Hopping Pilots for Estimation of Frequency-Offset
and Multi-Antenna Channels in MIMO OFDM
Mi-Kyung Oh1 , Xiaoli Ma2 , Georgios B. Giannakis2 and Dong-Jo Park1
1
Dept. of EECS, KAIST; 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejon 305-701, Republic of Korea
2
Dept. of ECE, Univ. of Minnesota; 200 Union Str. SE., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Abstract— We design pilot symbol assisted modulation for
carrier frequency offset (CFO) and channel estimation in or-
thogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmissions
over multi-input multi-output (MIMO) frequency-selective fading
channels. By separating CFO and channel estimation from sym-
bol detection, the novel training patterns lead to low-complexity
CFO and channel estimators. The performance of our algorithms
is investigated analytically, and then compared with an existing
approach by simulations.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has
been adopted by many standards (e.g., IEEE802.11a,
IEEE802.11g in the US and DAB/DVB, HiperLAN/2 in
Europe), because it offers high data-rates and low decoding
complexity [6]. On the other hand, space-time multiplexing
and multi-antenna transmissions over multi-input multi-output
(MIMO) channels, has been recently proved effective in
combating fading, and enhancing data rates; see [1], [5] and
references therein. Therefore, MIMO-OFDM has got much
attention. Implementing MIMO-OFDM however, faces two
major challenges: i) with the number of antennas increasing,
channel estimation becomes more challenging as the number
of unknowns to be estimated increases accordingly; and ii)
similar to single-antenna OFDM, MIMO-OFDM exhibits great
sensitivity to CFO.
Many existing approaches have dealt with CFO and channel
estimation in a single-input single-output (SISO) OFDM setup
(e.g., [2]–[4], [8]). Some rely on training-blocks [4], while
others just take advantage of the standardized transmission
format (e.g., [2], [8] exploits presence of null sub-carriers).
Recently, optimal training for MIMO channel estimation has
been considered in [9]. However, CFO estimation was not
taken into account. We incorporate it in this paper using
sparse-training sequences. Unlike [9], which estimates the
channel on a per block basis, we collect several blocks for
estimating CFO and MIMO channels. Thus, we can afford
fewer number of training symbols per block than [9].
Specifically, we design training patterns for estimating CFO
and MIMO frequency-selective channels in block transmission
systems. For MIMO-OFDM, we design training symbols that
enable decoupling of CFO and channel estimation from sym-
bol decoding, which in turn leads to a low-complexity receiver
compared to blind alternatives [7]. Moreover, our MIMO setup
enlarges the acquisition range of CFO estimators compared to
existing SISO algorithm, e.g., [4]. Our scheme is also flexible
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to accommodate any space-time coded transmission.
Notation: Upper (lower) bold face letters will indicate matri-
ces (column vectors). Superscript (·)H will denote Hermitian,
(·)T transpose, and
· will stand for the nearest integer.
The real and imaginary parts are denoted as [·] and [·];
E[·] will stand for expectation and diag[x] for a diagonal
matrix with x on its main diagonal. Matrix DN (h) with
a vector argument will denote an N × N diagonal matrix
with DN (h) = diag[h]. For a vector,  ·  denotes the
Euclidean norm. We will use [A]k,m to denote the (k, m)th
entry of a matrix A, and [x]m for the mth entry of the column
vector x; IN will denote the N × N identity matrix; ei the
(i + 1)-st column of IN ; [FN ]m,n = N (1/2) exp(−j2πmn/N )
the N × N fast fourier transform (FFT) matrix. We define
fN (ω) := [1, exp(jω), . . . , exp(j(N − 1)ω)]T .
II. S YSTEM M ODEL
Let us consider the discrete-time equivalent baseband model
of a block transmission system communicating over MIMO
frequency-selective channels in the presence of CFO, shown in
Figure 1. Every information symbol block, [s(k)]n = s(kNs +
n), is drawn from a finite alphabet. At the transmitter, each
block s(k) is first encoded and/or multiplexed in space and
time, to yield blocks {cµ (k)}N µ=1 of length Nc , which are
t
forwarded to each transmit antenna. Training symbols (either
zero or non-zero), which are known to both the transmitter
and the receiver, are then inserted into cµ (k) to form a vector
ūµ (k) with length N , for the µth antenna.
Following the insertion of training symbols, we just perform
MIMO-OFDM. In detail, we implement inverse FFT (IFFT)
(via left multiplication with FH N ) and cyclic prefix insertion
(via left multiplication with the appropriate matrix operator
Tcp := [ITL×N ITN ]T , where IL×N denotes the last L columns
of IN ). Define the resulting vectors as {uµ }N t
µ=1 . After parallel
to serial (P/S) multiplexing, the blocks {uµ }N t
µ=1 of size
P ×1 are transmitted through the frequency-selective channels,
which in discrete-time equivalent form have a finite impulse
response h(ν,µ) (l), l ∈ [0, L]. Let fo be the frequency offset
(in Hz), which could be due to Doppler, or, mismatch between
transmit-receive oscillators. If the sampling period is T , then
the samples at the ν-th receive-antenna filter output can be
written as:
Nt


