An efficient symbol synchronization for DAB system over multipath fading channels

In OFDM systems, the symbol timing error over multipath fading channels should stay inside the ISI free range of the guard interval. Although correct symbol timing of DAB system can be obtained using a 2048-point IFFT of the phase-demodulated pilot symbol, this approach demands very high computational works. In this paper, a new computationally efficient symbol synchronization algorithm is presented. The presented algorithm employs a 64-point IFFT of the decimated pilot symbol, but it still can provide accurate symbol timing that is comparable to the method associated with the 2048-point IFFT. The proposed method can save more than 80% of the computation works while the performance is not deteriorated.