Abstract:
A system including a receiver to receive, over a wireless channel, a packet including a preamble portion that includes a plurality of training fields and a first signal field and a controller to generate a first estimate of the wireless channel based on one or more of the plurality of training fields, and decode the first signal field based on the first estimate. Subsequent to decoding the first signal field, the controller re-encodes the first signal field to generate a second signal field. The controller verifies whether the first signal field was properly decoded by comparing the second signal field to the first signal field prior to being decoded. In response to the first signal field being correctly decoded, the controller generates a second estimate of the wireless channel based on the first signal field as decoded. The second estimate is usable to refine the first estimate.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/405,904, filed on Feb. 27, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/895,164 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,126,090), filed on Aug. 23, 2007, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/823,975, filed on Aug. 30, 2006. The entire disclosures of the applications referenced above are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     A commonplace type of WLAN system is the 802.11 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standard. Up until 2004, 802.11 wireless devices had a single antenna (some devices had two antennas, but there was only one set of components to process the signal, or RF chain). 802.11 task group N (TGn) has recently proposed an 802.11n standard that has the goal of increasing the peak data throughput transmitted by a wireless multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) device to 100 Mbps. The basis of MIMO operation is to provide 11n devices with multiple radio interfaces to allow the devices to send data on different channels at the same time in order to achieve greater transmit/receive data rates than the pre-11n devices. 
     In a WLAN, information is transmitted between a transmitter and a receiver through the transmission of encoded data packets. These data packets are then decoded at the receiver based on channel state information (CSI). The more accurate the CSI, the more accurate will be the decoding precision, and hence lower the packet error rate. Because a WLAN may suffer from impairments such as delay spread, thermal noise, and bandwidth fluctuations due to a shared medium with multiple users in a mobile environment, a perfect CSI is never known to the receiver. Instead, the receiver must rely on channel estimation. In a WLAN, such as 802.11n, channel estimation is performed at the receiver through training sequences that are transmitted prior to the data. The training sequences are pre-determined and known to the receiver, enabling the receiver to estimate the CSI. For example, in a WLAN 802.11n system, the packet structure includes a preamble that is followed by the data. The preamble includes several types of fields, including several training fields. 
     Although the other types of fields in the preamble include a variety of information, currently, channel estimation performed at the receiver is restricted to use of only the training fields of the packet preamble. Accordingly, by limiting the channel estimation to only use of the training fields of the preamble, the accuracy of the channel estimation may be likewise limited. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     The present invention provides a method and system for improving channel estimation in a wireless device. Aspects of the exemplary embodiment include receiving a data packet wirelessly transmitted from a transmitter, the packet including a preamble portion and a data portion containing data, wherein the preamble portion includes at least one training field and a second field; performing a first channel estimation using the training field; and using the second field to refine the first channel estimation. 
     According to the method and system disclosed herein, receiving wireless devices are no longer limited to using only the training fields of packet preambles for calculation of channel estimation, thereby improving the accuracy of the channel estimate, and consequently the accuracy of the decoding of the data. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless communication system. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating a process performed by the driver for improving channel estimation in a wireless device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  shows an exemplary packet format as proposed by the WLAN 802.11n system in a mode of operation referred to as Greenfield mode. 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating the process performed by the driver for providing an improved the channel estimate in further detail according to one exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to improving the accuracy of channel estimates in a WLAN receiver through increased use of packet preambles. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiments and the generic principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein. 
     The preferred embodiment provides a method and system for increasing the accuracy of channel estimates for use in wireless communication receiver devices. According to the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein, estimating the channel at the receiver when a transmitted packet is received is not restricted only to the training fields of the packet preamble. Instead, additional portions of the preamble may be used to improve the quality of the channel estimation. By increasing the accuracy of the channel estimation, the accuracy of the receiver&#39;s decoding is increased, which in turn, may lower the packet error rate. 
     The exemplary embodiments will be described in terms of improved channel estimation using Greenfield access mode in IEEE 802.11n WLAN systems. However, one with ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the exemplary embodiments may be used with other types of access modes and other types of wireless communication systems in which packets are transmitted with preambles having various fields besides a training field. The exemplary embodiments will also be described in the context of particular methods having certain steps. However, the method and system operate effectively for other methods having different and/or additional steps not inconsistent with the exemplary embodiments. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless communication system. The wireless communication system  10  includes a wireless device  12  that communicates with another wireless device, for example, an access point (AP)  14 . In one exemplary embodiment, the wireless device  12  comprises a MIMO device. In addition, the wireless device  12  may be a network device or client station (STA) used in a desktop/portable computer for communication. The access point  14  is the device that connects multiple wireless devices  12  together to form a wireless network and permits wireless devices  12  to communicate over the network or to each other. An example access point  14  is a router that has a broadband network connection. Several access points  14  can link together to form a larger network that allows roaming. The wireless device  12  and the access point  14  communicate through the transmission of signals in the form of streams of encoded data packets  15  over one or more radio frequency (RF) channels. In the context of referring to different layers in a particular protocol reference model, packets  15  may sometimes be referred to as frames. 
