Blind synchronization in asynchronous UWB networks based on the transmit-reference scheme

Ultra wideband (UWB) wireless communication systems are based on the transmission of a stream of narrow pulses (each shorter than a ns). In such a system it is of great importance to estimate the beginning of the data packet of interest in order to subsequently estimate the data symbols. In this paper we present a combined blind synchronization and detection scheme based on the transmit-reference ultra wideband (TR-UWB) transceiver model taking into account a channel with a long impulse response. The proposed algorithm processes a block of received data samples, takes advantage of a shift invariance structure in the frequency domain, and applies a MUSIC-like search to estimate the delay of the data packet.