Blind synchronization algorithm for the DS-CDMA signals

A blind synchronization algorithm for the direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) signals is presented in this paper without knowledge of spreading sequence, carrier frequency, or the number of users. The only a priori information used is the symbol period. The algorithm exploits the structure of the signal correlation matrix and estimate the timing offset based on l₁-norm of the correlation matrix. The computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is very low and simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm provides good results in the case of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The proposed algorithm can be used in non-cooperation applications.