Analysis of the Frequency Offset Effect on Zadoff-Chu Sequence Timing Performance

TL;DR

This paper investigates how frequency offsets affect the timing accuracy of Zadoff-Chu sequences in wireless synchronization, revealing fundamental limitations and analytical insights into their performance.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analytical framework that characterizes the impact of frequency offsets on ZC sequence timing performance, highlighting inherent limitations.

Findings

Frequency offsets impair ZC sequence timing accuracy.

Analytical framework characterizes timing behavior under frequency offsets.

Fundamental limitations identified for ZC sequences in synchronization.

Abstract

Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences have been used as synchronization sequences in modern wireless communication systems, replacing the conventional pseudo-random noise (PN) sequences due to their perfect autocorrelation properties. We first study the ambiguity problem between a timing offset and a frequency offset when a ZC sequence is used as a synchronization signal. We show how a frequency offset can impair the timing property of a ZC sequence, causing irreducible timing errors. An analytical framework is developed, which completely characterizes a ZC sequence's timing behavior and its fundamental limitation as a synchronization sequence in the presence of a frequency offset between the transmitter and the receiver.