Method and apparatus for reference symbol aided channel estimation

A receiver comprising:

• at least one antenna element for receiving a signal;
• receiver circuitry for generating a baseband signal from the received signal;
• a demodulator for generating output samples from the baseband signal;
• and
• a processor configured for:
• selecting a set of demodulator output samples and a corresponding set of reference symbols, wherein each reference symbol in the set has a magnitude that is one of a set of predetermined magnitudes;
• generating a set of raw channel estimates based on the set of demodulator output samples and the corresponding set of reference symbols;
• subdividing the set of raw channel estimates into a plurality of subsets;
• assigning and applying a corresponding reference symbol magnitude quantization scheme to each subset;
• determining a set of filter coefficients that is based on the quantization schemes applied to the subsets of raw channel estimates;
• and
• combining the set of raw channel estimates with the set of filter coefficients to generate a channel estimate.

A method for reference symbol aided channel estimation comprising the steps of:

• selecting a set of demodulator output samples and a corresponding set of reference symbols, wherein each reference symbol in the set has a magnitude that is one of a set of predetermined magnitudes;
• generating a set of raw channel estimates based on the set of demodulator output samples and the corresponding set of reference symbols;
• assigning and applying a multi-level reference symbol quantization scheme to the set of raw channel estimates;
• determining a set of filter coefficients that is based on the multi-level quantization scheme applied to the set of raw channel estimates;
• and
• combining the set of raw channel estimates with the set of filter coefficients to generate a channel estimate.