Low-complexity frequency synchronization for ICA based semi-blind CoMP systems with ICI and phase rotation caused by multiple CFOs

We propose a low-complexity frequency synchronization approach for semi-blind independent component analysis (ICA) based coordinated multi-point (CoMP) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, with multiple carrier frequency offsets (CFOs). The key idea is to introduce a short pilot for both multi-CFO estimation and ambiguity elimination in the ICA equalized signals. First, by minimizing the cross-correlation between original pilots and received pilots with implicit phase rotation correction, the one-dimensional search based CFO estimation can be performed without trial ICI compensation and channel state information (CSI). Second, by maximizing the real part of the cross-correlation between ICA equalized pilots and original pilots, the same pilots can be used again to eliminate the permutation and quadrant ambiguity in the ICA equalized signals. Simulation results show that, with a very low training overhead of 2%, the proposed multi-CFO estimation approach outperforms existing methods. Also, the proposed semi-blind CoMP system can achieve a bit error rate (BER) performance close to the ideal case with perfect CSI and no CFO.