By: Nasir, Ali; Durrani, Salman; Mehrpouyan, Hani; Blostein, Steven; Kennedy, Rodney.

EURASIP
Journal on Wireless Communications & Networking. 8/4/2016, Vol. 2016 Issue 1, p1-38. 38p. DOI:
10.1186/s13638-016-0670-9.

REVIEW Open Access

Timing and carrier synchronization in

wireless communication systems: a survey and

classification of research in the last 5 years

Ali A. Nasir1, Salman Durrani2*, Hani Mehrpouyan3, Steven D. Blostein4 and Rodney A. Kennedy2

Abstract

Timing and carrier synchronization is a fundamental requirement for any wireless communication
system to work

properly. Timing synchronization is the process by which a receiver node determines the correct
instants of time at

which to sample the incoming signal. Carrier synchronization is the process by which a receiver
adapts the frequency

and phase of its local carrier oscillator with those of the received signal. In this paper, we survey the
literature over the

last 5 years (20102014) and present a comprehensive literature review and classification of the
recent research

progress in achieving timing and carrier synchronization in single-input single-output (SISO), multiple-
input

multiple-output (MIMO), cooperative relaying, and multiuser/multicell interference networks.

Considering both

single-carrier and multi-carrier communication systems, we survey and categorize the timing and
carrier

synchronization techniques proposed for the different communication systems focusing on the
system model

assumptions for synchronization, the synchronization challenges, and the state-of-the-art

synchronization solutions

and their limitations. Finally, we envision some future research directions.

Keywords: Timing synchronization, Carrier synchronization, Channel estimation, MIMO, OFDM