A Novel Differential Detection for Differential OFDM Systems With High Mobility

In conventional differential detection (CDD), the previous received symbol is used as the phase reference for the current received symbol, therefore the channel variation due to fast fading causes an error floor. We propose a novel iterative decision-directed differential detection (iD4) algorithm for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems employing differential PSK modulation in each subcarrier. The core of iD4 is a low complexity time and frequency 2-D estimator which can effectively estimate the channel variation experienced by adjacent time domain symbols. This estimated channel variation is then compensated in the differential detection process. Both theoretical analysis and computer simulations show that significant performance improvement can be achieved using iD4 over the CDD for OFDM receivers in fast fading channels.