Low complexity blind estimation of the carrier frequency offset in multicarrier systems

In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), carrier frequency offset (CFO) must be mitigated since it generates interference between received symbols transmitted through different sub-carriers. This paper presents a new algorithm for CFO estimation with reduced computational complexity. The new approach is based on the segmentation of the input-signal autocorrelation matrix into the noise and signal subspaces, the latter being employed to estimate the desired CFO. Simulations validate the effectiveness of the new algorithm in comparison to the traditional parametric estimation technique ESPRIT.