A Software Defined Radio Testbed to Analyze the Performance of Channel Estimation in MIMO Systems

Channel estimation process plays an integral role in the realization of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, as they are one of the key enabling technologies of the present fifth-generation (5G) and the next-generation wireless networks. The majority of the existing works in the literature focus on the particular aspects of channel estimation such as optimizing the feedback process, reducing the computational complexity, and computational time. However, it is imperative to focus on the overall channel estimation process. In this work, we intend to provide an end-to-end channel estimation performance evaluation for a hardware platform such as software-defined radio (SDR). The proposed framework comprises of tunable self-developed processing blocks that can perform the requisite operation. Some of the salient features include flexibility, adaptability, and ease of operability.