Frequency Offset Estimation for OFDM-based Cognitive Radio Systems in Non-Gaussian Impulsive Channels

Cognitive radio (CR) systems have received significant interest as a promising solution to the spectral shortage problem through efficient use of the frequency spectrum by opportunistically exploiting unlicensed frequency bands. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is widely regarded as a highly promising candidate for CR systems. However, the frequency bands used by CR systems are expected to suffer from non-Gaussian noise, which considerably degrades the performance of the conventional OFDM carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation schemes. In this paper, robust CFO estimation schemes for OFDM-based CR systems in non-Gaussian channels are proposed. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed estimators offer robustness and substantial performance improvement over the conventional estimator.