Methods and apparatus for generating and communicating wireless signals having pilot signals with variable pilot signal parameters

An embodiment for wirelessly communicating a signal includes a transmitter generating and transmitting a wireless signal over a wireless communication channel. The wireless signal includes a guard band, data represented within a plurality of data-bearing subcarriers, and a plurality of pilot signals represented within a plurality of pilot subcarriers. In an embodiment, the plurality of pilot signals have variable pilot signal parameters selected from a group of parameters that includes pilot power and pilot spacing with respect to adjacent pilots. An embodiment further includes a receiver receiving a channel-affected version of the wireless signal, and producing a corrected signal by applying corrections to the received signal based on estimated channel perturbations within the received signal, where the estimated channel perturbations are determined based on the plurality of pilot signals. The receiver also produces an output data symbol from the corrected signal.