Maximum-Likelihood Blind Synchronization for GFDM Systems

Abstract

Generalized frequency-division multiplexing (GFDM) inherits the cyclic-prefixed (CP) block signaling structure from orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). The feasibility of CP-based maximum-likelihood (ML) blind synchronization for GFDM systems, however, has not been assessed in the literature. We find that such synchronization is complicated by the covariance structure of the signal which, due to nonorthogonal pulse shaping, possesses a time-varying signal power and some weak self-induced interference. Neglecting the latter and approximating the former by the average power enable us to obtain an approximate-ML solution based on a recent result on OFDM synchronization in wide-sense stationary uncorrelated scattering (WSSUS) channels. Simulations show that the resulting method for GFDM yields comparable performance, under commonly considered pulse-shaping filters, to its kin for OFDM.