L
xν (n) = ejωo n h(ν,µ) (l)uµ (n − l) + ην (n), (1)
µ=1 l=0
0-7803-7974-8/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE
where ν ∈ [1, Nr ], ωo := 2πfo T is the normalized CFO, insert pilot symbols (both zero and non-zero ones) so that CFO
and ην (n) is zero-mean, white, complex Gaussian distributed estimation can be separated from MIMO channel estimation.
noise with variance ση2 . The sequence xν (n) is then serial The insertion of pilot symbols will be performed in two steps.
to parallel (S/P) converted into P × 1 blocks with entries In the first step, we insert the pilot block bµ (k) into the
[xν (k)]p := xν (kP + p). Selection of the block size P greater information bearing block cµ (k), per transmit-antenna, as
than the channel order L implies that each received block follows:
xν (k) depends only on two consecutive transmitted blocks, ũµ (k) = PA cµ (k) + PB bµ (k), (5)
uµ (k) and uµ (k − 1), which is referred to as interblock where the two permutation matrices PA , PB have sizes K ×
interference (IBI). In order to remove IBI at the receiver, we Nc and K × Nb , respectively, and are selected to be mutually
discard the cyclic prefix by left multiplying xν (k) with the orthogonal: PTA PB = 0Nc ×Nb . Note that Nc + Nb = K.
matrix Rcp := [0N ×L IN ]. Denoting the resulting IBI-free One example of such matrices is to form PA with the last
block as yν (k) := Rcp xν (k), we obtain the following vector- Nc column of INb +Nc , and PB with the first Nb columns of
matrix input-output relationship: INb +Nc given as:
Nt

PA = [eNb . . . eK−1 ], and PB = [e0 . . . eNb −1 ]. (6)
yν (k) =ejωo kP Rcp DP (ωo )H(ν,µ) Tcp FH
N ūµ (k)
µ=1
(2) The structure of ũµ (k) in (5) is shown in Figure 2. When
+ Rcp η ν (k), ũµ (k) is left multiplied by FH
N , the permutation matrices in (6)
assign OFDM subcarriers to information and training symbols
where η ν (k) := [ην (kP ), ην (kP + 1), . . . , ην (kP + P − (pilot tones). We will specify the structure of the training block
1)]T ; H(ν,µ) is a P × P lower triangular Toeplitz ma- bµ (k) later.
trix with first column [h(ν,µ) (0), . . . , h(ν,µ) (L), 0, . . . , 0]T ; In the second step, we insert zeros per block ũµ (k) to obtain
and DP (ωo ) is a diagonal matrix defined as DP (ωo ) := ūµ (k). This insertion can be implemented by left-multiplying
diag[1, ejωo , . . . , ejωo (P −1) ]. ũµ (k) with the null subcarrier insertion matrix defined as
Based on the structure of the matrices involved, it can  
be readily verified that Rcp DP (ωo ) = ejωo L DN (ωo )Rcp , Tsc (k) := eqk (mod N ) , . . . , eqk +K−1(mod N ) , (7)
where DN (ωo ) := diag[1, ejωo , . . . , ejωo (N −1) ]. Following
where qk := k
N/(L + 1). We call each subcarrier corre-
this identity, let us define H̃(ν,µ) := Rcp H(ν,µ) Tcp , where
sponding to a zero symbol as null subcarrier. Dependence of
the N × N matrix H̃(ν,µ) is circulant with first column
the null subcarrier insertion matrix Tsc (k) on the block index
[h(ν,µ) (0), . . . , h(ν,µ) (L), 0, . . . , 0]. Letting also vν (k) :=
k, implies that the position of the inserted zero is changing
Rcp η ν (k), we can re-write (2) as:
from block to block. In other words, (7) implements a null
Nt

