Implementation and performance of low complexity SIMO OFDM timing synchronization

A user terminal must first be timing synchronized with a base station to continue with further actions. Critical issues in timing synchronization are timing accuracy and complexity of the algorithms. In this paper, we present a low complexity downlink timing synchronization implementation for the mobile IEEE802.16e OFDMA WiMAX system. The design can use information from multiple receiver antennas. In addition, averaging of estimates over a number of successive frames is possible. The implementation compensates DC offset from the signal before actual synchronization. Performance of different options of the design in terms of estimation accuracy is demonstrated.