Performance Analysis of Superimposed Pilot Channel Estimation for OTFS in Fractional Doppler Channels


Kaya O., Sani S., Erdem M., Gurbuz O., Qaraqe K.

34th Signal Processing and Communications Applications Conference, SIU 2026, İstanbul, Türkiye, 7 - 10 Temmuz 2026, (Tam Metin Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1109/siu71813.2026.11636808
  • Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Channel Estimation, Fractional Doppler, OTFS, Superimposed Pilot
  • Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) modulation is a promising technology for 6G and beyond, as it overcomes severe Doppler shifts in high-mobility environments. However, physical channel paths introduce fractional Doppler shifts that cause inter-Doppler interference. Conventional pilot-based channel estimation mitigates this by transmitting pilots in time-multiplexed frames (block pilots), which degrades spectral efficiency. In this study, a Superimposed Pilot (SP) based channel estimation architecture for OTFS is implemented and evaluated against Block Pilot, Pseudo-Noise sequence, and Ideal Channel State Information methods. By overlaying the pilot directly onto the data across the delay-Doppler grid, the need for dedicated pilot time slots is eliminated. Simulation results under 3GPP Extended Vehicular A conditions at 500 km/h show that the SP scheme achieves higher throughput than the Block Pilot scheme while maintaining comparable reliability at high signal-to-noise ratio.