A method and system for canonical channel estimation in the Long Term Evolution uplink where a multi-frequency signal is generated and then converted to frequency spectrum which is then convolved in the frequency domain with a truncated window function to obtain a time domain channel impulse response. The time domain channel impulse response can be then transformed to a frequency domain to produce a down sampled user channel response, which can be then linearly interpolated to provide a channel estimate for a plurality of subcarriers. Such an approach achieves channel estimation within Long Term Evolution at only canonical locations to reduce complexity without loss in channel entropy.