Embodiments include a method for sending a selected number of pilots (20) to a sparse channel having a channel impulse response limited in time comprising sending the selected number of the pilots (20). The pilots (20) are equally spaced in the frequency domain the number is selected based on the finite rate of innovation of the channel impulse response. Once received the pilots (20), such a channel is estimated by: low-pass filtering (100) the received pilots, sampling (200) the filtered pilots with a rate below the Nyquist rate of the pilots, applying a FFT (300) on the sampled pilots, verifying (500) the level of noise of the transformed pilots, if the level of noise is below to a determined threshold, applying an annihilating filter method (600) to the transformed pilots, and dividing the temporal parameters by the distance (D) between two consecutive pilots.