A computationally efficient method of timing and phase estimation in TDMA systems using a preamble sequence

Optimum and near optimum methods of burst parameter estimation based on the discrete Fourier transform are presented. The methods are applicable to single sample per symbol demodulators when the burst preamble is chosen to be a discrete frequency component at one quarter of the symbol rate. The proposed methods do not require the squaring of the signal, and hence avoid the loss associated with squaring the noise components. The optimum method is shown to reach the Cramer-Rao bound for symbol timing and carrier phase estimation for the chosen preamble, whereas the more computationally efficient method shows a loss of 1.0dB and yields information regarding the timing offset only. The performances of the two methods in the presence of carrier frequency offset and additive white Gaussian noise are analysed, and implementations are given together with a comparison of the respective computational complexities.