Adaptive ofdm synchronization method using quadratic search step sizes

Abstract

A system and method involve receiving a plurality of samples of at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) signal, the samples containing at least one complete OFDM symbol including data samples and a cyclic prefix, using an initial symbol timing offset (STO) estimate to initialize an N×1 vector of occupation probabilities α, where Nis the number of sub-carriers of the OFDM signal, and, for each subsequent set m of OFDM samples received containing at least one complete OFDM symbol, determining a STO estimate from a set of candidate STO estimates, updating the vector of occupation probabilities α, and determining a final STO estimate. The final STO estimate is used to determine a carrier frequency offset and may be determined using the STO estimate with the highest occupation probability.