and channel estimation in wireless communication system

A method of channel order selection, said method comprising the steps of:

• first performing channel estimation on an entire received training sequence to generate a first channel estimate;
• forming a first training sequence portion and a second training sequence portion from said received training sequence;
• second performing channel estimation on said first training sequence portion and said second training sequence portion to generate a second channel estimate and a third channel estimate, respectively;
• calculating an error estimate as a function of the difference between said second channel estimate and said third channel estimate;
• and
• selecting those channel taps from said first channel estimate that exceed said error estimate.

An apparatus for channel order selection, comprising:

• means for first performing channel estimation on an entire received training sequence;
• means for dividing said received training sequence into two non equal training sequence portions of the same size;
• means for second performing channel estimation on both said training sequence portions;
• means for calculating a noise floor estimate as a function of the difference between channel estimates performed on both said training sequence portions;
• and
• means for selecting those channel taps from said channel estimate on the entire received training sequence that exceed said noise floor estimate.

A radio receiver, comprising:

• a radio frequency (RF) receiver front end circuit for receiving a radio signal transmitted over a channel and downconverting said radio signal to a baseband signal;
• a demodulator adapted to demodulate said baseband signal in accordance with the modulation scheme used to generate said transmitted radio signal;
• an equalizer adapted to remove intersymbol interference introduced by said channel in accordance with a channel estimation;
• a channel estimation module for performing channel order selection comprising signal processing means adapted to:
• calculate a channel estimation of an entire received training sequence to generate a first channel estimate;
• form a first training sequence portion and a second training sequence portion from said received training sequence;
• perform channel estimation on said first training sequence portion and said second training sequence portion to generate a second channel estimate and a third channel estimate, respectively;
• calculate an error estimate as a function of the difference between said second channel estimate and said third channel estimate;
• select those channel taps from said first channel estimate that exceed said error estimate;
• and
• a decoder adapted to decode the output of said equalizer to generate output data therefrom.

A computer program product for use in a communications receiver, said computer program product comprising:

• a computer useable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for performing channel order selection, said computer program product comprising:
• computer readable program code means for first performing channel estimation on an entire received training sequence to generate a first channel estimate;
• computer readable program code means for forming a first training sequence portion and a second training sequence portion from said received training sequence;
• computer readable program code means for channel estimation on said first training sequence portion and said second training sequence portion to generate a second channel estimate and a third channel estimate, respectively;
• computer readable program code means for calculating an error estimate as a function of the difference between said second channel estimate and said third channel estimate;
• and
• computer readable program code means for selecting those channel taps from said first channel estimate that exceed said error estimate.