Abstract: In OFDM systems, the symbol timimg error over multipath fading channels should stay inside the ISI free range of the guard interval. For DAB systems, the correct symbol timing can be obtained using a 2048-point IFFT of the demodulated phase reference symbol, but it demands heavy computational work and complex control circuits. In this paper, a new efficient symbol timing synchronization algorithm is proposed for DAB systems, which utilizes the good autocorrelation of the phase reference symbol in the time domain. Compared with the method associated with IFFT, the method proposed has a lower complexity and a nicer flexibility with the system performance unchanged.

Key words: OFDM, Symbol Timing Synchronization, Autocorrelation