Timing recovery and frame synchronization in communications systems

Abstract

Timing recovery, with or without frame synchronization, in a cellular TDMA communications system is carried out by a method comprising estimating indirect variables, which embody sampling delay information, of a linear complex vector using a maximum likelihood criterion, and recovering the sampling delay from the estimated indirect variables. For recovering the sampling delay, an optimal procedure and three sub-optimal, but computationally simpler, procedures are described, along with their physical implementations. For frame synchronization, the timing recovery sampling delay is supplemented by a number of sample spacings determined by a maximum of signal amplitudes of a plurality of samples, calculated from the estimated indirect variables and the timing recovery sampling delay.