Pilot-Based SFO Estimation for Bistatic Integrated Sensing and Communication

Enabling bistatic radar sensing within the context of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) for future sixth-generation (6G) mobile networks demands strict synchronization accuracy, which is particularly challenging to be achieved with over-the-air (OTA) synchronization. Existing algorithms handle time and frequency offsets adequately but provide insufficiently accurate sampling frequency offset (SFO) estimates that result in the degradation of obtained radar images in the form of signal-to-noise ratio loss and migration of range and Doppler shift. This article introduces an SFO estimation algorithm named tilt inference of time offset (TITO) for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based ISAC. Using available pilot subcarriers, TITO obtains channel impulse response (CIR) estimates and extracts information on the SFO-induced delay migration to a dominant reference path with constant range, Doppler shift, and angle between transmit and receive ISAC nodes. TITO then adaptively selects the delay estimates that are only negligibly impaired by SFO-induced intersymbol interference (ISI), ultimately employing them to estimate the SFO. Assuming a scenario without a direct line of sight (LoS) between the aforementioned transmitting and receiving ISAC nodes, a system concept with a relay reflective intelligent surface (RIS) that is used to create the aforementioned reference path is proposed. Besides a mathematical derivation of accuracy bounds, simulation and measurements at 26.2 GHz are presented to demonstrate TITO’s superiority over existing methods in terms of SFO estimation accuracy and robustness.