Full Synchronization Method for OFDM/OQAM and OFDM/QAM Modulations

Abstract

This paper describes a full synchronization method for OFDM/OQAM and OFDM/QAM modulations utilizing frequency domain scattered pilots in the time domain. Most of the OFDM based standards provide this kind of known pilots mainly for channel estimation purposes. The time domain complex correlation results between the modulated received signal and the time representation of the scattered pilots sequence are successively exploited to perform first clock sampling and symbol synchronization, then frequency synchronization and finally frame synchronization (if specific attention is paid to scattered pilots definition). Correlation operation is optimized in complexity and is fragmented for a better robustness to frequency offsets. This full synchronization method brings really satisfactory performance and has already found an early application in the new DVB-T2 standard, for conventional OFDM modulation.