Method and apparatus for estimating fading distortion of a signal propagating in a communication channel

摘要

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for compensating a signal that has experienced fading distortion in a communication channel. The signal that can be a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) signal includes slots that carry data symbols. Non-uniformly spaced pilot symbols are also embedded in the slot structure. The receiver separates the incoming symbols stream in two parts namely a pilot symbols stream and data symbols stream. Since the transmitted pilot symbols are known, an estimate of the channel distortion on the pilot symbols locations can be computed. This estimate is then interpolated to provide an estimate of the fading distortion at the data symbols locations, thus allowing to compensate accurately for the fading distortion in the channel.