Efficient implementation of secondary synchronization symbol detection in 3GPP LTE

Cell search has to be performed by the user equipment in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems to obtain cell identity before connecting to the cell. The cell identity is transmitted using the Primary Synchronization Symbol (PSS) and the Secondary Synchronization Symbol (SSS). The PSS carries one of three possible values for the sector identity whereas the SSS carries one of 168 possible values for the physical cell identity. Straightforward implementation of SSS detection incurs a large area due to the large number of required correlators. This paper presents a complete design and hardware implementation for the detection of the SSS. The fixed point representation of the proposed system design is optimized to use the smallest word lengths at various system nodes while maintaining the overall performance within acceptable limits. Different architectures are studied, compared and an all-serial architecture is chosen to minimize the design area and power consumption, while achieving an acceptable acquisition time.