Frequency-domain channel estimation and equalization for shallow-water acoustic communications

A new frequency-domain channel estimation and equalization (FDE) scheme, combined with a new group-wise phase correction scheme, is proposed for single-carrier (SC) underwater acoustic communications systems employing single transducer and multiple hydrophones. The proposed SC-FDE scheme employs a 2N-point Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to estimate and equalize the channel in frequency domain, where N is the number of symbols in a data block. Both the frequency-domain channel estimation and equalization are designed by the linear minimum mean square error criterion. Initial channel estimation is performed by a pilot signal block and later updates are achieved using the detected data blocks. The proposed phase correction scheme utilizes a few pilot symbols in each data block to estimate the initial phase shift and then correct it for the block to combat the large phase rotation due to the instantaneous Doppler drifts in the acoustic channels. Time-varying instantaneous phase drifts are re-estimated and compensated adaptively by averaging the phase variation across a group of symbols. The proposed SC-FDE and phase correction method is applied to the AUVFest’07 experimental data measured off the coast of Panama City, Florida, USA, June 2007. With the Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation and a symbol rate of 4 ksps, the proposed scheme achieves an average uncoded bit error rate on the order of 1×10−4 for fixed-to-fixed channels with the source–receiver range of 5.06 km. For the moving-to-fixed source–receiver channels where the source–receiver range is 1–3 km, the multipath delay spread is 5 ms, the average Doppler shifts are ±20 Hz, and the maximum instantaneous Doppler drifts from the mean is ±4 Hz, the proposed scheme achieves an average uncoded bit error rate on the order of 1×10−3.