A pilot-less sample-time synchronization algorithm for high-mobility DVB-T receiving

Abstract

The OFDM system receiver is well-performed only when the transmitter and the receiver are precisely synchronized. The sampling clock offset causes a symbol-time drift and even introduces inter-carrier and inter-symbol interference (ICI and ISI), which become not negligible in the systems with large OFDM symbol sizes, e.g. in the terrestrial digital video broadcasting system (DVB-T). The sample-time synchronization (STS) algorithm becomes difficult in the high-mobility wireless transmission because of the Doppler Effect. In this paper, we propose an innovative STS algorithm especially suitable for DVB-T receiving in the high-mobility environment. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can accurately recover the sample-time when the DVB-T signals are received in a fast moving vehicle.