Joint Channel Estimation and Equalization in Massive MIMO Using a Single Pilot Subcarrier

The focus of this letter is on the reduction of the large pilot overhead in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. We propose a novel joint channel estimation and equalization technique that requires only one pilot subcarrier, reducing the pilot overhead by orders of magnitude. We take advantage of the coherent bandwidth spanning over multiple subcarrier bands. This allows for a band of subcarriers to be equalized with the channel frequency response (CFR) at a single subcarrier. Subsequently, the detected data symbols are considered as virtual pilots, and their CFRs are updated without additional pilot overhead. Thereafter, the remaining channel estimation and equalization can be performed in a sliding manner. With this approach, we use multiple channel estimates to equalize the data at each subcarrier. This allows us to take advantage of frequency diversity and improve the detection performance. Finally, we corroborate the above claims through extensive numerical analysis, showing the superior performance of our proposed technique compared to conventional methods.