Maximum Likelihood (ML) Symbol Timing Recovery (STR) Techniques for Reconfigurable PAM and QAM Modems

A fast symbol timing recovery (STR) scheme suitable for flexible-symbol-rate, burst-mode M-ary QAM (M-QAM) and PAM (M-PAM) demodulators used in broadband communications is proposed. The maximum- likelihood (ML) estimation is used to derive a feed-forward STR strategy to achieve fast and accurate derivation of the optimum timing instant with a very short training preamble for applications requiring short packet transmission. In addition, the signal sample at the optimum timing instant is reproduced by interpolation. Analysis to derive the ML-based timing estimation algorithm and STR structure is presented. Analytical models are developed to evaluate the effects of imperfect interpolation and channel additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) on the timing estimation performance. The derived expressions can be used for optimum interpolation filter design and selection of key parameters to achieve the required mean squared timing error. Simulation results are in good agreement with the analytical prediction.