Data-Aided Synchronization for MF-TDMA Multi-Carrier Demultiplexer/Demodulator (MCDD)

In this paper, a data-aided (DA) synchronization method is developed to jointly recover symbol-timing, frequency offset, and carrier phase for MF-TDMA on-board processing (OBP) satellite system. The estimates, which are obtained from a block of symbols transmitted through an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel and a fast Rayleigh fading channel, can be obtained with reduced computational complexity and fast acquisition time. The estimation accuracy in terms of MSE is derived and illustrated. Its effect on the overall system BER performance is also discussed. Furthermore, the relationships between timing synchronization, frequency offset recovery, and carrier phase error compensation are also analyzed respectively. It is apparent that the proposed estimation method is not only accurate and efficient, but it makes the communication system robust to impairment parameters as well.