subcarrier hopping operation from block to block. Plugging
yν (k) = ejωo (kP +L) DN (ωo ) H̃(ν,µ) FH
N ūµ (k) + vν (k). (7) and (5) into (4), we deduce that the resulting signal at the
µ=1 νth receive antenna, takes the following form:
(3)
Nt


Because H̃(ν,µ) in (3) is circulant, it follows that
yν (k) =ejωo (kP +L) DN (ωo )FH
N DN (h̃(ν,µ) )Tsc (k)
FN H̃(ν,µ) FH N is a diagonal matrix DN (h̃
(ν,µ)
), where (8)
(ν,µ) (ν,µ) T µ=1
h̃ := [h̃ (0),
L · · · , h̃ (2π(N − 1)/N )] , with
(ν,µ) (ν,µ) · [PA cµ (k) + PB bµ (k)] + vν (k).
h̃ (2πn/N ) := l=0 h (l) exp(−j2πln/N ) denoting
the channel’s frequency response values on the FFT grid. We have described the insertion of two types of training sym-
Next, we insert FH N FN = IN between DN (ων ) and H̃
(ν,µ) bols: zero and non-zero ones. In the following, we will show
in (3), and using Tsc (k), we re-express (3) as that this idea of hopping pilots is instrumental in establishing
identifiability of our CFO estimator.
Nt


yν (k) =ejωo (kP +L) DN (ωo ) FH
N DN (h̃
(ν,µ)
)ūµ (k) A. CFO Estimation
(4)
µ=1 If the CFO was absent (ωo ≡ 0 in (8)), then similar to [9],
+ vν (k), ν ∈ [1, Nr ]. we could isolate from the received block the part correspond-
ing to the training symbols, and by collecting several blocks
We deduce from (4) that estimating CFO and the multi-
(enough number of pilots), we could eventually estimate the
ple channels based on {yν (k)}N r
ν=1 is a nonlinear problem.
Nr channels. However, CFO destroys the orthogonality among
Given {yν (k)}ν=1 , our goal is to design training pilots for
subcarriers, and the training information is “mingled” with
estimating the CFO ωo and the Nt Nr channels h(ν,µ) :=
the unknown symbols, and channels. This motivates acquiring
[h(ν,µ) (0), . . . , h(ν,µ) (L)] in MIMO-OFDM systems.
the CFO first, and estimating the channels afterwards.
III. CFO AND C HANNEL E STIMATION FOR MIMO-OFDM Our CFO estimation algorithm will rely on a “de-hopping”
operation, implemented on a per block basis using the de-
Although ūµ (k) contains both information bearing symbols
hopping matrix
and training symbols, their separation is challenging due to
2π 2π
the presence of CFO. In the following, we specify how to DH
N (k) := diag[1, e
−j N qk
, . . . , e−j N qk (N −1) ]. (9)

