An efficient maximum likelihood carrier frequency offset estimation technique for OFDM systems

In recent years, the constant-envelope orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (CE-OFDM) has been considered as a candidate waveform in broadband satellite systems as it has a 0-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). However, the carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation scheme for CE-OFDM broadband satellite systems directly affects system performance. In this paper, we analyze the network architecture and the propagation environment of CE-OFDM broadband satellite systems, and we propose a data-aided CFO estimation strategy based on the frequency domain pilot symbols. The Cramer–Rao bound (CRB) of our CFO estimator is given by mathematical analysis, and the effect of the number of pilot symbols on the estimation performance is analyzed. The pilot symbol-based CFO estimator is composed of a phase demodulator and a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) module, and it can obtain a large estimation range under a small pilot overhead. The simulation results show that the CE-OFDM broadband satellite systems can achieve a good bit error rate (BER) performance by using the proposed strategy to estimate and compensate the CFO.

The paper deals with the problem of the carrier frequency-offset (CFO) estimation for wireless communications. Since the well-known maximum-likelihood (ML) CFO estimator is rather complex, many complexity-reduced CFO estimators have so far been proposed. However, most of them are based on periodic training sequences and have limited estimation range. We propose a general framework called composite frequency- offset estimator (CFE), which can extend the estimation range of any range-limited correlation-based CFO estimator up to the full transmission spectrum. We first formulate the CFO estimation as a problem of composite hypothesis testing, and then solve the problem by the composite hypothesis testing approaches. We show that the composite frequency-offset estimate is the ML estimate as long as the original range-limited estimator is unbiased and attains the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound. The CFE also allows a flexible tradeoff between the estimation range and computational complexity. Finally, numerical results show the efficiency of the proposed method.

In this paper, we propose a low-complexity carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation algorithm for OFDM based wireless LAN, IEEE 802.11a. The complexity of the arctangent operation to calculate the argument of auto-correlation for CFO estimation is reduced by a novel range pointer method. The proposed algorithm estimates fine CFO value first and then based on the fine CFO value, simple criteria is used for the boundary decision of integer CFO estimation. The simulation results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is slightly better than the conventional method while the computational complexity is reduced by 50%. Furthermore, the proposed method can be easily implemented for the low complex next generation MIMO-OFDM based WLAN systems.

In the uplink of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, because of multiple access interference (MAI), carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation is much more difficult than that in single-user systems. This paper proposes a null subcarrier-based iterative CFO estimation method for the uplink of OFDMA system adopting sub-band based carrier assignment scheme. Rather than applying independent estimations for users separated by bandpass filters, we first obtain an inaccurate initial CFO estimate for each user. Then, we run an iterative scheme which could update the estimates and reduce errors iteration by iteration. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulations.

This paper proposes a high-performance and relatively low-complexity approximated maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) for carrier frequency offset (CFO) in practical orthogonal frequency multiplexing (OFDM) systems, where the preamble has repetition structure in time domain, null subcarriers are allocated at two ends of the frequency spectrum, and the channel impulse response is assumably not longer than the cyclic prefix. We show the optimality of conventional MLEs do not hold in such systems, and derive a universal MLE and its modified Cramer-Rao lower bound in the general case. To reduce the complexity, we propose to cascade it with a low-complexity rough CFO estimator so that only a moderate number of maxima searches are needed to achieve satisfactory performance. Simulation with the IEEE 802.16 preamble symbol confirms the excellent performance of the proposed method.

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been adopted in various wireless communication standards to exploit its high spectral efficiency and robustness against multipath fading channels. Along with the potential benefits of OFDM transmissions, a stringent requirement on orthogonality among subcarriers makes OFDM highly susceptible to synchronization errors, i.e., time and frequency offsets. Addressing the carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation problem, the paper proposes a pilot-aided CFO estimation scheme for both coarse and fine carrier frequency synchronization in single-input single-output (SISO) OFDM receivers. By exploiting the maximum likelihood (ML) principle, the proposed ML-based CFO estimation algorithm functions properly over a wide range of CFO values and outperforms existing correlation-based schemes.

The carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation is an important task for orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) systems. Making use of the intrinsic periodic structure of the received signal samples, an effective Unitary-ESPRIT algorithm based on unitary transformation technique is proposed for the CFO estimation problem. Compared with other recently proposed CFO estimation approaches, the proposed algorithm offers a number of advantages. Firstly, the presented approach can reduce the computation complexity considerably, since it is efficiently formulated in terms of real-valued computation except for the data preprocessing. Secondly, it can provide better CFO estimation performance by incorporating the data stacking technology and the unitary transformation, etc. Simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.

The problem of pilot assisted carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation in LTE system is investigated in this paper. Since both the pilot design and the number of pilot symbols are already fixed in LTE technical standards, it is proposed to employ multiple successive pilot symbols to improve the CFO estimation performance under the LTE standard constraints. We firstly present the generalized CRLB (GCRLB) analysis based on multiple successive pilot symbols. It is revealed that, better CFO estimate can be achieved by jointly using multiple successive pilot symbols than by using only one pilot symbol. The enhanced maximum likelihood (ML) carrier frequency offset estimate problem is formulated and simulation results are presented to validate that the proposed CFO estimate scheme offers an effective mechanism to improve the CFO estimate in practical LTE system.

