A new symbol timing recovery algorithm for OFDM systems

A new, patent-pending, symbol timing recovery algorithm for OFDM based systems is described for which supplementary pilot signals are not required. The proposed algorithm is composed of a coarse timing acquisition stage which does not require prior carrier synchronization and a fine symbol time tracking stage which requires (fine) carrier frequency synchronization so that the residual frequency offset is a multiple of the subcarrier spacing. However, the results of the coarse timing acquisition provides information required for the fine carrier frequency synchronization thus making the algorithm self-contained. Simulation results show that the proposed symbol timing recovery algorithm gives satisfactory performance for E-b/N-o as low as OdB.