A Low Complexity Optimal LMMSE Channel Estimator for OFDM System

Linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) is the optimal channel estimator in the mean square error (MSE) perspective, however, it requires matrix inversion with cubic complexity. In this paper, by exploiting the circulant property of the channel frequency autocorrelation matrix RHH, an efficient LMMSE channel estimation method has been proposed for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based on fast Fourier transformation (FFT) and circular convolution theorem. Finally, the computer simulation is carried out to compare the proposed LMMSE method with the classical LS and LMMSE methods in terms of performance measure and computational complexity. The simulation results show that the proposed LMMSE estimator achieves exactly same performance as conventional LMMSE estimator with much lower computational complexity.