Feed‐forward timing estimation for burst signals in non‐cooperative communication

Abstract

Timing estimation is the most crucial part of the modulation classification and demodulation of burst signals. The traditional methods in classical cooperative communication fail to provide satisfying accuracy in non-cooperative communication. A novel timing estimation method was proposed in this study, which involves a carefully designed optimisation function constituted by piecewise over code period. Moreover, a closed-form analytical solution of the proposed optimisation problem has been provided, which significantly increases the estimation performance with affordable complexity. In detail, the proposed method demonstrates almost five times higher accuracy than the traditional methods in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scenario, while approaches the modified Cramer–Rao bound in the high SNR scenario.