Efficient and consistent wireless downlink channel configuration

Abstract

A configuration for downlink signals in a wireless communication system, methods of configuring the downlink signals, apparatus for generating the downlink signals, and apparatus for receiving and processing the downlink signals are described herein. Downlink signals in a wireless communication system are reconfigured in series of frames, with each frame carrying a preamble that provides fast cell search and system acquisition. In particular, the preamble includes a primary preamble and a secondary preamble, where the primary preamble is common to all sectors in a base station and all base stations in a system and the secondary preamble is effectively unique to each base station, and may be further distinguished based on a sector basis. In addition, pilot signals are aligned with base stations to occur at the same time within a frame and the PN sequence values of the pilot signals are based on a cell identification an antenna identification, thereby enabling prediction of pilots transmitted by interferers or neighboring base stations from acquisition of secondary preambles. Also, the pilot bits are selectively assigned from a center of an operating band outward. Due to the pilot placement and pilot modulation, the scheme enables interference mitigation and channel estimation without knowing the frequency bandwidth, which is especially advantageous in broadcast channel systems.