     Although both the wireless device  12  and the access point  14  are capable of both transmitting and receiving signals, for the purposes of this disclosure, the wireless device  12  will be described in terms of being the receiver that receives data packets  15  transmitted from the access point  14 . 
     The wireless device  12  includes one or more independent radio interfaces  16   a  and  16   n  (commonly referred to as radio interfaces  16 ) for processing one or more data streams, a controller  18  coupled to the radio interfaces  16 , a memory  20  coupled to the controller  18 , and a bus interface unit  22  coupled to the controller  18  and to the memory  20  for transmitting data to a host  24  over a host system bus. 
     The radio interfaces  16  are independent from each other because each radio interface  16  has its own antenna and RF chain. Each RF chain and its corresponding antenna are responsible for transmitting and processing a data stream. A single frame of data can be broken up and multiplexed across multiple data streams and reassembled at the receiver, which may have the benefits of resolving multipath interference and improving the quality of the received signal. In one embodiment, the devices in the wireless communication system  10  may have a different number of receive antennas than transmit antennas. Each of the radio interfaces  16  may utilize 1 to N radio channels. Each of the channels may be used simultaneously for data transmission. The wireless device  12  may also include multiple operating modes including one or more data modes corresponding to the number of available radio interfaces  16 . 
     The driver  26  is software or firmware that controls the radio interfaces  16  and can process the data if needed. The driver  26  is executed by the controller  18 . The controller  18  may comprise an ASIC, a DSP or other type of processor. The memory  20  stores the incoming and outgoing data packets  15  and any other data needed by the driver  26 . The bus interface unit  22  transfers data between the host system  24 , and the controller  18  and the memory  20 . 
     In operation, when the wireless device  12  receives one or more data packets  15 , the driver  26  decodes the data packets  15  based on channel state information (CSI). Because an exact CSI cannot be determined by the receiving wireless device  12 , the driver  26  conventionally performs channel estimation through training sequences that are transmitted in the data packets  15  prior to the actual data within the packets  15 . 
       FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating a process performed by the driver  26  for improving channel estimation in a wireless device  12  in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. Referring to both  FIGS. 1 and 3 , the process begins when the wireless device  12  receives a signal comprising a data packet  15  wirelessly transmitted from a transmitter, such as access point  14  (block  200 ). Depending on the type of wireless protocol and the device&#39;s mode of operation within that protocol, the format of the data packets  15  may vary. However, typically, the packet format includes a preamble portion followed by a data portion containing actual data. 
     The preamble contains information essential to establish a link with the transmitter via a radio frequency (RF) channel through gain control, synchronization, channel estimation, etc. In some systems, the same preamble may be transmitted on all the device antennas, but with small time shifts relative to the others. The preamble may include several types of fields, including one or more training fields used traditionally for estimation, and at least one other type of field. The preamble in most modes of the WLAN 802.11 standard, for example, includes both short and long training fields, and a signal field. 
       FIG. 3  shows an exemplary packet format as proposed by the WLAN 802.11n system in a specific mode of operation referred to as Greenfield mode. A packet  300  in Greenfield mode includes a preamble  302  preceding a data field  304  (which contains a physical sub-layer data unit). The preamble  302  includes a Legacy Short Training Field (L-STF)  306 ; a High Throughput Long Training Field (HT-LTF)  308   a ; a High Throughput Signal Field (HT-SIG)  310 ; and several (e.g., 4) additional High Throughput Long Training Fields (HT-LTF&#39;s)  308   b . Other fields not shown that may be utilized in the preamble in other modes of WLAN 802.11n include a Legacy Long Training Field (L-LFT), a Legacy Signal Field (L-SIG), and a High Throughput Short Training Field (HT-STF). 
     The Legacy Short Training Field  306  is typically used by the receiver for synchronization and automatic gain control (AGC). The HT-Signal Field  310  provides information that helps to decode the data in the data field  304 , such as the modulation, coding rate, and number of spatial streams. 
     The training portion of the preamble  302  comprising the HT-Long Training Fields  308   a  and  308   b  (collectively referred to as training fields  308 ), contains the training sequences traditionally used to obtain CSI through channel estimation at the receiver, which is then used to decode the data field  304 . As described above, traditionally channel estimation has in the past been restricted to use of only the training portion of the preamble  302 , i.e., the training fields  308 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 2 , the driver  26  also performs channel estimation using one or more of the training fields  308  of the preamble  302  (block  202 ). However, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the driver  26  also uses a least one other field of the preamble  302  to refine the channel estimation (block  204 ). 
     According to the exemplary embodiment, the other field of the preamble  302  used to refine the initial channel estimates is the HT-SIG (hereinafter signal field)  310 . The signal field  310  contains information necessary for enabling the receiving wireless device  12  to correctly decode the data  304 . The signal field  310  is particularly suitable for channel estimation because the signal field  310  is encoded (i.e., digitally modulated) with a high strength code and can very reliably be decoded at the receiver over a wide range of channel conditions. More specifically, the signal field  310  is encoded using Phase-shift keying (PSK) and also includes a cycle redundancy check (CRC). Even if there are errors in the channel estimate using the training fields  308 , the signal field  310  is almost always error-free. 