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Because Tsc (k) is a permutation matrix and DN (h̃(ν,µ) ) Thanks to subcarrier hopping, J(ω) has a unique minimum
is a diagonal matrix, it is not difficult to verify that in [−π, π) regardless of the position of channel nulls. This
DN (h̃(ν,µ) )Tsc (k) = Tsc (k)DK (h̃(ν,µ) (k)), where h̃(ν,µ) (k) establishes consistency of ω̂o , and shows that the acquisition
is formed by permuting the entries of h̃(ν,µ) as dictated by range of our CFO estimator in (15) is [−π, π), which is the
Tsc (k). Using the well-designed “de-hopping” matrix in (9), full range.
it is easy to establish the identity
B. Estimating MIMO Channels
DH H H
N (k)FN Tsc (k) = FN Tzp , (10)
Based on the estimated CFO in (15), we can remove the
where Tzp := [IK 0K×(N −K) ]T is a zero-padding operator. M −1
terms that depend on ωo from {ȳν (k)}k=0 , and proceed with
Multiplying (8) by the de-hopping matrix, and using (10), we channel estimation. To derive our MIMO channel estimator,
obtain we temporarily assume that the CFO estimate is perfect; i.e.,
ȳν (k) = DHN (k)yν (k)
ω̂o = ωo .
jωo (kP +L)
(11) At the receiver, after removing the CFO related terms from
=e DN (ωo )FHN Tzp gν (k) + v̄ ν (k),
(11), we first take the FFT and then remove the null-subcarriers
Nt
where gν (k) := µ=1 DK (h̃(ν,µ) (k))ũµ (k), and v̄ ν (k) := by multiplying the blocks with TTzp to obtain
DHN (k)vν (k). Eq. (11) shows that after dehopping, null sub-
carriers in different blocks are at the same location, because zν (k) =e−j ω̂o (kP +L) TTzp FN D−1
N (ω̂o )ȳν (k)
Nt


Tzp does not depend on the block index k. The system model
(11) per receive antenna, is similar to the one used in [2], [8] = DK (h̃(ν,µ) (k)) [PA cµ (k) + PB bµ (k)] + ξ ν (k),
µ=1
for the SISO-OFDM case. This observation suggests that we
(16)
can generalize the method of [2], [8] to estimate the CFO for
MIMO-OFDM systems. where ξ ν (k) := e−j ω̂o (kP +L) TTzp FN D−1
N (ω̂o )v̄ ν (k).
To this end, we consider the covariance matrix of ȳν (k) By the definitions of PB and the de-hopping matrix in (10),
Rȳν = DN (ωo )FH (ν) H H 2
N Tzp Rgg Tzp FN DN (ωo ) + σ IN , (12)
we have
 
(ν)
where Rgg := E gν (k)gνH (k) , and the noise v̄ ν (k) has DK (h̃(ν,µ) (k))PB = PB diag[F(k)h(ν,µ) ], (17)
covariance matrix σ 2 IN . In practice, the ensemble correlation where the Nb × (L + 1) matrix F(k) contains the first L + 1
matrix Rȳν is replaced by its sample estimate formed by
columns and qk related Nb rows of the FN , and h(ν,µ) :=
averaging across M blocks (M > K):
[h(ν,µ) (0), · · · , h(ν,µ) (L)]T . Since PTB PB = INb , we have
M −1
1
zν,b (k) = PTB zν (k)
R̂ȳν = ȳν (k)ȳνH (k). (13)
M Nt
k=0
(18)
It has been shown in [8] that the column space of Rȳν = Bµ (k)F(k)h(ν,µ) + ξ ν,b (k),
consists of two parts: the signal subspace and the null sub- µ=1
(ν)
space. In the absence of CFO, if Rgg has full rank, the null where Bµ (k) := diag[bµ (k)] and ξ ν,b (k) := PTB ξ ν (k).
space of Rȳν is spanned by the missing columns (the location Stacking zν,b (k) for M blocks, we can write the input-output
of the null subcarriers) of the FFT matrix. The presence of relationship for training symbols as
CFO introduces a shift in the null space. Similar to [8], a cost
function can be built to measure this CFO-induced shift for z̄ν,b = Bhν + ξ̄ ν,b , (19)
our MIMO-OFDM setup. With ω denoting the candidate CFO,
this cost function can be written as where hν consists of {h(ν,µ) }N t
µ=1 , and
N −1   N
   


