Efficient integer frequency offset estimation architecture for enhanced OFDM synchronization

In orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, integer frequency offset (IFO) causes a circular shift of the subcarrier indices in the frequency domain. The IFO can be mitigated through strict RF front-end design, which tends to be expensive, or by strictly limiting mobility and channel agility, which constrains operating scenarios. The IFO is, therefore, often estimated and removed at baseband, allowing implementations to benefit from the relaxed RF front-end specifications and to be tolerant to both Doppler shift and multistandard channel selection. This paper proposes a novel architecture for the IFO estimation which achieves reduced power consumption and lower computational cost than contemporary methods, while achieving excellent estimation performance, close to theoretically achievable bounds. A pilot subsampling technique enables fourfold resource sharing to reduce the computational cost, while multiplierless computation yields further power reduction. Performance exceeds that of the conventional techniques, while being much more efficient. When implemented on field-programmable gate array for IEEE 802.16-2009, the dynamic power reductions of 78% are achieved. The architecture and method is applicable to other OFDM standards including IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.22.