In this letter we present new and simple closed form expressions for the true Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRB) for data-aided (DA) joint and individual carrier frequency offset and symbol timing estimation from a linearly modulated waveform transmitted over an AWGN channel. The bounds are derived under a carrier-phase-independent (CPI) estimation strategy wherein the carrier phase is viewed as a nuisance parameter and assumed to have a worst-case noninformative uniform distribution over [-¿, ¿]. The computation of these CRBs requires only a single numerical integration. In addition, computationally simpler yet highly accurate asymptotic lower bounds are presented. As particularizations, new bounds for individual CPI frequency estimation with known symbol timing from M-PSK and continuous wave (CW) signals are also reported.

In this letter, we propose a systematic technique for optimum data-sequence design for data-aided (DA) estimation of synchronization parameters. It is assumed that the system operates in burst mode, transmitting a linearly modulated information signal over an additive white Gaussian noise channel. The method is based on the minimization of the corresponding Crameacuter-Rao lower bound subject to a power constraint and is applied in four practical receiver synchronization contexts: estimation of the symbol timing with known carrier frequency offset and either known or unknown carrier phase, joint estimation of the symbol timing and carrier phase with known carrier frequency offset, and joint estimation of the carrier phase and carrier frequency offset with known symbol timing

In this paper, we present the derivation and analysis of the true Crame/spl acute/r-Rao lower bound (CRB) for the variance of unbiased, data-aided (DA) symbol-timing estimates, obtained from a block of K samples of a linearly modulated information signal, transmitted through an additive white Gaussian noise channel with random carrier phase. We consider a carrier-phase-independent time-delay estimation scenario wherein the carrier phase is viewed as an unwanted or nuisance parameter. The new bounds require only a moderate computational effort and are tighter than the CRB for the variance of unbiased time-delay estimates obtained under the assumption that the carrier phase is known. These bounds are particularly useful to assess the ultimate accuracy that can be achieved by pilot-assisted symbol synchronizers. Conversely, they may be used to evaluate data sequence suitability for the purpose of time-delay estimation. Comparison of the actual variance of a DA feedforward timing estimator with the new bounds show that these are attainable by practical synchronizers.

In this letter, we derive a new Miller-Chang lower bound (MCB) for the variance of unbiased non-data-aided (NDA) carrier phase estimates obtained from a block of N samples of a linearly modulated pulse-amplitude modulation or quadrature-amplitude modulation information signal, transmitted through an additive white Gaussian noise channel. This bound is tighter than the corresponding Crame/spl acute/r-Rao lower bound (CRB) for data-aided or continuous-wave carrier phase estimation (CW-CRB), particularly when N is small. For some given N and sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratios, the MCB is tighter than the corresponding true NDA CRB. The main limitation of this new MCB is that its application is restricted to carrier phase estimators which are unbiased for all possible values of the received symbol sequence.

A data-aided (DA) feedforward symbol synchronizer based upon the maximum-likelihood (ML) criterion is proposed. The algorithm is carrier-phase independent and is designed for operation in burst-mode, narrow-band communication systems employing linear modulation. The accuracy of the proposed algorithm is assessed by simulation using QPSK signaling. The results show that the performance of the proposed synchronizer is very close to the theoretical minimum limit (variance of the estimates near the Cramer-Rao lower bound) and is also significantly better than that of other popular circuits such as the square-law synchronizer.