A Comparative Analysis of LS and MMSE

Estimators for OFDM System

Pravat Kumar Satpathy1
Dept. of ECE
Tech Lead, ProjectPoint
Bhubaneswar, India
Pravat1069@gmail.com

correct the received constellation data so that they can be

correctly demodulated to binary data.
Modulation can be classified as differential or coherent.
For differential, information is encoded in the difference
between two consecutive symbols so no channel estimate is
required. However, this limits the number of bits per symbol
and results in a 3-dB loss in SNR. Coherent modulation
allows the use of arbitrary signaling constellations, allowing
for a much higher bit rate than differential modulation and
better efficiency. This chapter will give a description of our
system environment, the channel model and present several
channel estimation techniques that are required for the case
of coherent modulation.

AbstractThe Channel estimation is one of the fundamental

issues of OFDM system design. The transmitted signal under
goes many effects such reflection, refraction and diffraction.
Channel Estimation in Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM) is imperative for cancellation of the
impairments introduced by the fading channel. This paper,
Compares the performance of the LS and MMSE estimators
for a 64 sub-carrier OFDM model. Here we have demonstrated
a simulation based proof highlighting the superiority of the
MMSE[Min Mean Sq Error] channel estimator over the
LS[Least Sq] estimator. The two parameters of evaluation turn
out to be, quite logically, the SER[Symbol Error Rate] and the
Mean Square Error. The channel is assumed to be g(t)=delta(t0.5 Ts)+delta(t-3.5 Ts){Fractionally spaced}. All the
performance has been evaluated using MATLAB environment
and giving satisfactory results. The method can further be
compared with RLS technique for performance measure of
channel estimation.

II.

Least-Squares Estimator (LS)

The simplest channel estimator is to divide the received
signal by the input signals, which should be known pilot
symbols). This is known as the Least Squares (LS) Estimator
and can be expressed as:
H=y/x
This is the most naive channel estimator as it works best
when no noise is present in the channel. When there is no
noise the channel can be estimated perfectly. This estimator
is equivalent to a zero-forcing estimator.
The main advantage is its simplicity and low complexity.
It only requires a single division per sub-carrier. The main
disadvantage is that it has high mean-square error. This is
due to its use of an oversimplified channel and does not
make use of the frequency and time correlation of the slow
fading channel.Variations to LS estimator (averaging the
channel estimation).An improvement to the LS estimator
would involve making use of the channel statistics. We can
modify the LS estimator by tracking the average of the
estimated channel vector.

Keywords MATLABl, LS, LMMSE, SER, OFDM, Channel

Estimation

I.

PROPOSED METHOD

INTRODUCTION

Channel Estimation
In a wireless environment, the channel is much more
unpredictable than a wire channel because of a combination
of factors such as multi-path, frequency offset, timing offset,
and noise. This results in random distortions in amplitude
and phase of the received signal as it passes through the
channel. These distortions change with time since the
wireless channel response is time varying. Channel
estimation attempts to track the channel response by
periodically sending known pilot symbols, which enables it
to characterise the channel at that time. This pilot
information is used as a reference for channel estimation.
The channel estimate can then be used by an equalizer to

International Journal of Sciences & Engineering Research Studies (IJSERS)| Volume1|Issue1 pp 1-3 | Nov 2015

A Comparative Analysis of LS and MMSE Estimators for OFDM System

the slow fading channel. This is achieved through a
optimizing linear transformation applied to the LS estimator
described in the previous section.
In this paper we have done the Comparison of the
performances of the LS and the MMSE channel estimators

MINIMUM MEAN SQAURE ESTIMATOR

The Minimum Mean Squares Error (MMSE) Estimator
minimizes the mean square error (MSE) between the actual
and estimated channel by using the frequency correlation of
for a 64 sub carrier OFDM system based on the parameter
of Symbol Error Rate.
The channel is assumed to be
g(t)=delta(t-0.5 Ts)+delta(t-3.5 Ts)
III.

SIMULATION RESULTS:

The below Plot shows the SNR V/S SER for an OFDM
SYSTEM with MMSE/LS Estimator Based Receivers.

Fig. 2 Comparative Analysis of SER for LS and MMSE

A Comparison of MSE for LS and MMSE

ls_mse =
0.1418
0.1259
0.1248
0.1718
0.1456
0.1160
0.1151
0.1104
0.1100
0.1495
0.1239
0.0825

Fig. 1 Comparative Analysis of SER for LS and MMSE

A Comparison of SER for LS and MMSE

ser_ls = 0.0846
ser_mmse = 0.0741
ser_ls = 0.0846 0.0686
ser_mmse = 0.0741 0.0559
ser_ls = 0.0846 0.0686 0.0585
ser_mmse = 0.0741 0.0559 0.0442
ser_ls = 0.0846 0.0686 0.0585 0.0544
ser_mmse = 0.0741 0.0559 0.0442 0.0371
ser_ls = 0.0846 0.0686 0.0585 0.0544 0.0525
ser_mmse = 0.0741 0.0559 0.0442 0.0371 0.0332
ser_ls = 0.0846 0.0686 0.0585 0.0544 0.0525
0.0500
ser_mmse=0.0741 0.0559 0.0442 0.0371 0.0332
0.0294

