A non-coherent neighbor cell search scheme for LTE/LTE-A systems

A new neighbor cell search algorithm for LTE/LTE-A systems is presented in this paper. To improve the interference problem in channel estimation for coherent SSS detection in the conventional neighbor cell search approaches, we propose a non-coherent scheme that takes advantage of the similarity of channel responses at adjacent subcarriers. The proposed neighbor cell search procedure not only includes both PSS and SSS detection, but also can combat different carrier frequency offsets that the home cell signal and the neighbor cell signal may suffer. The removal of the home cell synchronization signals in our algorithm converts the neighbor cell PSS and SSS into new sequences for recognition, respectively. By examining the cross-correlation properties of the new sequences, we show that partial correlation can well detect the neighbor cell sector ID and group ID through the new sequences. From simulation results, it is also clear that the proposed algorithm has good detection results and outperforms the conventional coherent approaches.