r
B1 (0)F(0) ··· BNt (0)F(0)
H 2πn −1 2πn
J(ω):= fN DN (ω) Rȳν DN (ω)fN ,  . . .. 
N ν=1
N B= .. .. . .
n=K
Nr   (14) B1 (M -1)F(M -1) ··· BNt (M -1)F(M -1)
Nr (ν)
where ν=1 Rȳν=DN (ωo)FH T
N zp R
ν=1 gg T H
F D H
zp N N o). (ω
Notice that B is the same ∀ν ∈ [1, Nr ]. Collecting z̄ν,b ’s from
Clearly, if ω = ωo , then DN (ωo − ω) = IN . Next, recall
N −1 all receive antennas into z̄b := [z̄T1,b , · · · , z̄TNr ,b ]T , the LMMSE
that the matrix FH N Tzp is orthogonal to {fN (2πn/N )}n=K . channel estimator is now given by
Hence, if ω = ωo , the cost function J(ωo ) is zero in
 −1
the
Nrabsence(ν)
of noise. However, we have to confirm that if ĥLMMSE := σ 2 R−1 h + INr ⊗ (B B)
H
(INr ⊗ BH )z̄b ,
ν=1 Rgg has full rank, then ωo is indeed the unique zero (20)
of J(ω). Here we omit the proof for limitation of space. where Rh := E[hhH ] with h := [hT1 , · · · , hTNr ]T is the
Therefore, CFO estimates can be found by minimizing J(ω) channel covariance matrix, and σ 2 denotes the noise variance.
as These two quantities are assumed to be available. If Rh is
ω̂o = arg min J(ω). (15) unknown, the least-squares (LS) estimator can be used instead.
ω

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To guarantee that LS estimation can be performed, we need
to ensure that the minimum number of blocks is L + 1.
Now our problem has been reduced to the one in [9]. Due
to page limitations, we will not derive the optimum training
for our current scheme. Based on results in [9], however, the
training block length Nb for each block can be selected equal
to Nt , and the training block can be designed as:
bµ (k) = [01×(µ−1) , b, 01×(Nt −µ) ]T . (21)
C. Phase Estimation
So far, we have estimated the CFO and the Nt Nr channels.
However, we will show by simulations that the residual CFO
will degrade the bit-error rate (BER) severely as the number of
blocks increases. Therefore, one additional step is necessary
to deal with the residual CFO.
After CFO compensation using the estimate in (15), the
received block can be written as [c.f. (11)]
ỹν (k) = ej(ωo −ω̂o )(kP +L) DN (ωo − ω̂o )FH
N Tzp gν (k)+ζ ν (k),
(22)
where ω̂o − ωo is the residual CFO, and ζ ν (k) :=
e−j ω̂o (kP +L) D−1
N (ω̂o )v̄ ν (k). We observe from (22) that when
the CFO estimate is accurate enough, the matrix DN (ω̂o −ωo )
can be approximated well by an identity matrix. However, the
phase term (ω̂o − ωo )(kP + L) becomes increasingly large as
the block index k increases. Without mitigating it, the phase
distortion degrades not only the performance of the channel
estimator, but also the BER performance over time.
To enhance BER performance, we will use the non-zero
training symbols to estimate the phase per block, which was
originally designed for channel estimation. Suppose that for
the kth block, we obtain the estimated channel from (20). Let
us adopt the training sequence in (21) and suppose that the
channel estimation step is perfect. After removing the channel,
for the νth antenna and the µth entry of zν,b (k), the equivalent
input-output relationship, provided that DN (ω̂o − ωo ) ≈ IN ,
becomes
φν (k) = ej(ω̂o −ωo )(kP +L) b + wν , (23)
(ν,µ)
where φν (k) := [zν,b (k)]µ /[h̃b (k)]µ ,
and wν is the equiv-
alent noise term after removing the channel. Since b is known,
the phase (ω̂o − ωo )(kP + L) can be estimated based on the
observations from Nr receive-antennas on a per block basis.
To perform this phase estimation step, we do not need to
insert any additional pilot symbol and the extra complexity
is negligible.
IV. P ERFORMANCE A NALYSIS
To benchmark the performance of our estimators, we derive
the Cramér-Rao lower bounds (CRLB) for the CFO. Starting
from the system model in (11), the CRLB for ωo is:
 
