Using cyclostationarity for timing synchronization and blind equalization

Timing synchronization and blind equalization of digital communication signals can be compared to the chicken and the egg problem. Timing synchronization algorithms work well on equalized signals. Blind equalization algorithms based on cyclostationary work well on perfectly time synchronized signals. The question remains what to do at the start of a signal, where we have neither perfect timing synchronization nor an estimate of the channel for equalization. We propose: 1) a new timing synchronization algorithm for phase shift keying signals, based on short time cyclostationary cumulants; 2) a new cyclostationary autocorrelation/cumulant slice based blind equalization algorithm. The timing algorithm is compared to traditional timing methods using nonlinearities