ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the impact of the synchronization errors, including carrier frequency and timing offsets. It discusses various techniques for the estimation and tracking of the frequency and timing offsets. The chapter presents a brief introduction to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems and provides the generation, equalization, and demodulation of the OFDM signals for mobile broadcasting. It considers the impact of the synchronization errors on the performance of OFDM systems and analyzes synchronization techniques for OFDM-based broadcast systems, with special emphasis on the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)–Terrestrial (DVB-T) and DVB–Handheld (DVB-H) standards’ pilot and frame structures. The DVB-T system was developed by a European consortium of public and private sector organizations—the DVB Project. The objective of DVB-H is to provide an efficient way for carrying multimedia data over digital terrestrial broadcasting networks to handheld terminals. Transmission parameter signaling in DVB standards creates a reserved information channel that provides tuning parameters to the receiver.
