A Frame Synchronization Method with Robustness to the Effects of Initial SFO in DRM Systems

In this paper, we propose a synchronization method for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) receivers. In order to satisfy the advanced synchronization requirement of DRM receivers, the proposed method eliminates the initial sampling frequency synchronization (SFO) process in conventional synchronization methods. In the proposed method, sampling frequency tracking is performed after integer frequency synchronization and frame synchronization. Different correlation algorithms are applied to detect the first frame of the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) demodulation symbol with SFO. A frame detection algorithm that is robust to SFO is selected based on the performance analysis and simulation. Simulation results show that the proposed method reduces the time spent for initial SFO even if SFO is present in the DRM signal. In addition, it is verified that inter-cell differential correlation used between reference cells is robust to the effect of initial SFO.