Apparatus, a receiver and a method for timing recovery in an OFDM system

1. An apparatus for timing recovery in an OFDM system comprising:

a third order phase lock loop (PLL) comprising:

a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) stage for receiving a number of input signals in the time domain and transforming one or more of the number of input signals to the frequency domain; one or more of the number of input signals having an associated sampling frequency and phase and comprising a number of symbols, the Fast Fourier Transform stage being arranged to apply a Fast Fourier Transform process to one or more of the number of input signals, the Fast Fourier transform process having an associated window of operation;

a phase rotation stage couplable to an output of the Fast Fourier Transform stage for adjusting the phase of one or more of the one or more transformed signals;

a frequency offset estimation stage couplable to an output of the phase rotation stage for estimating frequency offset between sampled signals to provide one or more frequency offset estimates;

a first accumulator couplable to an output of the frequency offset estimation stage for accumulating the one or more frequency offset estimates;

a low pass filter couplable to an output of the first accumulator for stabilizing the phase lock loop;

a second accumulator couplable to an output of the low pass filter for accumulating outputs of the low pass filter; the second accumulator being arranged to control phase rotation in the phase rotation stage; and

a controller stage for controlling timing associated with the window of operation of the Fast Fourier Transform process applied by the Fast Fourier Transform stage, the second accumulator being arranged to control the controller stage;

the phase rotation being arranged to generate a time recovered output signal.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the frequency offset estimation stage comprises:

one or more cross-correlation stages for correlating one or more outputs from the one or more phase rotation stages and for providing one or more cross-correlated output signals;

one or more first summation stages for summing the cross-correlated output signals in each antenna channel;

a second summation stage for summing the one or more outputs of the one or more first summation stages;

a further stage for determining an average phase difference between consecutive symbols from an output signal of the second summation stage; and

a phase extraction stage couplable to an output of said further stage for extracting the phase of the one or more cross-correlated output signals and to generate an estimated sampling frequency offset.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a MIMO detection stage couplable between the one or more phase rotation stages and the cross-correlation stages in the frequency offset estimation stage.

4. A method of timing recovery in an OFDM system comprising:

applying in a Fast Fourier Transform stage a Fast Fourier Transform process to a number of received input signals in the time domain to transform one or more of the number of input signals to the frequency domain, one or more of the number of input signals having an associated sampling frequency and phase and comprising a number of symbols, the Fast Fourier transform process having an associated window of operation;

adjusting the phase of one or more of the one or more transformed signals in a phase rotation stage couplable to an output of the Fast Fourier Transform stage;

estimating in a frequency offset estimation stage frequency offset between sampled signals to provide one or more frequency offset estimates from an output signal of the phase rotation stage;

accumulating the one or more frequency offset estimates in a first accumulator;

stabilizing the phase lock loop using a low pass filter;

accumulating outputs of the low pass filter in a second accumulator;

controlling the phase rotation in the phase rotation stage using the accumulated outputs of the low pass filter; and

controlling timing associated with the window of operation of the Fast Fourier Transform process applied by the Fast Fourier Transform stage using the accumulated outputs of the low pass filter.

5. A method according to claim 4 , wherein the step of estimating the frequency offset comprises:

correlating one or more output signals from the one or more phase rotation stages and for providing one or more cross-correlated output signals;

summing in one or more first summation stages the cross-correlated output signals for each antenna;

summing in a second summation stage one or more outputs of the one or more first summation stages and providing an output signal;

determining an average phase difference between consecutive symbols from an output signal from the second summation stage; and

extracting the phase of the one or more cross-correlated output signals to generate an estimated sampling frequency offset.

6. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising applying the one or more outputs of the one or more phase rotation stages in the frequency offset estimation stage to one or more inputs of a MIMO detection stage prior to the step of correlating the signals in the frequency offset estimation stage.

7. A receiver comprising the apparatus of claim 3 .

8. A receiver comprising the apparatus of claim 2 .

9. A receiver comprising the apparatus of claim 1 .