Autonomous decentralized inter-base-station synchronization for TDMA microcellular systems

A novel method for establishing synchronization of the TDMA (time-division multiple-access) signal between the base stations in a cellular system is proposed. In this method, each base station monitors TDMA signals from other base stations to measure the difference in timing of the TDMA signals. The timing differences are averaged at each base station to produce a control signal which corrects its timing. This process is repeated as time proceeds, and is performed at every base station. With this method, computer simulation results show that synchronization of TDMA signals between base stations can be established. The proposed method is particularly suitable for a microcellular system consisting of many base stations, where decentralized control is desired