In this paper, we are concerned with a two-hop multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) amplify-andforward (AF) relay system consisting of a source node (SN), a relay node (RN), and a destination node (DN). Since the simple RN in this system is unaware of the structure of its received signal and incapable of performing complicated signal processing, the interim channels over the SN-RN and the RN-DN hops can not be estimated directly. Therefore, we develop a novel interim channel estimation approach in

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... is paper. Futhermore, we find necessary and sufficient conditions for the pilot amplifying matrix sequence at the RN to ensure successful interim channel estimation at the DN, and present rules to design low-complexity pilot amplifying matrices meeting these conditions. ICC 2009 This work may not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part for any commercial purpose. Permission to copy in whole or in part without payment of fee is granted for nonprofit educational and research purposes provided that all such whole or partial copies include the following: a notice that such copying is by permission of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.; an acknowledgment of the authors and individual contributions to the work; and all applicable portions of the copyright notice. Copying, reproduction, or republishing for any other purpose shall require a license with payment of fee to Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. Abstract-In this paper, we are concerned with a two-hop multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) amplify-and-forward (AF) relay system consisting of a source node (SN), a relay node (RN), and a destination node (DN). Since the simple RN in this system is unaware of the structure of its received signal and incapable of performing complicated signal processing, the interim channels over the SN-RN and the RN-DN hops can not be estimated directly. Therefore, we develop a novel interim channel estimation approach in this paper. Furthermore, we find necessary and sufficient conditions for the pilot amplifying matrix sequence at the RN to ensure successful interim channel estimation at the DN, and present rules to design low-complexity pilot amplifying matrices meeting these conditions.