Timing synchronization in high mobility OFDM systems

Abstract — OFDM systems are sensitive to timing synchronization errors. Utilizing pilot-aided channel estimators in OFDM systems can further increase this sensitivity. This is shown in [2] where authors have analyzed the effect of such errors on a pilotaided channel estimator in a fixed wireless environment. They proposed an algorithm that exploits this sensitivity to improve timing synchronization without additional training overhead. The effect of these errors and design of suitable synchronization algorithms for high mobility applications, however, have not been studied before. In this paper we extend the analysis in [2] to high mobility environments. Timing synchronization becomes more challenging for mobile applications since powerdelay profile of the channel may change rapidly due to the sporadic birth and death of the channel paths. We find analytical expressions for channel estimation error in the presence of timing synchronization errors and mobility. We show that the sensitivity of the channel estimator can still be exploited to improve timing synchronization in high mobility environments. Then we extend the algorithm proposed in [2] to high mobility applications. Finally simulation results show the performance of the algorithm in high delay and Doppler spread environments. I

Um modelo para compartilhamento consistente de dados em ambientes de computação móvel

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação.Em ambientes de computação móveis, assistentes pessoais digitais podem gravar dados localmente para possibilitar o trabalho do dispositivo móvel mesmo quando ele não está na área de abrangência de uma rede sem fio. Estes mesmos dados gravados localmente podem ser compartilhados entre dois ou mais usuários, sendo necessários mecanismos para prover consistência neste compartilhamento de dados. Assim, é importante ter sempre à mão os dados mais recentes. Para resolver este problema, foi desenvolvido um mecanismo para atualização de dados em dispositivos móveis a partir de um servidor estacionário, usando um protocolo de timestamp. Tal mecanismo foi testado em um ambiente experimental, que possui um servidor em uma rede estruturada e dois clientes móveis buscando e enviando dados entre o cliente móvel e o servidor (quando este estiver na área de abrangência da rede sem fio estruturada) e entre os clientes móveis (quando não há cobertura pela rede sem fio estruturada) usando uma rede ad-hoc. Nesta dissertação, o modelo de compartilhamento de dados entre cliente e servidor, e entre os próprios clientes é descrito em detalhes, bem como o ambiente experimental e o desenvolvimento do protótipo

Synchronization algorithms and architectures for wireless OFDM systems

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a multicarrier modulation technique that has become a viable method for wireless communication systems due to the high spectral efficiency, immunity to multipath distortion, and being flexible to integrate with other techniques. However, the high-peak-to-average power ratio and sensitivity to synchronization errors are the major drawbacks for OFDM systems. The algorithms and architectures for symbol timing and frequency synchronization have been addressed in this thesis because of their critical requirements in the development and implementation of wireless OFDM systems. For the frequency synchronization, two efficient carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation methods based on the power and phase difference measurements between the subcarriers in consecutive OFDM symbols have been presented and the power difference measurement technique is mapped onto reconfigurable hardware architecture. The performance of the considered CFO estimators is investigated in the presence of timing uncertainty conditions. The power difference measurements approach is further investigated for timing synchronization in OFDM systems with constant modulus constellation. A new symbol timing estimator has been proposed by measuring the power difference either between adjacent subcarriers or the same subcarrier in consecutive OFDM symbols. The proposed timing metric has been realized in feedforward and feedback configurations, and different implementation strategies have been considered to enhance the performance and reduce the complexity. Recently, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems have received considerable attention. Therefore, the proposed algorithms have also been extended for timing recovery and frequency synchronization in MIMO-OFDM systems. Unlike other techniques, the proposed timing and frequency synchronization architectures are totally blind in the sense that they do not require any information about the transmitted data, the channel state or the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). The proposed frequency synchronization architecture has low complexity because it can be implemented efficiently using the three points parameter estimation approach. The simulation results confirmed that the proposed algorithms provide accurate estimates for the synchronization parameters using a short observation window. In addition, the proposed synchronization techniques have demonstrated robust performance over frequency selective fading channels that significantly outperform other well-established methods which will in turn benefit the overall OFDM system performance. Furthermore, an architectural exploration for mapping the proposed frequency synchronization algorithm, in particular the CFO estimation based on the power difference measurements, on reconfigurable computing architecture has been investigated. The proposed reconfigurable parallel and multiplexed-stream architectures with different implementation alternatives have been simulated, verified and compared for field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation using the Xilinx’s DSP design flow.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHSR) of IraqGBUnited Kingdo