     According to the exemplary embodiment, once the receiver decodes the signal field  310  correctly, the receiver can re-encode the signal field  310  to reconstruct the signal that was transmitted, and in effect, provide a longer training sequence. Once the signal field  310  has been successfully reconstructed, the receiver can use the signal field  310  to compute a second channel estimation that may be used to refine the initial channel estimation computed from the long training fields. According to one embodiment, the initial channel estimation may be refined by combining (e.g., averaging) the initial channel estimation with the second channel estimation, providing the refined channel estimation that is used to decode the data  304 . 
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating the process performed by the driver  26  for providing an improved the channel estimation in further detail according to one exemplary embodiment. The process begins by calculating the initial channel estimation based on one or more training fields  308  of the preamble  302  (block  400 ). In one embodiment, the initial channel estimation may be determined based on only the first long training field (HT-LTF1)  308   a . The initial channel estimation may be calculated from the training field(s)  308  using conventional techniques, the details of which are well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art. 
     After calculating the initial channel estimation, the driver  26  uses the initial channel estimation to decode parameters of the signal field  310  (block  402 ). The decoded parameters are re-encoded (using the same type of encoding originally used to encode the signal field  310 ) to provide a reconstructed signal field (block  404 ). The decoding is validated by comparing the signal field  310  with the reconstructed signal field (block  406 ). If validated, the driver  26  calculates a second channel estimation based on the parameters of decoded signal field  310  (block  408 ). In one embodiment, the second channel estimation is calculated using the same conventional techniques used to calculate the initial channel estimation. The driver  26  then averages the initial channel estimation with the second channel estimation to obtain an improved channel estimate (block  410 ). In another embodiment, the initial channel estimation may be refined by the second channel estimation using a weighted average. The improved channel estimate is then used to e decode the data  304  in the packet  300  (block  412 ). 
     Because the averaged channel estimation is based on both the long training fields  308  in addition to another field of the preamble  302 , the averaged channel estimation should increase the accuracy of CSI estimation at the receiver. The more accurate the CSI estimation, the more accurate the decoding of the data  304 , and hence lower the packet error rate. Accordingly, improving channel estimation by performing the estimates using the training fields  308  as well as another field of the preamble  302  accordance with the exemplary embodiments may result in a decoding performance gain of approximately 1 dB. 
     In the process above, the signal field  308  is encoded and then re-encoded to obtain the averaged channel estimation prior to the driver  26  decoding the data  304 . According to an alternative embodiment, the signal field  310  is used even as the data  304  is being processed. In this embodiment, the initial channel estimation is first obtained and the signal field  308  is then decoded. After the signal field  308  is decoded, the decoding of the data  304  is commenced. Any free cycles encountered during the decoding of the data  304  is then used to obtain channel estimations based on the decoded signal field, which together with the initial channel estimation are used to provide the refined channel estimation. The refined channel estimation is then used for the decoding of the remaining data  304 , thereby increasing accuracy of the channel estimation as the data  304  is being processed. 
     In another embodiment, another preamble field other than the signal field  310  may be used to augment the channel estimation obtained from the training fields  308 . For example, a short training field may be used to improve channel estimation, such as the Legacy Short Training Field (L-SFT)  306  used in Greenfield mode. Typically, the short training field is used to achieve standardization or to adjust the gain. However, the short training field could be used in exemplary embodiments by using half of the short training field to achieve synchronization or to adjust gain, and then using the other half to obtain the second channel estimation. 
     In yet another embodiment, some mixed operating mode packet formats may include a guard area in-between the signal field  310  and the long training field  308  in the preamble. Typically, a modulator simply removes the guard area. However, the guard area contains just a copy of the last few samples of the long training field  308 . Accordingly, additional use can be made of the guard area along with the signal field  310  in addition to the long training field to generate the refined channel estimation. 
     A method and system for improving channel estimation for WLANs through increased use of preamble has been disclosed. Exemplary embodiments have been provided that describe how the preamble  302  may be additionally leveraged beyond use of the training fields for improved CSI estimation at the receiver. The embodiments are not limited to the WLAN Greenfield mode of operation or limited to using specifically the signal field  310  for improved channel estimation. In general, additional use of the preamble (not restricting CSI estimation to the LTF), under appropriate conditions, can improve CSI estimation accuracy considerably and reduce the decoding error. 
     The present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown, and one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the embodiments, and any variations would be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention can be implemented using hardware, software, a computer readable medium containing program instructions, or a combination thereof. Software written according to the present invention is to be either stored in some form of computer-readable medium such as memory or CD-ROM, or is to be transmitted over a network, and is to be executed by a processor. Consequently, a computer-readable medium is intended to include a computer readable signal, which may be, for example, transmitted over a network. Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.