Timing and Carrier Synchronization in Wireless Communication Systems: A Survey and Classification of Research in the Last 5 Years

Timing and carrier synchronization is a fundamental requirement for any wireless communication system to work properly. Timing synchronization is the process by which a receiver node determines the correct instants of time at which to sample the incoming signal. Carrier synchronization is the process by which a receiver adapts the frequency and phase of its local carrier oscillator with those of the received signal. In this paper, we survey the literature over the last 5 years (2010–2014) and present a comprehensive literature review and classification of the recent research progress in achieving timing and carrier synchronization in single-input single-output (SISO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), cooperative relaying, and multiuser/multicell interference networks. Considering both single-carrier and multi-carrier communication systems, we survey and categorize the timing and carrier synchronization techniques proposed for the different communication systems focusing on the system model assumptions for synchronization, the synchronization challenges, and the state-of-the-art synchronization solutions and their limitations. Finally, we envision some future research directions

MOCZ for Blind Short-Packet Communication: Practical Aspects

We investigate practical aspects of a recently introduced blind (noncoherent) communication scheme, called modulation on conjugate-reciprocal zeros (MOCZ). MOCZ is suitable for a reliable transmission of sporadic and short-packets at ultra-low latency and high spectral efficiency via unknown multipath channels, which are assumed to be static over the receive duration of one packet. The information is modulated on the zeros of the transmitted discrete-time baseband signal’s z− transform. Because of ubiquitous impairments between the transmitter and receiver clocks, a carrier frequency offset occurs after down-conversion to the baseband. This results in a common rotation of the zeros. To identify fractional rotations of the base angle in the zero-pattern, we propose an oversampled direct zero-testing decoder to identify the most likely one. Integer rotations correspond to cyclic shifts of the binary message, which we determine by cyclically permutable codes (CPC). Additionally, the embedding of CPCs into cyclic codes, enables additive error-correction which reduces the bit-error-rate tremendously. Furthermore, we exploit the trident structure in the signal’s autocorrelation for an energy based detector to estimate timing offsets and the effective channel delay spread. We finally demonstrate how this joint data and channel estimation can be largely improved by receive antenna diversity at low SNR

ICI-aware parameter estimation for MIMO-OFDM radar via APES spatial filtering

We propose a novel three-stage delay-Doppler-angle estimation algorithm for a MIMO-OFDM radar in the presence of inter-carrier interference (ICI). First, leveraging the observation that spatial covariance matrix is independent of target delays and Dopplers, we perform angle estimation via the MUSIC algorithm. For each estimated angle, we next formulate the radar delay-Doppler estimation as a joint carrier frequency offset (CFO) and channel estimation problem via an APES (amplitude and phase estimation) spatial filtering approach by transforming the delay-Doppler parameterized radar channel into an unstructured form. In the final stage, delay and Doppler of each target can be recovered from target-specific channel estimates over time and frequency. Simulation results illustrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm in high-mobility scenarios

Receiver design for nonlinearly distorted OFDM : signals applications in radio-over-fiber systems

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201