Physical layer frame format design for wideband wireless communications systems

1. A processor-implemented method of processing a received signal including a payload portion and a preamble portion, the preamble portion of the received signal being a single carrier signal, the payload portion of the received signal being a single carrier signal or a multiple carrier signal, the method comprising:

receiving the preamble portion of the received signal, wherein the preamble portion of the received signal includes a channel estimation sequence;

detecting from the channel estimation sequence in the preamble portion of the received signal whether the payload portion of the received signal is a single carrier signal or a multiple carrier signal, wherein

(i) a first spreading sequence included in the channel estimation sequence indicates that the payload portion of the received signal is a single carrier signal, and

(ii) a second spreading sequence included in the channel estimation sequence indicates that the payload portion of the received signal is a multiple carrier signal;

in response to the payload portion of the received signal being a single carrier signal, demodulating the payload portion of the received signal in a single carrier mode;

in response to the payload portion of the received signal being a multiple carrier signal, demodulating the payload portion of the received signal in a multiple carrier mode; and

storing data from the demodulated payload portion of the received signal in a computer-readable memory.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing channel estimation for both the single carrier mode and the multiple carrier mode based on the channel estimation sequence included in the preamble portion of the received signal.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein channel estimation for the multiple carrier mode is performed by sampling the channel estimation sequence at a multiple channel mode sampling rate and performing a fast-Fourier transform on detected samples.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the payload portion of the received signal begins with a multiple carrier channel estimation sequence;

wherein demodulating the payload portion of the received signal in a multiple carrier mode includes performing channel estimation for the multiple carrier mode based on the multiple carrier channel estimation sequence.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting from the preamble portion of the received signal whether the payload portion of the received signal is a single carrier signal or a multiple carrier signal comprises:

sampling, at a first rate, the preamble portion of the received signal, wherein the first rate is derived from a baseband clock,

wherein demodulating the payload portion of the received signal in a multiple carrier mode further includes sampling, at a second rate, the payload portion of the received signal, wherein the second rate derived from the baseband clock,

wherein the preamble portion of the received signal and the payload portion of the received signal contain the same carrier frequency.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first rate and the second rate are the same.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein demodulating the payload portion of the received signal in a multiple carrier mode further includes receiving the payload portion of the received signal, wherein the payload portion of the received signal has been transmitted with the same power as the preamble portion of the received signal.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple carrier signal is an OFDM signal.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received signal complies with a standard selected from the group consisting of: 802.15.3c; 802.11g; and 802.11n.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second spreading sequences are each different ones of a pair of complementary Golay sequences.

11. A system for processing a received signal including a payload portion and a preamble portion, the preamble portion of the received signal being a single carrier signal, the payload portion of the received signal being a single carrier signal or a multiple carrier signal, the system comprising:

a signaling portion analyzer configured to (i) receive the preamble portion of the received signal, and (ii) detect from the preamble portion of the received signal whether the payload portion of the received signal is a single carrier signal or a multiple carrier signal, wherein the preamble portion of the received signal includes a channel estimation sequence, and wherein

(i) a first spreading sequence included in the channel estimation sequence indicates to the signaling portion analyzer that the payload portion of the received signal is a single carrier signal, and

(ii) a second spreading sequence included in the channel estimation sequence indicates to the signaling portion analyzer that the payload portion of the received signal is a multiple carrier signal;

a demodulator configured to demodulate the payload portion of the received signal in a single carrier mode in response to the payload portion of the received signal being a single carrier signal, the demodulator further configured to demodulate the payload portion of the received signal in a multiple carrier mode in response to the payload portion of the received signal being a multiple carrier signal; and

a computer-readable memory configured to store data from the demodulated payload portion of the received signal.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first and second spreading sequences are each different ones of a pair of complementary Golay sequences.