2

Nr M
−1   −1
CRLBω = H (ν) T
tr D(k)FN Tzp Rgg Tzp FN D(k) , per OFDM block for CFO estimation, and orthogonal training
σv̄2 ν=1
k=0
(24)
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where D(k) := diag[P k + L, . . . , P (k + 1) − 1]. It follows
from (24), that as the number of blocks increases, the CRLB
for CFO decreases. Similar comments apply for the signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR) versus CRLB. If N  1, we have that
(ν)
Tzp ≈ IN . Assuming that Rgg = EIN , and P , M are
sufficiently large, we obtain
σv̄2 3
CRLBω ≈ . (25)
E 2(P − L)P 2 M 3 Nr3
As expected, the CRLB of CFO is independent of the channel
and the number of transmit-antennas, inversely proportional to
the SNR, and the cube of the number of space-time data.
V. S IMULATIONS
We conduct simulations to verify the performance of our
MIMO OFDM designs. In all experiments, we consider chan-
nels with exponential power profile, Rayleigh fading indepen-
dent taps, and additive white Gaussian noise, with zero-mean,
and variance ση2 . We define SNR = E 2 /ση2 with E 2 denoting
energy per symbol.
To verify the acquisition range of our CFO estimator, we
compare against the algorithm in [4] with Nt = 1 and Nr = 1.
Fig. 3 illustrates true versus estimated CFO. The ideal line is
also shown for comparison. Our CFO estimate is identifiable
over the entire range, which is larger than [4]. Figure 4 shows
average normalized mean square error (NMSE) of ωo for
(Nt , Nr ) = (2, 2), N = 64, L = 3, and CFO randomly
selected in the range [−0.5π, 0.5π]. As a figure of merit, we
depict the CFO NMSE defined as: E[ ω̂o − ωo 2 ]/  ωo 2 .
The CRB we derived in Section IV is also shown as a
benchmark.
Next, we test the performance of MIMO channel estimation
and BER. The simulation parameters are the same as the
ones for CFO NMSE. Figure 5 shows channel estimation
performance. As a performance measure of channel estimation
quality, we compute the average channel MSE E[ ĥ − h 2
]/  h 2 , where ĥ is obtained using the LS method. We
compare with the case where CFO is absent. As expected,
we can see that increasing the number of OFDM blocks
does not improve the channel NMSE accordingly. We also
plot BER versus SNR in Figure 6. Zero-forcing equalization
is used to estimate the information symbols. The ideal case
corresponding to perfect channel estimation is plotted for
comparison. As discussed in Section III-C, BER performance
degrades with time due to residual CFO errors. The BER
performance after mitigating for the phase distortion are also
shown, which corroborates our claim that the phase estimation
improves BER performance considerably.
VI. C ONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we derived algorithms to estimate the carrier
frequency offset and the channels in multi-antenna OFDM
transmissions. We have shown that at least one zero pilot
blocks of size Nt are sufficient for MIMO channel estimation.
Moreover, we proved that hopping pilots from block to block
0-7803-7974-8/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE
 c1 Insertion of
u1 u1 3
Ideal
S/P null & training
IFFT Tcp P/S Proposed
Standard [11]
s Space-Time
2

Coder
cNt Insertion of
uN t
uN t
1

S/P IFFT Tcp P/S

Estimated CFO
null & training
0

x1 y1 z1
S/P R cp FFT Space-Time ŝ −1
Decoder
−2

xNr y Nr zN r
CFO & Channel
S/P R cp FFT Estimator −3
−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3
True CFO

Fig. 1. Discrete-time equivalent baseband model of MIMO system

Fig. 3. CFO acquisition range comparison ((Nt , Nr ) = (1, 1), L = 3)

Null Training Information 2

NMSE of CFO
10

0 k=0 0
10

−2

0 k =1 10

Average NMSE for CFO

−4
10

0 k=2 10
−6

M=L+1
M=K
−8
10 M=2K

Fig. 2. One example of ūµ (k) structure M=3K

CRLB (M=K)
−10
10

−12
10

enlarges the CFO acquisition range to the full range, while 10

−14

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
inserting training symbols orthogonally per transmission block SNR

leads to low-complexity high performance channel estimation.

Fig. 4. Average CFO NMSE ((Nt , Nr ) = (2, 2), L = 3)
Our training pattern shows flexibility to be adjusted according
to different standards, and is capable of achieving desirable 1
NMSE of Channel
10
complexity-performance tradeoffs. The performance of our M=L+1
M=K
M=2K
estimators was benchmarked with CRLB, investigated by M=3K
Ideal(w/perfect CFO)

simulations, and compared favorably with existing alternatives.

0
10

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Channel MMSE

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Fig. 6. Average BER performance ((Nt , Nr ) = (2, 2), L = 3)

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