In this paper we propose a non-data aided estimator for joint time delay, carrier frequency offset (CFO) and channel estimation for uplink asynchronous CDMA system. The cost function for CFO estimation is a determinant of a matrix, which is a function of the CFO. The CFO estimator does the estimation by performing a linear search and the search point which minimizes the determinant is the estimated CFO. The matrix corresponding to the estimated CFO is used for channel estimation, where the channel impulse response (CIR) is obtained as the eigenvector corresponding to the minimum eigenvalue of that matrix. Time synchronization is inherently done along with the channel estimation, assuming the maximum channel order for all user channels is known. We also modify the existing estimator based on generalized eigenvalue problem (GEVP) and show the performance improvement through computer simulations. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the modified generalized eigenvalue problem method (MGEVPM). Computer simulations show that the proposed estimator performs better than MGEVPM and has wider CFO acquisition range than MGEVPM. Using Taylor's series approximation, we reformulate the proposed estimator in order to reduce the computational complexity. Through computer simulations we show that the performance of the reformulated estimator improves with increase in the order of Taylor's series and performs better than MGEVPM.

The frequency synchronization issue of multiuser in the uplink of an orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) system is investigated in this letter. We develop a subspace based blind carrier frequency offsets (CFOs) estimation algorithm for the base station (BS) equipped with uniform linear array (ULA). Due to the adoption of ULA at the BS and the narrowband signal assumption, CFOs of different users can be separated by their spatial information. Thus, unlike existing blind alternatives, which are subject to some specific carrier assignment schemes (CAS) or rely on null subcarriers, our proposed method can support generalized carrier assignment scheme (GCAS) and fully loaded systems, i.e., all subcarriers are available to users. Consequently, the dynamic channel assignment is available and the bandwidth efficiency is higher. Moreover, the closed-form directions of arrival (DOAs) of all active users are also obtained, which can be used in downlink beamforming in frequency division duplex (FDD) systems. Performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated by computer Monte Carlo simulations.

Although fruitful studies have been conducted on carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimations in linear coherent optical fiber communication systems, there are few studies on CFO estimations and recoveries in the systems based on the nonlinear Fourier transform (NFT). Although the CFO is originated from the linear frequency domain, it definitely has effects on nonlinear spectra, including the shift of the nonlinear frequency and the phase rotations of the scattering data, which are similar to its effects on linear spectra. This work indicates that it is feasible to estimate frequency offset (FO) by capturing symbol variations in the nonlinear frequency domain (NFD) rather than in the linear frequency domain; the latter was usually exploited in the literature. Based on a thorough investigation of the FO induced behavior that appears in a nonlinear frequency division multiplexing (NFDM) system, we proposed a nonlinear frequency domain estimation method aided by training symbols (TS) using an angle search algorithm after NFT operations at the receiver. The discussions in this paper prove that the proposed method is generally applicable to the NFDM systems regardless of whether using single or multiple eigenvalues. A performance comparison between the NFD method and the conventional method in the linear frequency domain is performed with different modulation formats for both single and multiple eigenvalue NFDM transmission systems. The analysis results show that the proposed method holds the better stability and estimation accuracy in contrast with the linear domain estimation method. The TS overhead can also be deduced dramatically, which implies better transmission efficiency. Therefore, the NFD method is more powerful for eigenvalue NFDM transmission systems, especially for the scenarios where high order modulation formats and multiple eigenvalues are utilized.

A new pilot assisted (PA) carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation algorithm for OFDM communication system is presented in this paper. This algorithm extends the principle of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based single carrier frequency estimation algorithm in S. Reisenfeld and E. Aboutanios (2003). The proposed algorithm comprises of two steps, first a coarse CFO estimator such as the one presented in M. Li and W. Zhang (2003) is employed to estimate the integer component of the CFO. Assuming frequency corresponding to the DFT bin number which is the integer component of the CFO has been estimated correctly, the residue CFO will be bounded between -0.5T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">U</sub> to 0.5T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">U</sub> , where T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">U</sub> is the OFDM symbol period. In this paper, a new fractional frequency estimation algorithm is presented. Unlike the fractional frequency estimation algorithm presented in M. Li and W. Zhang (2003) and P.H. Moose (1994), this estimator can estimate the frequency offset on a symbol by symbol bases which is ideal for environments where the channel characteristics change rapidly. It will be shown that under additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), the proposed frequency estimation algorithm has a variance performance that approaches the Cramer Rao lower bound (CRLB) at high signal to noise ratio (SNR) and has an acquisition range of -0.5T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">U</sub> to 0.5T <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">U</sub> Hz

In this paper, we propose a pilot aided carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation schemes for the Faster-than Nyquist (FTN) transmission system. The FTN transmission would increase the data rate by overlapping the pulse closer than the Nyquist rate. For this reason, there have been some efforts to apply FTN theory to second generation of digital video broadcasting satellite (DVB-S2) standard. However, the FTN produce inter symbol interference (ISI), which would deteriorate the receive performance even in an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. In addition, CFO that exist due to transmitter and receiver oscillator mismatch is a major concern in communication system. In this paper, we present the maximum likelihood (ML) CFO estimator for the FTN transmission system. The mean square error (MSE) performance of the CFO estimator utilizing DVB-S2 pilot block sequences is also presented. Through the Monte Calro simulation, the BER performance degradation due to CFO error is investigated both uncoded and coded FTN system.

In this paper, we propose a novel and simple joint channel frequency response (CFR) and carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation based on 2D spread pilots for digital video broadcasting (DVB) systems. The advantage of the proposed algorithm compared to DVB-T/H standard, is to estimate the CFR and the CFO using the same pilot symbols. The performance evaluated over a realistic channel model, in a mobility scenario, in the presence of CFO, shows the efficiency of this technique which turns out to be a promising joint CFR and CFO estimation technique for the future DVB systems.KeywordsMean Square ErrorOrthogonal Frequency Division MultiplexCarrier Frequency OffsetOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex SymbolPilot SymbolThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Efficient carrier frequency offset estimation algorithm for generalized frequency division multiplexing systems