Joint MAP equalization and channel estimation for frequency-selective and frequency-flat fast-fading channels

This paper presents a new fractionally-spaced maximum a posteriori (MAP) equalizer for data transmission over frequency-selective fading channels. The technique is applicable to any standard modulation technique. The MAP equalizer uses an expanded hypothesis trellis for the purpose of joint channel estimation and equalization. The fading channel is estimated by coupling minimum mean square error techniques with the (fixed size) expanded trellis. The new MAP equalizer is also presented in an iterative (turbo) receiver structure. Both uncoded and conventionally coded systems (including iterative processing) are studied. Even on frequency-flat fading channels, the proposed receiver outperforms conventional techniques. Simulations demonstrate the performance of the proposed equalizer.