Second-Order Statistics-Based Blind Synchronization Algorithm for Two Receive-Antenna Orthogonal STBC Systems

Blind estimation algorithms offer possibilities for improving the throughput of communications systems by reducing the overhead that would otherwise be required for the estimation of parameters needed for operations such as block timing and carrier frequency synchronization. Additionally, they are required by emerging cognitive radios to provide spectrum awareness functionality. When compared with the existing literature, in this letter we propose a blind block timing and carrier frequency synchronization algorithm applicable to orthogonal space-time block code systems. By exploiting the space-time redundancy of the received signal when two receive antennas are employed, this algorithm estimates the synchronization parameters using second-order statistics without requiring a priori knowledge of the channel coefficients or signal-to-noise ratio. Furthermore, it does not depend on accurate clock timing synchronization, which is confirmed by simulation experiments.