Pilot Directed Continuous Synchronization of OFDM

Model of a generic OFDM system with closed loop control of carrier and timing recovery.

This model implements a generic OFDM TX and RX, which is not tied to any particular industry standard. The objective of this model is to develop and explore a continuous (not “bursty”) carrier and timing tracking synchronization scheme. The techniques incorporated can then be extended and modified to suite specific communications standards. The model uses an “acquisition” technique that exploits the correlation properties of the cyclic prefix to get a rough estimate of the frame boundary before attempting to accomplish the fine tracking algorithms. The model implements a 64 carrier OFDM waveform with a 16 point cyclic prefix. The OFDM symbol has 16 pilots, 3 guard tones (0 amplitude at band edge) and uses 4 QAM for the 45 remaining data streams.
This latest model includes a fading channel, BER computation, and improved control loop dynamics.