0.0743
0.0613
0.0679
0.0605
0.0652
0.0619
0.0554
0.0541
0.0588
0.0566
0.0669
0.0549

0.0309
0.0337
0.0332
0.0344
0.0268
0.0303
0.0296
0.0336
0.0277
0.0327
0.0301
0.0306

0.0198
0.0159
0.0169
0.0160
0.0158
0.0164
0.0192
0.0151
0.0148
0.0171
0.0119
0.0147

0.0088
0.0066
0.0080
0.0070
0.0088
0.0071
0.0087
0.0060
0.0067
0.0066
0.0069
0.0094

0.0043
0.0047
0.0032
0.0037
0.0042
0.0043
0.0031
0.0038
0.0045
0.0040
0.0044
0.0042

0.0113
0.0125
0.0101
0.0103
0.0116
0.0101
0.0121
0.0100
0.0087
0.0132
0.0091
0.0081

0.0103
0.0062
0.0074
0.0051
0.0055
0.0080
0.0073
0.0072
0.0049
0.0067
0.0060
0.0063

0.0041
0.0020
0.0036
0.0026
0.0042
0.0025
0.0041
0.0023
0.0028
0.0033
0.0024
0.0039

0.0017
0.0024
0.0013
0.0016
0.0021
0.0017
0.0015
0.0019
0.0017
0.0020
0.0022
0.0020

mmse_mse =
0.0360
0.0243
0.0305
0.0380
0.0302
0.0207
0.0244
0.0308
0.0309
0.0289
0.0325
0.0175

0.0242
0.0196
0.0244
0.0207
0.0232
0.0135
0.0186
0.0177
0.0199
0.0210
0.0179
0.0191

International Journal of Sciences & Engineering Research Studies (IJSERS)| Volume1|Issue1 pp 1-3 | Nov 2015

A Comparative Analysis of LS and MMSE Estimators for OFDM System

IV.

[6] Yushi Shen and Ed Martinez, Channel Estimation in OFDM

Systems, Free scale Semiconductor, AN3059 Inc., 2006,
Proceedings of 2014 11th International Bhurban Conference on
Applied Sciences & Technology (IBCAST) Islamabad, Pakistan,
14th 18th January, 2014 423

CONCLUSION

The performance of the OFDM system is studied for LS

and MMSE estimators for a 64 sub-carrier communication
model. I have considered Symbol Error rate and Mean
Square error for the performance measure.As shown in the
figure 1 the SER for the MMSE has the lower value than the
LS showing its better result as an estimator. Similarly to
prove its effectiveness as a better estimator I have calculated
the mean square error for both the processes and finally
found MMSE giving low mean square error than MSE. All
the performance analysis has been done in MATLAB
environment and it gives satisfactory results.
There is a future scope to design channel estimation based
on Recursive Least square of MIMO OFDM based systems..
The complexity of RLS is larger than other estimators. The
RLS estimator has good performance but high complexity.
The LS,MMSE and LMS estimator has low complexity
but its performance is not as good as that RLS at low SNRs.
Simulation results of RLS estimation for MIMO OFDM
provides less BER than other systems. Lastly
the
performance of RLS with LMS can be compared in terms
of the channel estimation

[7] Khan, L.U.; Khan, G.M.; Mahmud, S.A.; Sabir, Z.,

"Comparison of Three Interpolation Techniques in Comb-Type
Pilot-Assisted Channel Coded OFDM System," Advanced
Information Networking and Applications Workshops (WAINA),
2013 27th International Conference on , vol., no., pp.977,981, 2528 March 2013
[8] Bowei Song, Lin Gui, Wenjun Zhang, Comb type pilot aided
channel estimation in OFDM systems with transmit diversity,
IEEE Transactions on broadcasting, vol.52, no.1, pp. 50- 57,
March 2006.
[9] Hui Xie; Guillaume, A.; Yide Wang; Diouris, J.-F.; Suili Feng,
"Robust threshold compressed sensing based sparse multipath
channel
estimation
in
OFDM
system,"
Information,
Communications and Signal Processing (ICICS) 2011 8th
International Conference on , vol., no., pp.1,5, 13-16 Dec. 2011
[10] Lihua Yang; Guangliang Ren; Zhiliang Qiu, "Novel noise
reduction algorithm for LS channel estimation in OFDM system
with frequency selective channels," Communication Systems
(ICCS), 2010 IEEE International Conference on , vol., no.,
pp.478,482, 17-19 Nov. 2010

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International Journal of Sciences & Engineering Research Studies (IJSERS)| Volume1|Issue1 pp 1-3 | Nov 2015