Efficient frequency estimation using the pulse-pair method at different lags

The pulse-Pair (PP) method is an efficient technique of frequency estimation, which requires a very low number of multiplications. Therefore, it is ideally suitable for FPGA type hardware implementations, especially at high frequencies, as the multiplications are relatively expensive for silicon area optimization. The optimum frequency estimation using the PP method needs a lag value equal to the two-third of the signal length. The optimal PP method, however, requires phase unwrapping that usually makes the technique computationally unattractive. In this paper, we propose a new efficient technique for evaluating the optimum PP method without resorting to phase unwrapping. Detailed discussion of the performance of the optimum PP method is provided in the paper, together with a comparison with the technique of DFT based maximum likelihood frequency estimation.