Patent ID: 8559295

Claim:
A method for pilot transmission in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) system for a base unit having multiple transmit antennas, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting via a transmitter in a communication system, a first pilot sequence at a first time during a first symbol period over a first multiple sub-carriers on a first group of antennas; and transmitting via the transmitter a second pilot sequence at a second time during a second symbol period over a second same or differing multiple subcarriers on a second group of antennas, wherein the first and the second groups of antennas only transmit one pilot sequence every subframe of M OFDM symbol periods; wherein the step of transmitting the first pilot sequence comprises the step of transmitting a same first pilot sequence from each of the antennas in the first group of antennas during the first symbol period; wherein the first group of antennas does not transmit on the second multiple subcarriers during the second symbol period when the second group of antennas are transmitting pilot sequences and wherein the second group of antennas does not transmit on the first multiple subcarriers during the first symbol period when the first group of antennas are transmitting pilot sequences; and wherein the first symbol period is different from the second symbol period and the first pilot sequence is different from the second pilot sequence.