Time and frequency synchronization for ultra-high speed OFDM systems

In this paper we present a novel approach for time and frequency synchronization of ultra-high speed OFDM systems processing over 78 million symbols per second. A possible application domain of such OFDM systems is located in optical access networks like fibre to the home which are expected to become widely used in several years. The communication channel characteristics of a glass fibre posses lower demands to the synchronization algorithms compared to a wireless communication channel because carrier frequencies and phases at the receiver change slower and there are nearly no signal reflections. In order to achieve very high data rates of up to 50 GBit/s the concept introduced in this paper exploits the special channel characteristics of a glass fibre in order to reduce the required processing power. A realisation of this concept was implemented for Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGAs to prove its feasibility with technology available today.