Blind carrier frequency offset estimation for noncircular constellation-based transmissions

We address the problem of nondata aided frequency offset estimation for noncircular transmissions over frequency-selective channels in a linear precoder-based communications context. Linear precoding is representative of a downlink direct-sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) system or of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. We observe that twice the frequency offset is a cyclic frequency of the received signal. We thus introduce an estimator relying on the maximization of the empirical cyclocorrelations. We analyze its asymptotic behavior and obtain a closed-form expression for the asymptotic covariance. This enables us to design relevant system parameters. Numerical illustrations are provided and confirm our theoretical assertions. Comparisons with existing methods are also reported.