Hi everyone,

I've been working on a coded-OFDM system (looks similar to the standard
OFDM flowgraphs) and have come to the stage where I am trying to improve
channel estimation by implementing LS, STA and comb pilot interpolation
methods similar to gr-ieee802.11. If I follow the default technique
outlined in *ofdm_equalizer_simpledfe* and equalise just a single
subcarrier using its estimated tap calculated by the *OFDM Channel
Estimation* block, everything behaves as usual and I can decode my OFDM
packets. If however I start using neighbouring subcarriers as per STA or
when interpolating pilots, I am unable to decode any symbols.

Suspecting something strange was going on, I began investigating my
flowgraph. Since I am running the system in simulation across a perfect
channel, I would have expected the channel taps derived by the *OFDM
Channel Estimation* block to all be equal to 1. Instead each channel
appeared to be experiencing it's own arbitrary value (which explains why
using multiple subcarriers wouldn't work). Since they are not equal to 1, I
figured some other part of the flowgraph must be applying some unintended
modulation.

At first I suspected irreversibility between the FFT/IFFT blocks, but after
ensuring both were using *fft.window.rectangular(fft_len)* as the selected
window function and correctly rescaling after the FFT, I was able to
successfully recover the original signal directly after the IFFT. Next I
took a look at the *cyclic prefixer* and *header/payload demux* combo, but
after using a *Keep M in N *block after the *cyclic prefixer *I was again
able to recover the signal.

This left only the *Schmidl & Cox OFDM Sync* block, *analog frequency
modulation* block and the subsequent multiplication. Since I was on a
perfect channel, it was no surprise that the fine frequency offset was 0Hz,
meaning the frequency mod block resulted in a simply multiplication by 1.
However,replacing the input to the frequency mod block with a constant
source of zero changed the resulting channel estimations further down the
line and meant they were correct (unity) for at least one packet (and again
on every third packet for some reason...) I can't really explain what's
going on...?

Now I might be on the totally incorrect path here, so if anyone has any
suspicions or could recommend something for me to try out, it would be
greatly appreciated. I could be misinterpreting the Schmidl/Cox technique
for example or the role of channel equalisation altogether. Thanks in
advance for your help!

Regards,
Justin
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