Combined time synchronization and channel estimation for MB-OFDM UWB systems

Abstract

Symbol timing error amounts to a major degradation in the system performance. Conventionally, timing error is estimated by predefined preamble on both transmitter and receiver. The maximum of the correlation result is considered the start of the OFDM symbol. Problem arises when the prime path is not the strongest one. In this paper, we propose a new combined time and channel estimation method for multi-band OFDM ultra wide-band (MB-OFDM UWB) systems. It is assumed that a coarse timing has been obtained at a stage before the proposed scheme. Based on the coarse timing, search interval is set (or time candidates). Exploiting channel statistics that are assumed to be known by the receiver, we derive a maximum a posteriori estimate (MAP) of the channel impulse response. Based on this estimate, we discern for the timing error. Timing estimation performance is compared with the least squares (LS) channel estimate in terms of mean squared error (MSE). It is shown that the proposed timing scheme is lower in MSE than the LS method. © 2012 KSII.