Learning MMSE Filters for OFDM Channel Estimation: Attention Transformer Gains at Linear Inference

Abstract

In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), accurate channel estimation is crucial. Classical signal processing-based approaches, such as linear minimum mean-squared error (LMMSE) estimation, often require second-order statistics that are difficult to obtain in practice. Recent deep neural network (DNN)-based methods have been introduced to address this, but they often suffer from high inference complexity. This paper proposes an Attention-aided MMSE (A-MMSE), a model-based DNN framework that learns the linear MMSE filter via the Attention Transformer. Once trained, the A-MMSE performs channel estimation through a single linear operation, eliminating nonlinear activations during inference and thus reducing computational complexity. To improve the learning efficiency of the A-MMSE, we develop a two-stage Attention encoder that captures the frequency and temporal correlation structure of OFDM channels. We also introduce a rank-adaptive extension that adjusts the filter rank at deployment time, enabling efficient operation under resource-constrained receivers. Numerical simulations show that A-MMSE consistently outperforms baseline methods across a wide range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. In particular, the A-MMSE and its rank-adaptive extension provide an improved performance-complexity trade-off.