Method and apparatus for initial acquisition and cell search for an ofdma system

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided for transmitting an orthogonal frequency domain multiple access (OFDMA) signal including a synchronization channel signal transmitted within a localized portion of a bandwidth of the OFDMA signal (), the synchronization channel signal having predetermined time domain symmetry within the localized portion of the bandwidth () and including information for providing at least partial cell identification information (). The synchronization channel signal enables an initial acquisition and cell search method with low computational load which provides OFDMA symbol timing detection and frequency error detection () and frame boundary detection and cell specific information detection () in an OFDMA system supporting multiple system bandwidths, both synchronized and un-synchronized systems, a large cell index and an OFDMA symbol structure with both short and long cyclic prefix length.