1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for communicating information, and in particular to a system and method for estimating the impulse response of a communication channel using short synchronization codes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In packet-based communication systems, spreading codes are used for packet detection and synchronization purposes. Correlation techniques are used to identify and synchronize to its timing. In many instances, the spreading code sequence can be in the order of 1000 chips or more. Since the receiver must correlate through all possible delays, this process can result in unacceptable delays.
To ameliorate this problem, a short spreading code with good aperiodic autocorrelation can be used for packet detection and synchronization purposes. One example is the IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system, which uses a length 11 Barker code as a spreading sequence for the preamble and the header of a packet. The short length of the spreading sequence makes it easy for receivers to quickly detect the presence of a packet in the communication channel and to synchronize to its timing.
In the case of a linear channel, for the purpose of receiver design, it is often desirable to estimate the impulse response of the communication channel. In the context of the WLAN, a multi-path linear channel is often utilized, and such communication channels require equalization for effective reception. Given an estimate of the impulse response of the communication channel, we can directly calculate equalizer coefficients through matrix computations, as opposed to the conventional adaptive algorithms. This is described IN “Digital Communications,” by John G. Proakis, 4th edition, Aug. 15, 2000, which reference is hereby incorporated by reference herein. This allows equalizer coefficients to be computed in a digital signal processor (DSP) instead of in more expensive and less adaptable dedicated hardware implementing the adaptation algorithms.
Unfortunately, because the spreading code used is short (e.g. on the order of 11 symbols) a straightforward correlation using the spreading code will produce a distorted estimate. What is needed is a simple, computationally efficient technique that can be used to compute substantially undistorted communication channel impulse response estimates, even when the received signal was chipped with a short spreading code. The present invention satisfies that need.