OFDM synchronizer implementation for an IEEE 802.11(a) compliant modem

Abstract

In OFDM transmissions, synchronization arises to be one of the most critical operations. The reason for that is the preservation of orthogonality: timing offsets and frequency offsets destroy easily this orthogonality, leading to Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) as well as Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI). This paper is focused on the implementation of a synchronizer for the IEEE 802.11a standard, which is based on the OFDM transmission scheme. Furthermore, during this year the first chips compliant with the standard are to be deployed, for that reason we also present a comparison of our solution, which is based on the one presented in with two other ones proposed