A Simple and Efficient Approach for Space-Frequency Channel Estimation and Beamforming in OFDM Systems

In this paper, a simple method for space-frequency channel estimation in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system with an antenna array is proposed. The space-frequency channel impulse response is estimated in the frequency domain. The estimated channel is further used to implement joint space-frequency channel equalization in the uplink and the beamforming in the downlink. Compared with the existing systems where independent beamforming and channel equalization in frequency domain are conducted, the proposed method can significantly reduce the complexity of the system without loss of performance. Simulations are conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.