A modified symbol timing and frequency synchronization method based on cyclic prefix for OFDM systems

Abstract

In this paper, a new blind symbol timing and frequency offset estimation algorithm is proposed for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems in multipath fading channels. The method utilizes the redundant information contained in the cyclic prefix and is suitable within the acquisition as well as tracking phase of an OFDM receiver. The method is based on a new timing function which allows to estimate jointly the symbol timing offset, the frequency offset as well as the channel dispersion. In order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, the most recent blind synchronization algorithms in the literature are compared with the new procedure under different realistic frequency-selective fading channel conditions.