Carrier Frequency Synchronization Algorithm for Millimeter-Wave Inter-Satellite Links

Abstract

Carrier frequency synchronization is a difficult problem for inter-satellite links (ISLs) characterized by high dynamic and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, a novel carrier frequency synchronization algorithm is proposed for Millimeter-Wave (mmWave) ISLs. The synchronization procedure can be divided to two steps. Firstly, we use autocorrelation function of short training field (STF) for differential analysis to depress the noise. And then Kalman filter is utilized in the second step to optimize the first-step estimation result. It can improve the stability of estimated frequency offset and track the time-varying frequency offset in ISLs. Simulation results manifest that the carrier synchronization algorithm can estimate the frequency offset with high accuracy and large estimation range.