A new timing synchronization approach for OFDM systems

In this paper, we propose a novel timing synchronization method for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The new method takes advantage of symmetrical correlation between some parts of the transmitted training symbol and produces an impulse-like timing metric. While reducing the complexity, our method provides an easy and efficient way for timing estimation. The proposed method does not need any differential cross-correlation or frequency correction to produce an impulse-like timing metric. It is shown that the new timing metric outperforms the previously presented methods in fading channels.