A synchronization scheme based on Gaussian pulses for cooperative MIMO OFDM systems

In this paper, we propose a novel preamble design of Gaussian pulses, along with a synchronization scheme, for cooperative MIMO OFDM systems. In our preamble design, the training signals of cooperating nodes are well separated from each other in both time domain and frequency domain to suppress their mutual interference in both domains, whereas they are only separated in either of the two domains in the state of the art. Accordingly, multiple propagation delays and carrier frequency offsets (CFOs) can be jointly estimated using the proposed synchronization scheme, while they are separately estimated in time domain and frequency domain in conventional synchronization schemes. We also design a proper correlation window size for the proposed synchronization scheme to effectively reduce computational complexity as well as to maintain satisfactory performance. Computer simulations verify the superiority of the proposed approach over existing synchronization schemes.